These Are Not the Earnings We're Looking For, Part XXVII

Dramatic activity is occuring in the stock prices of the oil and gas producers. As soon as they’ve reported their third quarter “performance” most of the activity is upward and substantial. Creating the sense that oil and gas is the place to be, or where the action is. These movements have been systemic and material in terms of changes in the price of the stock. I’m not going to speculate as to the cause of these, only to suggest that there are few periods in which insiders are freely able to purchase shares in the firms they represent. One of those times is when the financial situation has been fully disclosed to the market. The second point I would mention is that although these bumps in the stocks have lasted upwards of 24 hours in some instances. I would not suggest that the issues and opportunities, the plans and strategies of the producers and industry have changed.

Other than myself personally I don’t think anyone will be impressed by these financial reports. And I’m only impressed these producers are continuing on. Today’s trading bump isn’t going to attract any attention other than to maybe encourage an investor to take another look. If there is any attention paid by an investor they’ll soon be able to see that there’s no need to act. Let’s call this the bureaucratic dividend. If you never do anything, and continue to avoid the elephant in the room, others will follow your lead. These are the worst of times for these oil and gas bureaucrats. Looking for further investment, which is assumed what they’ve been doing for much of their time lately is a difficult thing to do when you’re in this kind of position. I too have been in this position and when you’ve knocked on the 1,000 door and received the same “not at this time” message you begin to realize, at least through your thick skin, but not your thick skull, that maybe “not at this time” is code for no.

There has been an uptick in the amount of cash that is held by a number of producers that we’ve reviewed to date. We’ll get into the numbers when all of our sample of 23 producers have reported. However the sales of some properties has allowed them to increase their cash, allowing them to hang on for another quarter or more. The problem that I see with this is that in each instance the divestiture has been made at a significant financial loss compared to the book value of the firm. It almost seems like the assets are recorded at too high of a value on these highly prized and well built balance sheets. Although these producers are reporting losses on the sales transaction itself, they’re also reporting large losses on discontinued operations. Indicating they’ve sold the properties that were dragging them down the most. Lastly the small number of actual property sales, and the financial losses on thoses sales may have proven to the industry that divestitures are not providing them with the cash that they expected when everyone announced properties for sale. It would appear that many of the properties that were listed for sale are no longer listed, but that doesn’t mean they’re no longer available.

Over the years I’ve had some fun with the creative accounting conducted by the prior CFO of Cenovus. We were entertained by such antics as negative depletion in the final quarter of 2016. A $2.5 billion increase in profits from the purchase of the $11+ billion Conoco property. A 27.79 year depletion schedule in the second quarter of 2017. This was due to the acquisition of the Conoco assets which they profitably recorded in the second quarter, and then only after six months did they adjust their depletion to finally account for that acquisition. These were just the highlights of their antics and I would only note there were many other such expansions of the concept of accounting. They have a new CFO who seems to better understand his role and is cleaning up the reporting. As a result I think we’re beginning to see some of the mess that was left behind for him. Cenovus sold a pipeline and related facilities for $625 million in desperately needed cash. Doubling their second quarters working capital. However they did record a $795 million loss on the sales transaction. What did I say about bloated balance sheets?

In another interesting Cenovus transaction, this was back in the days when balance sheet size truly ruled the world in oil and gas. Encana, the predecessor to Cenovus commissioned the building of the largest building in the City of Calgary. This building is called the Bow for its shape. Moving both Encana and Cenovus into the building after its completion. Cenovus has since had several rounds of layoffs and as a result have participated substantially to the 30% of idle downtown Calgary office space. In what can be seen in the standard issue bureaucratic manual, on page 505, cutting costs in a downturn is the right optic for the company to adopt. Times have changed though, and so has the real estate business, no one explained that the commissioning of the Bow had a “non-cancellable lease contract” contained in Cenovus’ lease. Sometimes you do have to read what you sign. To make a long story short Cenovus hasn’t, and doesn’t think it can sub-lease the space and therefore is stuck with the commitment. Claiming they are the victim that they most definitely are, Cenovus has recorded in the third quarter an “Onerous Contract Provision” of $726 million contributing to their $1.3 billion overall loss. Might I suggest that if Cenovus finds these consequences onerous they should pay attention to the contracts that they sign, manage their business effectively so that they don’t have to lay off thousands of people and leave hundreds of thousands of square feet empty. I would also suggest they could manage their business more effectively with the implementation of the Preliminary Specification. But I know, that solution is way too expensive, and I would suggest that it's too constructive as well.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for profitable North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. 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.

