Joint Industry Project (JIP) Proposal For
The Development Of An International Non-Profit Association
For the Petroleum Data Management Sector
by Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc
P.O. Box 181510
Dallas, Texas, USA 75218-1510
1.0 Background
Over the last two decades, the petroleum industry experienced an explosion of petroleum data elevating petroleum data management to a primary discipline in the international oil and gas industry. Petroleum companies moved into the petabyte dominion, with data expanding into the 1000’s of terabytes under management in most large companies. The complex engineering and systems approach to enhance value has squarely put an important and key role to petroleum data managers and their groups. They must find reliable data, maintain both the accessibility and quality of data, manage complex sets of data at many levels within the enterprise. They must make the data interoperable with numerous complex data capture/storage and application programs used by the company’s internal clients/users including geologists, geophysicists, engineers, accountants, planners, designers, and the many other clients creating and enhancing corporate value. A number of industry studies and investigations have shown that digital technology could appreciably enhance value of most companies engaged in the oil and gas industry.
Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc. has been involved directly in the data management area by providing industry studies, conferences, and training in this complex industry segment. In one study for a client, Crouse noted that data managers and their groups were not understood well by their collective corporate management; and, these groups have for the most part been viewed as a cost center instead of a revenue enhancement center. Until recently low oil and natural gas prices squeezed many company data management units by both reducing employees engaged in data management and funding data management and development. This occurred while databases and data needs expanded, making the petroleum data management problem more acute.
Work by Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc. shows that within the petroleum data management segment, there is a wealth of talent in base skills of operator and vendor companies. Many of these leaders have plurality of geological and engineering degrees, with some integrated information technology and management information systems backgrounds. The problem has been that there exists no formal recognition within the companies for this new requirement and discipline as a primary value skill.
To that end, Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc. proposes to create an international, independent, not-for-profit association for the petroleum data management sector for educational, scientific, literary and charitable purposes. The association would aim to create understanding and development of industry needs for professional status and certification for those who are active in this arena. In addition, the association would provide educational activities and training where the industry believes such education and training is needed. Its principal mission would be two fold: (1) to provide opportunities through its programs for interested individuals to maintain and upgrade their individual technical competence in the aforementioned areas for the public benefit, and (2) to encourage best practices through education and information by the collection, dissemination, and exchange of technical information concerning data and data management of oil and gas resources for the public benefit.
The association would be member organization with an elected board of directors. Staff would report to this Board for direction and policy. Initially, Philip C. Crouse would serve as the organization’s founding executive director for a term of two years. After that time, the organization would either renew Mr. Crouse’s contract or engage a new director for the association.
2.0 History of Events Leading to the Joint Industry Proposal (JIP)
At different times over the last decades, a number of petroleum industry operators have indicated their interest in establishing a non-profit organization for the petroleum data management industry. Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc. organized and funded a cornerstone conference for these personnel starting in 1997, with attendance overall growing despite a training and budget slowdown resulting from industry consolidation and war events I the early 2000s. Conference attendance set records for the May 2004 event, and have continued upward each year since 2003. During the 2004 event, Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc. hosted a meeting of operators to discuss the need for an international association for personnel engaged in petroleum data and information management, and what would need to be done to make the Association a reality. Discussion focused on and concluded the following as guidelines:
1. The association would satisfy the need for a separate member organization where there could be established a higher level of practice, good practices, and ways to encourage efficiencies to the oil and gas industry.
2. The association would provide for “credibility” to the discipline. Petroleum industry managements, in general, do not fully understand what the IT/DM personnel do for the corporation.
3. The association would not be a standards organization, but may provide direction and input to the standards organizations and their leadership. Standards organizations as well as all organizations would be members on equal footing in the organization. Standards groups could use the association as a sounding board for the standards needs of the industry.
4. The organization would disseminate and share its information to the public as opposed to contracts that specify that companies cannot share outside the “members” of a project.
5. The organization should serve as a conduit or facilitator for ideas/issues that the industry needs addressed to improve data management.
6. The association should provide training and educational opportunities for industry personnel engaged in this sector.
7. The association should be international and hold regional and global meetings for its members.
8. The association should collaborate with other organizations when appropriate to its members.
9. Initially, the organization should have loose member requirements which should be defined over time.
10. The organization would not overlap with a number of broad multi-industry records management organizations, except to encourage integration and interoperability.
11. The association could help to benchmark industry and companies to industry trends and developments in the data management area.
12. No groups currently exist to fill the petroleum data management needs. The association would create a “community of practice” which is critically needed in industry.
13. The organization would be a 501(c)(3) organization, the highest level for a non-profit organization.
14. The organization would not be a lobbying organization.
After the May discussion, a number of people responded to the action items generated from the meeting.
