SUMMARY 

NARO OHIO HOLDS 1ST ANNUAL
STATE CONVENTION
“OHIO’S NATURAL GAS: WHY IT MATTERS!”

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The National Association of Royalty Owner’s newest chapter, NARO OH, held it’s first Annual State Convention on September 16-17th at the Prichard Laughlin Civic Center in Cambridge, OH. Conference Co-Chairs Sandi Thompson and Pat Marcum, along with other NARO OHIO Board members, planned an executed an excellent well attended freshmen effort that was enjoyed by all. (When you see them next, take a moment to thank them for all of their hard work.)

Friday began with Chapter Co-Presidents Barry Browne and Dan Devitt opening the convention and keeping the rest of us on track for the weekend. Learning sessions commenced with well attended CMM/RMM/Ethics review classes for those who are pursuing formal CMM/RMM certification/re-certification. In the afternoon a Mineral Management 101 Class was also held for new members or for those who were wanting to further broaden their knowledge about the oil & gas realm. Concurrently, the Ascent Resources and Patterson crews very graciously hosted a well pad tour of one of their newest pads, the Jacka-lope, in Guernsey County. Every question was cheerfully answered and NARO members were allowed access to all areas of the pad whilst wearing their company provided ‘photogenic’ protective gear as you can see in the photo below. Several attendees reported the tour as being one of the high-lights of the convention for themselves. The NARO OH Board sends a hearty thank you to Ascent and Patterson for their warm hospitality and already has an invitation for another equally enticing field trip in another realm of the oil & gas business for next year’s convention attendees. Friday evening was capped off by an Industry Roundtable, very ably facilitated by Jim Milleson, with 4 extremely knowledgeable industry insiders representing various facets of the oil, gas, carbon sequestration field and ESG sectors from state, national and international vantage points. Roundtable attendees were treated to glimpses of where the energy industry is heading and the truly global roll that Ohio Gas and Oil plays on the national and International stage.

Saturday commenced with Opening Remarks by Chapter Co-President Barry Browne about “Ohio Gas & Oil, Why It Matters”, This was immediately followed by a blockbuster recorded message by EQT President & CEO Toby Rice on the role of Appalachian hydrocarbons in the domestic energy sup-ply and energy security of the United States. Also explored in depth by CEO Rice are the truly expansive nature of royalty payments made to mineral and royalty owners in Appalachia. In the first eight months of 2022 that amount totaled over $1 Billion dollars for EQT royalty owners alone. CEO Rice closed out his talk by reminding the audience that unleashing US LNG is the biggest green
energy initiative on the planet. You can view a video of the talk on the NARO OH Chapter website at https://naroohio.org NARO National Executive Director Jack Fleet then addressed convention attendees and spoke about the important on-going work of NARO National. Further he addressed the continued need for NARO in these unprecedented times due both too the ongoing critical need for hydrocarbons in our world and the seemingly limitless ungrounded attacks on the same by well organized & funded anti-hydrocarbon interests.  NARO remains the only nationwide organization that advocates solely for the rights and interests of mineral and royalty owners.

For the rest of the morning and into the afternoon Conference attendees had to make some hard choices in picking which of the concurrent sessions on varied current and relevant topics to attend. Highlights would include sessions on legal updates, new information on Ohio’s Orphan Well Program, information on Post Production Deductions, leases as contracts, the Economic Scope of Hydrocarbons in Ohio, Forced Pooling, Hydrogen, Natural Gas Pricing, Adverse Possession and Oil and Gas Reporting. Slides from several of the presentations will be available to Convention Attendees on the National NARO website.

The Honorable Jennifer Brunner, Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio, gave the Convention’s Keynote Address in which she spoke eloquently upon the need to continue the process of developing Ohio’s Oil and Gas law; both to help support the continued growth and vitality of the industry while also sup-porting and protecting the rights of mineral and
royalty owners.

The Convention concluded with a well attended Chapter Meeting.  Brainstorm-ing sessions were held on how to attract new members and identifying rank and file members’ top priorities for the chapter in the upcoming year. Nominations were taken from the floor and the 2023 slate of candidates for Board Officers and Board Members were voted upon and approved. Congratulations! to incoming Board President Dan Devitt and please welcome new Board Member Larry Petrick.

Please think deeply about how you might best support them, the rest of the Board and the work of NARO OH with your time, talent and treasure.

The Board was also glad to welcome members of the NARO Appalachian Chapter to the convention and was pleased that they were able to conduct their own chapter meeting. We wish them well in this rebuilding year for their chapter.
The Board and membership would like to sincerely thank outgoing NARO OH Board President Barry Browne for his many years of tireless service in birthing and guiding the chapter thru it’s tender years. We wish him well as he makes his way through the process towards a new chapter of service in his life; that of likely being a new At-Large Member on the NARO National Board. This would be quite a coup as Barry would be the first elected member to this kind of national board position east of the Mississippi. Good Luck Barry – We’re Rooting for you! Another hearty thank you must be given to
the Chapter’s outgoing Treasurer, Bill Knox, for his many years of steadfast service. His early work in establishing the chapters’ finances and IRS nonprofit status was invaluable. We wish Bill Good Luck in all of his future endeavors and hope that he won’t be a stranger to future NARO OH events.
The NARO OH Board would also like to thank the too numerous to name here, presenters, sponsors, donors, National NARO and NARO Foundation
staff members for all their generosity and hard work, both seen and unseen, that helped make this first conference possible. You all know who you are……. we are truly grateful and couldn’t have done it without you.

And finally, we ask our members to consider inviting one person in their lives who they think might benefit most, to become a member of NARO OH.  You’ll have the benefit of hanging out with a friend or family member at NARO events and NARO OH will gain another voice to enhance impact. We hope to see you all again very soon; be that at a local Meet n’ Greet, on an upcoming monthly From the Pipeline Zoom call, serving on a NARO OH committee, at the next convention or by chance in the hydrocarbon aisle of your local Piggly-Wiggly.