Meeting Archives

COQA San Antonio 2018
Menger Hotel
February 21-22

Thank you to our event sponsors:



Thank you to our reception sponsors:

Dennis Sutton, COQA
Welcome and Introductory Remarks

Eunice Bridges, Argus Media, began the day’s presentations with, Permian Basin 2018: Plateau or Powerhouse. She spoke about rig counts and DUC wells in the Permian, mergers and acquisitions, growth stories, midstream takeaway capacity, US exports, and WTI-Houston.

Glenn Emery, Energy Transfer Partners, then presented, Bakken Pipeline System Overview and Quality Update. It included an overview of ETP’s assets, particularly in the Delaware and Permian, before moving on to a discussion of the logistics of DAPL and the Crude Petroleum Quality Specifications in place throughout the system.

Our next presentation was MARINE FUELS MARPOL ANNEX VI 2020: Impacts on US and Canadian Crudes, Refining and Markets by Martin Tallett, president of EnSys Energy. He spoke about the 0.5% sulphur rule, providing an overview and detailing developments. He then assessed the impacts of the rule for 2020, including its implications for North American and other markets.

 Jaydeep Mahashabde of Millenium Management then presented, Crude Oil Fundamental Analysis and Trading. It discussed fundamental analysis of crude, the WTI price curve and spreads, the effect of infrastructure and production growth on Cushing crude quality, the importance of crude quality specifications to Cushing’s place in crude oil trading, and how the market is valuing the upcoming WTI contract spec change.

Next we featured a panel to provide an update on ASTM activities, particularly with vapor pressure and light ends. Bob Falkiner, Crude & Fuels Technology Consultants Inc., presented an ASTM Update to COQA that introduced the group to developments in the last five years, high level findings from recent Sandia Laboratories work, and the CCQTA “VLE Method.” Steve David, David & Associates, presented ASTM Method D6377-16: Proposed Ballot Changes, an explanation of how to reduce ambiguities and incorporate recent work by Sandia and others into the test method. Jay Grills presented on his company’s SuperGCTM High Pressure Hydrocarbon Liquid/Gas Analyzer. Finally, Wayne Kriel presented on Advances in the Analysis of Pressurized Hydrocarbon Fluids Using Injection Valves, including Super Critical Fluid Injection (SFCI) Gas Chromatography, its methods and applications.

Todd Staples, President of the Texas Oil & Gas Association, presented on Regulations and Industry in Texas, focusing on the role of TXOGA and its advocacy and Texas’s place in the national and international energy sector.

Leslie Johnson, XOS, then presented, Metals in Crude Oil: CP (ASTM D5708B) vs. HDXRF, which reviewed the steps to design and run a pilot study, then walked the audience through a recently completed study to compare HDXRF TO ICP 5708B as an easier, alternative method for measuring metals in crude oil.

Randy Segato, Suncor, then presented an update on CCQTA’s projects.

Steve Traicoff of Fairway Energy, then spoke on the, Cavern Storage Systems in the Houston Area. His presentation detailed the Gulf Coast market evolution, the Fairway Energy cavern storage systems, the new role of onshore storage, and the impacts on refining and exporting from the region.

 The last presentation was a summary of the Domestic Sweet Monitoring Program’s progress through Spring 2018. 

Thank you to all attendees and presenters.