HGS Continuing Education CommitteeCourses on Petroleum Reserves Write-Downs
by Mike Allison and Cheryl DesforgesLarge corporate reserve write-downs have increased attention of financial analysts, investors, rating agencies, banks, the U.S. SEC and corporate boards to the process of estimating and reporting reserves. In response to concerns raised by the recent reserve write-downs, the HGS Continuing Education Committee, in conjunction with a number of corporate sponsors, enlisted the help of leading industry experts to produce four one day short courses focused on ways to avoid petroleum reserve writedowns. There was good attendance for the first three short courses, which we hope to repeat for the final segment offered next September. Audience participation is critical to the success of this series. So bring your questions and you will leave with answers from industry experts, as well as well as a bound set of course notes. You can register for the CEC sponsored short courses on the HGS web site.As a new venture of the HGS, our corporate financial underwriters and presenters have provided the HGS with the means to deliver these short courses to a much broader audience, as well as to preserve the knowledge of these industry experts for the next generation of geoscientists and engineers. A single, easy to use CD-ROM is being prepared for each one day short course. Each CD-ROM will contain a very high quality recording of the presentation and the speaker’s voice. They can be played on a local computer and are easy navigated by the simple click of a mouse on a menu of topics. These live recordings will provide a convenient source of review, which can be replayed at home, in the office or in a conference room. The HGS will be selling this mini-series as a set of four CD-ROMs for $120 dollars, as early as the AAPG Annual Convention in Calgary. Sets will also be available for purchase through the HGS web site and during the HGS lunch and dinner meetings starting next fall. The CD-ROM for the final course, presented during September, will be mailed later in the fall to all early purchasers who simply return a coupon contained in the original case. Your support of this important effort by purchasing a CD-ROM set for your personal library will immediately benefit other HGS programs and provide revenue, which will fund CD-ROMs of future short courses. The “Petroleum Reserves – Avoiding Write-down” series includes:
“An Overview of Reserve Definitions and Reporting Requirements,” which was presented by John E. Hodgin and Thomas Wagenhofer of Ryder Scott Company, LP on December 15, 2004.• Review SEC and SPE/WPC definitions, as well as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act• Find out who is subject to civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance or false reporting• Review the issues the SEC routinely questions in letters of inquiry regarding reserves• Review SEC “Red Flags”
“An Overview of Recommended Geological Practices,” which was presented by Daniel J. Tearpock of Subsurface Consultants & Associates, LLC on January 20, 2005.• Review common geologic errors which contribute to inaccurate reserve estimates• Review geologic methods and techniques recommended to avoid these pitfalls
“An Overview of Recommended Engineering Practices,” which was presented by Ed Travis and Bill Kazmann of LaRoche Petroleum Consultants, Ltd. on May 20, 2005.• Review basic reservoir evaluation techniques from performance to volumetric analysis, as well as fundamental economic evaluations and their impact on reserve volumes.• Review common engineering errors which contribute to inaccurate reserve estimates and the recommended practices to avoid these pitfalls.
“An Overview of Recommended Petrophysical Practices,” which will be presented by Bill Price of Petrophysical Solutions, Inc., John Kulha, Consultant, and Ted Griffin of Core Lab, on September 21, 2005.
• Review the rules of wireline pressure interpretation and use of core data to validate reserves. • Learn the ten causes/sources of LRLC response and how to adjust petrophysical evaluations to compensate, as well as when to apply a proven methodology to evaluate LRLC pays.• Real world examples will be presentedAs with most major projects, this effort could not have been completed without help from many sources. The HGS Continuing Education Committee is indebted to the above mentioned presenters and their companies, our financial underwriters, Dominion Exploration & Production, Seismic Micro-Technology, and Fugro-Jason, and the organizations who provided venues for each course, Noble Energy, Shell Oil Company, Marathon Oil Corporation and the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology.