The ABC's of the EPGA, the OOG and the NPC
Authors: Nelson T.W. 
Published: December 2007

This paper was prepared for the 41st Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Dallas, Tex., Oct. 2–5, 1966. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

Introduction

In World War II, the government's emergency petroleum organization was known as the Petroleum Administration for War, or, more popularly, PAW. In the Korean conflict, the government's emergency petroleum organization was known as the Petroleum Administration for Defense, or, more popularly, PAD. If a major war should occur in the future, the government's emergency petroleum organization will be known as the Emergency Petroleum and Gas Administration, or, more popularly, EPGA. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the organizational structure and proposed functions of EPGA and its relationship to two important groups that are currently the most active in emergency preparedness work for the oil and gas industries — the Office of Oil and Gas [the OOG] in the Interior Dept., and the National Petroleum Council [the NPC]. Hence, the objective of the paper is to present "the ABC's of the EPGA, the OOG, and the NPC".

THE NATIONAL PETROLEUM COUNCIL [NPC]

During World War II, PAW found that the use of petroleum industry advisory committees was most helpful in formulating and carrying out the most effective programs for producing and distributing oil and gas for both military and civilian needs. The highest ranking industry advisory committee involved in this work was the Petroleum Industry War Council, whose membership consisted of the heads of the major oil and gas companies and a number of the most prominent independent operators. At the close of the war, President Truman expressed considerable satisfaction with regard to the "great contribution of government-industry cooperation to the success of the war petroleum program" and stated further that "the values of such close and harmonious relationships between government and the petroleum industry should be continued". Accordingly, in 1946, the National Petroleum Council was established as the successor organization to the Petroleum Industry War Council, with the same high-level industry representation that characterized the War Council.

Although it was hoped at that time that there would be no war-type emergencies in the near future, one of the earliest assignments to the NPC was to survey the petroleum experience in World War II and recommend such government-industry organization, procedures and policies as would best meet the needs of a future war emergency. The council's first committee on emergency preparedness for the petroleum industry made its report in Jan., 1949.