One area that we have not discussed in the recent past is the service providers that are enabled through the transition to the
Preliminary Specification and the
user community. The service providers are derivative of the user community in that they are based on initiatives and actions of the people who are involved in the user community. Members of the service providers are licensees of the People, Ideas & Objects Intellectual Property as they use the software and prepare their services based on providing the Preliminary Specification to the individual producer firms.
Service providers will focus on one detailed process or subprocess of the administration or accounting of the producer firms of the oil and gas industry. They will, in most instances manage that process for all of the producers within the industry. This is to enable them to focus on their competitive advantages of automation of the process, specialization and the division of labor. These tools will bring significant value to the dynamic, innovative and profitable oil and gas producer through successive iterations of continuous improvement. Value not only in terms of lower cost of service but also in terms of the quality of that service.
The particular process that a service provider will manage may appear small in terms of its domain of what a producer undertakes. However, when aggregated throughout the industry the scope of the undertaking will present unique challenges to the service providers. Competition between the service providers will not be within the individual processes. Generally one process will be managed by one service provider. Some exceptions will apply as can be expected. The competition between service providers will be generated in the form of how they apply specialization and the division of labor to the processes that they manage. Innovation in this area will be high and lead to a competitive environment between the service providers.
I also foresee constant change and improvement. The way things are done today is to find the most efficient method possible. That is with the constraints that are present within each producer firm. With the situation we are discussing here the constraints will be based on the resources and domain of the industry. There will need to be significant trial and error in order to explore all of the possibilities of what are the most efficient and effective ways. This is one of the advantages of having a dedicated software development capability like that of People, Ideas & Objects available to the service providers.
It is important to remember that the service providers are replacing the administrative and accounting resources of the producer firms. Under the
decentralized production model the producer firm is reduced to the C class executives, the earth science and engineering resources, the land and legal with some support staff. These service providers are then billing for their service on a unit of work basis when the producer incurs the service providers process. They then are billed for the standard rate for that process and that is the extent of the interaction with that service provider. If the producers production is shut-in for the month, then they do not incur the unit of work or the standard rate and as a result the producer does not incur any of the administrative or accounting overhead associated with that property. This is the benefit of the service providers to the oil and gas producer. If they shut-in production to 80% of capacity then their overhead is immediately reduced to that same 80% threshold. Doing so will therefore record a null operation, no profit but also no loss, save the reserves for a time when they can be produced profitably, increase the profitability of their operation in the short term, remove the excess production from the marketplace and increase the commodity prices.
The service providers are a critical part of the industry infrastructure necessary for the Preliminary Specification. They are derivative of the user community, and are a key part of that community. The owners and operators of the service providers will be the key members of the user community and will be those that have made a significant contribution to the user community. We will reward our user community members in the best ways that we can. And providing them with membership as a service provider is one of the key ways in which to do so. There may be several thousand different service providers in the end. But they will all be part of a new sub-industry that we are creating here that will be generating approximately $40 - 60 billion in annual revenues. These are the G&A costs that the oil and gas industry is incurring today in North America to employ these administrators and accountants. The people that will be moving to the service providers themselves.
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. And don't forget to join our network on Twitter
@piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email
here.