San Antonio Pipeliners Association

00:00:00 Speaker 1
This episode of The Energy Pipeline is sponsored by Caterpillar Oil and Gas. Since the 1930s, Caterpillar's manufactured engines for drilling, production, well service, and gas compression. With more than 2100 dealer locations worldwide, caterpillar offers customers a dedicated support team to assist with their premier power solutions.

00:00:26 Speaker 2
The energy pipeline is your lifeline to all things oil and gas, to drill down deep into the issues impacting our industry. From the FRAC site to the future of sustainability, hear more about industry issues, tools, and resources to streamline and modernize the future of oil and gas. Welcome to The Energy Pipeline.

00:00:49 KC Yost
Hello everyone, and welcome to this episode of The Energy Pipeline Podcast. Today we're fortunate to have Jeanna Easley and Michael Johnston as our guests. They're here representing the San Antonio Pipeliners Association, or as we like to refer to it as SAPA. So welcome to the Energy Pipeline Podcast, Jeanna and Michael, we're thrilled you took the time to visit with us today. So before we start-

00:01:12 Jeanna Easley
Thanks for having us.

00:01:14 Michael Johnston
Thank you.

00:01:15 KC Yost
So before we get started talking about the Association, would each of you take a few minutes to share your background with our listeners? Jeanna, let's start with you, please.

00:01:27 Jeanna Easley
Absolutely. Yeah, so I'm from Houston originally, petroleum engineer from Texas, [inaudible]. Been in oil and gas industry since I graduated. Spent about eight years at Halliburton, a couple of years in an upstream company, and then I've been here at Marathon/MPLX for the last about five years.

00:01:50 KC Yost
And you've moved around the country?

00:01:53 Jeanna Easley
I've been with the Pipeliners for the last three. Yes, I have moved around a lot.

00:02:00 KC Yost
Good. I'm sorry, I interrupted you. You've been with the Pipeliners how long?

00:02:06 Jeanna Easley
About the last three, four years. I was started to get involved pre-Covid, and then post-Covid. I would say just gradually getting more involved then. And then this is my, I guess, second year as President, taking over the reins from Michael.

00:02:26 KC Yost
Excellent. Okay. Michael talked about world travelers. You've been all over North America, haven't you?

00:02:38 Michael Johnston
It seems like it. I've been in the oil and gas industry for over 35 years, and mostly in the engineering world. I spent most of my time learning my trade in the refineries in East Texas, worked my way to San Antonio, working in some CO2 liquefaction systems, and then had an opportunity to work on the North slope of Alaska for about 10 years, and made my way back to Texas to try to see what I could contribute to the Eagle Ford oil boom. And then got involved with the San Antonio Pipelines Association, and been with it since about a year after its inception in 2012.

00:03:26 KC Yost
Excellent.

00:03:27 Michael Johnston
Now I'm working for Howard Energy Partners as their Community Engagement Coordinator.

00:03:33 KC Yost
Good. And I guess while you were on the North Slope, that's where you learned that -40 C and -40 F are the same temperature? Correct?

00:03:44 Michael Johnston
Yeah, they're both very cold.

00:03:47 KC Yost
Very good, very good. So for our listeners to note, this is the first in a series of podcasts discussing different associations and clubs in the energy industry. So I want to thank both of you for helping us kick off this series. I'm very excited to start talking about the different Pipeliners associations in the country. So earlier you mentioned, Michael, that the organization was formed in 2012. Can you tell us a little bit about the genesis of the organization, why it was formed and how it got formed, created?

00:04:27 Michael Johnston
Yeah, sure. There were such a large amount of activity in the Eagle Ford and a lot of companies were locating and setting up offices in the San Antonio area. There was a lot of the operators were driving all the way to Houston to attend their midstream Pipeliners meetings and events and things like that. And everybody was telling them we needed a Pipeliners association in San Antonio. So the company that I was working for was S-B-E-N-C. They were really proactive in helping set up the organization and sponsor all of the support it took to set it up. We established our bylaws, got our 501(c)(6), and moved forward with that. That was about in 2012 and just watched it grow organically, and tried to keep it a mission of creating an environment for good networking by raising money for scholarships.

