Clinton administration officials met with major and independentproducers at the White House yesterday and assured them that ahigh-level group would be established to examine the conditionsthat are contributing to the depressed state of the oil and gasindustry.

The panel will be headed by Gene Sperling, director of theNational Economic Council, and will include officials from”relevant departments or agencies,” such as Energy, Treasury,Commerce and Interior, said Gil Thurm, president of the IndependentPetroleum Association of America (IPAA).

“The meeting was designed to raise the awareness level of theadministration” with respect to the oil and gas industry. “We thinkthat was accomplished. The administration officials proved to begood listeners,” he noted.

During a more than one-hour meeting, the IPAA and other industrygroups called on Clinton officials to “start paying [more]attention” to the domestic industry and its strategic importanceand economic value to the nation, said IPAA Chairman George Yates.They further asked the administration to state “very clearly” thatit was not going “to preside over the collapse of the industry,” henoted.

Attending the session were White House Chief of Staff JohnPodesta, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Energy Secretary BillRichardson and representatives from four major petroleum industryassociations – the IPAA, the American Petroleum Institute, theDomestic Petroleum Council and U.S. Oil and Gas.

The discussion centered on the “shrinkage” of the industry,which lost more than 40,000 jobs last year; the potential for amarginal well tax credit, the alternative minimum tax and otherE&P reforms, according to Yates. “But we did not have a chanceto go into any details” on the issues, Thurm said, adding thiswould be left to the panel that the administration plans to set up.

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