Havre native to head petroleum group

Former State Sen. Alan Olson, R-Roundup, a Havre native, has been named executive director of the Montana Petroleum Association.

Olson has been in the petroleum industry for 38 years and served for 12 years in the Montana Legislature - eight in the House and four in the Senate.

Olson is a 1975 graduate of Havre High School. His brother, Kevin Olson, is a former Havre police chief, and his sister and brother-in-law, Mary and Dale Nabor, still live in Havre.

He started his career with Halliburton Corporation in Havre and was transferred to Glendive and later Roundup.

In his new capacity, he will work with oil and gas producing companies throughout the state and will lobby with the Legislature on their behalf.

He said he worked on energy issues during most of the time he was in the Legislature.

Olson left Halliburton in 1989 and went to work for the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation as a field inspector, a position he maintained for 19 years. For the last seven years he has worked for Sanjel Corp., an energy services company, covering Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming.

Olson said he begins in his new job at a time of turmoil in the oil industry.

"We are undergoing a serious downturn," he said.

The plunging of oil prices has prompted a massive slowdown in oil drilling in eastern Montana where there had been a boom.

He said he sees no likelihood that oil prices - now about $20 per barrel - will increase in the immediate future, but he predicted that in three to five years, prices would rise to $50 tp $60 a barrel. That will enable some parts of the Bakken to resume drilling, he said.

In some parts of the Bakken, he said, prices will have to rise to $80 a barrel before drilling will be profitable.

One of his tasks will be to lobby with state and federal lawmakers and rulemakers.

"Federal, EPA and BLM rules are doing everything they can to stifle oil and gas development," he said.

"A year from now, we'll have a new president and we'll have to see what will happen."

The state elections will also have an effect on drilling in the state, he said. "But I'm not going to make any predictions on how that will come out," he added.

Alan is married to Jean Olson and has three children and seven grandchildren.

He said he knew most members of the board of directors from his years in the industry.

"I am looking forward to working with the MPA Board of Directors, membership, and the public to expand the awareness of the economic contributions of the petroleum industry in Montana," Olson said. "I know I will find this a stimulating and rewarding career."