2018 Is Our Year

We have now reviewed the situation on the ground in the oil and gas industry. We can expect that nothing will be done about these issues as there is no pain or suffering being realized by the bureaucrats. I think everyone else on the North American continent can see things clearly and are wondering why nothing is being done. For me this time stands in stark contrast to the period when I was proposing we develop systems to address these issues and the oil prices were well over $100 and natural gas was north of $13. That is the time that the producers were laughing heartily at what was then being said. I see it as progress that they’re not laughing anymore. Late last year we moved along from ever expecting any action from the producers and proposed a plan that would see People, Ideas & Objects obtain funding and develop the Preliminary Specification. The full details of our plan, our argument regarding the industry and what we believe to be the best business opportunity are provided at those urls to this blog.

Our plan consists of a prosperous oil and gas industry. One in which we develop and implement the Preliminary Specification which provides the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. One that approaches the next 25 years as the best 25 years of the industry's history. A time where the industry achieves profitability in each one of those years. Funding their own capital expenditures, replaces and refurbishes the infrastructure that we see decaying with greater frequency on the daily news, a future in which the investors and bankers, past and present, are treated with respect and their money treated with the appropriate accountability and not used just to fund the discount to the energy consumer. An energy future where responsible people are making the appropriate decisions at the appropriate times and dealing with the opportunities and issues as they arise. An industry that doesn’t blame the Saudi’s or OPEC, a warm winter or just the way things are on their poor performance and lackadaisical “muddle along” strategy and “do nothing” operating procedure. An industry that has respect for those who have committed their careers to the professions in the industry and expect to have more seniority than what casual labor has in the construction industry. An industry that has respect for the work that is done in the service industry and works hand in hand with those innovative and dynamic people who make the industry operate. And yes will actually pay the people who work in the industry and service industry on a timely basis. A place where it's not an honour and privilege to still have a job but a place where you can make a difference. I expect more from the industry by proposing our plan, and dare to ask, what’s their plan?

2018 stands in stark contrast to our history. People, Ideas & Objects, our user community and service providers have never been in the situation when oil prices have recovered somewhat and people know that the North American producer does not have the situation in hand. During upswings in the commodity prices people have had the tendency to forget about us and assume that things would be returning to normal. There is no normal anymore. All the excuses have been tried and none are being offered today. There are no plans in which to deal with the future of the oil and gas industry outside of People, Ideas & Objects, our user community and service providers Preliminary Specification. After almost a decade of decline in natural gas and enough years in the downturn of the oil business. People are ready for action and ready to commit to what it will take to make the changes spelled out in our plan. 2018 is the year in which we move forward with this software development.

This means the time for action for user community participation begins in 2018. Preparation of your application for submission some time this year would be the ideal timing. It is ideal in terms of the timing for the oil and gas industry. People, Ideas & Objects are user community based software developments. Nothing will be done without our user community in place driving our development. User community software developments are the only way to develop useable, quality software. Development of our user community will be the commencement of our development and anything done in this arena brings us closer to our release date. It is our priority, our focus and the impediment to our delivery. The sooner we are able to organize ourselves the quicker our software will be built. Review of the application process and our user community vision are the two places in which people interested in these developments should start.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

Investors Backfilling the Producers Cash Demands?

With the reserves of oil and gas that we discussed in yesterday’s post “The Era of Abundance.” We made it clear that operating a producer based on the short term goal of full production in order to generate as much cash as possible will never be a successful strategy. With the oil and gas reserves that the North American producers have the only rational, successful approach to the industry is to ensure that all of their production is produced profitably everywhere and all the time. Otherwise it will continue to be a spending exercise with no upside for anyone in society other than the handful of bureaucrats at each producer firm. The accounting that generates these false profits must change from what it is today and be determined on a reasonable basis from now on. As we’ve discussed repeatedly here at People, Ideas & Objects the methodologies that are used in the industry of recording capital assets are designed to reflect the value of the firm. This is the not the purpose of accounting, performance should be what the producers accounting is focused on. The dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas producer will seek to reduce their account balances of property, plant and equipment to zero as much as possible.

What has happened that has caused the situation in the market today is that there has been a chronic overinvestment that has led to the overproduction that we’re seeing. By not recognizing the capital costs of past production, producers have inflated their earnings attracting a higher level of interest from investors. The investors had invested their resources in good faith believing that the companies were earning those profits. Meanwhile the producers themselves, due to the fact that they were not recognizing their capital costs in a timely manner, were spending more cash than what they were generating. This cash shortfall was backfilled consistently through the annual shareholder issuance for the subsequent years capital expenditure program. Investors are never happy when they’re consistently diluted by subsequent share offerings. When the firm continues to grow and increase its profits they can handle a little dilution. What they can’t handle is finding out that through bad accounting and mismanagement the financial statements they were provided with in the past, which reflected growth and profitability, have now turned out to be misstatements. Hence we see the investors and bankers strike for the past three years and a chronic cash shortfall in the industry.

Accounting as a department has been effectively dealt with in oil and gas over the past few decades by providing them with the office floor space under the stairs. That way the bills that need to be paid can be shoved in there and they’ll get paid. No one needs to see or hear from them otherwise. On the other hand the accountants have been treated with such disrespect for several generations now that they don’t know any difference. They’re ability to assert themselves no longer exists and they have not filled their critical role in the organization. It is expected of them to pay the bills and ensure that everything that is spent is recorded as a capital asset because that is what the “ceiling test” allows. So they did what they were told instead of asserting a more appropriate performance related, active role in the management of the producer firm.

Bureaucrats caught onto the art of capitalizing costs in the mid 1980’s when the oil price collapsed to $10 and interest rates were high. This art and science began with the capitalization of interest and has only become as creative as those producers who today report 1.3% in annual G&A costs. The point of the exercise is to defer the recognition of any cost against the revenue so that your assets and profits are bigger than your neighbors and never stop growing. Allocating an equal amount of capital cost to each barrel of known reserves has some inherent accounting theory behind it. It however fails the reasonable test when the majority of those reserves will continue to expand over time and never be produced, or recognized, for decades. Meanwhile the production decline curve comes into play so that the need to recognize even less of the capital costs occurs in each successive year. People, Ideas & Objects approach is to recognize as much of these capital costs with the flush production and have all of the capital costs recognized as quickly as possible. That way the investment that was made in the property is recovered and returned in the form of cash to be reinvested again. Today the capital cost of past production, which is also the investors cash, sits for decades as the bureaucrats compare the size of their “well defended” and bloated balance sheets as if they’re something to admire.