These Are Not the Earnings We're Looking For, Part XXVI

A swimming pool of drowning swimmers seems to have adopted the strategy of teaming up against the ill winds they face. Let’s hope they defy the odds. History would prove otherwise, but what’s history. Chesapeake has announced the acquisition of WildHorse Resource Development in a mostly stock deal. On a related note, lawsuits seemed to have been filed before the deal was even announced. What Chesapeake may be after is WildHorse bankers, who for whatever reason, extended their lines of credit by $250 million. That’s a lot of cash when you’ve only had at best $5 million of Chesapeake cash since the second quarter of 2017. I wonder, at times, but not often, what happened to that cash? This transaction also keeps the industry tradition of issuing large volumes of shares as if they were free money coming out of a printer. If you’re a shareholder of either of these companies you can now see the life history of these organizations are just a few minutes before the end.

Not to be undone Encana has announced the acquisition of Newfield Explorations in an all share deal. These companies have dipped below the water line a few times already, just as Chesapeake has. Therefore I don’t think this is going to extend or retard the progress of their demise. One thing these companies need to remember is that lawyers and bankers in corporate deals are a) very expensive and b) don’t work without retainers and payment. These producers may be forced to decide if payroll or lawyers are the right thing to pay in their very near future. This is the state of the oil and gas industry. The value, or scratch that, the amount that Encana is paying for Newfield is $7.7 billion with the assumption of their debt. About a month ago I mentioned the game that was played in terms of acquisitions and divestitures in oil and gas. Drawing the Pizza Restaurant analogy. How acquisitions price were based on the reserve values, or how many pizza boxes were in the restaurant, not on the performance of the assets based on their historical accounting. Which is a good thing for Newfield because their performance isn’t that stellar. Over the course of Newfields lifetime their performance, or scratch that, their “activities” have shown that they’ve incurred $1.4 billion in cumulative lifetime losses on shareholders investments of $3.3 billion. I think this tells me that Encana will enjoy the new company. Not Newfield being the new company, company as in misery loves company. For Encana to be paying $7.7 for these assets that have done nothing but lose $1.4 billion, which has forced Newfield into a shotgun marriage makes a lot of sense to me? If I were Newfield I’d probably think about taking myself out of the picture too. But then again, it’s just shares!

We also have a third candidate in this swimming pool. Please note that I’ve been screaming at all of these people in the pool that they can hang on to the edge of the pool by committing to the Preliminary Specification, but they just don’t listen. This third candidate is Denbury Resources who have chosen, at least I think it was a conscious act on both parties, to acquire Penn Virginia in a mostly stock deal. I think Denbury will be ok because they’ve deferred the recognition of their capital costs out past 20 years. This providing them with a loss of only $1.7 billion on shareholders investments of $2.7 billion. Penn Virginia is difficult to assess based on the fact that it emerged from bankruptcy in September 2016.

I have been critical of oil and gas producers for not having a strategy and plan to deal with their issues and opportunities. What we see here is the beginning of their plan to deal with their business. That plan and strategy, as I interpret it is clear, everyone buddy up and keep the value of your companies as freaking high as possible in the process. Pick a number, any number will do as long as it’s stratospheric, double it, and then announce the acquisition at three times what the doubled price was. This will support the values that are recorded in property, plant and equipment on the “well built balance sheets” throughout oil and gas. The immediate benefit of doing this is that you’ll also gain consensus of the acquisitions board, instantly, and there will be no bidding war by other producers offering anything else. From an industry point of view, this can’t be anything but positive when the industry is involved in so many multi-billion dollar deals.

If you’ve spent the life of your firm using and abusing the shareholders the culture becomes “that is what the investors are there for. What’s one more dilution? And what exactly have the shareholders done for us in the last three years? Nothing, so they should sit down and be quiet.” If you believed that producers should’ve had the overproduction issue resolved by now. If you believed that the starvation diet that the investors and bankers have imposed across the industry would invoke change in the producers and a cultural shift to one that’s dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable, I can understand your disappointment. These issues are never going to be resolved if left to those that are in charge today. What are the consequences of me calling it as I’ve seen it over the past decade? If I had been nice to everyone what good would that have done? I would not have enjoyed myself and that would have been a tragedy.

This is the point in time that you would take the keys to the Ferrari away from your 18 year old son. What would you expect to happen other than a negative outcome from this point forward? As much as “discipline” has been the catchphrase in all of the third quarter conference calls. Discipline in what? Discipline in sending a message that the bureaucrats can’t, won’t and will not ever act in anyone’s interest other than their own. Discipline by itself is not that meaningful. It has to have been applied to something that needs attention. But if the producers said they were to display some discipline in terms of profitability or spending, that implies that they know their not profitable or spending is out of control and they can do something about it. They don’t want to do anything about that so they just say their “disciplined.” Then the usual behaviour and culture that has driven the industry into the deep end of the pool continues in somewhat of a disciplined way.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for profitable North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. 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.

