Capitalizing Royalties?

I certainly support any innovation in the oil and gas industry. However there was a bit of a dust up in Canada last week regarding PennWest’s treatment of their royalties over the past few years. It seems that their accounting will need to be restated for a few hundred million dollars of capitalized royalties. On what universe would a producer firm consider that royalties would be eligible to be capitalized? I know, its the only expense item that’s not capitalized! I guess that is what passes for logic in the rarified air of the bureaucracy in oil and gas these days. PennWest’s stock took a tumble as a result of this revelation and there was the comment by one investor that “if there’s one cockroach, there'll be others.” I think that investor has the substance of the issue appropriately in focus. Lets have a closer look at the facts as we know them.

A review of PennWest’s 2013 MD&A, Financial Statements and Notes reveals no discussion of any capitalization of royalties. Therefore no direct admission of the practice. The amounts quoted as being required for the restatement for 2013 were $70 million and are therefore material and would otherwise require disclosure. Unless they were Generally Accepted Accounting Principles used throughout the industry. Interestingly however there is no discussion of the amount of G&A that is capitalized either. Capitalized G&A is about as bread and butter an issue in oil and gas and I would be surprised if PennWest was not capitalizing any G&A, but capitalizing royalties. The logical conclusion is they are not disclosing the capitalization policies of any of their costs due to the fact that they are Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Otherwise someone is in deep, deep trouble for nondisclosure of material misstatements.

Some discussion of the issue came out on Thursday July 31, 2014 between the past CFO Todd Takeyasu and the new CFO David Dyck who is the one who issued the press release about the restatement of earnings. The text of the conversation was run in the Globe and Mail and is as follows.

Penn West did not say which employees are “believed responsible” for these accounting practices, but noted they are no longer working for the company. The review arose from information brought to the attention of chief financial officer David Dyck, who started on May 1, taking over from Todd Takeyasu. In an interview, Mr. Takeyasu said the committee’s concerns could be a result of different interpretations of accounting methods. 

“Some of this stuff is grey, but I'm probably not at liberty to say much,” he said. “Some of that is possibly a matter of documentation.” 

He added: “The new people might just have a different view of it.” 

New board members and executive officers may have a “will to do things slightly differently,” he said.

Indicating that it would seem that there appears to be a different point of view on the treatment of capitalizing royalties between the two CFO’s. Of note it is important to point out that Mr. Takeyasu retired in March of 2014. That Mr. Dyck’s resume does not have him as the CFO of an oil and gas producer in any of his previous positions. Now I know Todd Takeyasu very well. Todd is the type of guy that has never taken a risk in his life. He would never have crossed the street unless the crossing guard whistled and motioned directly to him to cross, twice. And had a stamp from that crossing guard to prove it. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that this is not a rogue CFO blazing across the horizon looking for fame and fortune. Todd would have ensured that PennWest would have had this well documented. I have been personally witness to years of Todd’s audit files. And I'm sure Todd’s lawyer has copies of that documentation as well. The other conclusion to make from this is that the initiation of these ideas are a result of an industry wide initiative. The other roaches hiding in the background.

So lets conclude from this that we might look forward to an industry wide summer of restatements and late nights for the accountants in the energy industry. Their attempt to earn some profits might have seemed innovative to some, however, lets put this in perspective. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

The Preliminary Specification and user community 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. 

And We're Back

Its good to be back. When we left we were discussing the various positions within the leadership team of the user community. The board of directors, the officers and the product owners. We are going to continue to focus on the user community as our primary concern. Having systems developed without user community participation will be useless in the future, even more so than they are today. It is the user communities development that we need to be concerned about. This is the difficult aspect of People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification that needs to be developed. We have set out to have the user community prepared to begin the software developments of the Preliminary Specification in 2019, therefore we are committing to a full five years of user community development. We also established January 2017 as the time in which the producers will be called upon to support the user community and the software developments with the funding necessary to proceed to our first commercial iteration.

If you haven't had the opportunity to read the user community vision recently, I would highly recommend a review of it again. This is not your typical user community. It is significantly different in that the People, Ideas & Objects user community has the power and authority to affect the changes within the industry to provide the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. As we proceed through the development of the user community, this capability will begin to evolve and develop into the means in which we are able to offer the investor community a choice as to how they want their oil and gas assets operated. On the basis of the old tired and stale bureaucracy, or with us on the basis of being the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. The user communities value proposition is tangible and substantial. In the era of shale, the difference in value is in the many trillions of dollars.