Meanwhile, back in New York, the CEO is presenting to investors that for 5% more equity he could increase production by 20% and earnings would double. Who could lose? This “game” has been played since the late 1970’s when the SEC enabled the accounting for capital costs on this inflated asset and profit basis. Has now been figured out by those who have lost the most. The banks and investors. The reserve value of the firm is impressive when you take a TCF of gas times today’s price. The problem is that TCF of gas can’t be produced profitably. It doesn’t even generate as much cash as it consumes. This “game” has depleted the residual value throughout the industry. Nothing is worth anything as it requires capital to produce. It has a management that doesn’t understand this. And this lack of understanding is culturally ingrained across the industry.

I certainly could be wrong about the future intentions of the investors. Maybe they’re banging on the producers door looking to invest right now. Wanting to dilute themselves further and help out with the producers critical cash shortage to make the bureaucrats life that much more comfortable and prosperous. After all, I’ve been told that no one reads or understands financial statements.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here.

The Era of Abundance

As I write this natural gas prices are soaring by almost 10% for the day. No doubt this trajectory will continue indefinitely and as we noted the other day, the bureaucrats have already started the party. Their inaction regarding the decline in the oil and gas business over the past decade must be rewarded financially and handsomely. It’s days like these in which we can all rest assured that the bureaucrats will sleep well tonight. I had a discussion the other day with someone who had immigrated from Ethiopia. When I was growing up Ethiopia was subject to mass starvation which he noted was due to the King hoarding $6 billion and too proud to seek outside help. I mentioned that it sounded like the political mismanagement that Ethiopia was subject too was the same mismanagement that people are experiencing in oil and gas. The important thing is the King and the bureaucrats are doing fine.

One does not have to look very far to find substantial oil and gas reserves these days. Having a TCF of gas or more was the domain of the large integrated producers in the prior era of scarcity. Now it's common to see many TCF and a billion barrels of oil booked by producers that were startups a few decades ago. This is the real value of the producer. Valuing the reserves at the current price is what that producer is worth. Whether they paid this amount or that for the reserves, and if they have that value listed on the balance sheet is totally irrelevant. Accounting has nothing to do with the value of the firm. Accounting has everything to do with the management's performance of the money that the producer received from investors and bankers. Attempting to match the producers accounting to the valuation of the reserves is a foolish game that has presented the oil and gas producer with bloated balance sheets that now reflect they’ve never performed. They have always overstated their assets and overstated their profits by not recognizing the costs of capital in a capital intensive industry. Now they’re living with the consequences of doing this for the past four decades and they’re unable to make the issue disappear overnight. The capital costs of past production have to be accounted for in order to recognize the misstatements that they were profitable operations in the past. That will take a substantial amount of time and reflect that the bureaucrats were not as handsome as they originally appeared. Investors and bankers have caught on to the bureaucrats game and it would be foolish to think that they’ll forget it now.

The second issue producers have to deal with is that every other producer, other than themselves, are racing to put all of their reserves onto the commodity markets today. The chronic overproduction has been on the basis of a profitability that never materialized because it never recognized the capital costs of that production. These two issues create an interesting dilemma. Any attempt to curtail their production to increase the commodity price to the level necessary to earn a profit only allows the producer to lose when the industry has no production discipline. Everyone knows they can increase the price if everyone has production discipline, it's just not going to happen at my firm, the bureaucrat will say. The aggravating factor is the amount of reserves that exist now as a result of the shale boom and other technologies. The oil reserves are noted here.

Another recent development is that the U.S. is now estimated to hold more oil reserves than any other nation. Estimates in 2016 by Rystad Energy indicate the U.S. tops Saudi Arabia and Russia. More than half of U.S. oil is in unconventional shales, which rely on fracking to produce. Although the cost to produce such oil can be higher than conventional wells, when the economics are right it will be tapped. Rystad Energy also estimated that total global recoverable oil reserves were about 2.1 trillion barrels, about 70 times the current production rate and far in excess of cumulative production up to 2015 of 1.3 trillion barrels.

The situation with natural gas reserves is even much more difficult.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that as of January 1, 2015, there were about 2,355 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of technically recoverable resources of dry natural gas in the United States. At the rate of U.S. dry natural gas consumption in 2015 of about 27.3 Tcf per year, the United States has enough natural gas to last about 86 years. The actual number of years will depend on the amount of natural gas consumed each year, natural gas imports and exports, and additions to natural gas reserves.

Technically recoverable reserves consist of proved reserves and unproved resources. Proved reserves of crude oil and natural gas are the estimated volumes expected to be produced, with reasonable certainty, under existing economic and operating conditions. Unproved resources of crude oil and natural gas are additional volumes estimated to be technically recoverable without consideration of economics or operating conditions, based on the application of current technology. 

Having production discipline in an era of such abundance requires the current mismanagement to be replaced with the appropriate business model and organization of the producer and industry. We propose the Preliminary Specification which provides for the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Ensuring that all production produced everywhere in North America is always profitable. However, before that it would be appropriate for the bureaucrats to compensate themselves for the days 10% increase in natural gas prices. Based on these reserves, it may be a long time before they get another chance to compensate themselves for their inaction. They better make their take as good as they can.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

No Action Here!

Word on the street is that the increase in shale oil production that may occur in 2018 is going to be “explosive.” With the deferral of the recognition of the capital costs of these operations we know they’ll all be profitable too. How “explosive” can shale based reservoirs be? One look at the performance of the deliverability of shale based natural gas and we can get a sense of what “explosive” means. In 2016 there was believed to be a downturn beginning in shale gas production. Deliverability declined for whatever reason, but most probably due to the lack of capital in all shale basins. Monthly average dry gas production declined from over 75 bcf / day to a low of a little over 70 bcf / day. During late 2016 and 2017 deliverability “exploded” to about 77 bcf / day with this trajectory continuing for the foreseeable future. It is now very clear to everyone that the bureaucrats have complete control over this resource when the natural gas prices being earned on this production are around $3.20.

We see a very similar trend in oil production with an upward trend starting in late 2011 at 5.8 million barrels per day, continuing that trajectory until June 2015 with 9.6 million barrels per day, then declining to 8.5 million barrels per day in September 2016 and then resuming its prior trajectory to where it stands now at 9.8 million barrels per day. What both of these commodities “explosive” production growth in the 2017 period reflects is that the oil and gas industry is nothing but a spending machine. Without control or consideration of anything other than “more” which is what you’ll find in common with the average junkie. This is the business of the oil and gas business, if you still consider the oil and gas business a business. I haven’t for a while. I recall at the beginning of these uptrends Bloomberg interviewing Mr. Harold Hamm CEO of Continental Resources who said that this time it was going to be different, “we have discipline now.” Does anyone know what these trajectories and the unconstrained production “explosiveness” reflects for the future of the industry?

