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Weekly UpdatesOne of Alaska's most venerable trade associations turned 40 this year. The Alaska Oil and Gas Association (AOGA), an organization of the state's oil and gas companies, has been dubbed "the voice of the industry" for more than four decades. While AOGA has its public relations programs and from time to time has sponsored institutional advertising to educate the public about the petroleum industry, the nuts-and-bolts of what the organization does, like many trade groups, is to keep its members up-to-date on complex governmental and regulatory issues, and to work directly with government officials and agencies to comment on or resolve problems its industry members have with regulations or bills pending in the state Legislature. Over the years, AOGA has been extremely valuable to its members, and mainly in three areas:
* The association provides a forum for the broad and competitive mix of oil and gas companies operating in Alaska to work together and speak with a single voice on issues of common concern. While individual companies represent their own interests on competitive issues, AOGA is the link among companies for discussion and action on issues that affect the entire industry.
* The association has always been a key source of information on government issues, such as new regulations and legislation, for companies that do not have large offices or their own government or public affairs staff in Alaska, as well as the forum for scoping areas of agreement and linking strategies between large and small companies, both in Cook Inlet and the North Slope.
* Government agencies, at times, need a mechanism to talk with the entire industry. AOGA performs this role very effectively. Federal agencies, like the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Minerals Management Service; and state agencies, like the Departments of Natural Resources, Revenue and Environmental Conservation, periodically meet with AOGNs board and committees, on which all the Alaska companies are represented. In that way they can get technical advice on new rules or policies in an organized and efficient manner. AOGA is also the vehicle used by oil and gas companies to comment on proposed tax, environmental, permitting regulations and on lease sale proposals.
The experience and length of service of the association's staff is valuable for the industry, where key managers rotate in and out of Alaska every few years. The continuity of AOGNs staff and years of institutional knowledge on a range of highly technical issues is an asset.
LONGEVITY
Some examples: Judy Brady has been AOGA's executive director for 12 years, is a former Commissioner of Natural Resources and has lived in Alaska since the early 1960s. With her DNR experience, Brady has deep knowledge on land and leasing issues. Marilyn Crockett, the deputy director and environmental manager, has been with AOGA for 36 years and has developed in-depth experience in issues like coastal zone management and federal and state permitting. Tamara Sheffield, support services for the group, has been with AOGA for 25 years. The newest member of AOGA's team, Kara Moriarty, is the external affairs manager and has been staff to both national and state legislators.
The association shows its strength when there are technical and complex issues that the companies need to work on as a group, sharing expertise. When a state sales tax was being seriously considered by the Legislature last year, the association's tax committee and its staff worked to get an analysis of technical problems, and a series of amendments, to legislators in short order.
The sales tax did not pass, but AOGA performed the same function this year on the revised Petroleum Production Tax, which did pass. While the producing companies themselves debated key policy issues like the rate of tax, AOGA's tax committee provided legislators and the state Department of Revenue with a series of technical amendments designed to make the tax more practical to administer.
ALASKA LEADS THE WAY
All parts of the nation have their regional oil and gas associations, but Alaska is the only state that has its own independent association, a mark of distinction that signals the importance of Alaska to the industry as well as the nation.
For several years after oil was first discovered in Cook Inlet, the Western Oil and Gas Association, based in California, included Alaska within the regions it covered. After major oil discoveries were made on the North Slope, Alaska industry members decided to form their own association. That was mainly because the larger Western Oil and Gas Association had to represent the interests of the big refiners and fuel oil marketers on the West Coast, as well as West Coast and Alaska oil producers. After a period it was felt that the concerns of the Alaska producers were unique enough, and the North Slope was so big, that a separate organized designed to focus on Alaska's issues was justified.
For the industry members, a decision like this is no small matter because there are cost issues involved. Running a separate organization will often cost more than being part of a larger organization, but the flexibility that came with independence allowed the Alaska industry to attract the most qualified staff and, most importantly, to be able to react quickly to events in dealing with government agencies and the Legislature.
As it has turned out, as an independent organization, AOGA has paid equal attention to Cook Inlet and North Slope issues. In Alaska, regulatory issues move quickly from one region to another. Companies began relying on AOGA to work out industry solutions to problems that at first glance affected only one company.
The petroleum industry is not monolithic. Each of the 17 AOGA member companies has its interests and priorities. There is a natural tension, for example, between the independent, smaller companies and the large, long-established major North Slope producing companies.
This has been a difficult year for AOGA. The development of a new petroleum tax system by the Legislature affected each of AOGA's member companies differently, yet the association was able to propose a coherent and united position. It can be challenging, at times, to balance these differences within a trade association, but AOGA has been able to do this successfully over the years.
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