The @txrrc is meeting today - at the request of a couple oil companies - to consider the possibility of cutting oil production.

I can't believe I just typed that.

Anyway - here's the list of speakers for today's hearing:

Here's what Commissioner @RyanSitton says he'll be thinking about today. (Sitton has been the most vocal of the 3 regulators on his thoughts about all this.) http://bit.ly/2RD1e5S 

Meeting is live. Gonna be a long one!

Scott Sheffield - CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, one of companies that called for this hearing - is on now.

Tbh it's gonna be kind of fun seeing what all these oil execs and experts' homes/offices look like.

Sheffield: "I love the idea to shut in everyone in the monthly Rystad [ @RystadEnergy] report that is above 2%. It’ll be a home run for the three Texas Railroad Commissioners."

Sheffield: "I’m guessing there’s needed another 4, 5, 6 million barrels/day cut, before we can turn the futures market around, to where we see that oil will start moving to $30."

@RyanSitton asks why $30?

Sheffield: "We need $30 to survive."

Sheffield:"I think you should leave it up to each operator how they shut in their 20%."

(Here's Pioneer's summary of what its asking regulators to consider: http://bit.ly/2XA6rPD )

Sheffield says outside of production cuts - he thinks RRC should crack down on flaring.

"I wish y'all would get stricter in regards to giving flaring permits."

This hearing is wild!

Lots of brutal honesty from oil execs in this hearing.

CEO of Parsley Energy just now says if storage hits "tank tops" - oilfield service sector could lose hundreds of thousands more jobs.

Matt Gallagher: "These jobs, once lost, will not return to current levels."

Gallagher: "you've seen almost single-digit pricing at times in the Midland Basin."

Gallagher, Parsley CEO, on why he wants production cuts now as opposed to a month from now - when storage fills up and production might decline naturally:

"If we slam in at full speed into a train wreck that we can predict, the outcomes are gonna be much worse."

Gallagher, echoing Pioneer Natural Resources CEO: says regulators focusing on flaring in production cuts is "a very reasonable solution."

"I do think that’s a logical thing to tie into this analysis, if it can help accelerate the reduction of our waste."

Now it's getting heated!

Lee Tillman, CEO of Marathon Oil:

Tillman just said you could make the argument that Texas has been oversupplying oil markets for years - but regulators haven't stepped in before.

If Pioneer and Parsley achieve nothing else - they've succeeded in getting some reallyyy interesting comments on the record!

Tillman, summarizing his argument: "Bottom line is that we're already cutting. And cutting deeply." Says free markets are working as they should.

Commissioner @ChristiCraddick now asking CEO of Ovintiv to talk about "pitfalls" of operating in Canada (which has more govt controls on industry than Texas.)

Enterprise Products Partners Co-CEO Jim Teague, on companies who asked for production cuts (Pioneer & Parsley):

"Are they really trying to fix a problem, or do they want to argue that government action by you gives them the opportunity to get out of some of their obligations?"

General observation - @RyanSitton is using some journalistic tactics in his questioning of oil execs in this hearing. Asking people to respond to statements from past speakers - pushing back on some assertions by citing projections from analysts, etc.

Mark Houser, CEO of University Lands - Texas entity that leases land to oil and gas companies and sends revenue to @UTAustin & @TAMU systems - says revenue expected to drop from $1 billion in 2019 to about $500 million in 2021 because of pandemic and oil price crash.

Here come the underdogs.

Kirk Edwards, President of Odessa-based Latigo Petroleum, urges regulators to adopt production cuts. Says "free market" approach favors oil majors, large independents, pipeline companies.

Edwards: "There’s such a face to this downturn that nobody seems to care about, and that is our service company guys. We’re gonna lose 30-40,000 people when these rigs quit working."