Shale Gas Reserves
It would be reasonable to assume that the shale revolution is not finished. As innovation occurs more reserves will be moved into the estimated recoverable and proven categories. Another area that sees an abundance of reserves in the United States is coal. The U.S. has the greatest coal reserves in the world. This is important as they offer a competitive alternative to natural gas in the $3.00 to $4.00 range. Natural gas has many other competitive advantages and should command a premium in the marketplace, making the industry realize its recommended price of $6.70 / mmbtu as a minimum.
$6.70 is a world away from the prices that are being realized by the producers today. And they are not something that companies are going to experience in the near future either. There are no plans or ideas in which to deal with the issues of the natural gas marketplace. More shale gas production is coming on stream everyday. Making the problem even more difficult.
Producers are structured to maintain their capabilities in terms of the administrative and accounting requirements of the firm. And those costs need to be covered by cash flow and that requires production. Otherwise the performance of the company looks top heavy with staff. Laying off staff only diminishes the capabilities that are otherwise necessary for the company to maintain irrespective of the production profile. Therefore companies within the industry continue to produce at capacity.
The alternative in the Preliminary Specification sees a few changes in the way that the industry operates. Instead of each company building individual silos of capabilities for administrative and accounting capabilities. The industry as a whole builds the capabilities for administration and accounting. This is done by moving the resources of the producer, outside of the C class executives, the earth science and engineering resources, some legal and support staff into service providers. These service providers are focused on individual processes and subprocesses that enable the service provider to use specialization and the division of labor to bring efficiencies and effectiveness to their customers, the Joint Operating Committees. By charging the Joint Operating Committees for the costs of these administrative tasks, the producer is enabled to shut-in production if commodity prices drop below the marginal cost. When production reaches the point where it becomes marginal and is shut-in. All of the administrative and accounting charges from the service providers cease for the period that the production is shut-in. Leaving only the costs of capital uncovered. This also removes the marginal production from the marketplace, putting an effective floor on the natural gas prices in the future.
Proceeding further into the 41 year life of the shale gas reserves. Without the ability to deal with the marginal production as prescribed in the Preliminary Specification is foolhardy. Producing gas is not an activity that we undertake as if we were in daycare. Its a business. And we need to approach this new era with a business model that will enables the industry to make the types of profits that recognize the risks associated with it.
The Preliminary Specification provides the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy.