Estimating and Auditing Standards for Reserves
An updated version of the "Standards Pertaining to the Estimating And Auditing of Petroleum Reserves Information” (Auditing Standards) was approved concurrent with the Board approval of the SPE/WPC/AAPG/SPEE Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS) in March 2007. The need for this revision has been recognized for some time by the SPE Oil and Gas Reserves Committee (OGRC) and others because of
- Increased global emphasis on improving corporate governance practices
- Industry reliance upon increasingly complex technology
- The need for greater cooperation between engineers and geoscientists.
Recommended minimum training and experience requirements have been specified for both reserves estimators and reserves auditors and have been expanded to include continuing training in ethics as a basic requirement. Newly defined or updated terms include
- Reserves estimator
- Reserves auditor
- Reserves and financial audits
- Process reviews
- Entity reserves report
- Property reserves report
- Maximum tolerances acceptable in reserves audits.
The existing requirements related to auditors and evaluators regarding objectivity, independence and professionalism remain largely unchanged.