Our fight with the bureaucrats may have just begun. They have never been challenged before as they are challenged by the threat of the now forming user community and Preliminary Specification. Be wise to their ways and be cautious to any open discussion of this project. Make sure you are not speaking to someone who has the wherewithal to make your life miserable. Some characteristics of bureaucrats are consistent in that they are petty, bitter, and can be vengeful to those who they see as having an advantage. Please do take care.

The definition of our user communities leadership team was the point that we left off prior to our vacation. We are looking to recruit these positions and have them in place prior to January 2017 as tangible evidence of our ability to prove to the industry that we have the capability to provide an alternative means of oil and gas operations. And then with the industries financial resources we will be able to continue with the remainder of the user community developments and actually begin software developments of the Preliminary Specification in 2019. If you, or someone you know, would be interested in one of the positions listed in the user community vision, please contact me.

One of the key advantages of early participation in the user community is the ability to participate in the service provider marketplace. User community participants will be those that are provided with the exclusive opportunity to establish the service providers that service the oil and gas producers with their administrative and accounting services as defined in the Preliminary Specification. As we have discussed before these service providers will be participating in a new sub-industry that is being established through the reorganization of the industry that is being undertaken by the Preliminary Specification and the user community. The service providers will have as their revenue stream the approximate $40 - 60 billion in annual G&A costs of the producers reallocated to them, as revenues for the administrative and accounting services they provide. A significant business opportunity for those service providers and user community participants. In addition the budget for the developments of the first commercial iteration of the Preliminary Specification contains user community development costs in the range of $333 to 667 million. There are significant business opportunities in terms of the long term prospects for anyone who wants to provide the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

The Preliminary Specification and user community 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. 

Another Holiday!

We'll be off today in recognition of Alberta's Heritage Day, returning tomorrow.

It's Time for Some Time Off

It’s summer and everyone deserves some time off. I will be taking some time off myself, returning August 4, 2014. What we have now is the product in the Preliminary Specification, the Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Fusion Applications and our user community. We have the rough sketches of a plan that’s in place for the period up to January 2017. And we have begun the process of putting the people in place to make this project real. The September to December 2014 time frame “might” be an opportune time for us. I think it will be too early yet. However, we will begin our push then and see what happens. Until August 4th have a good summer and we'll see you then.

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. 

User Communities Product Owners

We come to the last category of our user communities leadership team, the product owners. There will be many product owners in the user community, I think as high as twenty in total. Each one will have one element of the development as their responsibility. Each one of the modules of the Preliminary Specification will have a product owner. There will be product owners for the data model, user interface, architecture, decentralized production model etc. Product owners have a defined role in the traditional software development team, however, I see them holding a critical position in the People, Ideas & Objects development team and user community developments. They will be ensuring that the needs of the user community are met by the People, Ideas & Objects development team.

How the product owner will ensure the user communities needs are met will be as a result of their creative design, issue identification and resolution skills. As well as other skills. Taking in the whole of the user communities input, finding the innovative and value generating ideas from the community and working with those users to integrate those ideas within the module or systems in ways that provide the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

Having the understanding of the developments as a result of being a key member of the development team gives the product owner a unique perspective on the issues and opportunities in the oil and gas industry. They will be the one who will prioritize the developments for the developers and provide other management activities regarding the user community. Their ability to listen to the user community regarding their module gives them the insight to predict the direction and needs of the user community in the near future. Ensuring that their user community operates with little interruption from the noise of the irrelevant and inconsequential. Using whatever tools that are available to keep their community informed and up-to-date.

Through these interactions with the People, Ideas & Objects development team. And through the interaction with the user community itself. The product owners will be able to exercise significant leadership over the domain of the module that they are responsible for. It will be they who are ultimately responsible for ensuring that the decentralized production model is properly integrated in the Preliminary Specification if that is their domain. It will be they who are responsible for the billions in opportunity costs that the industry will be able to earn as a result of the that module being implemented properly in the software. That there is no confusion or misunderstanding within the user community, and that in turn is delivered to the software developers.

