By JOHN P. TRETBAR

Baker Hughes reported an increase of 11 oil rigs nationwide, for a weekly total of 808. The gas rig count was unchanged at 194. Canada reports 111 active rigs, reflecting a seasonal decline of 23 rigs. Independent Oil & Gas Service notes seven active rigs in eastern Kansas, down two, and 32 west of Wichita, which is up two. Operators report drilling ahead on one lease in Ellis County, and they’re moving in completion tools at one site in Barton County, six in Ellis County, one in Russell County and three in Stafford County.

Independent Oil & Gas Service reports just 14 new well completions for the week across Kansas, all of them west of Wichita. There was one dry hole completed in Barton County and three dry holes in Stafford County. Operators filed 34 permits to drill at new locations across Kansas last week, including one new drilling permit in Barton County.

Operators filed 163 intent-to-drill notices with the Kansas Corporation Commission last month, a slight improvement over March of last year, but a big jump from 66 filed in March of 2016. That’s 422 through the first quarter of 2018. There were 13 new intents filed in Barton County in March, including eight filed by Kansas Gas Service. Ellis County operators filed six intents last month, and there were two in Stafford County. So far for the first three months of the year, there have been no new intent-to-drill notices filed in Russell County.

Former Securities Commissioner and KIOGA Chairman Dwight Keen was confirmed by the Kansas State Senate to replace Pat Apple on the Kansas Corporation Commission. Keen is currently co-owner and operations manager of Keen Oil Company in Winfield.

Job Service North Dakota announced a “huge, huge need” for workers in that state’s oil patch. A spokeswoman tells the Bismarck Tribune operators are needed for fracking, driving, drone and pipeline operations, as well as health-care professionals and teachers. The number of job openings for March reached their highest level since 2015.

Conoco announced this week it’s selling what the company calls non-core, mostly undeveloped assets in the Permian Basin and in South Texas, but it appears the $250 million in proceeds will be used to acquire other acreage in that region. Conoco’s holding in the Permian before the sales was over 144,000 net acres, and they’re holding on to most of that.

Prolific output in the Permian is causing bottlenecks as pipelines transporting the crude have filled up more quickly than expected. Reuters reports that’s depressing prices in west Texas. With few new pipeline projects scheduled for this year, producers might be forced to slow drilling or even shut in active production.

The Dallas Morning News reports another downside to the booming oil and gas industry in West Texas. Producers are increasingly hooking up to the electrical power grid, in a transition away from the more expensive diesel and natural gas generators used to power compressors and pipelines. The newspaper reports the spike in consumption along with poor transmission infrastructure have slowed development of sand mines and other support industries, and could lead to blackouts caused by high demand. Dallas utility Oncor, which serves the Permian Basin, is asking regulators to expedite two projects, costing an estimated $223.6 million, to meet the skyrocketing demand in the oil patch.

The oil and gas industry in North Dakota are watching closely as a judge decides whether oil firms took improper deductions and thus underpaid royalties to the state by millions of dollars. Land Commissioner Jodi Smith tells the Bismarck Tribune they don’t know precisely how much was underpaid, because those companies have not provided complete audit information. Continental Resources and other members of the North Dakota Petroleum Council disagree with the board’s interpretation, calling it a drastic change in policy.

Officials in the Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain now say their newest discovery includes some 80 billion barrels of crude oil and an estimated 14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That country’s oil minister says they hope to go into production in five years.

Russian oil firms could soon invest upwards of $50 billion into development of oil fields in Iran. A presidential aide told Russian reporters they’ve been “systemically working on the developments,” and called energy “the most promising sphere for cooperation” between the two countries.

Saudi Arabia unexpectedly raised the price of its key Arab Light crude in Asia. Bloomberg reports Saudi Aramco raised its official selling price for that grade by ten cents a barrel, while refiners and traders were expecting a 60-cent per barrel decrease.

The Cuban news agency ACN reports that country is developing what might become the deepest horizontally-drilled oil well in Latin America, possibly more than 27,000 feet deep. Extended reach drilling has already gone over 19,000 feet, and officials expect record depth to be reached this year.

Hello from Agra!

We are now past First Adjournment and back in the district until April 26^th for what should be the veto session, but with some last-minute maneuvering, we will be back for eight days and Sine Die will be on the last day of the session, May 4^th.

There are still a few big things left to do before things are finished for this year, the budget and tax bills. In order to get to the big Omnibus Appropriations bill, there are a few more pieces that need to be decided.

With the federal tax bill that was passed, there are some consequences back to the states, and late last week the Senate dealt with a number of the issues from tax money coming back through repatriation of money which has been held off-shore and as it comes back into the U.S. economy, the tax consequences will be less than the normal tax rate. There were also some changes to itemization and what is and isn’t allowed. Once we have a better handle on these dollars, it will be part of the numbers of the final spending bill.

The K-12 Education Budget Committee finished their work and over the weekend, a bill was passed out of both chambers and is now headed to Governor Colyer.  It is close to $534 million dollars of new money phased in over the next 5 years.

One of the highlights is to add more money to Special Education and keeps many of the weightings which have been beneficial to the USDs of the 110^th District.  There will be a lot of speculation and consternation about this bill and is it enough or too much money.  We will know over the next few weeks if this will be deemed constitutional. This bill will be the legislature’s response to the Kansas Supreme Court and they will decide if it provides a suitable and equitable education to the students of Kansas.

I thought the bill fiscal impact was too high, but the negotiations broke down between the House and Senate and we need to move forward; I voted for the bill.  In explaining my vote, I said “It is not a day to spike the ball, or be happy, but someone must lead, and today is that day.” If this bill is ruled unconstitutional, we will be back later this year for a special session.

Many people have asked about a possible constitutional amendment on school finding.  There is still time to bring it up for debate and vote with the remaining days of the session, but currently, I do not know what the schedule is.

I look forward to talking with you as we are out and about in the district so please feel free to reach out with concerns and questions, I will do my best to respond it a timely manner. The best way to contact me by email is: [email protected] and my cell number is (785) 302-8416.   You can also check out kenforkansas.com.

It is my honor to be your representative.