Artificial Lift Research and Development Council ALRDC Board of Directors Meeting September 21, 2004 Agenda and Minutes Venue Date: Time: Place: Host: Equipment: Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2004 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm Petroleum Engineering Department, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX Dr. Jim Lea, Chairman, Petroleum Engineering Screen, PC projector, speaker telephone to include remote members Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. The meeting was held on the date and in the place listed. It started at 1:30 pm and ended at 2:45 pm. Attendance is recorded on the ALRDC Board of Directors list. Purpose Address proposed changes in ALRDC strategy and impact this will have on the organization and related matters. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. The purposes of the meeting were achieved. Agenda Are previous changes working? Discuss previous changes in ALRDC membership and funding models. Are these working? Members --- Any organization and/or person who is involved or interested in artificial lift is accepted as a member, free of charge. Current membership: 321 members, from all over the world. Currently we require people to register as members to access some of the ALRDC services. Since they don’t pay, the only purpose of this is to keep a count of the number of members. And, it is often a hassle for both them and for me. Sometimes, or instance, the user name and password don’t work correctly. Should we drop or modify the requirement to register? Initially, each person who registered received an ALRDC Membership Certificate. Sending these became too much of a burden. Is there some way this can be automated? Artificial Lift R&D Council Board of Directors Meeting Page 2 What other incentives could we give for people to register as members? Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. The following items were agreed: It was agreed to remove restrictions so that all members of ALRDC can have “free” access to all ALRDC functions, without the need to log into the individual sections with a user name and password. Action: Cleon will check with various web design sources to evaluate the feasibility and cost of this change. It will still be required to use a user name and password to access selected documents and presentations from API, ISO, and selected Workshops. It was agreed that people who don’t attend a workshop can access presentations either by buying a CD for $25, or by paying $25 and having the right to download the files from the www.alrdc.com web site. Action: Cleon will update the appropriate web places to make this change clear. It was agreed to try to automatically generate a membership certificate for all who join ALRDC. Action: Cleon will check with various web design sources to evaluate the feasibility and cost of this change. Funding --- ALRDC is funded as follows: There are no membership fees. A small percentage of net income from sponsored workshops is received. This works very well with the Gas Well De-Liquification Workshop. It works less well or not at all with other workshops so far. What other workshops can be considered? A small percentage of net income from sponsored courses and seminars is received. A small fee is charged for coordination of artificial lift R&D projects. A small charge is made for advertising in the ALRDC yellow pages. Amounts are shown on the Yellow Pages page of www.alrdc.com. Sponsorships are paid by sponsoring organizations. So far, the following income has been received: Spring 2004 Gas-Lift Workshop: $500.00 Spring Gas Well De-Liquification Workshop: $10,768.12 Total: $11,268.12 To date, no other income has been received. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. Ronda Brewer and Cleon Dunham discussed the ALRDC financial matters after the meeting. The following points summarize that discussion: The ALRDC funds are kept under (as part of) the Southwestern Petroleum Short Course (SWPSC) account. They are kept separate from the SWPSC funds. Artificial Lift R&D Council Board of Directors Meeting Page 3 Action: Cleon will create a spreadsheet to keep the ALRDC income and expense information. He and Ronda will share this spreadsheet back and forth. Action: Cleon will submit an ALRDC invoice for expenses he needs to have paid. Each expense must have an accompanying receipt. Jim Lea will authorize the invoices. Ronda Brewer will issue the checks. Ronda can also accept and pay other authorized expenses such as for student workers, ALRDC equipment, etc. Any such expenditures must be authorized by Cleon and Jim. See discussion of potential student assistants later in this document. Action: Cleon is to create an ALRDC Budget to serve as a guide for managing ALRDC income and expenditures. The SWPSC books are audited each year and the auditor creates any needed IRS 1099 Forms for any “contract” work performed. The ALRDC “books” will be audited by the same process. The budget “year” runs from Sept. 1 – Aug. 31. The books are audited in the fall of the year. All tax issues are completed by Jan. 15. People who wish to pay for ALRDC services by credit card can do so. There is a charge for this of about 2.5%. This charge is to be covered by the ALRDC account. It is not charged back to the person who uses the credit card. Expenses --- ALRDC expenses: Since the formal launch of ALRDC a year ago, the only expense has been to cover Cleon’s cost to attend this meeting. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. See above. ALRDC budget and account An ALRDC budget and account have been created. They are maintained by Ronda Brewer. Expenses from the account are requested by Cleon Dunham and approved by Dr. Jim Lea. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. See above. Evaluate current ALRDC functions. Demo ALRDC web site if desired by attendees, discuss proposed methods of operation for each of the ALRDC services, and solicit volunteers to work on these topics. Technical committees --- This is kept active for API and ISO gas-lift committees. Other forms of artificial lift (e.g. Beam Pumping, ESP, etc.) are not (yet) addressed. Should they be? Artificial Lift R&D Council Board of Directors Meeting Page 4 Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. No changes were discussed. Action: Cleon will visit with key people who are involved with API and/or ISO work associated with Beam Pumping, ESP, etc. to see if they are interested in using ALRDC facilities. Workshops --- This is kept active for most domestic and some international artificial lift workshops. Should other workshops be included? If yes, which ones? Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. No changes were discussed. Artificial lift questions and answers --- This is being used by some people. More assistance is needed from the Steering Committee and others to answer questions. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. No changes were discussed. Best practices --- No progress on this. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. No changes were discussed. Calendar of events --- No progress on this. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. No changes were discussed. Case histories --- No progress on this. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. No changes were discussed. Courses --- No progress on this. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. The following items were discussed: ALRDC should consider offering remote courses via the ALRDC web site. ALRDC should consider offering live, interactive courses and/or workshops. ALRDC should consider offering web cam access to such things as the Texas Tech Red Raider #1 test facility/well and its current tests. Artificial Lift R&D Council Board of Directors Meeting Page 5 These are all viewed as potential future activities. There are no current action items. Forums --- No progress on this. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. Use of this is just starting. It may “take off” when it becomes easier to access the various ALRDC features. R&D projects --- No progress on this. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. No changes were discussed. Seminars --- No progress on this. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. Seminars might be offered in the same way as discussed above for courses. Technical library --- No progress on this. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. This may be an area that can be progressed by a University student. Yellow pages --- No progress on this. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. No changes were discussed. Technical information --- This is not presently a service of ALRDC. But several people have asked for specific technical information on pumping units, motors, gears, belts, sheaves, etc., etc. Should we provide a place in ALRDC to list “standard” information such as pumping unit sizes and related measurements, etc.? Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. This idea received general agreement, as long as the Supplier companies agree to provide the information. This is an area that a University student might help with. Action: Cleon is to design a web page within www.alrdc.com where there can be links to various Supplier catalogs, etc. This is in keeping with the idea of ALRDC being both a repository of information and a “portal” to other artificial lift information. Action: Cleon will also investigate the possibility of linking to various design programs for beam, ESP, gas-lift, etc. Artificial Lift R&D Council Board of Directors Meeting Page 6 Other related issues. Biggest issue --- Staffing. If ALRDC is to provide more services, more help is needed to progress the above services. What role(s) will members of the Steering Committee play? Are all current members of the Steering Committee willing to help? Are new members needed? Who else can we get to help? Can this be volunteer help, or must we hire someone? If we hire someone, how can this be funded? Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. The idea of using a University student worker received enthusiastic support. The following ideas were discussed: The total cost of a student would be in the neighborhood of $10 per hour, or less. This total cost includes salary and withholding taxes. Benefits are not paid. Assuming having a student work 20 hours per week (maximum) for 24 weeks per year (estimate of 12 weeks per semester), the cost would be approximately $200 per week, or $4800 per year. There are two options to pay a student: (a) via Texas Tech, or (b) via SWPSC. The “best” method will be left up to Ronda. A student would need to be given very specific tasks. Cleon and Jim will agree on the tasks. Cleon will provide technical supervision. Ronda will provide administrative supervision. The student will sit at a desk close to Ronda’s office. He/she will need a computer with access to the Internet and Front Page, and a telephone. Action: Cleon will interview Aaron Gutierrez on Wednesday, Sept. 22, at 1:00 pm. Aaron is senior petroleum engineering student at TTU. Spreading the word --- How to advertise ALRDC? Methods to get the word out? Re-issue ALRDC brochure. Can someone re-print the brochure? Cleon and Jim can provide needed input information. Soliciting advertising. Soliciting sponsors. Other forms of fund raising? Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. Action: Cleon will check with Weatherford to see if they would be willing to reproduce the ALRDC brochure, like they did the first time. Artificial Lift R&D Council Board of Directors Meeting Page 7 Non-Profit Status --- How to obtain ALRDC not-for-profit status? Drafting of “legal” documents? Need for legal assistance? This still needs to be addressed. Cleon’s son Jim, who has recently been through this process, has offered to help. Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. Action: Cleon will work with his son Jim to progress this matter. Jim has recently been through the process of obtaining 501©3 status for the Institute of Strategic Clarity. Artificial Lift Journal --- Involvement of ALRDC with Artificial Lift Journal Is the Journal going to happen? Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. There is still much interest in this idea. The SWPSC Board has given its approval to proceed with this idea. Three members of the SWPSC Board have agreed to help with this. Action: Cleon is to check with Hart’s E&P to firm up their interest. The next step, after agreement with Hart’s, will be to form an Artificial Lift Journal Board to get this off the ground. Future Meetings Board of Directors When Where Method of meeting – remote or face-to-face Working in between meetings General membership When Where Course(s) and/or Seminar(s) When Where Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. No specific date or place for the next meeting was established. It will be after several of the initiatives agreed to in this meeting have been addressed. Conclusion Action items and action parties Artificial Lift R&D Council Board of Directors Meeting Page 8 Any comments Adjourn Sept. 21, 2004 minutes. Each person had an opportunity to make a closing statement. Ronda. New ideas sound good. Jim. There is an opportunity for Hal Rabbino to work with a colleague of Jim’s in Mexico. Jim will put them together via e-mail. Hal. There were good outcomes from this meeting. Hal is moving to Mexico City He is interested in remaining on the ALRDC Board of Directors. Cleon. Thanks very much to all who participated in the meeting.
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