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SystemEnvironment, Emissions & Regulatory

Petroleum License Compliance

Petroleum license compliance for license administrators and counsel: the contract as it stands today, and an answer on consent before the rig is booked.

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Follow one well job from the question to the filing ↓
The problem

The words that count sit in an old amendment and a Ministry letter

Each license says something different, and the clause that governs a job is often not in the contract at all. It sits in an amendment or a Ministry letter that arrived at a contracts mailbox years ago and was read by whoever picked it up. The license administrator keeps a spreadsheet of duties, updated by hand from the contract as first signed.

So an engineer who remembers the old notice period plans a well job, checks it against what he knows, and passes. Counsel reads the contract again for each question. Reports go out from finance, wells and environment on their own calendars. A guarantee ends before its phase does, seismic is counted by shots while the Ministry counts full fold, and a license review means a week of pulling files.

Built forLicense administratorsUpstream counselBlock asset managersWell engineers

The Problem Today

Each license has its own consents and dates, and amendments and letters keep changing what the contract says.

2,080
hours to read 41,600 pages of letters, at 3 minutes a page our estimate
28 days
ahead to apply to abandon a well, in one regulator's guidance published

Tracked by hand today

  • Consents
  • Reports
  • Give-backs
  • Guarantees
  • Consent asked too lateA plan built on the old clause passes its own check
  • Two counts of the same workOperators count shots; a ministry counts full fold

The Solution

  1. Read each paperContracts, amendments and decades of letters, each clause as it stands
  2. One calendar of dutiesEach duty with its clause, its date and one owner
  3. Ask: May we do this?Plain words in; consent, from whom and by when, checked against the plan
  4. Draft, sign, fileAgents draft; a license administrator signs and counsel checks

Built-in controls

  • Agents never file, sign or close anything
  • Whoever signs cannot check the same work
  • No clause found is not read as a yes

What You Get

Engineers learn the rule before they book the rig, and each duty has a name and a date.

  • Nothing changes unseenEach letter's change is agreed, checked, then applied
  • Shortfalls priced earlyWork counted both ways, the gap priced for counsel
  • Evidence ready for a reviewOne file per license, with the gaps marked
One question, one filing

Petroleum license compliance on one well job that started 11 days short

An abandonment engineer plans to plug an idle platform well in 19 days. The rig slot is booked. The contract he remembers asks for notice; the contract as amended asks for something else.

demoThe operator, the licenses, the Ministry letters, the wells and the people are sample data, and so are the clause texts and day counts.

  1. 01Before the question

    Twelve licenses on one line, from award to expiry

    License administrator

    Each operated license is drawn as a life line through its phases, with relinquishments, work, guarantees and restoration marked, and today’s line through all of them. Above it sits one box: may we do this? The footer counts the calendar: 9 late, 148 due in 90 days, 45 with counsel, 1,430 duties in all. Five new Ministry letters wait to be read.

  2. 02The question

    Not on this plan: written approval first, and the plan fails by 11 days

    Abandonment engineer

    He types the job in plain words. The answer reads the clause as needing written approval from the Ministry, 30 calendar days ahead of work. His plan leaves 19. The latest filing for his date passed 11 days ago, and silence does not count as approval. The panel works the rig slot too: when the reply is needed, and what holding the rig would cost.

  3. 03The clause

    Amendment 3 deleted the notice clause and replaced it with approval

    Abandonment engineer

    What the agent read is listed in date order: the contract as signed, the amendment, and two Ministry letters, one setting four required items and one saying the thirty days run only from a complete application. Opening the amendment shows the passage itself. Notice became written approval, and the Ministry’s silence shall not be treated as approval.

  4. 04The draft

    The planned start moves to the earliest date the clause allows, plus margin

    License administrator

    He opens the drafted application, moves the planned start and gives the reason: contract lead time. The draft cites the article as replaced by the amendment, the four items the old letter requires, the rig and the estimated cost, and asks for a reply before the rig slot closes. He signs it as maker. He cannot also check it.

  5. 05The check

    Counsel opens the amendment and both Ministry letters before she can sign

    Upstream counsel

    Her sign button stays off until she has opened each source herself, and the panel counts them. Here the later letter is open: the thirty days run from the date the Ministry receives a complete application, and an incomplete one does not start the clock. She can sign and file, or send it back to the administrator with a reason.

  6. 06The filing

    Filed 33 days before the planned work, and the work stays blocked

    Upstream counsel

    The application now reads as filed, signed by the administrator and checked by counsel. The panel says what it means: work stays blocked until written approval is on file, because silence is not approval in this block. A reminder to the Ministry is set fifteen days before the reply the rig slot needs. No agent filed or signed anything.

  7. 07Until the Ministry replies

    Releasing the job to the rig stays locked until approval is on file

    Abandonment engineer

    The engineer’s own view of the application shows where it stops him. Releasing the job to the rig is disabled, with the reason: no written approval on file, so the rig cannot take this job. It also tells him his well plan still carries the old date, and offers to revise his plan to the new start.

Three dates in the same block, read three ways

The same plug and abandon job under each paper in the stack. Only the last reading governs.

PaperWhat it asksWhat the plan needs
The contract as signed14 days’ noticeThe 19-day plan passes
Amendment 3Written approval, 30 days aheadThe plan fails by 11 days
Ministry letter on complete applicationsThe 30 days start only when the application is completeFour items enclosed, or the clock does not start

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Around the license

Production sharing contract compliance across duties, work and guarantees

The licensing team’s other screens, on the same twelve licenses.

What needs consent, act by actEleven acts on one block as the contract stands today: who must agree, how many days ahead, and what silence means. Each cites the clause and the amendment behind it.
Late duties firstNine duties late across the licenses, each with its clause, date, days late and one owner. Due, with counsel and closed sit on their own tabs.
Every open applicationEach application with its stage, the clock that matters and whether work can start. Most read start blocked until the Ministry answers.
Work counted two waysPromised, our count and the Ministry’s count. On one block, 1,040 sq km shot reads as 962 sq km full-fold, a $912,000 gap for counsel to confirm.
A guarantee that ends too soonEach guarantee, bond and fund against what it must cover. One performance guarantee ends 256 days before the contract needs it to.
The file a license review asks forContract and papers, letters, closed duties with evidence held, open applications and audit lines, with three missing items named.
The trail behind the filingThe question, the answer, the draft, the move, the maker’s signature, counsel’s check after three sources, and the lock on the job, each with who did it.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Administrator signs, counsel checks, the asset manager decides land

Nobody checks their own work.

License administrator
Sees
The life line, the calendar and each letter’s change
Signs
Drafts and signs applications as maker; moves planned dates
Upstream counsel
Sees
The clause as it stands, and each source to open
Signs
Checks and files; settles what is unclear
Abandonment engineer
Sees
Yes, no or by when, against his plan
Signs
Nothing; asks, plans, and releases a job once approval is on file
Block asset manager
Sees
Work counts, give-back proposals and guarantees
Signs
Decides relinquishment and how commitments are met; counsel countersigns
Internal auditor
Sees
Each license’s record, read only
Signs
Nothing; downloads the review file
The agents

Each agent reads one part of the license stack, and none files a thing

They read, count, draft and propose. Filings and decisions stay with people.

Contract reader

Writes each clause as it stands, through every amendment.

  • Never blends clauses
  • Gives no legal advice
Letter reader

Says what each Ministry letter changes.

  • Never applies a change
  • Never guesses at handwriting
Duty keeper

Keeps the duties with their dates and one owner each.

  • Never closes a duty without evidence
Consent checker

Answers may we do this, from whom and by when.

  • Never says yes on silence
  • Answers no how-to on well or safety work
Application drafter

Drafts each application with its required items.

  • Never files
  • Never sets a technical value
Work counter

Counts work two ways and prices the gap.

  • Never rules on a shortfall
Block mapper

Proposes which blocks to give back, checked against the clause.

  • Never decides

Contracts, letters, well plans and guarantees, read where they are kept

Connections are read only. Contract wording is your own.

Document managementContracts, amendments and Ministry letters
Wells planning systemWell plans, rig slots and planned dates
TreasuryGuarantees, bonds and their end dates
Mapping systemBlock outlines, held area and give-backs
ERPWork spend against commitments

What license teams ask about petroleum license compliance

What is petroleum license compliance software?

Petroleum license compliance software keeps every duty under an upstream license with its clause, its date and an owner. This solution reads each contract through its amendments and Ministry letters, answers whether a planned job needs consent and by when, and drafts applications for an administrator to sign and counsel to check.

Does it cover production sharing contracts and concessions?

Yes. Each license is read as the contract stands today, whatever its form, and each act that needs consent is listed with the clause behind it, how far ahead, and what silence means.

How does PSC obligation management work here?

The duty keeper holds the calendar, and each duty has one owner. A Ministry letter that changes a duty goes to the administrator to agree and counsel to check before the change applies. Unclear duties go to counsel.

Can it track license work commitments?

Yes. The work counter shows what was promised, your count and the Ministry’s count side by side, and prices the gap. The block asset manager decides how to meet it, and counsel countersigns.

What about relinquishment tracking?

The block mapper proposes what to give back and checks it against the clause: share of the original area, how many parts, minimum size, prospects kept. The block asset manager decides, because land given back is gone for good.

Will it file with the Ministry for us?

No. Agents draft. The license administrator signs as maker, upstream counsel opens the sources and checks, and only then is it filed. Work stays blocked until written approval is on file where the contract says silence is not approval.

What if the question is about how to do the well work safely?

The consent checker answers whether and when you may, never how. Questions about well or safety work go to the named engineer.

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Bring one license
with its amendments and letters.

We’ll ask it one question about a planned job with you, on your own papers.

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