00:05:42 KC Yost
Good. So how many members does the organization have, and do you have an idea of the mix between operating companies and contractors, and firms?

00:05:58 Michael Johnston
It is about a 30/70 split between operators and vendors. I know we have a lot of vendors, a lot of people that are doing work for different companies here in the region. We actually spun off the Houston Pipeliners, so we modeled ourself after them, and then made a few changes along the way that fit this region and this culture a lot better. And so we have a pretty stable membership. I know that the pandemic had a really hard impact on sales, vendors, people that are operating in the business development world. So we're right about 900 active members, and we had dropped from I think just under 1500. So it was a really, really difficult situation through that period of time. But we're starting to see some growth and some rebound, and some renaissance to the Pipeliners organizations, and we're excited about that.

00:07:06 KC Yost
It's amazing the number of organizations that took a hit during the pandemic, but they all seem to be coming back bigger and stronger than ever. It sounds like that's what SAPA is doing.

00:07:21 Michael Johnston
Yes.

00:07:21 Jeanna Easley
Absolutely.

00:07:24 Michael Johnston
Yeah, to understand, Jeanna was right about that same time and you realize that this is the way these people make their living. They have to talk to people, they have to have face-to-face. They have to have a conversation to be able to get into intel and find out what's going on, where do people need the work? And so we were really proactive in trying to mitigate all the risk during the pandemic to try to have an in-person meeting as soon as we could. So we did everything we could to mitigate all the risks so that those people could actually do their jobs.

00:08:06 KC Yost
Well, that dovetails really quite nicely into the next question, which is what is the purpose of the organization? What is the foundation from which SAPA exists?

00:08:17 Michael Johnston
Jeanna?

00:08:25 Jeanna Easley
Yeah, sure. So I would say first of all, just networking and having the opportunity to get people together to make business contacts. And so the San Antonio Pipeliners is designed to, we have our monthly luncheons almost every month of the year and bring in just a big variety of speakers so that people can learn new things. We've been really active and trying to be energy advocates, and just making sure that people understand the challenges of the industry and how to educate their friends and family on what it is that we do, and how the midstream industry in particular impacts our day-to-day lives. So we've had quite a few speakers to come in and speak to those related issues. So yeah, I would say networking, number one, educational. And then of course we have the added goal of raising money for our scholarship fund through the Midstream America Scholarship Fund.

00:09:36 KC Yost
Excellent. So let's drill down a little bit on that. When you talk about the networking, are you finding that this is a continuous generational type thing that... Old guys like me that are semi-retired, we're always more in tune with the face-to-face, press the flesh, get to know someone, type attitude. Are you seeing that the next generation and the next generation are enjoying that as well? And so the in-person meetings become very important for people that are in their twenties, thirties and forties?

00:10:26 Jeanna Easley
Absolutely. Yeah. I think we are trying to help push the importance of in-person, face-to-face interaction, and trying to make a very welcoming environment for our younger members. I have seen... We really do have a pretty good mix of people. I guess our last meeting in February that NuStar hosted us. We had a sold out crowd, and with a wide variety of background individuals, skills and ages too. And I think we just are really able to create a good environment to where people feel comfortable coming even if they don't know anyone. Then I think we do that consistently every month.

00:11:19 KC Yost
Great. So you-

00:11:19 Michael Johnston
We do, and I'll just echo what Jeanna said.

00:11:23 KC Yost
Good, okay. So let's talk specifically about the meetings. inaudible mentioned that you have a monthly meeting. Is there a specific time and place and date that you have your monthly meetings?