Speculation is also forming that the increase in North America’s shale oil production will lead to difficulties in OPEC maintaining their production sharing agreement. Nothing will be said by any of its participants regarding the agreement, however it may be found to be too difficult to continue with any extensions of the time beyond 2018. The speculation also suggests that what we may see is a breakdown in the excellent discipline that has been displayed to this point. That cheating on the individual country quotas will begin in a small way and then begin to accelerate. In the face of such continued pressure on the market by new U.S. production, that has no discipline or business attributes, what alternatives are available to the OPEC producers? The only way in which the North American producer can approach the easily attainable goal of energy independence is through the application of sound business practices which involves profitable production everywhere and all the time. What is clear is that we do not have those behaviors in the industry today, nor have we had them for the last four decades. A revision of the behaviours and culture of the industry is necessary. The only way in which that would happen will be by implementing the decentralized production model of the Preliminary Specification. Until then get used to the rhythm.

What North American producers are not talking about today is as telling as their one true and unforgiving behavior. If the value of their stock only increased by 50% in comparison to the percentage increase in the price of oil, what would happen now if there was a decline in the price of oil? What actions are they taking to ensure that the business is sustainable in the long run? What changes are being made to ensure that they become and continue profitable operations everywhere and always? I would think that these topics would be the ones that are the primary concerns of the North American based producers. I see no evidence of that. Nothing has been done to address any of these issues whatsoever. They just need a quick fix of new production and fresh cash. To let the issue of their investors and bankers strike continue for a third year without addressing those needs is particularly disconcerting. What is it that the investors are telling the producers? It’s that they’re not enamoured with the oil and gas business. That they want to see changes before they’ll get involved any further. The are the facts and the common knowledge of the people on the street.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

The Party is Just Getting Started!

Investors are thrilled with the knowledge that higher commodity prices are currently being realized by their producer firms. And yet, at the same time they know they’ll never see any of that money. Bureaucrats are the new dominant power in corporate america. They’re holding on to the promise that the current trajectory of commodity prices will continue. And it will be the bureaucrats themselves who will realize whatever the value proposition that is realized from the higher commodity prices. It will be the bureaucrats who reap that reward. After all they did everything that could possibly have been done, since the beginning of the natural gas price downturn, to earn what they will now begin to take from the industry.

That is certainly one probable outcome of the current situation. I give it a 50/50 chance as to what the future holds. The other scenario is that a continuation of the overproduction and oversupply is established by the current producers. It would be regrettable to go down the path of lower commodity prices once again, however, I think that is what the bureaucrats current business model guarantees. Production of everything, everywhere and all the time will continue as always. There are allegedly 7,600 ducks that need to be completed. This may take some time to complete however, investments in horsepower at the fracing companies is frantic. Does anyone remember how this movie ends?
I am suggesting that this may be the last hurrah for the oil price for the foreseeable future. When natural gas prices collapsed there were a number of rallies that were precipitated by the belief in the oncoming cold winter. Eventually the story became lame and tiring and no one was listening to the natural gas producers anymore. What happened then, in my opinion, was a capitulation of that market by all concerned. Instead of trading at its long term historical 6 to 1 in comparison to oil, natural gas now trades at 19.96 to 1 to oil. A commodity market that has been fundamentally destroyed by overproduction and oversupply. Initially only in North America, however, now globally. Which is where we maybe heading in the oil market. Back when the natural gas prices did collapse “the real deal was the oil market,” didn’t everyone know. I wonder where the real deal is today? In January 2014 natural gas prices did spike to over $6.00 for a very brief period before collapsing once again into the high $1.00 range.

What parallels can we draw from the natural gas market that might be applicable to the oil market today? I think we’ll soon find out. What the Saudi’s strategy is in terms of their production portfolio is unknown and probably unknowable. The IPO of Saudi Aramco is a once in lifetime chance for them to realize some substantial cash inflow to the kingdom. Propping that up with higher oil prices seems logical to me and may be the motivation behind the current production sharing agreement within OPEC and Russia. That IPO is scheduled for some time in 2018. Was the Saudi strategy previous to that to eliminate the high cost shale production that precipitated the decline in oil prices? There are people who suggest that once the IPO is completed the Saudi’s, as the lowest cost producer, will once again resume that strategy and produce at their maximum deliverable to ensure they achieve some value from their resource. In a market where the highest cost producer continues to overproduce that is the only strategy available to them. Continuing to cede market share to the highest cost shale producers is the most illogical business strategy being employed on the planet. If the Saudi’s just focus on delivering product to their customers, the high cost producers will eventually blow themselves up.

Therefore the behaviors of the North American producers, the history of these producers in the natural gas side of the business and its commodity markets, and whatever strategy the Saudis are employing make the oil and gas industry a difficult sell. Alternatively if the bureaucrats are having all of their Christmas’ arrive at once and the price upswing continues and is permanent. Then the party will begin in earnest and should truly never stop. I personally don’t believe that there has ever been a better time for People, Ideas & Objects, our user community and the service providers. No one anywhere believes the bureaucrats have this under control. No one believes they’re making any money. No one believes the prices won’t revisit their lows, and to eliminate that belief may take many years of very high prices to prove otherwise. People, Ideas & Objects have convinced the market that we have the solution to low oil and gas prices. And now we have the added feature that if prices do go up, the only upside is for the bureaucrats who have always taken all of the money for themselves and done absolutely nothing for it. That is, they’ve done nothing for the oil and gas business.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

Could've, Would've, Should've

Yesterday we calculated the approximate annual cost of maintaining the bureaucracy and their failed business model. It is this failed business model that concerns the oil and gas investor. It is this failed business model that everyone in society sees as the reason for their difficulties. And they know and understand that it’s not necessary. They know that a solution that could’ve, should’ve and would have provided the answer to these difficulties was available. The bureaucrats think that our value proposition calculations are ludicrous and unreasonable. Bureaucrats believe they are profitable today and the changes brought about by the Preliminary Specification would generate public distaste for the industry. Therefore they will continue with the status quo and the remaining people within the industry, those within the service industry, the investors, the royalty holders and the governments who collect taxes on the profits of the producers and the otherwise prosperous companies and people will all have to live without. The important thing to remember is the bureaucrats are fine.

Is it reasonable to assume that the 2017 value proposition of $673 billion would be a windfall for the producers? If we could make the assumption that no additional resources from this incremental money would go to the bureaucrats, what additional costs would these revenues generate. First there would be the royalties that would be due on the incremental revenues. These have been calculated at 25% to take a reasonable average understanding that all of the gas cost allowances have been depleted already. That would reduce the revenues to $505 billion. In addition there would be incremental taxes that had to be paid. Just the Federal income tax of 21%, understanding again that all costs have already been deducted, brings the net proceeds down to $399 billion.

