The Petroleum Association of Wyoming is the voice of the oil and gas industry, including oil and gas production companies, midstream processing, pipeline transportation, oilfield service companies, and affiliated companies offering essential work such as legal services, accounting, consulting and more.

Our Vision

The Petroleum Association of Wyoming is the voice of the oil and gas industry: Wyoming’s primary economic engine.

Our Mission

The Petroleum Association of Wyoming represents the diverse people, companies and interests of Wyoming’s oil and gas industry with passion, integrity and professionalism. We provide a forum for education, interaction, and unified action for members, policymakers, and the public.

In all our endeavors, PAW:

• Promotes pro-growth policies for the oil and gas industry
• Supports sustainable production of Wyoming’s abundant resources
• Fosters mutually beneficial relationships with Wyoming’s landowners, businesses, and communities
• Upholds the values of science-based, environmental stewardship

PAW is dedicated to Wyoming’s success, and to limitless economic opportunity for her people.

Federal District Court Wins for Wyoming Oil & Gas

PAW intervened in two U.S. District Court Cases on behalf of members that would have had drastic consequences for the industry in Wyoming. In both cases, industry saw wins before the Honorable U.S. District Court Judge Tanya

In Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians v. Department of Interior, Debra Haaland, Bureau of Land Management, Tracy Stone-Manning, Judge Chutkan dismiss the case for lack of standing by the plaintiffs. She rule that the environmental activist groups that filed the suit failed to establish any specific harm from issuance of individual permits.

Had the case been upheld approximately 900 Applications for Permit to Drill (APDs) issued since 2021 would have been vacated (plus more in New Mexico), dealing significant harm to Wyoming’s oil and natural gas industry. Additionally, the plaintiffs sought to enjoin any new permits pending the outcome of the case.

In Powder River Basin Resource Council v. Department of Interior, PAW, acting as a defendant-intervenor, along with several member companies and the State of Wyoming, welcomed another positive decision from Judge Chutkan to dismiss PRBRC’s challenge to Applications for Permit to Drill (APD) in the Converse County EIS (CCEIS) project area and preliminary injunction for the entire CCEIS.

In regard to the APD challenge, Judge Chutkan’s ruling found that “[a]lthough Plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction and supporting exhibits total more than 5,000 pages, they have not specified any particular APD or any surrounding area affected by any pollutants traceable to any particular APD (air, noise, water, visual etc.).  Nor have Plaintiffs specified that any of their members use (recreate, live in, travel through, visit) any such area.”

Further, Judge Chutkan took the plaintiffs to task for waiting nearly two years to file their case when dismissing their motion for a preliminary injunction. “Plaintiffs waited nearly 21 months after Defendants issued the Converse County Record of Decision to bring this suit.  At oral argument, Plaintiffs admitted that they knew that Defendants had issued the Record of Decision, and that they had commented on the final EIS as well as many of the subsequently approved APDs.  But they claimed that they lacked the financial and human capital—apparently for nearly two years—to initiate this suit.  Even after they filed suit, however, Plaintiffs waited more than six months to move for a preliminary injunction, see ECF No. 64, and subsequently sought an eleven-day extension to file their reply due to a conflict with their counsel’s planned two-week leave.[…] ‘These unexplained delays in seeking emergency relief undermine their contention that they will be irreparably harmed absent an injunction.’”

Meanwhile, the Joint Minerals Committee spent a great deal of time on carbon capture, utilization and sequestration in the interim given that Wyoming is well suited to see major investments in this area, including from numerous PAW members. In an effort to assist in these efforts, PAW has created the Wyoming Carbon Innovation Network. You can read more about the Network and its efforts here.  The committee has advanced a bill that clarifies the responsibilities of Wyoming agencies on carbon storage efforts, and looked at a proposal to equalize the 45Q tax credit so that EOR projects are not discouraged.

Finally, The Joint Revenue Committee took a hard look at the taxation of energy and electricity and the support structures around those.  Wyoming’s tax structure remains a difficult problem given that most of the Wyoming electorate has grown accustomed to oil and gas paying the majority of the bills.

At the federal level, PAW President Pete Obermueller had the opportunity to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee at a hearing entitled “Full Committee Hearing to Examine Opportunities for Congress to Reform the Process for Permitting Electric Transmission Lines, Pipelines, and Energy Production on Federal Lands“. In his message, Pete stated that the availability of affordable energy has done so much to advance human flourishing, and that Wyoming has played a role in that advancement.  You can watch Pete’s oral testimony below starting at the 1 hour 47 minute mark and read his full remarks here.

2023 was inundated with public lands issues.

The Bureau of Land Management has been busy. Proposals to put conservation on par with other uses in FLPMA, reconfiguring how the oil and gas leasing program will function, and an unfortunate selection of a preferred alternative in Rock Springs have all kept PAW staff, members, local government officials and community members on their toes. These are all items PAW engaged in to influence how oil and gas will operate on public lands going forward.