These Are Not the Earnings We're Looking For, Part XXV

We have only a handful or so of our sample of 23 producers that have reported their third quarter results at the time of this writing. What we can determine in absolute terms is that the traditional accounting toolkit has been brought out and used throughout the industry once again. The most valuable trick in that toolkit happens to be the most effective and most used tool in the industry. It is of course the amount of depletion being reported by these producers. The general trend for the third quarter is to increase the amount of depletion that is reported by 3 - 4% over the second quarter amount. Which appears reasonable and in line with the business as it proceeds down its inevitable path to bankruptcy. What we can also determine is that this is not enough to deal with the vast spending that continues even though no one has any cash! The amount of capital expenditures of these producers divided by the amount of recorded depletion for the nine months ended equals 134% on average. This is the second principle of the ever expanding balance sheets that are being efficiently and effectively “built.”

In 2016 our sample of producers experienced $30.2 billion in losses on $75.6 billion of depletion. In 2017 our sample producers earned $15.6 billion in profits on $71.0 billion of depletion. Note that $9.6 billion of those profits were due to the Trump tax cuts. If producers recognized the same depletion as what they recorded in 2016, the 2017 earnings would have been $1.4 billion without the Trump tax cuts. In 2018 the amount of depletion recorded in the first half was $25.3 billion vs. $35.9 billion in the first half of 2017. Or $10.6 billion less than what was recorded in 2017. Therefore we can conclude on the basis of the small sample of 2018 third quarter reports that nothing material is going to change in determining the amounts of depletion for the remainder of the year. And therefore producers will increase profits to the tune of approximately $21.2 billion for the fiscal year 2018. All through the second principle of balance sheet building. Don’t recognize any depletion that you don’t have to.

What’s really going on here? How is it that depletion can be decreasing year over year? Producers are realizing that more reserves are coming on line as commercially viable with higher commodity prices and therefore the amount of depletion is less. A higher amount of property, plant and equipment is supported by more commercially viable P&NG reserves, therefore the need to deplete them is less urgent. The reserves in fact would now carry a much higher value in terms of the ceiling test due to both price and volume increases. Of course the opposite of this is the case during ceiling test write downs. The reserves are no longer able to carry the costs recorded in property, plant and equipment due to lower commodity prices or managements inability to find adequate volumes of reserves. This is the argument and the rationale for this activity of recognizing less depletion in the 2018 fiscal year. It is inconsistent with good bureaucratic ethics that they would ever desire to recapture those capital costs, recognize them by passing them through to the income statement and if they were charging the consumers enough for their oil and gas products, profitably produce that commodity and then be able to reuse that former capital investment which would then be sitting in cash.

Shifting back to the 2018 reporting period, the amount of earnings that were reported for the first half of 2018 were only $9.2 billion. People, Ideas & Objects claim that “these are not the earnings that were looking for” is coming into focus. It would appear that our sample of producers will end the year, holding all things constant for the second half, at a loss of $2.8 billion. But the commodity prices are so good and the depletion is so low! Please note in our previous posts that we have repeatedly stated that commodity prices need to be over $150 / boe in order to cover the costs of oil and gas exploration.

As one can see building a balance sheet is really quite simple. Spend money, admire the spectacle and compare it with your neighbors. No one yet has shown any sign of making any changes to this basic formula. And why would they, it’s worked so well for over four decades. Having to account for the past is not in anyone’s best interest and therefore not done. Those are sunk costs don’t you know. When you have the media and the analyst communities actively promoting Chesapeake as an investment there is no need to say or do anything. Chesapeake is a firm with almost $2 billion in negative working capital. $4 million in cash. Negative $39 million in shareholders equity. Capital expenditures that are 171% of depletion. And property, plant and equipment of $11.4 billion that is scheduled to be retired over the next 9.92 years and those assets alone are represented by 85% of the long term debt. $114 million in free cash flow. I could go on but what would be the point? For me to suggest that they need a plan and a strategy such as the Preliminary Specification seems laughable even to me.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for profitable North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. 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.

Third Friday

The Real Jurassic Park

With a future where natural gas volumes may triple to 50 bcf / day in the mid-term, times have never been better in Canada. The sense of excitement and wonder fills the streets. People’s enthusiasm is overflowing and they just can’t wait. Well that might have been the situation if the producers were in any kind of condition to contemplate any kind of future other than a courtroom. Looking at the working capital of the Canadian producers we follow in our sample of 23 producers reflects a probable different outlook. One that matches the lack of expectations that anything will happen to remedy the industries issues. And general sense that people are searching for opportunities elsewhere in other industries. The transition from difficult times for people to critical times appears to be well on its way. A decade has passed since the natural gas business collapsed. The industry has been on its heels since then and those affected have hung on as best they could. The issue for people now is it just doesn’t end. Taking a decade out of anyone's career is just a small price to pay. 30% of the office space in downtown Calgary is vacant. That has been the case for many years now. The consequences of inaction by the producers, although significant for the investors who have been betrayed by the accounting from the offices of Madoff, Madoff & Madoff, the overall economy in general that depends and is supported by the revenues of a primary industry, such as oil and gas, can’t be replaced.

We’ve recommended that the consumer should be chosen to pick up the tab for the future capital costs of the oil and gas industry. With our value proposition of $25.7 to 45.7 trillion over the next 25 years, that’s a hefty tab. I would expect all of this incremental value to come from the consumers. We need to ask ourselves if living off the scam that was perpetrated against the investors and banks was worth it when we run into situations where the economy takes a periodic nose dive. We’ve had nothing but downturns in oil and gas as a result of periodic phases of overproduction overwhelming the commodity markets. With the shale era we have an economic wasteland that only the bureaucrats can be satisfied with. It was inevitable, who has the greater volume of financial resources in order to power the industry through the next generation, the consumer or the investor. I would suggest the investor is a piker when compared to the resources of the consumers.

Business provides products and services to consumers for profit. I don’t want to sound demeaning to my readers, I know they know this. I’m writing to the oil and gas CEOs who are still strutting around town with their balance sheets comparing them to others to find out who has the biggest. I went back through my accounting textbooks and the textbooks that I have from business school and I’m unable to find any information about the concept of “building our balance sheet.” I still for the life of me can not understand what it is that the CEO’s are talking about when they utter such nonsense. There is no accounting policy or method to do so. There is no business strategy of “building a balance sheet.” I am just unable to find anything about this oil and gas phenomenon.

The fact of the matter is, if we had the consumer paying for the full cost of oil and gas exploration and production the economy that is dependent on the industry wouldn’t have these convulsions. It would be subject to the minor effects of recessions but those would be almost immaterial in comparison to the violent on again, off again throttle junkies we have running the show today. People would be able to plan their careers and families around their educations. Dedicate themselves to and build a worthwhile and valuable industry. Not be subject to layoffs in the same manner as the high school drop out that works in casual labor. Especially when they’re in their mid 30’s with a small family and a big mortgage. Or have invested the family fortune in a multi-generation service industry field operation, and been forced to scale down to 10% of their former capacity. This is the 21st century. Why are we still doing this? Not all of us have to work in the Jurassic period.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for profitable North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. 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.

You Can't Get There From Here

We noted a few weeks ago that Canadian producers were making application to the National Energy Board for LNG facilities across Canada. These facilities would increase the export capacity of Canada by 36.6 bcf / day. A substantial change to the industry considering the current production of natural gas is just under 16 bcf / day. It is reasonable to assume that the Gulf Coast is / will be going through a similar phase of development in terms of LNG exports. Based on the approved Shell project which has a capacity of 1.8 bcf / day and is projected to cost $40 billion CDN. The total cost of the 36.6 bcf / day capacity might range in the ballpark of $800 billion. These are estimates based on the remainder of the 12 out of 30 LNG projects also being approved. Nonetheless if the country were to maintain its current markets and expand its deliverability by these new exports the total deliverability of Canada would exceed 50 bcf / day. In terms of throughput capacity that is a different industry than the one that is in operation today.

The financial support to build these projects are a critical part of their definition. In Shells case, I assume that they, and their partners who are the end users of the gas, will be funding the capital program. Not everyone that will be participating in the development of these projects will have the wherewithal of Shell or the National Oil Companies represented in that ownership group. China, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia are each seeking to find and source long term sources of low cost natural gas. This investment provides them with that gas which is the objective, not necessarily that the project provides a financial return. Therefore we could assume that much of the LNG facilities that are being built will have some of this dynamic from this style of ownership group. I doubt that these four NOC’s would be satisfied with just the 1.8 bcf / day from the Shell project.

The remainder of these facilities do have to find the financing for these deliveries. What we see in today’s marketplace is when the producers leave the development of the takeaway capacity to the utilities, the needs of the producers aren't necessarily met. Differentials throughout the continent are wholly attributable to the lack of pipeline space. If they start drilling to fill this potential export market and leave the LNG facilities to others then we know what the result will be. Therefore the need to have the financing in place to build these facilities needs to be available fairly soon. I wonder where that money will come from? Has anyone seen an investor wanting to volunteer more money into the oil and gas incinerator lately? I haven’t either and I don’t think we’ll be able to find one in the current environment. As I write this the natural gas price at AECO/Spot is $0.26 for Canadian gas. The point is this natural gas differential now balances off the disparity that existed when the differential on oil was high, now they’re both very high, and therefore according to the oil and gas bureaucrat, “in balance.”

The established culture of the industry is one of accounting deception. Big balances of assets, huge cash flow and spectacular earnings everywhere and always. Just like Bernie Madoff. The assets are high because everything is capitalized, except for royalties, the SEC stopped that when they began their lawsuit of PennWest. Cash Flow From Operations is distorted upward when the Earnings number doesn’t consider any of these capitalized costs and instead defers their recognition under Capital Expenditures. The Net Income is essentially Revenue less electricity for the pump jack. And when it comes time to account for the performance for all of this spending? The story is told throughout the industry that those are sunk costs and are irrelevant to the situation today. The story that the investors now know and understand intuitively regarding oil and gas is producers don’t want to report about their activities truthfully, they don’t want to account for their past spending and don’t anyone ever mention the concept of performance. A trillion here, a trillion there, it makes no difference to the investors, that’s what they’re there for.

If this doesn’t scream disintermediation I don’t know what does. The approach to the industry is a failure. The future is a non starter as a result of the past history of the most recent four decades. And visions of sugarplums and LNG facilities everywhere are what will make people interested? The first thing they need to do is to start with a plan on how this will change. I suggest they implement the Preliminary Specification. The second thing they do is organize themselves in away that can approach this possible future. By using the Preliminary Specification. Then they would be running a profitable organization from stem to stern. Do that for a few years and they should be able to generate some cash that can allow them to take baby steps towards these lofty goals. There is ample enough capital sitting in property, plant and equipment that if they began recovering it by recognizing it as depletion on the Income Statement. And assuming they’re charging enough for their commodities to ensure profitable operations. This cash would be able to be cycled through the companies many times to generate many trillions of dollars in capital investment. People, Ideas & Objects always ask if property, plant and equipment is an asset or is it a cost. People, Ideas & Objects also ask if the future is financed by the investor or the consumer. I highly suggest the producer try the consumer for once by implementing the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for profitable North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. 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.

Time Slips Away...

These are difficult times for the oil and gas industry. What can only be the most difficult era of its entire history is being played out right now. Billions of dollars in revenue are being lost each and every month due to chronic overproduction. It just doesn’t stop does it. This is the remarkable aspect of this issue, its chronic nature. No one individual producer is responsible and therefore no action is taken by any one individual producer. It’s everyone else’s fault. Nothing but time slips away as the value of the industry erodes to the point where we are today. An industry that is worthless. Or even worse, an industry that destroys value continually at a remarkable rate and demands further resources just to operate. A black hole that eventually will take everyone in and leave nothing. We’re not far from that now, it’s been a long time since the shale era began to take hold and accelerate this phenomenon. Not since 2008 have we seen a “good” year. And as we’ve noted before there have only been 5 “good” years in oil and gas out of the past 32. What we’ve heard from the producers for the 27 other years is “oh whoa is me,” as they brace for bad times and do absolutely nothing about it. When we talk about cultural and systemic issues, a 32 year history is a good sample of the situation. We believe that oil and gas should be produced profitably everywhere and always. We owe it to future generations to ensure that these resources are used appropriately. That can only be done if they’re produced profitably.

Digging through this blogs archives People, Ideas & Objects published our budget on this blog through a series of posts that ended in October of 2010. And then posted the budget in its entirety with the publication of the Preliminary Specification in December 2013. Therefore it has been five to eight years that we’ve had our budget known within the industry. Although initially we took some giggles and flak for the size of the budget. The real issue was the fact that producers didn’t pay Intellectual Property royalties. We’ll see about that. The point I want to make today is that the scope and scale of the budget, indeed the accuracy in which the Preliminary Specification addresses these material issues in oil and gas, make it evident in my mind that we understand this issue. We have a lot of work yet to do, however we can say that we’re on the right track at this time.

I would suggest that a very large percentage of the people in industry do not understand the issue as it stands today. What else could explain the chronic and continuous overproduction into markets that provide commodity prices that only produce financial losses? Producers believe, somehow, that production has nothing to do with price. That the “market” will clear whatever is produced. That “markets” are magical and wonderful things that act in the best interest of the producers is the fairy tale that you have to believe in order to continue on in the manner that is done today. Markets are wonderful things however they do one thing, and only one thing. And that is communicate a price for the good or service that is being marketed. What producers need to do is to organize themselves in the manner defined in the Preliminary Specification so that they can adjust themselves to the messages from the market and if that price is adequate to produce a profit, then produce. Otherwise shut-in the production and save their reserves for the day in which they can be produced profitably. Ensuring all of their properties were profitable would maximize their profits, as no unprofitable properties would be produced and therefore dilute their profits, and allow markets to find the marginal price.