00:11:41 Jeanna Easley
Yes. So the second Thursday of the month, every month, except for July and August, we take a little summer break. So it's usually always going to be the second Thursday of the month, which makes it easy for everybody to plan their schedules accordingly. We usually host at the Embassy Suites Landmark Hotel, although occasionally we have other people host us like NuStar last month. Sometimes we host our meetings at Valero, so it just depends on what's on our docket. But typically, we're at the Embassy Suites Landmark Hotel, and they're great hosts for us.

00:12:23 KC Yost
Good. And this is a luncheon meeting?

00:12:29 Jeanna Easley
Yes. People start trickling in around 11. We get our program kicked off around 11:30, and then we're usually adjourned by one o'clock.

00:12:39 KC Yost
Great. How many people normally attend your meetings? Is it a couple of hundred people? A hundred people? What's the size of the group?

00:12:55 Michael Johnston
How many you think Jeanna, between 80 to like we had last week, about 140?

00:13:03 Jeanna Easley
Yeah. Anywhere from 80 to 140, 150. And then if we have an event coming up in April that we host a joint event with the Women's Energy Network and we can have upwards of 200 at that meeting just because bringing in lots of other members from a different organization, and that's always a big hit.

00:13:27 KC Yost
Good. Now, Jeanna, you sent me a list of the activities planned for 2024. The meetings as well as you have some events, golf, sporting clays, fishing, that type of thing. Can you guys go into the events that you have planned and talk a little bit about the schedule of events for 2024?

00:14:03 Jeanna Easley
Yeah, go ahead, Michael.

00:14:05 Michael Johnston
Yeah, you caught me with my list turned off. Let's see, I got it right here. The golf tournament we mentioned earlier is in April. That'll be on the 12th. The luncheon's on the 11th the day before. And then May, we will have our luncheon on the 9th. And then our Midstream Classic Sporting Clay Fundraiser will be on that Thursday and Friday. So Thursday night we'll have our Calcutta Mixer, and then on the 10th is when that morning we'll start the event. We'll go all day pretty much. And then June, we'll have a really special luncheon. We've got a really amazing speaker, Mr. Richard Turner. He's the card mechanic. He's been on Penn and Teller. He actually lives here in San Antonio, so we're taking advantage of him living close by. He's amazing motivational speaker. You will be inspired at this luncheon. And then in August and September, well, July and August, we don't have any luncheon, but we will kick off Back to School Drive. We actually raised money for school supplies that we can provide. We'll actually adopt an entire class a school that may be a Title I school where the children are really underserved. So we try to capitalize on that. And then our luncheons will start back in September, and then we'll have another luncheon in October. And then we're planning our Saltwater Slam Fishing Tournament, which we have at Port Aransas down on the coast. That'll be on November 1st and 2nd. And then we'll have our November luncheon on the 14th, and then we'll kick off our Adopt an Angel where we actually provide adopt... We just get foster children that are just in the system at the moment, and that's such a hard time for them at Christmas-time to be away from their families, such a difficult time. So we try to bring some normalcy, so we'll provide Christmas gifts and everything that they want. So we work with a local agency to get children's details, like their sizes, what they like, what they want. And then in December, we come to the luncheon in December, we bring all of those gifts in to the hotel and set them up on their Christmas tree, and present them to the foundation. And it's really amazing how big the hearts are from some of our members. They do some amazing things. So that's the rest of the year.

00:17:04 KC Yost
Yeah. All right, great. Like I said, you and I have talked, I've played in the golf tournament and I have a fishing shirt from the fishing tournament, so I knew about those. Good that you have the sporting clays, all of the money that you raised from that goes to the 501(c)(3) for scholarships, correct?

00:17:30 Michael Johnston
Correct. We stood up the Midstream America Scholarship Fund to provide the tax benefits for our members and a lot of our sponsors. What we learned is a lot of the operators, the energy transfers, the new stars, the Valeros, and Howard Energy Partners, their policy is they have to only donate to a 501(c)(3). And so we had to do some organization, we had to actually learn how to do this, find the right attorney. We probably found the best in Texas, and we were able to set up a 501(c)( 3) in only about three months. And so that enabled us to provide a really high quality organization to be able to manage all of the resources that we get from these fundraising events, and then also distribute all the money to the students for their scholarships.