These product owners will be well versed in the ways and means of the oil and gas industry. They will understand technology like those few people who really do understand today’s technology. They will be leaders in the community. And they will see these positions as the most exciting positions in the oil and gas industry to have come along in the last one hundred years. If one of these modules was yours, it would be the result of your efforts to ensure that the community and the development team got it right.

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. 

The User Communities Officers

When we discuss the officers of the user community we are of course speaking of the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer or CEO, CFO and COO. These positions will need to be filled once we have secured the board of directors and they have a chance to recruit these individuals. These are the people who will be able to put a name and a face to the organization and will become the public image of the user community. As in any organization these officers will have the authority and responsibility to enact the plans and budgets of the organization. They will be the ones that are looked to by all within the community for the direction, goals and objectives of the organization.

The user community will be comprised of a variety of different types of users. Some will be the casual user who is fully employed by a producer firm or a service provider. Others will be full time consultants who specialize in the analysis and systems work that is prevalent in the user community. Still others may be full time employees of the user community organization that we are discussing. These officers will be representative of all of these types of users and ensure that the collaborative input of their understanding of the oil and gas industry is captured and delivered to the People, Ideas & Objects developers. It will also be necessary that the user community is kept aware of the larger role that they share in controlling the business model of the industry. And ensure that this work continues to provide the oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

It will therefore be a collaborative style of leader that we are looking to fill the three officer roles in the user community organization. Therefore I see these roles being filled by unique individuals from the oil and gas communities. Ideally they would be individuals who have achieved significant success in their career. Someone who would see the community role of these positions as something new and challenging. Yet still see the effectiveness and the power of the user community in affecting change in the oil and gas industry through the business model.

It is my concern that the user community would lose its focus and get lost in some of the blind bunny trails that organizations seem to find themselves in at times. This focus on providing the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations is an infinite challenge. That we have defined significant value in the model today is testament to the value of the low hanging fruit that exists in using the Joint Operating Committee. We have only begun to explore this model. And the value for the producer will essentially never stop, and therefore we can never stop collecting that low hanging fruit and reach for the more difficult value that is also attainable. This I see as a primary responsibility of the individuals who are the officers of the user community. To keep this community focused on finding that value for the producers through the hard work necessary to do so. Complacency is unacceptable.

What we know today about software is critical to be kept in the minds of the user community members and their leadership. That software both enables and constrains organizations. It enables them to do the things that software, when it exists, can provide the organization. It at the same time however constrains them from doing anything else. And that includes change. People, Ideas & Objects provides a software development capability to ensure that the industry has the ability to be enabled by software and to deal with the constraints of the software that it uses. But that is not enough. It also needs a user community that understands the dynamic nature of the software and its impact on organizations. And understands that it is not encumbered by those constraints due to the fact that the user community controls the business model and have a dedicated software development capability at hand. These are the tools that the dynamic, innovative and profitable oil and gas producer of the 21st century needs to have at their disposal. And the officers of the user community need to lead the way in which this happens.

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.

The User Communities Board of Directors

For the remainder of this week I thought I would go through the individual positions that are available in the user community leadership team. That way people will have a better understanding of the types of positions that are available and which ones they may be best suited for. Today’s topic is the board of directors of the user community. As I have indicated before I don't know if this is a board of governors or directors at this point, we'll however just use the term directors at this point. There are six positions available here including the chairman’s position. One of the unique characteristics of the chairman's position at this point is that position holds two votes. As I indicated in a previous posting the position of chairman is being filled by myself.

The role of director for the user community will be that for the user community itself. It is a position that looks towards the needs of the user community and its requirements. Based on the user community vision it will hold and control the business models of the software contained within the Preliminary Specification. It will recruit the officers and executives necessary to operate the organization consistent with its vision. It will approve the budgets and financial statements of that organization. It will engage the oil and gas industry at large in agreements to provide for their needs in terms of what their ERP and other systems requirements are. It will be responsible for the actions and activities of the user community in fulfilling its obligations to the producers in the industry and its users.

The user community will be endowed with an Intellectual Property License from People, Ideas & Objects. This license will permit the user community to further develop this Intellectual Property with the understanding that all developments will become the property of Paul D. Cox, where they will remain available for the user community to use and develop further. No charge will be levied to the user for use of this Intellectual Property. On the contrary, users will be paid for their contributions. We are paying for the acquisition of the Intellectual Property from the user community. Resources will be provided from People, Ideas & Objects for this purpose. The user community will be for the exclusive use of People, Ideas & Objects.