The third quarter reports of all of our sample of 23 producers will all be available on November 13, 2018. We will begin our analysis soon after. A small number have already been published. I would suggest everyone review these as we continue through these next few weeks. Remember to take 70% of property, plant and equipment and move it to depletion in order to make up for the accounting scam that is prevalent in the industry. This will adjust the producer for the unrecognized capital costs of past production. Allocating every cost to capital and leaving it on the balance sheet for decades is a great way to “build your balance sheet” whatever that means, and always report profits. But it is a massive distortion of reality. By making this 70% pro-forma adjustment we see that the producers are nothing but hollowed out carcasses that have done nothing but spend money in order to destroy an industry.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for profitable North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. 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.

How is it That Nothing's Ever Done

I’m sure I’m not the only one that wonders why producers never do anything regarding the difficulties in the industry. Natural gas was last priced in a profitable region, based on People, Ideas & Objects estimates, in mid 2008. Nonetheless the producer still had high enough oil prices to carry them through those difficult natural gas times. However, oil declined in 2014 which ended that support. It was the first time that the industry ever faced the fact that both sides, oil and gas, were depressed. It was always the case that you could bank on at least one side of the business being able to hold its head above water. Then the bankers and investors began to evaluate the producer firms on the basis of a different understanding. One which assumed that shale may never achieve commercial operations. All of the signs were there and investors were not able to get any answers from producers that made any sense. In the face of continued overproduction, additional drilling was not the solution to depressed commodity prices. Therefore the investors and bankers withdrew their support of the industry in wholesale fashion. As we’ve documented here many times the industries accounting is distorted toward underreporting of the capital costs of each barrel of oil equivalent produced. Producers continued to report healthy profits and cash flow yet the cash in the industry was escaping into the black hole we know as property, plant and equipment of the producers “well built” balance sheets. Cash became an issue when the investors ceased to provide the financial support that the industry had come to depend on. Further deterioration of the cash and working capital occurred as time continued to pass and the investors didn’t return. Soon it was realized that flush production was a prosperous source of cash when the costs of these field operations weren’t paid for upto 18 months. Now we see the final realization of all of this madness manifest itself in the high differentials being realized in various basins around North America.

This third quarter of 2018 will be interesting to see how the producers make out financially. The only thing that I’ve heard from any of the producers is from those that maintain a monthly dividend. And the news is that they’ll maintain that in the current month. Even though their cash positions at the end of the second quarter make the payment detrimental to the firm. Must keep the facade of an actual business operation in the minds of those that once believed such nonsense. Throughout the decline of the producers viability and financial destruction we’ve documented the oncoming difficulties and stood firm that nothing would resolve the issues that are present in the industry other than implementing the Preliminary Specification. That day is soon to be realized by more than just me. There is a systemic cultural incapacity for the industry to understand what it’s doing wrong. Back in the early 1980’s I could generally argue the point and gain a consensus that the methods used then, which are the same methods that are used today, would lead to the demise of the industry. Those days are gone. The culture of the industry has been developed with the issue imbedded in the DNA of the industry and the understanding in the industry is that that is the way that things are done. No one questions it. 

The Preliminary Specification relies on the reduction of unprofitable production from the marketplace. The accusations that this is collusion, or that shutting-in production can’t be done for this or that reason has been stated since the early days on this blog. (2007). Which is nothing more than the fact that the Preliminary Specification eliminates the bureaucrats and is hard work for them to do before they’re rendered redundant. The excuse also falls flat on its face when we learn recently that the industry has a speed and capability to shut-in 40% of the production from the Gulf of Mexico due to Hurricane Michael. So much for the lame excuses why they can’t do that onshore. It’s only the excuse of an entitled, lazy and well fed bureaucracy that doesn’t want to do anything. If they did would they have watched the industry be subjected to the history of these past few years. Their responsible, how do they justify their chronic inaction and continued stoic posture in the face of such absolute destruction?

The one other aspect of this situation with the oil and gas industry that People, Ideas & Objects have discussed repeatedly here and in the Preliminary Specification. Is the action that we do anticipate from the bureaucrats which will be their exit from the scene when they’ve determined there’s nothing left for them. How soon this will be is unknown, however just as we noted about the full support these bureaucrats have received from their boards, the exit will be including board members as well. Leaving the industry in pristine shape for the future of the consumer to source their energy needs. What we know regarding these capitulations and exits is that they have their historic origins. Back in the 1920’s when management failed they just moved onto greener pastures while governments intervened heavily into the private economy. We saw this intervention by governments again after the 2008 financial crisis, however not the capitulation of management. I believe this was due to the meltdown being a failed public policy issue. The government wanting everyone to own a home. The question will be, will we see the government come to the aid of the oil and gas industry? And if so, in what form? This is untenable politically and consideration of such aspects of government involvement to support oil and gas is not probable. Therefore when the industry reports its third quarter. And it becomes evident of the difficulties, the management subsequently pursues greener pastures in silicon valley or manufacturing, who will support the industry and turn this situation around?