Now we deduct the costs associated with our Initial Coin Offering that is associated with the development of the Preliminary Specification. We are funding our budget through the issuance of a coin based on the blockchain. Included with this coin are the Permission Rights that are granted to the coin holders which enable them to hold the exclusive access rights to the People, Ideas & Objects software that is developed. If producers/investors/individuals or whoever want to participate and earn the value proposition in the oil and gas industry. They will need to fund the costs and then they can control the access to the software in order to achieve that value proposition. Bureaucrats who don’t want to participate in this manner should start considering what reason they’ll be providing their shareholders as to why they’re not participating in the value proposition.

The value that is determined to be the compensation for the coin holders, in exchange for them building the Preliminary Specification, is one third of the value proposition. Therefore another $133 billion would be paid to them for that purpose and the remaining $266 billion would be left for those who hold the title on the producing oil and gas leases. I have stated for many years it’s no longer enough to own the oil and gas asset. It’s also necessary to have access to the oil and gas software that makes the asset profitable. This is the reflection of that principle and a reflection of the way things are changing in the marketplace.

With a $267 billion annuity on hand and the existing bureaucrats that we have today. The smartest investment would be to invest in real estate on the island of Hawaii. Which might be a clear indication that we not only don’t need the bureaucrats, we really don’t want them. This $267 billion needs to be used to retire the bloated balances of property, plant and equipment that exist on the oil and gas producers balance sheets across the industry. I have calculated these balances, on an approximate basis, to total $1,620 billion. Therefore on the basis of the 2017 information that will take 5.89 years in order to exhaust the balances of property, plant and equipment across the industry. The difference between the 5.89 years and the 30 months that we used in calculating the prices is the extra burden of the societal costs, which we discussed on Tuesday. Reflecting the cost that the industry is responsible for. I’ll leave it to others to determine if we should determine a faster amortization of the outstanding property, plant and equipment bloat, or if even higher prices are required than the $126.55 which was used in this example. Remember I am not talking about tax policy here. I am not talking about the valuation of the company, that is for stock markets. We are talking about the performance of the producers and converting them from the investment dead zone to ones that perform.

With the retirement of the bloated balances of property, plant and equipment this will leave the industry with a commensurate amount of cash. Over the course of 5.89 years that would total $1,620 billion. An opportunity to pay the shareholders for the work they’ve done in the past number of decades. In addition, with the bloating of the asset value of the producer there has also been a bloating of the debt. With interest rates on the upswing the industry doesn’t need to enter a phase of renewed jeopardy as a result of being too heavily indebted. These balances need to be paid down with the cash resources obtained by these policies.

Lastly, looking at the 25 year horizon and the objective of energy independence in North America’s oil and gas industry. How will that be done with the current bunch? No earnings, no cash, no support from investors or bankers. Energy independence is not a dream its bullshit. With the value proposition policies being discussed here. Where the consumers are paying for the full costs of energy. Current and past. Society can depend on a profitable and productive oil and gas industry. Investors are rewarded for the risks they take and people can plan their careers and lives around the high probability that they will be able to remain consistently and gainfully employed in oil and gas for their entire working lives. Then the industry will be able to look at the future horizon and plan on energy independence and deal with the many difficulties that objective would present. Only then would it be possible to do so.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

Our Value Proposition, Defined

During the Christmas break I was able to review our 2017 calculations for the value proposition of implementing the Preliminary Specification in North America. The incremental value proposition of the producers would have been $673 billion for 2017 if they had implemented the Preliminary Specification on a timely basis. Even with $3.00 natural gas, and $60.00 oil these prices remain woefully inadequate to cover the costs of oil and gas exploration and production on the basis of a reasonable accounting. The prices that we calculated that were necessary in order to generate this value were $126.55 / boe for 2017. These prices are what are required to recognize the current cost of exploration and production but also deal with the bloated balance sheets of the producers. Depleting the producers existing balances in thirty months. Which would subsequently leave a thirty month balance of property, plant and equipment at the end of the thirty month period in which the asset bloat is being retired. Thirty months being the outside limit of what I feel would be acceptable for any firm in the 21st century.

The Saudi’s announced recently that their revenues for 2017 were higher than in 2016. Even though production volumes were lower than in 2016, 2017 prices were so much higher as to make a material difference in revenue. What’s that saying, you can either make it up on volume or price. A lesson the oil and gas bureaucrats should learn. This pricing behaviour is also consistent with the oil commodity being a price maker. A feature of the Preliminary Specification. However, bureaucrats accuse us of collusion, which is about the most ridiculous thing I think I’ve ever heard. Continuing to produce unprofitable production that dilutes profitable production is proof that the oil and gas producers are not colluding? Our price maker strategy is not collusion, its business, why would anyone continue to lose money in any part of their business?

What purpose would there be in retiring these bloated balances of property, plant and equipment? These balances reflect the capital costs of past production. The costs that were not recognized when they should have been, and as a result made the bureaucrats performance look much better than it was and is. Any wonder that they’ve chosen not to implement the Preliminary Specification? By recognizing these costs in the thirty months, after the Preliminary Specifications price maker strategy is implemented, will enable the producers to capture these prior investments back in the form of cash. Then, with the appropriate management, the producer will be able to fund their own capital expenditures, pay down debt and return these funds to the shareholders in the form of dividends. Producers have had their hand out for capital investment each and every year for decades saying they had to build the industry. It was then, as it is now, a mature industry and should be managed as such.

By implementing the Preliminary Specification it would change much of the culture of the industry. Production discipline would be enabled that would ensure that all production everywhere and all the time was profitable. Producers would learn that producing properties that lose money diminish their profitable properties and that is the reason they’re consuming cash. Exploration and production would become economically more dynamic. The criteria used to spend money today is loose and I would say undisciplined. This would tighten up as the probability that a producer would spend capital resources on a shut-in property becomes highly probable. The ceiling test is the greatest excuse known to mankind. As long as the producer is within the ceiling test they will continue to spend like drunken sailors and capitalize everything including their postage stamps and Post-it-Notes. Deferring the recognition of the capital costs in a capital intensive industry for decades. The ceiling test defines the outer limit of what is acceptable. That does not mean that each and every producer must reach that point each and every year. The dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable producer will seek to recognize their capital costs as quickly as they are capable of. In doing so they will have cash balances that exceed the gold reserves of the United States. And it is here therefore that there will have to be a significant cultural change. Cash balances do not mean that they’re to be spent immediately and can be used for other purposes. Certainly not for rewarding the bureaucrats who have contributed nothing to the success and profitability of the industry.

