Submitting the Utility Process

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Accessing the Utility Process

With the correct security, access the utility, click on the User Processes > select Third Party Update Utility from the sub-menu shown.

Submitting the Utility Process

Process Date displays last process run

• OK to continue working in that month (will receive popup with confirmation message)

• Or enter different month to start a new month's process and retrieve new from data from industry source  

Open

If the Process Month is NOT changed, the popup asks if you want to renew the current month’s data:

Open

When a new month is first run or the current month is re-submitted, there is a time lapse between submission and the opening of the Update Utility window. The length of wait depends upon the number of user wells in the process.

What does the Third Party Utility Process Do?

Qbyte CS User Wells Selected for Processing

User Wells are identified for processing if: 

• User Well is a Well or Location type (not N/A) 

• User Well Status is Active (AI Status on the validation table File Status User Well) 

• Grantor is a TPA Inv Run Owner in the Owners table 

• Exclude from Utility flag is not ticked 

• Does a User Well have to be in the Well Module to use the Update Utility?  

Selected User Wells are Matched to Industry Data 

The selected User Wells are matched to industry data where possible, first by well licence or by location or UWI if well licence is not populated. If the user well can’t be matched to industry well(s), error messages are generated. 

Checking Industry Data 

• The only industry dates used by the Third Party Update Utility are Spud, Rig Release, Well Status and Production. 

• Spud and Rig Release dates are used to invoice for Drilling and One-time fees. 

• Well Status and Well Status effective dates are gathered for the Well Status Method 

• Production data is gathered for the Production Volume Method

Errors

The utility will identify User Wells that do not exist in Industry Data, and Third Party Agreements where certain types of fees are missing from the Maint tab .   For example, wells that have not been drilled and if there are missing fee types in the maintenance tab.   The Error messages tab should be review and data issues addressed.

Maintenance Fees 

As discussed in the Configuration, either Well Statuses or Production Volumes are used to determine TPA Status. The appropriate data is gathered for the industry wells. 

Status Categories are determined for the user well (i.e. Drilling, Producing, Non-producing): 

• Well Status Method: Industry well statuses are translated to a Status Category. If multiple Status Categories exist for a User Well (because of multiple event sequences) the  Status Category Precedence  on the validation table determines which Status Category is used. If an industry well status does not have a designated Status Category (in the Code Translate table), error messages are produced. 

• Production Volumes Method: the production volumes (oil/gas/water including injection) are totaled on a monthly basis. If volumes are present, the Status Category is Producing; otherwise, it is Non-Producing. 

The Update Utility requires that each agreement have one TPA Status on the Maintenance tab for each of the following categories:  Drilling, Producing and Non-Producing. Although the drilling status is required on the Maintenance tab when the Third Party Update Utility is used a drilling TPA status will not be proposed if the Maintenance Fee Start Date is more recent than the spud date.   

• See example of set up for more details. 

Based on the Status Category for the User Well, a TPA Status(es) corresponding to that on the Maint tab of each agreement is(are) proposed and compared to the existing TPA Status(es). 

• Multiple TPA Statuses may be proposed depending on well activity and time since last invoice date. 

• If no TPA Status on the Maint tab of the agreement matches the Status Category, then no TPA Status can be proposed.  An error message is generated. 

• If only one TPA Status is proposed and it matches the existing TPA Status, the User Well with its Proposed TPA Status is suppressed so that it does not appear on the  Proposed TPA Statuses  tab. 

• What if I have More Than One Producing or Non-Producing TPA Statuses for an Agreement? 

Invoice Start Date is determined (based on the User Well’s last invoiced date or, if never invoiced, the earliest TPA Start Date on any existing TPA Statuses). 

One-Time Fees 

• If the user well has any One-Time Fees with no Billing Dates and the well has spud, the  User Wells are identified. 

Known Issues 

• When using the well status method:  Although the Well Status method produces accurate results in most cases, an incorrect TPA Status may be proposed if the non-producing event has an industry well status with a date that is later than the date on the well status for the producing event. 

• If you have a situation where there is a re-entry well with the same licence number with different spud and rig release dates for different events, then the different spud and rig release dates will confuse the Update Utility into proposing duplicate TPA Statuses for the user well. Instead of entering the licence number on the user well, simply enter the user well as a ‘well’ type and put in the active UWI. 

• The Third Party Update Utility proposes any TPA status changes based on all event sequences for a well.  If multiple events exist for the active UWI (in addition to the original abandoned event), then potentially this well will have to be excluded from the Update Utility process and handled manually.   How are multi event wells handled by the Third Party Update Utility?