Our Marketing Strategy

Within People, Ideas & Objects we have a unique Revenue Model that sources our funds where the money and the need for our services exist, at the producers. We will raise the necessary funds to fuel the developers, the user community and the cloud computer infrastructure to run our application from assessments on the subscribing producers. This is a fundamentally different Revenue Model than what has been used in the software development business, and one that has been developed to deal with the issues we have with our business model. Each of our revenue issues is a deal killer on their own and collectively make the project a non-starter. However, with our Revenue Model as it stands today we are able to overcome these issues and proceed with the project with the anticipation that the project will be funded based on the value proposition that we offer to the dynamic, innovative and profitable oil and gas producer. Had I ever mentioned that the value proposition that People, Ideas & Objects, the user community and the service providers provide the producers is valued in the trillions of dollars?

The first thing any software developer wants to do is to go out and raise some venture capital to fund their ambitions and bring the next great iPhone app to the world. When we knock on the VC’s door this is the world that they operate in. They are looking for innovative products that fit on an iPhone and require substantially less than $2 million in funding and will be sold at $2 to 4 billion people. When we say that our costs are $4 billion and our audience is a few hundred producers they naturally back away quickly and completely. We in no way fit within the scope of a VC’s business model. They are designed for the mass market and are designed to bring innovative products to that market quickly. Neither of which apply to us.

So if the producers are the ones to fund both the developments and the user community how come we haven’t received any funding? Good question. One of the reasons that we are going to the producers for funding is as a result of the games that were played by the producers in the 1990’s when there were an abundance of ERP software providers on the street. There were significant numbers of vendors and it was difficult not to bump into all of them. And all were big players backed by big companies looking to earn market share in the new “ERP” market space. So the producers played the “show me what you got” and “so and so will give me his stuff for free with just a maintenance contract” type of games. Needless to say I don't think any producer ever paid for an ERP system in the 1990’s. Those days are over. The costs are too high and the oil and gas industry isn't that large of a prize that anyone is looking to sell ERP systems, other than us that is. What’s that saying you reap what you sow. Having an operational ERP system running ready to be sold into the oil and gas marketplace would be a non starter today or any day in the near future. The producers will know that the market is small and they will collude with each other to ensure that you earn single digit percentages of lifetime revenues on your capital investment. They will put you in the poor house and make sure that you eat slop for the rest of your life. So now they will have to deal with the likes of the Preliminary Specification as literally their only choice, and pay for it. No one else is so foolish as to even think to be in this business.

Now technology is clearly able to bring value to the oil and gas producers. Did I mention our value proposition? In my discussions with industry they still want to play games like “call me when you have something.” Clearly understanding that when we have something it will be specifically designed not to fit in their organization. These are user community based software developments. If you don't participate directly in the development of the software, then the software will not fit within your organization when the time comes to operate it. If you want to make money in the 21st century you have to think differently as to how you will make that money. The first thing you have to do is understand that your organization is run on software and you had better be able to operate the software from the development team and user community on up in order to operate your company. That will be how the dynamic, innovative and profitable oil and gas producer will make money in the 21st century.

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most dynamic, innovative and 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.

Let's be Unreasonable

The last few days we have discussed the completely unreasonable and irrational idea that we could reorganize the oil and gas industry. That the prototypical producer would also be reorganized in a radical fashion. Ideas that were put forward here on this website. The methods put forward in the Preliminary Specification require significant change be implemented within the industry and not one thing, that is person, place or producer would be untouched by the changes put forward in that specification. This certainly makes the Preliminary Specification unique in its scope and scale of change. Its a bold statement to make and one that requires frequent checks on ones sanity. I am however, reminded by the saying from George Bernard Shaw

The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him... The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself... All progress depends on the unreasonable man.