The logic proposed in the Preliminary Specification is the logic necessary to run a successful and profitable oil and gas industry. Bureaucrats have implemented a business model that has failed fundamentally and has created deep and difficult issues for society at large. It is no wonder that oil and gas bureaucrats are against this initiative. Does anyone believe that the current commodity prices will survive the next upturn in drilling and completions. Last week we saw 15 new rigs deployed in the United States. Christmas vacations are officially over. New production is the only source of cash for the producer. If they don’t pay the driller for 18 months thats a cash windfall that can’t be ignored. All that new production ensures the bureaucrats get paid for that much longer before they slip out the back door.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

An Alternative is Proposed

Late last week I came across this article in WorldOil. It proposes a solution to the issues being experienced in the oil and gas industry across North America today. This is being proposed by Mr. Ben Dell, a managing partner at Kimmeridge Energy Management, a private equity firm in Houston. He suggests the costs of overhead are too high and could be handled in a different manner. Even suggesting that “The reality is if you weren’t motivated in preserving your job, you would run these companies completely differently.” Here, here as the British would say. Mr. Dell suggests that consolidation of the existing producers will provide the means in which to offset many of the issues that the industry is facing. Consolidation into what are subsequently referred to in the article as “Super E&P’s.”

I naturally want to spend some time evaluating this alternative and compare it to People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification. First I want to clarify the point regarding Mr. Dell’s comment about overhead and administrative costs. In oil and gas these costs are high. In most of the producers overhead, administration and interest are capitalized to property, plant and equipment to make it appear as if these costs are low in terms of their percentage of revenue. I am not aware of Occidental’s policies on overhead capitalization, however, in 2016 their total G&A was 20.86% of revenues. With this high percentage of G&A it may be assumed that they’re not capitalizing anything and this amount would therefore be representative of the amount of actual costs incurred to administer the industry. Anadarko who are a pure upstream operation also have G&A of 18.3% for 2016. Others have 1.48%. The second point I would make is to reiterate what I said yesterday regarding the capitalization policies of producers. There has been an accounting deception which has been perpetrated on the investors which has distorted the industries performance and created the overinvestment, and hence the overproduction that is the issue of the day. I believe this would be the case even without shale based reservoirs, however, shale has certainly aggravated the point.

A third issue I would raise with Mr. Dell is the systemic and cultural manner in which the oil and gas industry is operated. It is a technical industry and those without the requisite knowledge and understanding of engineering and geology, just don’t understand. This attitude is systemic as I suggested and is the reason that the CFO’s are so quiet in the industry today. No one within the producer firm listens to them. This is also the attitude that is present in the dealings with investors and bankers. And as the article later states by Buddy Clark, an oilfield transactions attorney at Haynes & Boone in Houston “Each management team thinks they have the secret sauce.” One of my son’s is an engineer and he has adopted this attitude too. By consolidating the producers into Super E&P’s, I believe, you’ll only concentrate the cultural forces aligned against investors and administrators, enabling these issues that have caused the overproduction to be more entrenched. Investors will have smaller interests in larger producers where it will be more difficult for them to influence. And bureaucrats will be empowered to a greater extent than they are now.

What we learned through our research phase was that organizations were defined and supported by the software that the organization uses. The behaviors that are present in the industry will continue until such time as the software in the industry is changed. Whether that is with the current producers or with the Super E&P I see the software change as the most effective first step in dealing with these issues. People, Ideas & Objects provide the Preliminary Specification to deal with these issues specifically and a dedicated software development capability in which the industry will be able to ensure that future issues are not metastasized to cause similar value loss. Without the Preliminary Specification and the software development capability of People, Ideas & Objects providing industry with the solution, any other solution will be temporary as the industry will ultimately regress back to the cultural norm defined in its existing software.

It has been ten years that the natural gas prices have been depressed and three for oil. Ample time for the producers to have acted in their investors and everyone’s best interest. Review of this blog and our research shows that our publications began in 2003 and this blog in late 2005. Our solution has been available for them to have acted in a timely manner to resolve these issues. This complacency and inaction are the result of a bureaucratic overhang that I believe will only become more protracted with the Super E&P’s.

Saving the best arguments for last, it is also an accounting issue. None of the producers know with any accuracy whatsoever what the performance on any specific property is. None. The accounting is not detailed enough to provide an understanding of what properties are bringing home the bacon and which ones are dragging them under. They therefore produce everything in the hopes that the net will provide enough to pay for the overhead. The current cash crisis reflects that the current business model has failed. Until the accounting is structured on the Joint Operating Committee as the Preliminary Specification does, the granularity necessary to determine the actual profitability of each property will continue to evade producers.

Lastly the Super E&P’s do not implement the Preliminary Specifications decentralized production model’s price maker strategy. Our software defines and supports a reorganization of the producer and industry on the following basis. By extracting the accounting and administrative resources out of each producer and reorganizing them into service providers, focused on a single process and using the entire industry as their client base. We are able to convert the fixed overhead costs of the producer into the variable overhead costs of the industry. Each service provider will work through our task and transfer network to conduct their work for each property. Each month a billing will be presented based on the work conducted by the service provider. Therefore, If a Joint Operating Committee shows that it is unprofitable it is shut-in until such time innovations can be brought about to increase revenues, decrease costs or expand the reserves and return the property to profitability. While the property is shut-in no information is generated and none will be transferred to the service providers in the task and transfer network. Creating in the producer firm a null operation for that property. No profit, but also no loss. By shutting in unprofitable production, producers will no longer have their profitable production diluted by their unprofitable production. Reserves will be saved for a time when they can be produced profitably, those reserves will also not have to carry the incremental costs of each years subsequent losses. And finally the marginal production is removed from the commodity markets. Enabling them to find the marginal price. Service providers are undertaking the risks associated with the overhead costs of the oil and gas industry. Yet they can budget and plan for contingencies that may impair their revenues by upto 15% or more, depending on the volume of oil and gas that is shut-in, at any time. Providing an effective control for the oil and gas industry over its overhead costs.

Our price maker strategy is not part of the Super E&P producers. We have asserted our business model to the industry for over a decade. Their resistance is a classic case of disintermediation in which the bureaucrats have the power to avoid their elimination. Their power will only be further entrenched in the Super E&P. Therefore I believe that the first step the industry needs to take is the implementation of the Preliminary Specification. Then the appropriate corporate structure can be supported and ensured that they will be provided with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. In the article Mr. Dell is quoted as saying.

When oil prices go up, these guys spend like drunken sailors, he said. When oil prices go down, they turn around and say, Look, it’s not my fault the oil price went down. I can’t be expected to manage this commodity.

We need to change the culture and reorganize the industry on the basis of profitability. It has been four decades that the industry has been operated in the manner that it is today. Generations of oil and gas workers know no difference. To break this cultural inertia we need to build the software that will define and support the organization and culture that we desire. That is the Preliminary Specification. Changing deck chairs on the Titanic will not save anyone.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

Societies Cost

During the Christmas Holidays it became quite evident the extent of the costs that people are paying as a result of the downturn in oil and gas. Calgary may be unique in that we are a one industry town with a population of 1.26 million people. Dallas, Houston and Oklahoma City may have other industries that help to mitigate the effect of the downturn in oil and gas. The cash crisis that oil and gas producers choose to continue to operate under is being felt throughout the city and the province. Extending payment of a firm's accounts payable to unreasonable periods seems to have been a lesson that everyone has learned. Companies of all types are closing their doors and everyone is at a standstill. Companies such as Cenovus Energy, who are reporting those oil and gas styled “record profits,” are slashing their staff by 15% once again.

Throughout the Preliminary Specification, and specifically in the Resource Marketplace and Revenue Model, we discuss the impact of oil and gas on the economy as a whole and address who it is that we are developing systems for. Noting that oil and gas is a primary industry that uses the service industry to conduct most of their field operations. As a primary industry oil and gas producers generate their revenues from the sale of oil and gas commodities. The attitude of the producers is that this is their money and the service industry is a leach on that resource. Encana repeatedly stated that the service industry were greedy and lazy during the times when oil and gas prices were at their peak. Now not paying them for a year or eighteen months is the reasonable thing to do.

Society as a whole benefits as a result of the exploration and development of oil and gas. Not much argument there. Producers have considered what falls within their four walls as their only concern and assume everyone else is involved in a primary industry where their revenues are generated through the initial sale of some commodity. The service industry is not so lucky. They are wholly dependent on a healthy and profitable oil and gas industry and it is incumbent on the producers to ensure that they attain that. If they don’t attain a profitable or healthy outcome, then too bad so sad say the oil and gas bureaucrats, at least they have cash and will get paid. The results of this attitude is having serious consequences on the service industry for the past two years, which is now beginning to affect the general economy where the service industry and oil and gas producers rely on to support their activities. When producers do decide to get their act together, what capabilities will be available to them from the general economy? Or will they just shell out double or triple the amount of money necessary to get the people to migrate back to work in the remaining prehistoric conditions and live through the abundance of shortages in their lives. Which would be ok because the bureaucrats will still be paid their cash and they’ll be ok. Bureaucrats never lose.

Our focus here at People, Ideas & Objects has been to point the finger at the bureaucrats as the responsible party for these difficulties, the continuation of this downturn and the associated pain and suffering. They are not motivated to make the changes through adoption of the Preliminary Specification as we eliminate them from the scene through disintermediation. Another area of our focus is on the oil and gas investor as part of the solution to how this downturn and the People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification ultimately gets built. Investors are key in the health and prosperity of any society. They’re the ones who can and will act to make the changes to avoid these kinds of conditions. No one else has the authority, responsibility or tools in which to do so. So how come this downturn has happened in oil and gas?

Investors, as has everybody, have been deceived by the accounting mythology that the oil and gas producers have been spinning for the last four decades. Capitalizing every cost possible, including most of the overheads, to the point where the only costs that are recognized are the costs to run the pump jack and the royalties. In a capital intensive industry this leads to distortions where the assets bloat to ridiculous sizes, and hence why producers are so enamoured with them. What producers need to learn is that accounting is not about reflecting the value of the company, accounting is about how the firm is performing. And oil and gas profits have been spectacular because the real cost, the capital consumed by the company, is never recognized. The capital is raised from an investor, spent and will then sit for decades in property, plant and equipment before it’s returned to the producer for reinvestment, retirement of debt or redistribution to shareholders. Oil and gas is the place where money goes to die and it has been that way for four decades. Investors were deceived by the accounting during this period, being told that their producer firms were smart and successful. When in reality the industry has been hollowed out of any value and is worthless from the point of view that it requires tens of billions in new cash each year to sustain itself.

In May 2004 we published our Preliminary Research report in which we hypothesised that if industry didn’t change their ways, conditions would deteriorate. Equating the situation to the fall of the Former Soviet Union where the economy ceased to function, when everyone was lined up at the bakery waiting for bread. Asserting that the oil and gas bureaucracy would become too slow and too cumbersome to deal with the speed and changes within the industry. Unable to keep up with the needs of those that depended upon it. We have that situation today with the added feature of a complacent and satisfied bureaucracy. The costs of that are now beginning to be evident to everyone. It’s time for action.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

No posting today.

Holiday Schedule

I've decided to move forward by one week the time that I take off for Christmas. I'll be returning on January 15, 2018. Merry Christmas everyone.

Two More Days

Can't' shake this flu / cold.

It's Just Not Working Is It

I am yet to see any evidence of the oil and gas investors buying the renewed profitability and discipline story being parroted by the producers. Since the third quarter there doesn’t appear to have been any change in the mindset of investors wanting to participate in the industry. It’s not that the investors don’t believe the producers renewed talking points, regarding profitability and discipline. Its that they would like to see some concrete actions in that direction. The other glaring aspect of the producer's business that frustrate the investors is the inability to address the commercialization of shale. Is shale a viable business? As it stands today it’s not, and the producers won’t address this point. Promoting the upside of shale is easy, everyone understands there’s lots of it. What investors want to know is how can they make money?

People, Ideas & Objects focus on profits has been discussed from the point of view of the investor on this blog. However, if you read the Preliminary Specification it is society in general that we are seeking to build value for. If the investors are satisfied with the profits they’re earning from the oil and gas industry it would be reasonable to assume that all elements of society would be satisfied too. And the counter argument is certainly valid today. The only ones benefiting from the current downturn are the bureaucrats. Their fine and appreciate your concern. The people who work in oil and gas, the people who work in the service industry, the service industry vendors, the royalty holders, the governments that collect the taxes on profits, the people who will need to work in oil and gas in the future and the overall prosperity usually associated with a healthy oil and gas industry in the communities where they operate have all suffered substantially for many years now. If the investors were satisfied these people would not be living such miserable lives and our focus on the investors is more representative of how the system works then it does on one specific group at the expense of all the others.

People, Ideas & Objects plans for 2018 continue to gain focus over these last few months. Our plans seeking to source our financial needs through the issuance of an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) remain fluid however. What was clear on September 26, 2017 was the bureaucrats had no interest in developing the Preliminary Specification. These bureaucrats are too conflicted to do what’s in the best interests of everyone else. Our pursuit of the producers as a source of revenues ceased at that time and we are proceeding with our alternative plans. These include appealing to the oil and gas investor, our user community and others to participate in our ICO. The extrinsic value of our coin will be the differential between the commodity prices realized today and those prices that will be realized through use of the Preliminary Specifications software when operational. Value that the producers have proven to be uninterested in and otherwise available for the taking.