I documented that I was the crazy one by providing a plan to deal with these issues and establish the industry on a “real” basis of profitability, innovation and cost control. So the previous comments can be put into the proper perspective. The problem is that I’ve been jumping up and down, screaming and yelling about all of these for many years. Other than the managements capitulation it all seems to have worked out in a way in which the Preliminary Specification is the solution to the issue. I’ll probably be wrong about this capitulation though, it just seems so ridiculous. After all who reads history?

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for profitable North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. 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.

A Plan, For a Price

Back in 1991 when I started working in the software business trying to resolve the oil and gas producers dilemma that is so prevalent today. There were in the neighbourhood of a dozen software vendors providing software to the industry. The choices were down to a handful of firms and those were mostly subsequently bought out by Coopers & Lybrand or Ernst & Young, or built by Price Waterhouse. It was a violently competitive time in which the producers were able to pick and choose and pay next to nothing for their software. The attached service contract was what would keep the lights on and the bills paid at the software vendor. As far as the producers were concerned it was too bad about the investors who paid for the software development. In 1992 Oracle threw the cat amongst the pigeons when they joined my firm in a joint development effort. Later in the decade it was determined that accounting firms owning accounting software was not a good business and the beginning of these firms software divestments. Notably the market leader, “Qbyte” which was owned by Coopers & Lybrand was combined with Price Waterhouse “PW/SQL” when they merged as PriceWaterhouseCoopers and all of this was subsequently purchased by IBM. Late in the 20th century, Oracle who were unable to secure any producers to fund their specific developments for Oracle Energy, left in frustration at the persistence of the producers inaction. In 2005 IBM sold their market leading Qbyte application to P2 as a result of their frustration in securing any producer participation in specific new developments.

What we therefore have today is three specific attributes of the oil and gas ERP software marketplace. The investors were used and abused to the point where no one made any money. These memories are still prevalent in the marketplace. I would be hard pressed to find any support anywhere in the investment community for the work that we are doing here at People, Ideas & Objects. I choose not to spend any time in that arena as there is nothing that I can do to provide any potential investors with a return on their investment in oil and gas ERP software. Therefore I avoid these investors that oddly, don’t exist anyway. The second attribute is that no activity in the marketplace is being done in oil and gas ERP systems development. There are little bits here and there but the scope and scale of the issues that exist in the industry demand a much more substantial product. And nothing is being done anywhere other than some upgrades or regulatory changes etc. The third attribute is that the only lunatic offering these specific software developments is People, Ideas & Objects with the Preliminary Specification. This is good news for me, for some reason I’m sure, and not good news for the bureaucrats in the industry.

The net result of all of these shenanigans by the producers is that no one is going to do anything for them until producers pay the way. And People, Ideas & Objects fully understands that the financial resources we require will impact and diminish the producers drilling budgets. But maybe that’s a good thing at this point. This is an oil and gas issue as well, no one other than producers are harmed by differentials. If producers can’t see their way clear to resolving this themselves, why would others do it for them, there is no upside for anyone other than producers. The investment in the software provides a value proposition that is substantially higher than the costs. This is due to the fact that the industry has been currently run into the ground. Sorry to be so blunt, I thought about sending flowers but realized it wouldn’t do much better. Another issue that People, Ideas & Objects has is that the industry has displayed the attention span of a mosquito. As soon as there is a rebound in the price of oil or gas, no matter the size, it's full speed once again into the field to begin drilling as much as possible as quickly as possible. Therefore if we went on a pay as you go basis we would have our funding cut off at some critical point before we were able to complete development. And therefore we can’t run that risk with the people who are needed to commit to this development. They need to know that the resources are there to ensure that they’re not going to be looking for work somewhere else due to the failure of this project and to then be ostracised from the industry by the producers. 

If it isn’t clear yet, if producers want their investors back participating in their organizations they have to offer them a compelling business proposition. A plan for the future that deals with the issues and the opportunities they currently face and a way to deal with them down the road. The Preliminary Specification provides that. However, it costs producers money, and a lot of money up front before they can say to the investors that they have that plan. The only way that they’re going to make it real is to put up our full budget in advance and commit to this in the long run. Alternatively we can clearly see the consequences of further inaction. Just look to Canada and their differentials if you have difficulty seeing the future. It may not be that way everywhere, but trust me, without the Preliminary Specification it will be soon. And we may have to go through a number of attitudinal adjustments as a result of further temporary upward changes in direction of the prices of the commodities. But what we should have all realized at this point is that this train only travels downhill.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for profitable North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. 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.