A. Functions which should be targeted should include Executive Management, IT Petroleum Data Management, Data Application Specialists, Software writers and providers, Systems Developers, Programmers, Geologists, Geophysicists, GeoTechs, GIS administrators, G&G coordinators and administrators, exploration and production engineers, Business Development, Marketing, and others.
B. The association must develop a charter or mission statement that identifies the legitimate goals of the association
C. By-laws must be developed for the organization to function effectively and lawfully.
D. The association must develop an antitrust compliance policy statement, guide for professional conduct, and conflict of interest statement. (SEG, SPE and other societies have such statements, and the new association will have these documents developed and approved by the JIP sponsors.
E. The association will establish rules for meetings and other association activities, as to achieve the highest professional, ethical, and legal standards as a public non-profit organization, complying with national and governmental antitrust and other international laws which impact meetings in the petroleum industry.
3.0 Task Description and Deliverables
Task 1 – Obtain the support of three major industry players as sponsors to begin funding the Joint Industry Project
Task 2 – Reach a minimum threshold of sponsorship of $200,000 to fund the Project. A project funding of $400,000 is targeted for maximum impact. After the initial solicitation for this project, have necessary meetings in key locations to educate about the project. All project sponsors would be recognized as “Charter Companies” or “Cornerstone Charter Companies” of the Association.
Task 3 – Appoint representatives from each sponsor company to constitute an initial reporting “board” in which approvals for the structure of the organization will be approved. The initial board would be made up of member representatives, until the time of elections provided under the by-laws. Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc. would report to and obtain approvals from this group of representatives.
Task 4 – More fully define objectives of the organization - international, independent, not-for-profit association for the petroleum data management sector for scientific, literary, educational and charitable purposes. The association could create understanding and development of industry needs for professional status and certification for those who are active in this arena. In addition, the association would provide educational activities and training where the industry believes such education and training is needed. Its principal mission would be two fold: (1) to provide opportunities through its programs for interested individuals to maintain and upgrade their individual technical competence in the aforementioned areas for the public benefit, and (2) to encourage best practices through education and information by the collection, dissemination, and exchange of technical information concerning data and data management of oil and gas resources for the public benefit.
Task 5 – Develop a corporate charter, by-laws, antitrust compliance policy statement policy, conflict of interest policy, and guide for professional conduct, engaging independent legal counsel for the new association. The by-laws would establish name, object, membership, meetings, organization, officers, board of directors, committees, management, minutes and records, elections, offices, fiscal year, parliamentary authority, and rules to amend the by-laws.
Task 6 – Obtain approval from sponsor representatives to incorporate as a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization.
Task 7- Provide forums for the organizing meetings of the corporation.
Task 8 – Once the association is legally incorporated, additional efforts would be made to begin membership recruitment and funding as a normal member run association. Establish banking and outside accounting/auditing relationships for the corporation.
4.0 Milestone Plan
Task 1 Obtain 3 major sponsors for the JIP
Task 2 Reach $200,000 in commitments.
Task 3 Representatives appointed for reporting progress and direction
as needed and directed.
Task 4 Objectives fully defined.
Task 5 Draft and Finals approved.
Task 6 Filings for incorporation and non-profit status made and requests for state and regulatory approvals filed
5.0 Cost Breakdown
Funding Levels $200,000 $300,000 $400,000
Consultant Costs $100,000 $150,000 $180,000
Legal Assistance $ 50,000 $ 50,000 $ 50,000
Travel $ 15,000 $ 30,000 $ 70,000
Overhead and Materials $ 20,000 $ 40,000 $ 60,000
Meetings and Facilities $ 15,000 $ 30,000 $ 40,000
6.0 Participants’ Requirements
Participants shall be asked to review critical documents and provide revisions and comments on the formation of the association. In addition, participants will be asked to assign technically qualified representative(s) to attend project reviews and assist in the association creation decisions. Participants will assign founding/initial board members to the organization, who will serve until the first elected board as directed by the by-laws is sitting to direct the corporation.
7.0 Management
Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc. management plan is designed to minimize the risk of delays and cost overruns by close monitoring of the progress of each active task and by frequent and open communication with the sponsors. The key components of the project management plan are listed below.
Sponsor Contact – Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc. will schedule informal sponsor briefings as required and formal project reviews in appropriate intervals.
Review of Project Progress – The project manager (Philip C. Crouse) will monitor progress of all in-house tasks biweekly. A database containing all task completion dates will be maintained and tasks will be categorized as pending or complete.
Early Identification of Unforeseen Problems – The requirement to reaffirm or modify the schedule of each task biweekly is intended to force the project manager to reevaluate the project’s progress regularly. This will maximize the chances of recognizing early signals that a task may require special attention.
Well Defined Tasks – Tasks are defined, tangible items, making performance easy to measure.
Reporting Techniques - In addition to the verbal communications, quarterly progress reports indicating progress by reference to tasks, problem areas, and planned work for the next reporting period and expenditures will be submitted.
