This will probably be buried by the angry rhetoric above, but I live in the Permian Basin. I make my living in the oil/gas business. Nowadays, I’m putting together conventional drilling prospects and buying and selling minerals, but for many years I owned and operated wells in Texas and NM. All in the Permian. I sold my operated assets in 2016.
Make no mistake about it. Biden caused this on day one. It’s not the operators fault, it’s not the “10,000” permits BS (and that’s total BS), it’s not anything you’re being told. What it is, is the infrastructure he killed on day 1. In NM especially, when I first started, we drilled conventional morrow wells in Eddy Co. NM that a winner would produce 5-10 million MCF a day (5,000-10,000). 4 of those in a section could be serviced by a 6” gathering line. Now, we drill “super pads”. An 8 Well pad, in cases, can produce 16,000 BO 80,000 mcf and 24,000 barrels of produced water, or more, a day at flush production (the production goes down hyperbolically from there). That takes A LOT of pipeline capacity. That volume of fluid cannot be economically trucked. Due to Biden’s initiatives, in order for us to lay a larger line in our existing Right of Way that was approved 15 years ago, I have to have a archeological study, ecological study, and environmental study to submit to the govt (who hates us). There are only a few companies that can do these studies, and they’re backed up for years. Even when you submit to the NMOCD, it takes years to get the applications through. As for produced water, we cannot get approval for salt water disposal wells in NM. We’ve had 2 permits in the que for 2 years. We paid former OCD employees consulting fees to make sure they were perfect. We were set for approval and/or supplemental hearing in February of 2021. Biden comes in, and we haven’t heard a word since. We cannot bring wells online without the infrastructure, and Biden’s administration knows that. I’m rambling. I could go on for hours about the real oilfield, but I digress.
Texas is different because most of the surface and minerals is “fee” (owned by individuals), but his over-reach can be found there too. That’s for another post.
TLDR: Biden’s day one initiatives killed the oil and gas infrastructure and transportation to market capabilities. That’s why we’re in the predicament we’re in.
