1: I think most people didn't really know what to expect at this thing. Information about the meeting was hard to come by. I learned about the existence of the meeting in a local newspaper article, but it seemed like no other information was available, not even online. I only learned of the location of the meeting after I made a phone call to the Colorado City Chamber of Commerce. So I'm sure there were a handful of people in the audience of about 250 who felt like the lady sitting next to me who asked rhetorically under her breath "Where are all the oil companies?" She was under the impression that some of the operators in the area would be present and taking resumes or looking to "talk shop." Honestly I was hoping for something like that too, and in fact, that is the main reason for my less than stellar summation of the meeting mentioned above.
2: Though there was no theme or slogan, the speakers all shared the same general message: "Get ready." Also I heard several variations on the statement "We have learned so much from the Barnett and Eagle Ford plays, let's all try to not repeat our mistakes there." Most of the speakers were there representing state agencies (Texas Worforce Commission, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas RailRoad Commission, just to name a few). To me they seemed to be targeting the city council members and other government leaders in the room with the information they shared. Some advice that stood out to me: 1) don't prevent the man-camps from locating inside city limits because you need to have some control over them so they don't get out of hand; 2) get a hotel occupancy tax because you will need the funding for a bigger police force and other services, 3) watch the state legislature because there have already been bills introduced this session that affect the hotel occupancy tax; 4) cities need to get ready to exorcize their extra-territorial jurisdiction regarding roads because counties wont have the budget to maintain them well enough.
3: They fed the whole audience a good lunch of chicken fried steak, green beans and mash potatoes. I particularly enjoyed the lunch break because it afforded me a chance to be in conversation with other audience members. One guy I met said he was from Lufkin (East Texas). He was a commercial real estate developer who learned he could do well following the major oil and gas plays building hotels early in the development and shopping centers later as the location matured. The question he sought to answer at the Cline Shale Summit: "As a country and as a state, do we have room for more growth?" His point being that there are several hot oil and gas plays right now. Locally, there is the Barnett, and Eagle Ford and various formations west of Midland; nationally there is the Bakken, Marcellus, and Utica shale plays. It may make no difference that there could be 3 times the amount of recoverable oil in the Cline Shale formation as the Bakken (the largest oil shale formation discovered in the U.S.). If drillers have more on their plate right now than they can handle, the Cline may have to sit for a few years so drillers can get caught up. Also the skills of the workforce in the U.S. may be an issue too. Kids for the last 30 years have been taught to go to a 4 year college and get a degree so you can work a high paying job in an office somewhere, but what we really need to develop our national resources right now are "skilled laborers" - welders, roustabouts, roughnecks, etc. The workforce may delay the development of the Cline as well. I look forward to comparing the activity in the Cline Shale a year and two years from now. My guess is there will be delays, but make no doubt about it for at least the next 10 years the area between Midland and Abilene will see crazy growth.
As we were finishing our lunch a tall, older, goateed man in pressed jeans, boots, and cowboy hat came to our table and heartily greeted my friend the real estate developer. The man said he was the mayor of Big Spring, Texas, and he and his friends on the city council see room for growth in their town. They excitedly traded business cards. Interested in Cline Shale, or Oil and Gas issues?
TxDOT: in some places we can't get roads repaired fast enough. We've learned to tear the pavement up and reduce the speed limit #clineshale
— Matthew Zimmerman (@PnutBrother) February 8, 2013
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