In addition, PAW has been active at every stage of the BLM’s oil and gas lease sales. The BLM has incorporated new criteria against which proposed leases are gauged to be made available or not. PAW has fought to keep opportunities available. We are always looking for ways to leverage our position, including Colin’s appointment to the Wyoming BLM Resource Advisory Council and our work to have agreements in place with the BLM which would allow PAW to bolster their internal resources, if needed.

On the state-side, Wyoming initiated a process to review and revise its Greater Sage-Grouse core area map. While we didn’t win every battle, PAW moved the marker significantly to protect our collective interest. Currently, the state is considering designation of an ungulate migration corridor in Western Wyoming. PAW is similarly involved in that process, working with the same goal in mind.

The regulatory front, while impeded with less volume, was no less adventurous this year. It started with reviewing the EPA’s latest iteration of proposed standards for methane emissions from new and existing sources, and ended with a final rule. While PAW commented and joined a coalition of numerous other trades to provide the EPA in-depth responses, we are also working to identify ways we can lessen the impact of any future regulatory framework.

We thank those members who contributed to our regulatory efforts throughout this year. While there were far too many issues to name each in in detail, our discussions of these topics through the Public Lands Committee, Regulatory Affairs Committee, and ad hoc committees on specific issues, ensured PAW put forward our best strategies and arguments.

On a final note, we were incredibly pleased with the lineup and turnout for the 2023 Wildlife & Reclamation Conference. It was an engaging day with an incredible amount of good, relevant and new information. We had attendees from as far away as Minnesota who came to further their careers in wildlife and reclamation sciences.

Earned Media

For 2023, PAW received 93 unique stories in state, regional and national media – an average of 7.75 per month. The three year rolling average is 9.9 stories per month. The lower average for 2023 can be mostly attributed to nearly six months without an energy and natural resources reporter at the Casper Star Tribune and the fact that Cowboy State Daily’s energy reporter left in the fall of 2023. The Casper Star has hired a new energy reporter and Ryan is actively working with him to include industry perspective in his pieces and help him understand the industry as a whole.

Joint Trades Work

PAW continues to be heavily involved with the Joint Trades group that meets in person twice a year and monthly via Microsoft Teams. Ryan was named to the steering committee this year. At the Fall 2022 Summit in Oklahoma City, he presented as part of the State Priorities 2023 Panel and presented as part of a panel entitled Curating Rapid Response Strategies at the Fall 2023 Summit in Denver. Ryan is also active in the Joint Trades Social Media Advocacy Huddle.

Social Media

Ryan took over social media management from GroundFloor Media this Spring in order to maximize the communications budget.

• LinkedIn continues to be a strong growth area for PAW’s social media with a 30% increase in unique visitors over the last 30 days
• PAW’s LinkedIn page saw an increase in new followers of 486 over the last year
• X (formerly Twitter) impressions were at 920 over Q4 of 2023
• Facebook reach was up 1.1k% and Facebook visits were up 176.8% in Q4 of 2023
• Instagram reach was up 75% in Q4 of 2023
• Total social media presence across all platforms is 7,080

Releases and Joint Letters

PAW issued three press releases and three joint letters over the previous year including a joint release with the Western Energy Alliance about the Administration’s failure to hold quarterly lease sales, a joint release with API to announce research results into the industry’s economic impact on Wyoming and a statement with the Producers Alliance in opposition to the new EPA Methane Rule. All releases can be found at here.

Powering Wyoming’s Potential

Ryan spent four days in Sublette and Sweetwater Counties in June with GroundFloor Media to film the second set of videos for the Basin-specific communications project. The long-form video can be seen above in Pete’s welcome and short form videos for social media on topics like community impact, wildlife, and economic impact that will be used for a coordinated social media campaign are ready to launch as soon as the web page for the Green River Basin is complete. Our ultimate goal is to have a database of supporters in each basin that can be contacted for grassroots efforts as well as educate Wyomingites on basin-specific issues in their area.

The Petroleum Association of Wyoming is governed by a dedicated Board of Directors representing a variety of independent producers, processing and transporting companies, land representatives and other organizations that work within and alongside the oil and gas industry. The Board of Directors guides the staff, establishes Association policy, and provides information on important issues affecting the industry. Members attending the 2023 Rockies Petroleum Conference and PAW Annual Meeting voted in new board members and elected a new slate of officers.

2023-2024 Officers

Chairman – Spencer Kimball, EOG Resources

Vice Chairman – Shelley Shelby, Continental Resources

Secretary-Treasurer – Peter Wold, Wold Oil Company

A full list of board members and the management committee can be found here.

PAW maintains a full-time professional staff dedicated to advancing the industry through monitoring and influencing regulatory actions, representing member’s interests at legislative sessions and committee meetings at the state and federal levels, and shaping conversations around the industry with various audiences including the general public, media and policy makers.