Testimony

I am Arthur Gralla, Jr., executive vice-president of Bank One, which is located in Houston, Texas. Bank One is a national bank with an expertise in energy lending. I am here today to testify on behalf of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) which represents the interests of our nation’s 7,000 independent producers which produce approximately 40 percent of America’s crude oil and 66 percent of America’s natural gas.

I am Mark Murphy, president of Strata Production Company, which is headquartered in Roswell, New Mexico. Strata is a small independent oil and gas producer with 10 full time employees. I am here today to testify on behalf of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) which represents the interests of our nation’s 7,000 independent producers which produce approximately 40 percent of America’s crude oil and 66 percent of America’s natural gas. I am also testifying on behalf of the National Stripper Well Association (NSWA), which represents the small business operators in the oil and natural gas industry, producers with low volume, high cost stripper or marginal oil and natural gas wells.

Mr. Chairman, my name is David Bole. I am Vice President of Corporate Research and Development for Randall & Dewey, Inc., a Houston-based company that facilitates transactions in the upstream part of the petroleum industry for all segments of the industry – major companies, large and small independents, both public and private. In this business, we have seen the disruptive effects of the current price crisis not only on the stability of this critical portion of the industry but in the direct loss of producers’ equity value. Today, I am representing the Independent Petroleum Association of America. IPAA submits that the current problems facing domestic producers, and potentially significant future problems, are related in large part to the abuse of the UN “oil for food” sanctions program by Saddam Hussein

Statement of Steve Layton, President and Chief Executive Officer, Equinox Oil Company, The Woodlands, Texas