What Oil and Natural Gas Mean to Big-Energy Oklahoma

Background

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Oklahoma is a leading energy producer with an economy increasingly concentrated on the oil and gas industry, economists say.

Oklahoma is all about oil, natural gas and, increasingly, wind energy.

Roughly one-quarter of all jobs in Oklahoma are tied to the energy industry, either directly or indirectly, says Mickey Hepner, an economist and Dean of the University of Central Oklahoma’s College of Business Administration.

The state has a unique historical stake in the oil industry, but Oklahoma today is as much an energy state as perhaps it’s ever been, Hepner says, and oil and natural gas helped the state survive the recent recession.

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May 20, 2013

Chesapeake Energy Picks Anadarko Executive for CEO Post

Robert Douglas Lawler, senior vice president of international and deepwater operations at Anadarko Petroleum, has been chosen to lead the Oklahoma City natural gas giant, which has been seeking a permanent replacement for co-founder Aubrey McClendon, who was forced out of the company on April 1. Lawler starts on June 17. In choosing him, Chesapeake [...]

May 16, 2013

Oklahoma’s Response to Man-made Quakes is More Passive Than Other States

Roger Root stands next to an wastewater holding tank near an injection well on his Newton, Ohio farm. Ohio passed tough

The 5.7-magnitude earthquake that destroyed 14 homes and injured two Oklahomans in November 2011 was the nation’s largest quake linked to injecting wastewater from oil and gas production deep underground. But neither that quake near Prague, nor Oklahoma’s recent spike in seismic activity, has provoked lawmakers or regulators here to write rules to protect public safety.

April 9, 2013

Why Ohio is Keeping an Eye on Oklahoma’s Energy Boom

There’s a lot of petroleum promise in Ohio’s Utica Shale. Drilling and development are ramping up, but there’s still uncertainty. And Ohioans don’t quite know what to expect. So, Cleveland Plain Dealer business reporter John Funk traveled to Oklahoma City, “the energy capital of an energy state,” to take home some insight on boom-and-bust: In [...]

April 5, 2013

Could CNG Vehicles Hurt Oklahoma Roads, Down the Road?

When it comes to natural gas, Oklahoma lawmakers and corporate leaders are aggressive drivers. The Sooner State is big on CNG-fueled cars and trucks, which have fewer greenhouse gas emissions than their gasoline and diesel-powered counterparts. CNG vehicles also run on a commodity that is currently abundant, cheap and domestically produced — in Oklahoma and [...]

March 28, 2013

Oklahoma is at the Epicenter of a Debate About Industry and Earthquakes

Oklahoma’s largest-recorded earthquake is relatively small on the scale of international seismic events, but debate about its cause has created a lot of aftershocks. Recently published research further suggests the 5.7-magnitude quake that shook near Prague on November 2011 was triggered by injection wells used by the oil and gas industry. This means Oklahoma’s quake [...]

March 14, 2013

First Bill Signing of 2013 Shows What Can Happen When Corporations Help Write Law

This story is about a bill. A measure that was ineffective, had unintended consequences, and had to be undone. A bill that a giant Oklahoma energy company helped write — and helped fight.

March 13, 2013

New Injection Well Rules: Surety Increase Approved, Notification Proposal Nixed

Oklahoma’s oil and gas regulator on Wednesday approved changes to rules for drilling operations. Among the changes approved, was the ability for the commission to require higher surety bonds for injection wells, the Journal Record’s Sarah Terry-Cobo reports. Another injection well rule — which would require operators to notify county commissioners of new injection wells [...]

March 6, 2013

First Bill Signed Into Law in 2013 Undoes a Law Chesapeake Energy Helped Write

Gov. Mary Fallin, about to give her State of the State Address in 2013.

Chesapeake Energy has been pushing for a new law to undo a previous law the company helped write. On Tuesday, the new law was signed by Gov. Mary Fallin — the first bill signed by the Governor during the 2013 legislative session. House Bill 1646, authored by Rep. Fred Jordan, R-Jenks, reverses 2010 legislation that [...]

March 5, 2013

Oklahoma Geological Survey to Monitor Injection Well for Earthquake Activity

Some earthquake seismologists say oil and natural gas disposal wells, like this one near Sparks, Okla., are likely triggering earthquakes in Oklahoma and other states in the mid-continent.

Earthquakes have been increasing in Oklahoma and other states throughout the mid-continent, and many seismologists think this increased seismicity is linked to disposal wells used by the oil and gas industry. The connection has caused oil and gas regulators in some states to re-evaluate how they issue permits for drilling. No such changes will be [...]

March 4, 2013

OETA in Osage County: Finds Frustrated Cattlemen, No Answers from BIA

Osage County is the only county in Oklahoma that isn’t monitored by the Corporation Commission, the state’s oil and gas regulator. Mineral rights in Osage County are held in a federal trust for the Osage Nation, and oil and gas drilling is regulated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Landowners and the tribe say the BIA [...]