Directors would preferably be drawn from the oil and gas business community. From a broad mix of administration, accounting, earth science, engineering and technological disciplines. Having a diverse board of directors would represent the needs of the users. Ideally they should be senior members of the community and have established careers. These positions would be part-time in terms of their time requirements however we would expect these people to be fully committed to providing the oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. As that is the key differentiation that makes the user community so valuable and worthwhile.

If you are interested in these position please contact me below. Or alternatively if you know of someone who would be a worthwhile candidate for the user community, send this information on to them. What we have with the Preliminary Specification, the Oracle Fusion Middleware and Applications and user community developments is an excellent product to offer the oil and gas industry. What we also have is a plan in which we are offering our product as an alternative to the industry as a replacement to the bureaucracy. With a product and a plan we can now focus on the people and work towards this decision in January 2017.

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. 

Preparing for Decisions to be Made in January 2017

Our priority in the next five years is the development of the user community. In the next 30 months we are developing the user communities leadership team and preparing our offering to the board of directors of the producer firms. This offering consists of the vision contained within the Preliminary Specification. The Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Fusion Application infrastructure we will be using. The third and critical component of this offering is the user community itself. People, Ideas & Objects are user driven software developments. Without the users involvement we have software developers with a limited understanding of the oil and gas industry and are unable to fully comprehend the needs of the users. With the users involved in our development, based on the user community vision, we have a distinct competitive advantage and can provide the oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

This decision that the board of directors of the producers will be making is scheduled for January 2017. It will compare our offering to the status quo bureaucracy and determine which method the producer wants their organization operated under, the mindless bureaucratic “muddle along” strategy, or People, Ideas & Objects offering as described above. Careful consideration should be taken by each producer to determine their choice. If they choose the bureaucracy they should understand that People, Ideas & Objects stands on 10 years of research and 23 years of effort by myself to get to the point that we are at today. It will be a long time before any other software offering comes along if People, Ideas & Objects et al is deemed inadequate. There is also the issue of using the Joint Operating Committee. That breakthrough was a result of my research and is a cornerstone of my Intellectual Property. No other offering will be able to use that IP in another offering. If you choose the bureaucracy it is something that you will have to live with for the short and intermediate term. And there will be nothing more satisfying to them.

From a producer point of view there is much to be concerned about. The opportunities that the Preliminary Specification et al provide are substantial and are summed up by our statement that we provide the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. With trillions of dollars in value in terms of the differences between ours and the bureaucracies methods of managing the industry. Some quantifiable through the decentralized production model, and some unquantifiable through the toolset of automation, specialization and the division of labor. Ours is an appropriate vision for the oil and gas producer in the 21st century. One that enables the producer to focus on their core competitive advantages of their earth science and engineering capabilities, and their land and asset base. Where the administrative and accounting minutiae is moved from a producer based capability to an industry based capability. Freeing the producer from the constraints of growth in their production profile.

In the next few days we'll go through the individual positions that we are looking for in the leadership team. As I stated before these will be exciting positions that will have a dramatic impact on the outcome of the future of the industry. There will be much risk involved as we do not know what the results of the decisions by the directors in the producer firm will be. However, with much risk there is much reward. These leadership positions stand to gain substantially as they are at the beginning of the development of the user community and will have the ground floor opportunities in establishing the sub-industry we call the service providers.

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. 

Who Decides?

If we consider the amount of reserves of oil and natural gas that are held in the shale basins. The high costs of producing these basins. The bureaucracies inability to manage their production at any volume other than at full capacity. We can quantify the decision being made by the industry in terms of selecting either the bureaucracy or People, Ideas & Objects, the user community and service providers in the trillions of dollars of profits. Just on that basis it will be hard for the bureaucracy to make their case that they should be kept in charge. If you think they'll change their strategy and their means of operations you truly are an optimist. Ask yourself, where will they start and how will they begin.