I am certainly an unreasonable man, and I have many people that are willing to attest to that fact. I have also always focused on the value that we are able to provide within our organizations. I have been able to consistently differentiate my work on the basis of the value that is generated through my activities. It is why I went into business for myself back in 1986 so that I could begin to capture some of that value for myself. You have to understand too that you can not build anything of substantial value within a quarter or two. You need to begin with a plan, remain focused and dedicated to stomach the difficulties that will inevitably come your way.

Keeping focused on the plan during the positive and negative distractions that occur are what will keep you on the right track. For example if for some reason we were able to raise our budget tomorrow, a positive distraction, it would not deter us from our focus of developing the user community and then the service providers. The user community is critical to the quality of the software that we will develop. Without them we would only provide another version of what has already been produced. The clear and distinct difference between what we are doing and what has been done in the past is that we are user community ERP based software developments.

Some may think why in the world is that important. What concern does the user have in the world of ERP software. Consider the understanding and knowledge that is contained within what will be the user community. In terms of the work that they do and how they do their job. If it takes on average six months to fully comprehend an individual's role within an organization. And the number of different roles within the industry. Capturing that knowledge and understanding by the developers is a necessity in order to support the user. I think a user community based ERP system should support and provide the tools to the user for the work that is done in the industry. What SAP and other “ERP” systems do is handle the compliance and accounting requirements. And that’s it. Particularly from an oil and gas point of view they do a very poor job. Review the Preliminary Specification to see what I think the users will do and how they need to be supported in an ERP environment. We believe in a strong division of labor between computers and people. Computers should be used to store and process things. People should focus on the leadership, problem solving, decisions, creativity, collaboration, research, idea generation, design and planning amongst other things.

In terms of value we can be responsible for providing trillions of dollars in incremental value from the current base case. Is that justification for making these changes? I think it is. As we will be positioned to be able to provide for additional value as issues and opportunities occur within the industry. People interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects user community should look to build value for themselves and the industry for the long term. We don't plan to begin work until January 2017 and there are many things you can do to prepare before then. If the oil and gas industry is for you, and are disheartened by the bureaucracy what are you going to do about it. I have an idea and it needs you to make it work. Its a little unreasonable but then that is how progress is made.

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most dynamic, innovative and 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 Age of Abundance Part II

People, Ideas & Objects, our user community and the associated service providers who provide the dynamic, innovative and profitable oil and gas producers with the decentralized production model. Have a value proposition that is valued in the trillions of dollars. If you take the manner in which the industry is being operated today, with its price taker strategy. And compare that over the long term with the decentralized production models price maker strategy. You will generate trillions of dollars in incremental value for the North American oil and gas producers. If you were a member of the user community or service providers you too could tell people that you provide oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. And as you can see you would really mean it.

With the decentralized production model the producer firm could potentially be sitting with a large inventory of properties that are shut-in due to their inability to be produced profitably. That’s where the Preliminary Specification comes in handy once again. It has been designed to instill within the producer firm the innovativeness necessary to compete in the 21st century. Innovation is a replicable process and those have been included within the Preliminary Specification. So when a property is shut-in due to financial losses. The ability to begin the processes of innovating to increase the properties reserves base, bring its costs down or production up can begin. This will bring the property back into a profitable situation and therefore can be returned to production. Any properties that do fall into an unprofitable situation can be addressed through the various processes of innovation that the producer firm will be structured to approach as a result of using the Preliminary Specification.

The decentralized production model has also reorganized the producer firm to a much smaller footprint to enable a greater focus on the earth science and engineering capabilities, and land and asset base of the firm. These are the competitive advantages of the producer firm and should be their primary focus. How quickly the producer responds to a Sarbane’s Oxley situation is mostly irrelevant to the performance of the producer. Therefore as we mentioned yesterday the industry has been structured to provide the administrative and accounting capabilities through service providers who are focused on the process and use the industry as their client base. It is in fact the service providers competitive advantage of how they respond to Sarbane’s Oxley. This therefore sees the producer firm stripped down to the C class executives, the earth science and engineering resources, some land and legal, and support staff. The service providers bill for their administrative and accounting services directly to the Joint Operating Committee on a monthly basis and only if there is production.

