Several associations representing various segments of the oil industry are slashing dues and losing members as low oil prices force companies to rethink their spending priorities, Bloomberg recently reported.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America has lost about 100 members during the past year, according to the news agency. The National Stripper Well Association and National Ocean Industries Association have both reduced and restructured member dues. Even the American Petroleum Institute—largest of the oil industry associations—waived dues for a short time last year.

The oil industry has been racked with a wave of consolidations and bankruptcies as a result of oil prices tumbling to nearly $26 per barrel in February, a 12-year-low for the industry, leaving it with less money to spend on lobbying.

"When everybody starts looking at their bottom line, trade association dues can be the first to go," said Tim Charters, NSWA's vice president of governmental and regulatory affairs.

Associations are not the only ones being hit by the drop in oil prices. The total number of lobbyists working for the oil industry has decreased from 812 at the beginning of the slide in prices in 2014 to 608 today, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

API is perhaps the only oil industry association to have gained members during the price slide, but that is largely because it absorbed the natural gas industry group, America's Natural Gas Alliance last year. That merger was driven in part by low oil prices, with members at both groups reluctant to pay dues for two associations when one could serve their needs. http://bloom.bg/25NXi58

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