Southwest Mississippi residents have the unique opportunity next month to learn first-hand what to expect should a shale oil boom materialize here as it has in other states, particularly North Dakota.
North Dakota Rep. Vicky Steiner will be part of a seminar at Southwest Mississippi Community College on Nov. 8 and 9 that will let residents and businesses in on the do’s and don’ts when it comes to dealing with oil companies and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Steiner is executive director of the North Dakota Association of the Oil & Gas Producing Counties.
In southwest Mississippi, the boom would come from the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale oil deposits.
The “Thrive America: Leveraging the Energy Evolution” seminar is being organized by Wiggins resident Charlotte Batson, who owns Batson & Company. Batson has gathered information for area counties on the best practices of shale oil development in other regions of the country. Batson’s marketing strategist, Amber Lombardo, is also working on the final details for the seminar, which will be on the third floor of the Horace Holmes student Union.
Batson returned last week from South Africa, where she was invited to speak at a shale oil conference and was interviewed by CNBC South Africa about how South Africa can manage its drilling.
Batson’s Nov. 8 session concerns rights of landowners. The fee is $95 for the conference and $10 for a networking lunch. A VIP reception that night at The Caboose is $45.
The Nov. 9 seminar is geared toward small business and entrepreneurs. The fee is $145, along with $10 for lunch.
Lombardo said Batson has the unique ability to simplify her discussions so the average person can understand.
“Charlotte is very good at translating the material into layman’s terms, That is her niche market,” Lombardo said. “The mission of the seminars is to help landowners be able to understand mineral rights documents when they receive them in the future and the legal documents that go along with them, such as a land lease. We’ll talk about all the environmental impacts like water quality. Right now, the tendency for the oil companies is to pass along added costs for drilling on landowners’ property. We want people to be aware of that and teach them how to manage it they’ve already signed a lease.”
Thursday’s session will be presented by Batson and D.W. Maxwell, president of Maxwell Energy in Brookhaven.
Lombardo said the business seminar will be just as informative, if not moreso.
“The focus shifts from the landowner to the small business owner,” Lombardo said. “Friday we will have the heavy hitters in town. Along with Steiner, speakers include Barry Wilfahart, executive director of the Grand Forks N.D. Chamber of Commerce, Keith Lund, vice president of the Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corp., and Ken Becker, executive director of the Sweetwater (Texas) Enterprise for Economic Development Inc.
“North Dakota has experienced a tremendous oil boom over the last five years. Barry Wilfhart and Keith Lund will be coming in with their perspective on what they wished they had known five years ago,” Lombardo said. “They will be able to share signs and symptoms of what was coming and how they wished they had prepared for what was coming. Ken Becker will talk about how small businesses can capitalize on supply chain opportunities.”
According to the Fraser Institute, Global Petroleum’s survey earlier this year showed all signs of a strong oil and gas market pointing toward Mississippi.
“What is most impressive is Mississippi is the second most favorable oil and gas market in the world,” Lombardo said. “Mississippi is getting a lot of global attention in the investment environment. Clearly all the enthusiasm our delegation from North Dakota and south Texas demonstrates what all the chatter about oil and gas in Mississippi is about.”
The seminars are a result of meetings over the summer in McComb, Liberty and Tylertown.
“There were so many questions from the communities during the meetings that we thought we needed a room later on to answer specific questions. That was the purpose of the meeting,” Lombardo said. “What is coming up is a chance for residents to ask questions and conversation, instead of a one-way conversation.”
Lombardo said Wilfahart and Lund developed a way to get information to people throughout Mississippi.
“Barry and Keith created a program where residents across the state can do business across the state,” Lombardo said. “It’s very important to get information into the hands of residents so they will be able to compete against people from out of town.”
