Patent ID: 7676420

Claim:
A method for automatically reconciling volume data to ascertain a quantity of mineral associated with a well, the method comprising: receiving, from a provider of a mineral in a mineral sale, a first volume measurement of the mineral exchanged in the mineral sale; receiving, from a recipient of the mineral in the mineral sale, a second volume measurement of the mineral exchanged in the mineral sale, the second volume measurement being different than the first volume measurement; accessing, using an electronic settlement system, an automatic resolution rule defined to reconcile differences in volume measurements received from the provider and volume measurements received from the recipient in the mineral sale; based on the automatic resolution rule, automatically determining, using the electronic settlement system, a third volume measurement of the mineral exchanged in the mineral sale, the third volume measurement being different than at least one of the first and second volume measurements; determining, using the electronic settlement system, an estimated market value for minerals extracted from a well from which the mineral exchanged in the mineral sale was extracted; computing, using the electronic settlement system, a settlement value for the mineral sale using the third volume measurement as a volume of mineral exchanged in the mineral sale and using the estimated market value as a price of the mineral exchanged in the mineral sale; and electronically settling, using the electronic settlement system, the mineral sale between the provider and the recipient by enabling electronic transfer of funds from the recipient to the provider based on the computed settlement value, wherein determining an estimated market value for minerals extracted from the well from which the mineral exchanged in the mineral sale was extracted comprises: identifying market centers serving the well from which the mineral exchanged in the mineral sale was extracted; receiving local cost data related to extracting minerals from the well and transporting minerals from the well to the identified market centers serving the well; receiving global price data including price data from each of the identified market centers serving the well; determining a general pattern of product flow of minerals extracted from the well to each of the identified market centers serving the well, the general pattern of product flow indicating which percentage of minerals extracted from the well travel to which of the identified market centers serving the well; and determining an estimated market value by performing a statistical interpolation of the local cost data and the global price data that accounts for the determined general pattern of product flow, variability of the local cost data and the global price data, and errors associated with the local cost data and the global price data.