The Preliminary Specification is now four years old and more valid than at any time before. Proving its business model is appropriate for the oil and gas industry. Not only is the Preliminary Specification still valid but the bureaucracy is still failing at a substantial pace. The test of time is a strong advocate for the work that People, Ideas & Objects are doing. And should provide strong support to the oil and gas community at large in terms of continuing to provide that value. The issue for the bureaucracy is they just can’t make the changes to the business model in the Preliminary Specification without the software being developed first. Any attempt by them to only produce profitable properties will only keep all of their properties producing because they have no means of assessing profitability on a property by property basis. Their overheads are all corporate and fixed, whereas the Preliminary Specifications overheads are charged to the property and variable. Therefore the property will always record at least miniscule profits when you capitalize all of the costs under the sun, including on average 80% of overhead, recognize that capital over a 27 year period in some cases and not recognize any of the costs of Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma or Calgary and their overheads. What property wouldn’t make a “profit” in that case?

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

Parallels to the Industrial Revolution

I read an interesting analysis regarding the lead up to the industrial revolution that may have direct application to the Information Technology revolution that we seem to be going through. It was from  voxeu.org  and I recommend everyone have a look at the article in order to appreciate the implications in today’s marketplace. Although it could be argued that the IT revolution has provided much promise, outside of automated emoji’s and Facebook we have gained very little. I think this article addresses that point with a discussion of the proceeding years and their impact on society that in essence enabled the industrial revolution to begin. It would be my opinion that many of these foundational aspects of the industrial revolution are currently missing in the IT revolution. Which might be the cause of its poor uptake.

What the article states is that in 1534 Henry VIII had a spat with the Pope and broke off from the Catholic Church. Henry then acquired the taxes that were being forwarded to the Catholic Church for his own purposes and when that was not enough, seized the land of the monasteries in England. This turned out to be approximately ⅓ of all of the land in England and when the administration of such was too much, Henry decided to sell the land. The articles authors hypothesis that the creation of these land markets “can be linked to local differences in subsequent development and, ultimately, industrialisation.” Fostering the entrepreneurial spirit. The authors conclusion is as follows.

The Dissolution created a land market and started the modernisation of land tenure relationships. This led to division of labour, innovation, greater productivity, rationalisation of property rights, and changes in social structure. Ultimately, these factors coalesced into industrialisation in those places where the monasteries held lands centuries before the Industrial Revolution. The institutional change driven by the Dissolution is a more important driver of local industrialisation than commonly used explanations – such as local abundance of coal.

My argument would be consistent with today’s bureaucracy having the same effect on development as the Pope did in 1534. Although we have no need to dump the Catholic Church we should dump the bureaucracy as I’ve described in the Preliminary Specification. The development of markets is the impediment to the full development of the Information Technology revolution. To People, Ideas & Objects the now mature Information Technologies are lying dormant as a result of the bureaucrats unwillingness to let go of the past. The implementation of the Preliminary Specification would establish within the industry and producers the use of the Joint Operating Committee as the key organizational construct. It would also provide the Resource, Petroleum Lease and Financial Marketplace modules. In the administrative and accounting areas markets would be established for the user community and, most importantly of all, the service providers, the means in which we can provide oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

People are locked up in their cubicles and offices unable to exercise their entrepreneurial spirit. Constrained by their lifestyle and the ease that the bureaucracy provides for that. But also itching to want to do something more than count the days. They too can see the IT resources developing around them and understand the impact they could have if they could only… Such is the nature of work today. People need to see these markets forming in a somewhat concrete manner in order to make the transition. The real impetus to change will be the investment capital resources have to lead. That is their role in society and although withholding capital from the producers is the first phase of these changes. We need them to transition to the second phase and begin to support these markets and methods of organization that will provide them with real value in the long run.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

Energy Independence in North America

Energy independence in North America is the objective that everyone can agree on. It is understood by most everyone to be a win, win, win situation for society. With the development of shale based reserves this objective isn’t just a dream but a highly desired and obtainable possibility. What this post will detail is the means in which energy independence is proposed to be obtained by both the current administration and People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification reorganizes the producer and industry to accommodate variable production volumes. This is done so that producers can ensure that they only ever produce from profitable properties. Unprofitable properties are shut-in until such time as innovations can be found to reduce costs, increase production or enhance the reserves. This is enabled through our decentralized production model and its price maker strategy. Which seeks to match costs more accurately with the revenues that are generated. Under the Preliminary Specification any shut-in properties will incur a null operation, no profit but also no loss. This is done as all of the costs of the producers are converted into variable costs based on production.

This conversion of all of the producers costs into variable costs is through the reorganization of the producer and industry. By moving the administrative and accounting resources of the producers to individual service providers that are focused and specialized on one individual process. Where each service provider has the entire industry as their client base. Then processing of their administrative or accounting process is completed and the associated overhead fees of the service provider are charged directly to the Joint Operating Committee. If there is no production for the month then nothing will be processed for that property through our task and transfer network and the service provider will not be conducting any work or charging the Joint Operating Committee any of the fees for their service. This has moved the burden of cost control in the area of administration and accounting from the producer firm to the service providers themselves. In which they will be able to budget and plan on an annual basis for the contingency that they may have upwards of 15% of their revenues decline due to the volume of industry wide shut-in production.

Establishing all of the industries production on the basis of earning a profit will substantially enhance the profitability of each producer. No longer will they be diluted by the unprofitable properties that continue to be produced in today’s current environment. The reserves that would otherwise have been produced unprofitably can therefore be saved for a time when they can be produced profitably. Reducing the cost of the remaining reserves by not adding each year's incremental losses to the costs of the reserves. Forcing the property to recover the chronic losses in subsequent years. And most importantly, the commodity markets will be able to find the marginal cost of those commodities and enhance the profitability of the industry through higher commodity prices.

By establishing the industry on the basis of profitable operations oil and gas can be managed as a mature industry. The belief that growth in the industry is the objective may have been an appropriate posture in the 1940’s. Today it is time that the industry began to perform from a financial perspective. It has used the investors money in the past four decades to subsidize the consumers of energy. The amount of the consumer subsidy being equal to the outsized property, plant and equipment accounts that the bureaucrats cherish so much. These account balances are nothing more than the unrecognized capital costs associated with past production. These capital balances should have been repeatedly turned over to generate the cash to operate the business. Instead the investment remains dormant for up to 27 years in property, plant and equipment while the producers continually issue new stock offerings to spend and build their capital asset balances ever higher. Oil and gas hasn’t been a business, it’s an engineering and geological science experiment.