00:18:36 KC Yost
Good. Now mentioning scholarships, did I understand that you're passing out about $50,000 worth of scholarships each year?

00:18:44 Michael Johnston
Yeah, I think we're about $60,000 last year, as some of the Pipeliners organizations, ours is fairly small, with what we talked about earlier about the membership and then the revenue. So we try our best to distribute as much as we can. Some of the money we give out is in an endowment form so that we may provide a check to a local college for the STEM related programs. So we will either take applicants and/or an endowment check.

00:19:31 KC Yost
I assume that people that are applying for the scholarships are sponsored by SAPA members. Is that correct?

00:19:45 Michael Johnston
Yeah, we have a scoring system. So if you're a member and you have family members that would like to fill out an application, your participation in volunteering all adds to the credibility of the score. So the higher score you get, the better scholarship you get. So that the more activity, the more involvement you get, you're compensated. Sometimes, the students have an opportunity to volunteer at an event, and that also increases their score. So using the scoring system has really helped.

00:20:24 KC Yost
Good. Excellent. So now I wanted to finish the discussion about the scholarships and all of that, and get a better handle on that, but I want to go back to the community service. I find that fascinating. So you adopt the school. How do you go about deciding what school to adopt? And I assume it's an elementary school that you typically adopt.

00:20:51 Michael Johnston
Yes. It can be typically an elementary school, but sometimes even a middle school. But we just try to find a Title I school that is underserved. You get into some of these neighborhoods where the children are being raised by their grandparents. But what we have found, we have found a company that actually puts together all of the school supplies based on the list that the school provides, and that we can provide all of the school supplies for that child to get started in school for about a third the price that you would buy at retail, or even on sale at a wholesale store. So we were able to serve more kids. So we raised money with the San Antonio Pipeliners, and we partner with the company I work for, which is Howard Energy Partners, but we use the organization as a funding mechanism to be able to pull all this together. So it's really been useful and make a big impact in the community.

00:22:00 KC Yost
Anytime you can take your money and multiply at times three for benefit to others, I think that's a smart move and a very generous move. So good for you guys. And then we talk a little bit about the Christmas gifts type thing. You say that there's an association that you're affiliated with that will give you a list of children with certain dress sizes or shoe sizes, and that type of thing. And how is that list disseminated?

00:22:38 Michael Johnston
Jeanna, you want to speak to the...

00:22:46 Jeanna Easley
Adopt an Angel Project?

00:22:47 KC Yost
That's great. Yes, please.

00:22:50 Jeanna Easley
Yeah, sure. So we partner with an organization called A World for Children, and they're local here in San Antonio. And we get anywhere from, I would say, 50 to 70 different ornaments for each child. And it'll tell you how old they are for a girl, and what their preferences are, and then their top three gift wishlist items. And our Secretary, Renee, organizes everything and puts it all together really nicely, and she'll even pick up gifts from people in Houston and different places just to make it convenient. And so we bring it all together at our December meeting, and you can see pictures on our LinkedIn, but it's truly incredible the amount of generosity that our members provide for this effort. And the people from A World for Children the last two years have just been blown away by everything that we've been able to bring to them. So it's just really nice to be able to give these kids a Christmas that maybe they otherwise might not have. And I think, like Renee always says, every year, her and her daughter really look forward to going out and shopping and getting things on the list. And I've found the last couple of years I've looked forward to it as well, just shopping for someone that you know is going to be so grateful. So that is, I think, probably one of our best events overall, is just seeing how we can all come together and I don't know... And it just helps drive the Christmas spirit, so it's really nice.

00:24:49 Michael Johnston
It's a lot of fun.

00:24:50 KC Yost
I must say that what you all have done in 12 years is quite impressive. 900 + members, $ 60, 000 worth of scholarships that you pass out, adopting a school, having this Christmas gift arrangement, the Angel Gift, is that what it's called? Angel Gift?

00:25:16 Jeanna Easley
Angel Tree.

00:25:17 KC Yost
Angel Tree is wonderfully nice. I think that's fantastic. I just am really impressed with what you guys have done, and all. If anyone wants to find out more information about the San Antonio Pipeliners Association, where may they go on the web to locate you guys?

00:25:50 Jeanna Easley
sapipeliners.org.

00:25:53 KC Yost
That's sapipeliners.org?

00:25:57 Jeanna Easley
Yes sir.

00:25:58 KC Yost
Okay, great. Super.

00:26:00 Michael Johnston
And any Google search with San Antonio Pipeliners, it'll show up.

00:26:06 KC Yost
Good. All right. Excellent.

00:26:09 Michael Johnston
We're on LinkedIn and Facebook.

00:26:12 KC Yost
Perfect. All right, well I've gone down my list of questions. Jeanna, is there anything else you'd like to add to tell us a little bit more about SAPA?

00:26:25 Jeanna Easley
We've got some great speakers lined up for... Yeah, so our next meeting is March 14th. Join us. We've got Omar Garcia coming in from the Port of Corpus Christi, so we're really looking forward to that. In April, April 11th, we've got our Joint Women's Energy Network joint luncheon. We've got a guy coming in from RBN in May, and then we've got our motivational speaker in June. So as far as luncheons go, we've got a full calendar ready to go, and I'm hoping we can just sell out the rest of our luncheons like we did last month, because I think we're just capitalizing on some recent momentum in our organization. I think people are excited and we're very welcome to new members. Please, any information that you need, you can go to our website and find, and all of our contact information is on there, so feel free to reach out and, yeah, we're looking forward to it. And then I'll let Michael talk about the fun stuff, the events.

00:27:39 Michael Johnston
Yeah, we're really excited about some of the events we got coming up. We're always looking for new opportunities and keep it fresh and creative. The golf tournament is coming up and we've already got some of the best cooking sponsors, so there's going to be some really amazing food out there. It's going to be a good day in golf. The Hyatt Hill Country Resort here in San Antonio is one of the premier golfing resorts in the San Antonio area, and their hospitality is bar none. They're one of the best. So having that is just something we all look forward to. A time to spend together and raise money for scholarships. And then in May, that's going to be right behind it, is our sporting clay event at the National Shooting Complex. We're looking forward to having another huge successful year with live music, good entertainment, a very challenging course, and a really fun event going a really nice prizes and a good time for all. And we try to make sure it's more of a family environment. So some of these events, you'll see them, people will bring their kids. So the sporting clay events, we welcome youth and young people to come out and attend as well.

00:29:10 KC Yost
Very good, very good. I must say the Hyatt Hill Country, they also serve an excellent Bloody Mary for those who are interested. Just had to throw that in. Okay. Well, thanks very much. I want to thank Jeanna and Michael for taking the time to visit with us today. Again, if anyone would like to learn more about the San Antonio Pipelines Association, you can find them on the website @ sapipeliners.org. That's sapipeliners.org. Second Thursday of the month, the 11 o'clock look on sapa org to find that information. So I want to thank all of you for tuning into this episode of The Energy Pipeline Podcast, sponsored by Caterpillar Oil and Gas. If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for podcast topics, including other industry associations and clubs that might want to participate in a podcast, feel free to email me at kc.yost@oggn.com. I also want to thank my producer, Anastasia Willison Duff and everyone at Oil and Gas Global Network for making this podcast possible. Find out more about oggnpodcast @oggn. com. This is KC Yost saying goodbye for now. Have a great week and keep that energy flowing through the pipeline.

00:30:45 Speaker 2
Come back next week for another episode of The Energy Pipeline, a production of the Oil and Gas Global Network. To learn more, go to oggn.com.