The question that we need to answer today is who is it that is going to make the decision on behalf of the industry. What great power is going to come down and make this decision to go with the bureaucracy or with us. Simple, each producer firms board of directors will be asked to make the choice for their firm. Then, based on the aggregate of the decisions that are made we will determine which group wins the decision. This also assumes that the company will be forwarding the financial resources for the developments with their positive vote for us.

Some may consider this to be a foolish question to pose to an otherwise uninterested board of directors. It is also an invitation for the bureaucrats to invade the boardroom and infect the minds of the directors with their double speak. Quite possibly. How else can we have the decision made? I think this falls within the scope of the directors domain. Its also a decision that falls within their authority. I think this is the place that we should be spending our time in the next 30 months.

I mentioned yesterday that the decision makers should consider the consequences of choosing the bureaucracy. Having no choice but the bureaucracy would be the outcome, and if you're unsatisfied with their attitude today, just wait until there are no alternatives present in the marketplace. There is also the possibility that that form of organization is on its last legs. Its not unfamiliar today to hear that the industry is unable to staff up for the future. That the ability to meet the future demands of the industry are questionable based on the resources that are available in the marketplace. Is this not a failure of the method of organization that is being employed by the industry. Is the bureaucracy failing to meet the needs of the industry?

The better question might be what if the bureaucracy fails. As we have mentioned before it did fail before in the great depression. A time when government had to step in and take a larger role in the economy. If it fails again what will the industry rely upon? Failure is a concern but there is also the fact that the bureaucracy might just decide to quit. The average age in the industry is in the 40’s. Retirement or the next vacation is the topic of discussion in most elevators. What happens when this discussion becomes final and the bureaucracy just leaves and doesn't come back.

Preparation for the future is something that should be seriously considered as one element of the changes that are being discussed here in the move towards People, Ideas & Objects. Keeping your options open might be a good strategy for the dynamic, innovative and profitable oil and gas producer in this time of change and opportunity.

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. 

Decision Day January 2017

We have therefore made the decision to prepare our solution to the industry so that they can make a decision as to which method they will use to operate the industry. The bureaucracy or the People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification, the user community and service providers. This decision will be made by the oil and gas industry and we have established January 2017 as the day for that decision to be made. That leaves us with thirty months in which to develop the leadership team and continue developing our offering. That offering consists of the Preliminary Specification as the vision of how the industry would operate. The Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Applications as the infrastructure of our offering. And the leadership team of the user community. The leadership team consists of both the leadership of the user community itself and the leadership of the Preliminary Specification.

This change in our decision timelines does not change any of our product delivery timelines. It does however affect the timelines in which the industry will be called upon to financially support People, Ideas & Objects. It will be January 2017, upon the decision of going forward with our offering, that the funds detailed in our budget will be forwarded from industry to People, Ideas & Objects. These resources will then be used to support the user community development and introduce Oracle to our offering and begin the developments with them. No work or discussions will be undertaken with Oracle during the next 30 months leading up to the decision being made by industry. If Oracle is in the room or not does not make any difference in the decision making criteria of the industry. Oracle will be asked to do their job when we are in development. They will not be asked to do any favors or provide any commitments to industry. We will pay them for the work that they will do when the industry has provided us with the resources to do so.

The question then comes about what happens as a result of the choice to go forward with the bureaucracy. And that we must have a plan for as well. It will be clear at that time that the bureaucracy is impenetrable and will survive for the foreseeable future. Industry should consider the consequences of that decision. However we also need to consider the consequence of that decision. And I have. Although it would be ideal to proceed with the development of the software, the user community and service providers there really is no second best alternative for the Preliminary Specification. Implementation of the Joint Operating Committee dictates an all in type of methodology and mindset. There is no partial pregnancy when using the Joint Operating Committee. Things like the decentralized production model only work when the industry is operational on it. It is that stark and that uncompromising. Therefore in terms of preparing a secondary offering for industry. Or compromising on the Preliminary Specification as it stands today, its not possible because of the nature of using the Joint Operating Committee.

Therefore People, Ideas & Objects will be dissolved as a going concern as will the user community. Their opportunities for any future will be non-existent and therefore the organizations will cease to exist. The Intellectual Property however is a different story and I will manage that property as I see fit.

Until the day we know what the decision is we have much to do. The first is to start with the development of the leadership team of the user community. After all what we want to do is to get rid of the bureaucracy and build some software so that we can provide the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

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.