This methodology would currently remove all of the production from the market as none of today’s natural gas production is making any money. The gas prices would certainly respond quickly, violently, and without hesitation to this change. Gas could then return to the market as it surely would qualify as profitable, and an equilibrium would then be achieved. What the producers have to understand is that it is profitability at the property level that is the factor for determining if the property will produce. Not at the producer level. By taking each property and assessing its profitability the prices will be much higher and there won't be the averaging that will occur if the assessment is made to determine if the producer is profitable. If it is assessed at the producer level, producers will attempt to average their properties profits and losses to show a net average profit. This would be an advanced form of cheating to achieve a higher production profile. Not the production discipline the market requires or is desired. Cheater’s however have always existed in the marketplace. The industry will have to establish the means to control those that do cheat. Maybe they will be able to do that through the Joint Operating Committee which is the operational decision making framework of the industry. And since the Preliminary Specification uses the Joint Operating Committee as the key organizational construct of the dynamic, innovative and profitable oil and gas producer it will have the means in which to deal with these cheaters. Another problem solved.

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most dynamic, innovative and 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 Age of Abundance

To review the natural gas reserves of the producers these days is quite a change from the past. In the past you would see how the producer would struggle to increase their oil and natural gas reserves year over year. Doing everything within their power to expand the reserves base of the firm was a challenge that took many of the best minds in the business. Now producers have so much gas that they have difficulty comprehending the implications of the change. And the business has changed from one of difficulty and scarcity to one of abundance. Where not only do you have several tcf of gas, but all your neighbours do as well. Rushing to get that gas to market is the current strategy for each of these producers. And thankfully for People, Ideas & Objects we have a solution for this situation and the investors who are very disheartened by the producers financial performance.

Producers are jumping ahead of each other offering their gas at lower prices in order to be able to make the sale. This has caused the price to collapse from 6 to 1 when priced to oil to 20 to 1. And some producers seem determined to drop the price even further. This has caused the price of natural gas to fall below the margin for the past number of years. The only remedial action that has been taken by the producers is to reduce their overhead costs. As it is deemed that the costs of carrying the overhead for their production profile is the issue that the investors are concerned about. Not that there is significant overproduction of natural gas in the marketplace. The investors real concern is that the shale gas reserves are unproven as a commercially viable venture.

What is needed is a new business model in which to operate the business based on the changes that are reflected in the business. If there is an abundance of natural gas, and potentially oil as well, then the industry needs to have a business model that deals with that situation. A business model that would allocate production based on profitability would be the most reasonable approach. It would also be the most fair basis in which a producer could approach their business. An easy to enforce business model from the perspective of the investors. With unprofitable producers not being funded, or participated in, by the investment community.

People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification business model is called the decentralized production model and addresses specifically the issues that are raised as a result of the abundance from shale based reserves. It enables a producer to shut-in any production that is not profitable without any financial penalty. It sets out a revised organizational structure of the producer and the industry in which the overhead costs of the producer become variable with their production profile. Therefore as the natural gas price declines in the marketplace, producers can shut-in their unprofitable production, reducing their losses on individual operations and actually increasing their firms profits. This will also save those shut-in reserves for a time when they can be produced profitably. And reduce the amount of production in the commodity markets placing a floor in the pricing structure.

When a producer shuts in production the overhead for that property is not incurred in the decentralized production model. What the Preliminary Specifications decentralized production model does is reconfigure the industry to change from a producer based administrative and accounting capability to an industry based administrative and accounting capability. The fact that each and every producer has to develop the capabilities to be compliant with all of the administrative and accounting regulations are what are causing the producer to lose money. These capabilities are not shareable at the producer level. By establishing industry wide capabilities through the People, Ideas & Objects software, user community and service providers we can specialize on each of the individual processes and bill the individual Joint Operating Committees the overhead costs for each process. If the property is shut-in there will be no charges incurred by the service providers and no billing to the Joint Operating Committee during periods when a property is non-producing.

