RATTIE: Natural Gas Under Attack

By bobbieclark@gannett.com
October 26, 2009

In the final scene of the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," Butch and the Kid have a final shootout with bullets flying at them in all directions.

Keith O. Rattie, the president and CEO of Questar Corporation, said that final scene is analagous to the current plight of the natural gas industry.

Rattie was the keynote luncheon speaker at the Gulf Coast Prospect and Shale Expo Wednesday at the Shreveport Convention Center. The expo continues today; this was the first year the expo was held in Shreveport. It is usually in Lafayette. Industry professionals have the opportunity to buy and sell trade prospects from one another.

The natural gas industry is threatened by bullets in the form of increased taxation, federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing, the myth of green jobs, and the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, which Rattie called "the most asinine piece of legislation in U.S. history."

Rattie said instead of prohibiting the production of domestic natural gas, there needs to be a paradigm shift, especially considering that the U.S. natural gas supply is at about 2,100 trillion cubic feet, equal to 350 billion barrels of oil, he added.

Rattie said the oil and gas industry needs to take eight steps in order to combat what he believes is an assault on the industry by Congress:

• Rebut the concerns about natural gas supply.

• Find common ground with environmental groups.

• Join forces with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups to defeat the
American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.

• Focus on natural gas share in the electric power market.

• Jumpstart the use of natural gas in vehicles.

• Refute the "phony math" of the number of green jobs to be created by the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.

• Find a pragmatic approach to global warming.

• The industry needs to be the champion for the role of the market in energy policy.

While Rattie waxed philosophical about threats to the industry, companies like Mi SWACO, which is an oil/gas field services company, were at the expo highlighting some of the ways they are helping production companies reduce their environmental footprint.

John Candler, Mi SWACO's manager of environmental affairs, said there is a trend of companies reusing flowback water, which is what is left over after a well is fractured to release natural gas.

"We are trying to work "» to constantly improve and evolve the overall drilling operation," Candler said. "We want to move beyond just safe disposal."

Mitch Broach, Mi SWACO's business development manager for water treatment technology, said their goal is to put everything back even better than they found it.

"The operators in Louisiana are really excited about this technology," he said. "They want their kids and grandkids to continue to hunt and fish in this area as well."