Unified Reserves Definitions - A Step toward One Worldwide Standard
Ron Harrell will present and analyze the proposed, unified 2007 petroleum reserves and resources definitions and discuss application guidelines. Sanctioning bodies are SPE, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, World Petroleum Congress and Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers. Currently, SPE is evaluating comments from industry. A draft of the proposed definitions is posted on the SPE Web site at www.spe.org.
The SPE Oil & Gas Reserves Committee presented the new definition set to the SPE board in September. OGRC found an ambiguity between unproved reserves and contingent resources, so the new set of definitions clarified the relationship between the two for better portfolio management. The definitions also addressed the following:
- Confusion between commercial and technical certainty
- Misalignment—Focus on proved current conditions but project decisions based on 2P forecast conditions.
- Lack of Clarity—Guidelines based on incremental approach but business uses scenario approach.
- Focus too narrow—Buoyancy-based rules do not apply to unconventional resources.
SPE also investigated how to make further classifications within each of the proved developed and proved undeveloped categories for use in portfolio analysis.
Updates to reserves audit and evaluation standards included beefing up the qualifications for a reserves evaluator and auditor. The standards also address acceptable tolerances in a reserves audit, minimums for entity reserves reports, performance and volumetric analysis and use of analogs under regulatory guidelines.
Location:
Courtyard on St James
1885 St James Place
Houston
,
TX 77056