International Petroleum Economics Evaluation Software

Do you find that you need to spend valuable time and money building complex spreadsheets to evaluate economics of new oil and gas exploration and production opportunities or that the economics software you now use is not sufficiently flexible to work accurately for every new set of terms you meet?

Petro$, since it was launched in 1994, has always been the most comprehensive, versatile and user-friendly international petroleum exploration and production economics evaluation package available. Now, Petro$₂ not only continues to be the most flexible program of its type, it is probably the lowest cost solution; for just $1,450 it provides the means to rapidly evaluate the economics of oil and gas exploration and development projects in virtually every country in the world. The system has been tested with the fiscal regimes in over 150 countries. The range of variables enables all varieties of exploration and production agreements to be evaluated, yet rarely are more than 8-10 lines of data needed to fully define the fiscal terms.

Other international economics packages were constructed as a series of disconnected modules; this cannot allow all petroleum fiscal terms to be modelled correctly. Petro$₂ was developed by examining the fiscal terms in over 150 countries, with all known variations to those terms, then developing a package to enable all of those regimes to be evaluated accurately. The resulting program is so comprehensive and flexible that it should readily handle any new variations that come along.

Some of the more important features are listed below.

 

Data files can be written and edited with a text editor, a spreadsheet program or the simple to use Windows Data Input System which is an integral part of Petro$₂.

 

Data can be held in separate external files to allow for changes in prices, fiscal regimes, inflation rates, etc. to be reflected in all future evaluations with a single change.

 

A wide range of graphs can be plotted, illustrating both input data and results, with just a few mouse-clicks or key strokes. Graphs can be extensively customised within Petro$₂.

 

Sensitivity analysis options include a standard set of exploration costs, capital costs, operating costs, production and product prices or any combination of variables specified by the user. Sensitivity runs made are, by default, at -30%, -20%, -10%, +10%, +20% and +30%, but the step size can be changed at run time. The results are output in both tubular or graphical form and the graphs can show either the value of the parameter or the % change in the parameter on the y-axis.

 

Up to five product streams can be included in evaluations.

 

The Data Input System includes a comprehensive production forecasting routine which allows up to five changes in escalation or decline method and slope for each product.

 

Operating costs can be entered annually or defined as fixed and production-related variable elements.

 

Past capital and operating costs can also be included to accurately reflect the company's current fiscal position.

 

Interest on corporate loans can be calculated and included in the evaluation.

 

A full range of variables is available to define all types of bonus payments and their fiscal treatment, including production bonuses based on production rate or cumulative production.

 

The range of options for defining government participation terms and repayment of carried costs is extensive and allows separate definition of participation percentages in production, exploration, capital and operating costs.

 

A full range of economics indicators, including risked value, can be calculated at six discount rates with full control over the discounting methods and rates. Analyses can be performed in nominal and real terms and before and after tax.

 

Royalty rates can be defined by production rate, cumulative production, oil gravity, water depth, profit ratio, or time since start of production and a full range of options is available to define allowable deductions.

 

For production sharing contracts, there is a wide range of options to define cost recovery terms (including uplift and interest on costs) and profit split. In all, over 40 variables are available to define these two elements.

 

Two tiers of income tax can be included and over 50 variables are available to define the rates and allowances for these two taxes; sufficient to model virtually all income tax systems.

 

Up to four tiers of real rate-of-return based taxes can also be included, with a full range of options to control their use.

 

By default a single page of output is produced which includes cash flows from the major elements of the evaluation and the economics analyses. However, up to 7 further pages can be produced including details of input data, production, loan calculations, government participation, royalty, cost recovery and profit split and taxes.

 

Output pages can be reviewed on the screen before printing. They are displayed in Excel spreadsheet form and can be modified using 126 built-in Excel functions and/or saved as an Excel spreadsheet file.

 

Results from any number of evaluations can be consolidated, with or without re-calculation of taxes, to produce incremental studies and tax consolidations.

 

A comprehensive help system includes context-sensitive help, accessed by pressing F1 and an Instant Help Panel.

 

The original Petro$ (Version 1.2), which includes built in models for the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark and Thailand, is still available. E-mail or fax for further details.

Petro$₂ comes with a comprehensive operating manual and costs just £875 in the UK and other EEC countries or US$ 1,450 elsewhere. Complete the form below to order Petro$₂or to request a free, 30-day trial copy.