I have repeatedly claimed that producers need to fund People, Ideas & Objects
budget in order to begin the process of building the
Preliminary Specification and address the issues in industry. Our
Revenue Model specifically addresses the need for the producers to be the ones to pay the freight on our budget. And this has been one of many sticking points between ourselves and many of the producers. They feel that there are other means in which the software could be financed and those should be explored in addition to the producers footing the bill for these software developments. I’ve disagreed and pointed to our Revenue Model as the reasons for this difference of opinion. However with most aspects of the producers dealings, one being with the service industry vendors that support oil and gas, producers have a method of dealing with vendors that is inconsistent, I believe, with the best interests of the oil and gas industry.
Specifically the oil and gas industry is a primary industry. Its source of revenue is from the sale of oil and gas. The service industries that support the oil and gas industry are secondary industry participants whose primary source of revenue is the oil and gas producer. This doesn’t make them leeches, lazy or greedy when it comes time to conducting operations for the oil and gas producers, it's just a fact of life. A more progressive attitude would be for the producers to understand that they, as well as the vendors in the secondary industry, are all generating the revenues that the oil and gas producers receive. That the producers hold the cash from the sale of oil and gas and that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s all theirs and no one else is entitled to it.
We see the extension of this attitude when the service industry is expected to conduct much of their research and development on their own dime at the expense of third party investors and bankers. Producers don’t financially participate. At the same time, once the innovation is proven, the Intellectual Property underlying the technology is not respected and passed on to the vendors competitors and potential competitors. The producers thinking that if they have more solutions providers in the marketplace then they will be the net benefactor. The
Resource Marketplace and
Research & Capabilities modules were developed to deal specifically with these issues and provide for a more innovative footing within the oil and gas industry.
This pirating of Intellectual Property needs to stop. Continued use of these policies, and the difficulties being realized in the service industry, the oil and gas industry will be presented with very few options in the field in the future. This as a result of the treatment that they’ve provided to the service industry in the past and currently. They’ve fundamentally cut them off financially and let them fend for themselves. As bad as it is in oil and gas, the situation in the service industry is far more desperate. When, and if, things return to normal there will be no vendors in the field able to conduct operations and their ability to find qualified people will be challenging. This as a result of the leadership in oil and gas capitulating any responsibility by adopting the standard operating procedure of “market rebalancing.” Accepting that this current environment is normal and to be expected is what’s truly wrong. This willful destruction of the industry as a policy must end. It would be kinder treatment if the producers just told the service industry to let them eat cake! How can the leadership be so blind to the damage and impact of this foolish way of doing business?
I am asked why I don’t approach the royalty holders to raise some of the money that is needed for our
budget. And the question is also asked, what is Oracle doing, why are they not participating in the budget. There is a long history of the producers treatment of ERP systems vendors in this marketplace. The big guys left decades ago as they were unable to source any funds from the producers to do any development work. Sound familiar? The producers felt that the ERP providers were being given a good business opportunity and should make the investment in developing the software themselves. And the producers would buy it when it was finished. Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice, or three, four, five times? We’ve been down this road throughout the history of ERP systems development. No one is investing in the business because they know once the system is built the extremely low number of producers expect that it will be sold to them for 10% of a sustainable asking price. It’s too small of a market to concern themselves with and that is the reason why there is now a preeminent software bug in the oil and gas industry.
I could promote Oracle into developing this software on behalf of the industry and would have no difficulty whatsoever in doing so. All I need from each producer is the assignment of their future revenues in exchange for Oracle’s promise. Or alternatively I could get the royalty holders to sign on to take a big share of the costs too. With royalties being the largest cost item a producer incurs, we would then not focus on those royalties of the producer in People, Ideas & Objects, the
user community or
service providers. Just pay the royalties being asked. But then I would not be able to claim to provide the oil and gas producers with the most
profitable means of oil and gas operations. There’s only one group that has the means and the motivation to fund these software investments. If I can’t convince the producers to do it in their own, substantial best interest, who would volunteer their money to do it? This industry should be considered a business, not an engineering exercise. There are trillions of dollars involved in our value proposition over the next 25 years. I guess that doesn’t mean anything to the oil and gas producer.
The
Preliminary Specification, our
user community and service providers provide the dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas producer with the most
profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for North America’s energy independence. 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.