Once the Preliminary Specification has established the industry on a profitable footing then the deliverability can be increased profitably in order to attain the objective of energy independence in North America. Producers today are just waiting for the investors to return. The Investors that went on strike when they finally learned what their role in the industry was. Just as soon as producers can begin issuing more stock the quicker energy independence will be achieved. That investors maybe on the hook for many trillions of further investment, which would glow radioactive in the property, plant and equipment accounts for the next few decades, has to be encouraging. After oil and gas experienced an existential threat over the last decade. And the only actions of the bureaucrats during this time appears to have been a recent “striking up of the band” for another round of the same. What investor doesn’t want to be part of that energy independence in North America shindig!

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

Manic Times

Today we hit the high water mark in terms of the manic - depressive cycle that North American producers have put themselves on. With a fresh extension of the OPEC agreement, prices close to $60 / bbl, things haven’t looked so good in the industry for years. Ever get that feeling of deja vu all over again. Buoyed by a compliant and cheerleading media the producers have world dominance at their fingertips. There’s just nothing that can’t be done by them. Their costs are down and they’ve learned to believe in profits which is what they believe their investors are asking for. From my point of view there is only one major difficulty. It’s not working.

The nature of this overproduction and oversupply issue is not something that can be ignored and assumed to fade as OPEC clears up any global inventory overhang and consumers demand more energy. There will always be consumers and there will always be inventories. There will also always be the other shale producers who are responsible for the overproduction. Each and every producer will ensure anyone that will listen that they are not the source of the overproduction issue. Each of the North American producers believe they have it within their domain to control themselves. Clearly they don’t, they need the cash.

What surprises me is the number of producers who have stated that their costs have been reduced. Nothing could be more incorrect. Almost all of the producers have increased the number of years in which they are depleting their property, plant and equipment accounts. Increasing the number of years by 30% since the end of 2016 for our sample of 23 producers. That will make an impact on the income statement and the appearance of reduced costs, and higher profits however this is accounting shenanigans. The probability that any of the producers actually reduced their historical costs is zero. Once you pay $1 to drill and complete a well that is what it costs. Any attempts to reduce the costs in the current period would have to be fraudulent. You can’t change historical facts. It is possible that the field operations are more refined and downhole work more efficient which has brought about some cost reductions. These would only apply to the current work in progress which may account for all of 5% of the producers properties.

Which brings up the rationale of why are the high cost North American producers crowding out the low cost OPEC producers? The logic doesn’t exist for this to continue in a market economy and it is therefore reasonable to assume that OPEC won’t be the one to always withhold production. Shale producers are proving to be resilient in terms of production growth and for lack of a better word aggressive in terms of their entitlement to first priority in the marketplace. Can this continue? What if the belief is true that the Saudi’s are only playing nice for now until they complete their Saudi Aramco IPO. Then once that’s complete they can sell their production at whatever price the market provides. Understanding that the overabundance of oil over the next 50 years will only provide for the lowest cost producers. Will the cooperation being expressed by the North American producers towards who is entitled to produce now earn them a seat at the table tomorrow when low cost producers are just looking for revenues?

The Saudi oil minister said after yesterday’s meeting that finding equilibrium in oil markets will take another two to three years. A sober reflection of the issue at hand. Contrast this with the attitude of the North American producers who appear hell bent on world domination. I think it is a clear reflection of the desperate financial position that they’ve put themselves in. Their outlook is towards the next payroll and to sell as much production as they can. The business of the oil and gas business doesn’t concern them. They can produce unprofitable production at investor expense for ever. That is just as soon as the investor's return.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

Differing IT Strategies

I read a comment the other day regarding how the oil and gas industry might solve its Information Technology related issues. The point being asked was, would there be a large solution like People, Ideas & Objects in the marketplace or a continuation of what I would call the ad-hoc approach of today? I found the argument they put forward was interesting in that it seemed to be attempting to refute what was becoming the consensus in the industry, that the large solution was the answer. Whether this is just me being optimistic or there is that consensus building is unknown to me. These are the thoughts that I have about this topic and why we need a comprehensive solution like what People, Ideas & Objects have proposed in the Preliminary Specification.

The first point that I would make in our argument is that People, Ideas & Objects are not the comprehensive, “big-bang” style of solution that it may be perceived of initially. If we look at the user community and their related service provider organizations these are fully independent organizations that are specializing in their particular area of the industry. The Preliminary Specification is using specialization and the division of labor to expand the throughput of the industry. This can’t be done in a centralized fashion, only a decentralized market can approach the type of scope and scale that the oil and gas industry presents. We believe that too much reliance is placed on each producer to develop the accounting, administrative and IT capabilities within each producer. That these capabilities are redundantly replicated within each oil and gas producer and are therefore unshared and unshareable. They are certainly not core to the producers competitive advantage. Therefore having each producer building these requisite capabilities to meet these demands and each one of these producers capabilities being redundant in terms of building the overall capabilities for the industry, is one of the key reasons for the lack of profitability in the industry.

People, Ideas & Objects are dedicated ERP software developers providing the Preliminary Specifications development. Providing a change based software development capability to the oil and gas industry. One that will accommodate the needs of the industry as it develops in the future. This capability is wholly missing from the marketplace at this time. There are a number of ERP systems providers and many developers working on these applications within the producers and within other software vendors. The industry has however fallen into a situation where it is leaderless and directionless. Software occupies a much larger role in our lives than we probably recognize. To leave the future of the industry in the hands of a disparate marketplace without leadership and without direction will only leave us with the same issues. I have believed for many years that there is only one type of business. That being the software business. Anyone who thinks otherwise is quickly going out of business. In oil and gas it’s not enough to own the oil and gas asset, it's also necessary to have access to the software that makes the oil and gas asset profitable.

The question becomes how much financial damage have the producers and industry sustained? What are the prospects that these can be resolved and overcome with the industry moving forward with a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable future for all? The media would have us believe that the shale producers have OPEC on the run. The only missing element of that vision is the continual fresh injections of your cash into the shale producers. I see the financial consequences of these issues for the producers for the past decade as permanent and terminal. There is no coming back from this for the current producers. Are we to feebly limp along as a damaged and destroyed industry that makes its best efforts? Or should we take control of the development and management of software that is proving to be such a critical element in our society today and realize the full potential that exists for these next 25 years. The answer to this question I think is the same as the answer to the question that we began with here today. Is the solution to the industries IT needs a large solution like People, Ideas & Objects or a continuation of the ad-hoc approach we’ve seen for the past 40 years.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here.