This is the manner in which the industry needs to operate in the era of abundance from the shale based reserves. Production allocation based on profitability is the only equitable manner in which to proceed in the industry. A method to deal with the fact that everyone has trillions of cubic feet of natural gas in reserves means that some of it will have to be kept off of the market some of the time. The current methodology isn’t working and there is no solution to the situation other than the decentralized production model of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most dynamic, innovative and 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. 

Attributes of People, Ideas & Objects System Integration

We need to address the integration of the People, Ideas & Objects applications, and the services of the service providers into the producer firms when the user community has completed the development of the People, Ideas & Objects applications. First I would like to address the issue of funding for the integration, and the larger issue of where the funds for the service providers are derived from. And that is to say not me. Whereas the user communities funds are derived 100% from People, Ideas & Objects we provide no funds to the service providers, ever. They are licensed by People, Ideas & Objects to manage an exclusive domain or process of the application. And therefore access the applications. They are also owned and operated by members of the People, Ideas & Objects user community. It is therefore on that basis that the service providers are deemed to be self funding in terms of their needs. And that would include any investments that were required to initiate the establishment of their services. We feel that with the license and their expertise, the ability to leverage these assets and skills in the financial community would be possible to help establish the service provider in terms of any initial investment requirements. Recall that we see the service providers are undertaking the responsibilities for the administration and accounting capabilities of the oil and gas industry. And as such would earn as their revenue stream the $40 to $60 billion in annual G&A expenses currently incurred by the producers.

Integration, or implementation of the software therefore clearly falls under the jurisdiction of the service providers. They will charge the producers for the costs of the integration of the process that they manage. These will be the first costs that the producer face outside of their initial development costs which they paid for when the project was commenced. The relationship with the service provider will be under a service level agreement and be based on the activity, or non activity of the producer. If there is no activity, shut-in production, there will be no service fees billed by the service provider. This will be a mandatory requirement and is included in all of the People, Ideas & Objects licenses. The Preliminary Specifications decentralized production model requires this feature to be present throughout the service providers.

With regard to integrations I have never been a fan of the big bang ERP integration. There are too many elements that are being managed poorly and too much information being lost in the process to make them practical. However, what we do have is an interesting and unique situation. A cloud computing based offering that is fully funded. Our hardware and software, development and user community is fully paid for as a result of the way we are being funded. Read our Revenue Model for further information. With so many disparate components of the Preliminary Specification being integrated into one unified system, the dependencies are very large and not initially well known by the producers. Therefore the tendency, and probably the necessity, due to these dependencies, is to move to the big bang style of integration.

Each service provider is responsible for their own exclusive domain. They will need their source data and will be able to find what they need to prepare that. They will also be the ones that are managing the process on a going concern basis. It is a domain therefore that is more manageable than what a traditional big bang integration is due to the ability of the service provider to parse their domain down to their scope of process operation. The main difference is the domain of data is much larger than what would have been the case in the past. What also may be the case is the state of affairs in the industry. PennWests recent reduction of 50% of their administrative and accounting people led to the capitalization of royalties. The quality of the accounting by the time we get to the industry integration may be tragic, and the number of people left in the industry may be minimal. That’s also considering the transition in terms of the number of resources that have moved from the producers to the user community and service providers before the integrations begin.

What I therefore see is a massive game of musical chairs where the producers layoff their administrative and accounting people and the service providers rehire them. These people then reengineer the data into the new processes within the service providers that they are re-employed by. In a world where companies are currently cutting half their staff and capitalizing royalties. I don't think this game of musical chairs sound as off the wall as it might have a few years ago.

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most dynamic, innovative and 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. 

