Global Technical, Financial Experts Discuss Reserves
Authors: Parshall Joel 
Published: February 2015

Some 130 persons from 20 countries participated in the first International Multidisciplinary Reserves Conference held 24–26 June in Washington, DC, a milestone in bringing together a wide range of generators and users of oil-and-gas-reserves data throughout the industry and the financial world. Attending were engineers, geoscientists, accountants, bankers, investors, policymakers, and regulators. The event was organized by SPE and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), and jointly sponsored by the World Petroleum Council (WPC) and the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE). Participating bodies included the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

The conference followed the March release of the Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS), developed over a 2-year period by SPE, AAPG, WPC, and SPEE, and coordinated by the SPE Oil and Gas Reserves Committee (OGRC). PRMS consolidates, builds on, and replaces guidance contained in the 1997 SPE/WPC Petroleum Reserves Definitions, the 2000 SPE/WPC/AAPG Petroleum Resources Classification and Definitions, and the 2001 SPE/WPC/SPEE Guidelines for the Evaluation of Petroleum Reserves and Resources. The major objective in developing PRMS was to enable the industry to meet the increasingly rigorous and encompassing requirements of major stakeholders spurred by technology advances, international industry expansion, and the increasing role of unconventional resources.

A "Groundbreaking" Event

In his welcoming remarks, conference Cochairperson, Mike Black, vice president, Reservoir Engineering, Greystone Oil & Gas, called the conference "groundbreaking" and "long overdue." As a former director of SPE, Black represented the society as one of the two chairpersons of the event. He shared the podium with Pete Rose, founder of Rose & Associates and past president of AAPG. "We have, in fact, shared a vision for the common, urgent need to bring together all the stakeholders who have a vested interest in the accuracy and reliability of the oil and gas and resource data," Black said.

Mentioning his more than 30 years in the oil industry, Black added, "It has always struck me how the simple phrase, ‘but these are proved reserves,’ can have so many different meanings to so many people." He said that most of the audience probably agreed with him that the world faces "an impending energy crisis, in which the efficiency of global energy markets is of paramount importance. That efficiency can only be facilitated by a complete, accurate, and transparent assessment of actual energy supplies."

Sigurd Heiberg, chairperson of the UNECE Group of Experts on the Harmonization of Fossil Energy and Mineral Resources Terminology, made a presentation on the importance that a common resource terminology holds for energy policies, government and business processes, and financial reporting. Heiberg, who is a project manager for Statoil, described the goal of "a common global terminology where the issues of communication will diminish drastically….