Just in case you missed the big news coming from our corporate headquarters, our business here in the Barnett is about to start bearing a new brand – the WPX Energy brand.

That’s because Williams is splitting… into two companies.

On one hand, Williams will continue its 100-year heritage as a premier owner and operator of natural gas pipelines and infrastructure.

On the other hand, there’s the exploration and production business, which has a history dating back nearly three decades, starting in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin and broadening to places like the Barnett Shale. That’s the business I support. It’ll now be called WPX.

The separation of integrated entities is a trend in the oil and gas sector these days. Marathon did it. Questar did it. Tesoro did it. El Paso was working on it. And ConocoPhillips is doing it, just to name a few.

The moves, in part, give businesses that were once in a larger corporate format a broader ability to, well, basically grow.

It also helps investors better value what they hold in their shares of stock. It also gives management teams a tighter overall focus when it comes to doing what they do best.

In our specific case at Williams, it takes a lot of dollars and dough to build pipelines and drill oil and gas wells. Now, both companies (Williams and WPX) will each have their own access to capital.

As our CEO said a while back, “Williams has generated significant value by operating as an integrated natural gas company.

“As we look to the future, though, we are convinced that the capital efficiency created by separating into two distinct investment opportunities will allow shareholders to realize greater value.”

So, you’ll still see me around town, but my hard hat will have a new logo. And if you’re interested in all the nuts and bolts and legal details pertaining to our spinoff, you can learn more right here.

Officially, our official start as WPX is expected to happen real soon. As we assimilate the spinoff, we’ll be reworking this website, too, and reintroducing it down the road as “WPXInTheBarnett.”

From all of us at our Fort Worth office, we’re wishing you and all of yours a Happy New Year as we prepare to start our own new era as WPX Energy.

Rig towers like this tend to create lots of talk. See what the NY Times had to say this time.

There’s an op-ed piece in the New York Times that you just gotta see if you follow our industry  — even from a casual interest to downright opposition.

It offers the kind of balance that helps foster, facilitate and advance productive conversations in coffee houses and living rooms across the country.

And it wasn’t written, penned or promoted by any kind of industry spokesman. The author is David Brooks, an op-ed Times columnist since 2003.

Just to arouse your curiosity (and because we can’t republish the Times’ content in its entirety), here’s an excerpt:

“The U.S. is polarized between ‘drill, baby, drill’ conservatives, who seem suspicious of most regulation, and some environmentalists, who seem to regard fossil fuels as morally corrupt and imagine we can switch to wind and solar overnight.”

Brooks goes on to say that the “inherent risks (of industry) can be managed if there is a reasonable regulatory regime, and if the general public has a balanced and realistic sense of the costs and benefits.”

But don’t take our word for the thoughtful bent behind this piece. Please, read it for yourself. You can do so right here.

A new poll shows strong support for energy development.

A new national poll  finds that the vast majority of consumers support an expansion of energy projects as a way to boost job growth among American workers.

The data was compiled by the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research, who surveyed 1,000 people nationwide.

You can see all the raw data here.  A press release with additional perspective is available, as well.

A few of the highlights include:

• 89% of consumers favor expanding the number of energy projects in the U.S.
• 93% believe that investing in more U.S. energy projects will create more jobs
• 68% believe that investing in more U.S. energy production will lower energy prices  for consumers

Oil and gas activity supports more than 100,000 jobs in the regional economy.

A new study commissioned by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce has a lot to say about the economic boost provided by Barnett Shale development.

For 2011 alone, oil and gas activity poured $11.1 billion into the regional economy while supporting some 100,268 jobs across 24 counties.

So where does that money go? Well, for starters, cities, and school districts in the region are slated to receive an estimated $730.6 million in additional fiscal revenues this year from Barnett Shale development and production.

And if you look back over the past decade, the numbers get even bigger. From 2001-2011, the cumulative economic benefits added up to $65.4 billion, including $5.3 billion in local tax receipts and another $5.8 billion to the state.

The study was conducted by The Perryman Group. It’s president, Ray Perryman, has a PhD in economics from Rice University, a bachelor’s degree in math from Baylor and more than 30 years of experience in financial analysis.

The findings also showed that 38.5 percent of the incremental growth in the regional economy over the past decade has been the result of Barnett Shale activity.

You can read the entire report online. Media coverage also is available from the Star-Telegram and the Dallas Business Journal.

One New Yorker is touting all the tax revenue generated by shale gas for schools and municipalities in North Texas.

Could it be that New Yorkers are wrestling with a case of “Texas envy?”

One former resident of the Empire State certainly is, and he explains why in Investors Business Daily.

The bottom line? It’s all about realizing the economic benefits from developing the natural gas in the shale deposits that are deep in the earth. 

You can see the editorial online.  In our mind, it’s a quick, easy, insightful read. A couple of his points about the Barnett Shale especially bear repeating.

Specifically, he cites job creation (53,200 in the Metroplex) and tax revenue ($238 million for municipalities and school districts in North Texas) from 2008-2010.  

Our local wells are doing their part. In 2010, we paid $3.1 million in severance taxes and $4.6 million in ad valorem taxes across our operating area that stretches from south of Fort Worth to Flower Mound and Lewisville.

Additionally, we’ve distributed more than $80,000 in education and school-related grants over the past few years at Flower Mound High School, Marcus High School, Lewisville High School and to the Lewisville Education Foundation.