Not Your Grandfathers 1984

We recently noted that people who participate as early adopters in the user community would be in essence making a choice in how they want the oil and gas industry operated. To continue on with the current bureaucracy, with their legacy of losses and stagnation in place for the decades to come. Or, begin the restructuring of the industry around a dynamic, innovative and profitable framework based on the early adopters initial action of becoming a People, Ideas & Object user community participant. And in doing so set the path of the industry on one which the individual actions of people within the industry are what makes it dynamic, innovative and profitable. This is the choice that can be made. It certainly doesn't have to be made, but I can assure everyone if people don’t make this decision to act, there is no one else that will make the necessary changes to the industry. And the bureaucracy will remain in place.

What we do in terms of this decision will have significant consequences in terms of what happens next. If we do nothing, then of course nothing will happen as a result. However, if we choose to break away from the bureaucracy and begin the process of building an alternative organizational capability then the investment community will see that they have alternatives in which to manage their assets. And it will be in a few years time that they will be asked to fund the user community and People, Ideas & Objects to develop that alternative organization. This is how I see the situation becoming a reality in the next few years. No one is going to be able to sit and one day decide that this project is a go. No one holds that type of power in the industry. The bureaucracy won't enable us, as what we are doing contradicts their survival and best interests. Therefore the only opportunity we have is to provide the investment community with the choice of the bureaucracy, or a means to operate the industry in a dynamic, innovative and profitable manner by joining us.

In order to make that decision the investors have to see that there are people that are ready, willing and capable of making this new industry structure operate. A leadership team and a community of like minded people capable of managing their assets under an overall sound vision. And this is the user communities choice to provide this alternative. That they are as dissatisfied with the standards set by the bureaucracy as the investors are. That the user community believe that the industry should be reestablished under the vision of a dynamic, innovative and profitable means of operations and that they have that with the Preliminary Specification.

As I have mentioned this initial first step is the beginning of the user community. But also becomes the manner in which the industry is operated in that dynamic, innovative and profitable manner. It is with this first act of individual participation, either as a member of the leadership team or as an early adopter in the user community that the industry is transformed. It will be on the basis of these individual actions by members of the user community in the future that the industry achieves what it sets out to do today, tomorrow and in the future.

I can't see how change of this scale can take place in any other way. There is no one to ask permission of. If we want this done then the only way that it is going to get done is that if we do it. Our timetable is such that we will have two years remaining in which to develop the user community and then we will turn to the investor community to fund these developments. We won't be asking for their money specifically, we will be asking them to direct their producer firms to pay their share of the development costs. And then when we have the funds we can develop the application and the user community, create the service providers and begin the process of converting the producers over to the new method of managing their properties. I'll have more to discuss regarding that integration tomorrow.

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most dynamic, innovative and 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. 

Job Opportunity for the Early Adopters

As a result of yesterday’s post we now have two clearly defined categories of people within the user community. The leadership group which consists of around thirty people that we are currently recruiting to actively lead the user communities development. And now the early adopters that we defined yesterday. These people are the ones willing to invest some time and energy early on in the process to position themselves within the user community and take advantage of the long term opportunities that are made available there. Advantages that include participation in the user community where the fees that will be paid by People, Ideas & Objects are commensurate with the skills and challenges. And most specifically, the positioning in terms of establishing the service providers that will be necessary to provide the software and services to the industry when the final implementation of the software is complete. It is these opportunities in the new economy that are what prompt the early adopters to invest their time and energy now in what may be the future of the oil and gas industry.

No one knows what the future of the oil and gas industry will be. I know what is necessary. And that of course is a dynamic, innovative and profitable industry for the foreseeable future. Which is what the Preliminary Specification and specifically the decentralized production model provides. They lay out a vision of what the industry could be like and give people a choice. Do you want to stay with the bureaucracy, or choose something more dynamic, innovative and profitable. A choice where the actions of individuals within the user community and the service providers are what matter to how the industry responds to the issues and opportunities that it faces. Then, as far as I know, these are the only choices that you are being provided with. And I know how long it took me to come up with the Preliminary Specification. Not years, but decades. So don't expect too many other alternatives to show up soon.