Where do we go from here?

If we operated oil and gas as a business there would be none of the devastation that we see going on around it today. The Preliminary Specification would be providing detailed accounting information on the revenues, royalties, capital, operations and most importantly the actual overhead incurred at each and every property. If that property continued to report profitability then it would continue to produce. Otherwise it would be shut-in and placed in the producers inventory of innovative projects that were to determine how to expand the reserves, revenues or reduce the costs of operations and return the property back to profitable operations. Making these simple changes would eliminate the marginal production from the commodity markets allowing these markets to find the marginal price. Producers would be able to report their most profitable operations as there would be no further dilution of their profitable operations as a result of incurring losses on some properties. Reserves would be held for a time in which they could be produced profitably and they would no longer have to carry the additional costs of the incremental monthly losses incurred as a result of continued unprofitable operations. This isn’t done in oil and gas because it can’t be done. No one can say which property is actually profitable and which isn’t. All of the overhead is allocated to the corporation and most of that is capitalized. The accounting is deficient in providing the necessary information to run oil and gas as a business. It needs to change through the implementation of the Preliminary Specification in order to achieve the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

With today’s depressed commodity prices. With producers unable to know what the real cost of production is at any point in time and at any location. They’ll use information contained in the reserve estimates before they use the accounting information. In an industry where each barrel of oil produced is incrementally more difficult and costly from a scientific point of view. Where the costs of energy will always increase due to the increased effort necessary to bring about the commercial volumes needed by our advanced economies, and over time. Where the most advanced and powerful economies will be the ones that are the largest consumers of oil and gas. Oil and gas has a role that is unique and quite important to our way of life. The need for an accurate accounting therefore is going to be necessary when the industry claims a $20 to 40 trillion capital expenditure program is necessary to meet these demands.

Is there any doubt in anyone's mind, after the decade that we’ve been through, that oil and gas commodities are subject to the economic principles of price makers? The operational concern of a producer today is to produce everything you have and figure out if the producer made any money in the end. Producers are deaf, dumb and blind to the existence of anything outside of their own four walls and refuse to recognize the damage they continue to cause as a result of theirs and other producers chronic and systemic overproduction. Differentials on the North American continent are how the overproduction is being represented now. Continental overproduction doesn’t have too dramatic an effect on the global oil price. The only people being hurt are the North American producers and all those that are associated with the oil and gas industry. There is a significant problem here that only the Preliminary Specification deals with. The principles in oil and gas are unable to understand or appreciate that solution or the problem itself. And the damage that has been done, throughout the associated industries, has been tragic and we are now ill prepared to deal with our future.

Where do we go from here? The decline in the financial, political and operational capabilities of the industry have been noted here before. Oil prices are not that handsome yet the consumers everywhere are screaming for relief. Even with these prices producers are reporting continued deterioration in their cash positions to where in the third quarter of 2018, People, Ideas & Objects believe this will be a difficult situation to overcome. Therefore the political framework, starting with the President of the United States is counter to the best interests of the producers, in these their darkest days, ever. If this, if that, If only. If the Canadian producers were to have had Keystone XL built they, or if they had TransMountain built they wouldn’t be facing $63 CDN differentials on their prices. What they did do is sit back and wait for a utility to drive the bus for the expansion of their future deliverability. When you hand over a critical capability such as your deliverability to utilities don’t cry to me as to why your differentials are $63. Throughout this blog you will note our discussion of “if” the financial situation weakens, the operational capabilities will deteriorate too. The question therefore becomes what’s next? Do the investors come forward with $20 trillion in investment and all will be fine with all of this forever? Producers don’t see the damage that’s been caused as a result of this “muddling along.” They’re just waiting for the investors return.

The solution of course is the Preliminary Specification that deals with these issues. Other options might arise in a decade or so, but I wouldn’t bank on it. There are investors that are interested in this industry and like me are greatly concerned about the situation at hand. Without an understanding and acceptance of the situation, without a plan to deal with the problems, they’re sitting out of this disaster. They’ll join back in and participate as soon as they see the industry moving forward on dealing with these issues and opportunities. Oil and gas in North America does provide for a compelling business opportunity if it was operated as a business. Investors would join in and participate fairly quickly to ensure they capture the upside down the road. But it has to be a business, not a science experiment that has lost control of itself. Tomorrow we’ll discuss what actions need to be taken by the producers to prove to the investors they mean business and communicate to them that they, the producers, have also had enough.

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for profitable North America’s energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. 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.