The service providers are the manner in which the bureaucracy, the administration and accounting resources of the industry are removed and replaced. Under the decentralized production model the prototypical oil and gas producer is reduced to the C class executives, the earth science and engineering resources, some land and legal, and support staff. The remaining resources are reorganized into service providers who are focused on a process or subprocess and use the entire industry as their client base. It is these service providers who will take as their revenue streams the $40 to $60 billion in annual G&A expenses that are incurred in the North American industry today. Therefore you can see that when we state that the business opportunity that the early adopters are provided with from a service provider point of view is substantial.

I have to provide people with these two forms of motivation in order to achieve what I think we need. An industry that operates in a dynamic, innovative and profitable nature based on individual initiative. The two forms of motivation for people to join People, Ideas & Objects user community is the altruistic objective of providing the industry with the most dynamic, innovative and profitable means of oil and gas operations. And it is that which we do. However we also need to provide people with a sense that they can build a career and or a business as a result of their participation in this environment. Which is what we also can do. Its no use trying to recruit people for one of these objectives and not the other. Especially when we have both in such abundance, as we do with this project.

Best of all we can do this with no risk to anyone. No one needs to quit their day job to participate as an early adopter. Or expose yourself to the bureaucrats who are seeking revenge on anyone who does participate here. Your time and energy can be done on a part time basis up to the January 2017 funding deadline. And then when we are funded we would proceed at 100% and I think, truly enjoy ourselves with some exciting, interesting and lucrative work.

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most dynamic, innovative and 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. 

An Individual Plan

Having invested your time and effort as an early adopter in the early years of the user community of People, Ideas & Objects. You were able to position yourself well to take part in the further development of the user community. Now in the post January 2017 environment, the time when the financial resources of the investment community have been forwarded and the project is funded you are able to prosper in this new environment. Now you have established yourself with the revenues and resources to fully participate in the development of the Preliminary Specification, and are beginning the investment of your time and effort in the creation of a service provider to manage the process that your expertise is in. As a result, you have personally managed the transition from the old oil and gas industry to the new one with little difficulty and are well positioned to prosper in what has always been referred to as the new economy.

I think this spells out the opportunity that stands before those people that believe the oil and gas industry must transition itself to a more dynamic, innovative and profitable business model. One that is based on the Preliminary Specification, the user community and service providers. I have no conceptual vision that the bureaucracy will be continuing and in control in ten years time. If they do, there are two things I can guarantee, they are losing money, and there are ten years fewer gas reserves. Losing money has to stop and the people that will stop it are the people within the industry who choose to act and take the opportunity that is described in the first paragraph. It is the individual actions of the people in the industry that will make the industry the dynamic, innovative and profitable oil and gas industry. Their first act is to commit to People, Ideas & Objects, the user community and the service providers. And then to continue to act for the remainder of their careers in the best interests of the most dynamic, innovative and profitable oil and gas producer.

To act is counter to the bureaucracies best interest. To act is counter to the bureaucracies ways and means. To act is the natural way in which we respond to a situation. With the user community in control of the Intellectual Property that makes up the Preliminary Specification, and the derivative works of the user community. It is the participants within the user community who will be to determine what is the manner in which to conduct the most dynamic, innovative and profitable means of oil and gas operations. When it comes to the policies and procedures of the oil and gas industry, by controlling the Intellectual Property, the user community participant will be the ones that write these. Giving them the power that was held by the bureaucrats but never used.

However, not only will the user community have the ability to write the policies and procedures. They will be the exclusive audience of the People, Ideas & Objects developers. It will be through the software developers that they are able to use their understanding and creativity to build the kind of applications that can make the difference in the oil and gas industry. Solving the issues and taking advantages of the opportunities that occur in the industry as they happen. When a new business model is developed that can bring new value to the industry, the software can be developed and implemented at will by the user community. No more muddling along for decades while money is lost irretrievably.

And it will be those early adopters who participate in the user community before the January 2017 funding deadline that will have the opportunity to establish the service providers. We all need to make a transition from the old economy to the new. Its important that we get this one right.

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most dynamic, innovative and 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. 

Today's Lesson is Production Discipline

Last week we discussed how the oil prices were breaking down as a result of the Saudi’s not curtailing their production. That they were not assuming their traditional swing producer role due to their desire to teach the shale oil producers a lesson in production discipline. We learned this a few weeks ago from none other than T. Boone Pickens on Bloomberg. Now that oil prices are in “play” we could see any scenario develop in terms of what average oil prices might be in 2015. It also happens to be the end of the season in which natural gas will be injected into storage. Storage volumes aren't quite at last years levels but they are well within their five year average. Not many people thought that the storage levels could be rebuilt to the level that they currently are after such a cold winter. Weekly injections have reached well over 100 bcf at times and have provided the market with excess demand during these past summer months. This demand from storage will now be waning and the problem is that none of the producers have been praying for a cold winter. So we are likely to see a mild winter and the prices for natural gas may be weak as well as the oil prices.

Who would of thought that both the oil and gas businesses would enter a period where both commodities would be performing poorly from a financial point of view? In an age of abundance maybe that is a stupid question. And maybe we need to eliminate that question from the mindset of the oil and gas producer. And replace it with the understanding that they need to have control over the commodity prices through the ability to allocate production, on both the oil and gas side of the business, based on profitability. If the property can produce a profit, it produces. Period. Nothing more or less. Not that the producer has some properties that are profitable and others that are marginal. Only properties that are profitable are produced. That way the industry can deal with the resource abundance that it finds itself in today and probably for the next 20 to 30 years.

The Saudi’s can punish the shale oil producers for many years. We saw them punish the other OPEC members for many years in the 1980’s. The oil and gas producers in North America are not structured to deal with production allocation in any way. They are only structured to produce at capacity. And the bureaucracy within a producer firm is therefore fixed. It is the same bureaucracy that exists at 100,000 bpd as it is at 60,000 bpd. And they are expensive. It is also the same bureaucracy that has been determined not to consider our decentralized production model. Which has been discussed in this blog since 2007, and the draft of the Preliminary Specification was completed in June 2012. Plenty of time for the bureaucracy to jump on board and start pushing. But as we know they never will because it eliminates them from the scene and for some reason they don't like that fact.

How the Preliminary Specifications decentralized production model will provide the oil and gas producer with the much needed production discipline for both their oil and gas production is through a reorganization of the producer firm and the industry. We strip the dynamic, innovative and profitable producer down to the C class executives, the earth science and engineering resources, some land and legal, and support staff. The remaining administrative and accounting resources are reallocated to service providers who are focused on an individual process or subprocess and use the entire industry as their client base. By making these changes we are moving from a producer based administrative and accounting capability to an industry based administrative and accounting capability. The costs of having each individual producer develop the capabilities to administer and account for all of their activities are one of the reasons for the lack of profitability in the industry. Another reason is that those capabilities are not shareable between producers.

The real magic comes in to play when the producer shuts-in an unprofitable property. When the property is shut-in the service providers receive no information, activity or action in the People, Ideas & Objects task or transfer network. And as a result there is no action taken by the service providers and no billing is generated by them and no Joint Operating Committee incurs any costs for any of the administrative or accounting at that property. Therefore the property records no profit but also no loss. The reserves are therefore kept for a time when they can be produced profitably. And the commodities markets find a floor on their prices as the industries production volumes are reduced by the marginal production.

It is the Preliminary Specifications use of the Joint Operating Committee as the key organizational construct of the dynamic, innovative and profitable oil and gas producer that makes this all work and enables the production discipline in this age of abundance. And this is what the Saudi’s are trying to teach us, that if we all want to produce at capacity, they can do it too.

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most dynamic, innovative and 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. 

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