8.0 Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc. and Philip C. Crouse
Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc. is an international petroleum engineering and management practice founded 26 years ago by Philip C. Crouse. The company has specialized in unique engineering design projects, market and engineering studies, project management, expert witness, and technology research. Petroleum Network Education Conferences (PNEC) is a division of Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc. formed in 1993 to run petroleum conferences and provide conference and event management services to the wider international industry.
In 1988 the company saw the need to have targeted conferences designed to emphasize developments in new and main line technologies, which had not been discussed or emphasized by the broader oil and gas industry. That year the company programmed the world’s first conference and exhibit for horizontal well technology. For five years the company partnered with World Oil Magazine to bring global conferences. In 1993 Petroleum Network Education Conferences was formed as a separate marketing effort of Philip C. Crouse and Assoc. Inc.
Conferences and short courses, along with training have been conducted in many technical areas including horizontal well technology, coiled tubing, petroleum data integration, reservoir conformance, underbalanced drilling, and emerging technologies. Over 50 PNEC conferences worldwide have brought new ideas and new technology applications to over 10,000 petroleum personnel. Additionally PNEC expanded into meeting and event management in 1997 providing internal meetings, trade shows and other events needed by major petroleum industry companies. Schlumberger and certain subsidiaries of the company regularly contracted PNEC Conferences full meeting services for complex meetings ranging from 90-550 attendees from 1997-2002.
We are proud to be celebrating 20 years of conferencing for the oil industry and celebrating our 26th anniversary as a company.
Philip C. Crouse, PE
Education
BS in Petroleum Engineering with Honors, University of Texas at Austin 1973
MBA in Finance/Management, University of Texas at Austin 1975
Mr. Crouse was honored at the University with numerous academic, honorary and leadership awards including Engineering Leadership Service Award, Cactus Outstanding Student, Pi Epsilon Tau, Phi Eta Sigma, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Delta Sigma Pi, as well as Speaker for the James Stephen Hogg Society open to only 20 students. Received fellowships, academic scholarships, and was a teaching assistant.
Career
1969-1975 Summer positions with a variety of oil companies in West Texas and Dallas. Roustabout to summer environmental engineer.
1975-1978 Atlantic Richfield North American Producing Division. Worked in a variety of assignments including long range planning for division, economic analysis, and regulatory and governmental relations.
1978 Champlin Petroleum Company. Performed the company long-range plan for exploration and production, acquisition analysis and review for senior management, financial impact analysis.
1978-1981 Sun Production Company. Led government affairs/regulatory affairs applications and compliance including testifying before agencies of the government. Recommended by President of the subsidiary as candidate for Conference Board Congressional Fellow Program (Now administered by Brookings Institute) and chosen for the Congressional Fellow Program (1979-1980).
1979-1980 U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget, Sr. Analyst, Agriculture and HHS issues. Was chosen by Sun’s 19 subsidiaries and Sun Co. as candidate, and chosen as 1 of 10 people to work in Congress. Youngest participant in history of program (28). Scheduled legislation hearings, developed strategies for legislation, drafted new legislation, monitored committees impacting budget, worked for 8 Republican Senators on the budget committee, with workload controlled by Senator Bellmon. One of three senate aides helping on transition for agriculture function. Was recommended to be assistant secretary in agriculture.
1981-Present Founder - Philip C. Crouse and Associates, Inc. a “C” Corporation engaged principally in new technology petroleum engineering and management consulting and high technology conferences. The company has provided independent engineering services, petroleum management consulting, and financial evaluations, training and conferences to the larger domestic and international petroleum industry. Activities have involved work for high tech firms, manufacturing and service companies, oil companies, private investors, financial concerns, publishing firms, national oil companies, and others. Areas of studies and activity include evaluations, property review and management, funding advice, engineering services, industry studies, planning, high technology impact studies, engineering and design with new technology processes, management and Board of Director studies, product development, and public and government affairs.
Other
Society of Petroleum Engineers- Director on International Board of Directors 89-92, Life Member, Distinguished Member
Amer. Inst. Of Mining, Metal. And Petrol. Engrs. - Trustee 92-93
Petroleum Engineers Club of Dallas - President – 84
NASD Arbitrator and Panel Chairman – 1993-Present
Member/Leader of many other associations and community/civic organizations.
Honored: Petroleum Engineer of the Year, SPE Dallas Section 1987
Dallas Engineer of Year, TSPE, 1991
Other honors include numerous civic and engineering honors for contributions and service.
Publications and Manuals
Published over 70 articles, papers, and professional papers in domestic and international publications over the years on petroleum supply/demand, petroleum economics, new technologies, industry reports, etc., including technical publications and Reprints of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, World Oil Magazine, Internal and External company publications, Proceedings development, CRC Handbook of Mechanical Engineering, AAPG, and others. Quoted in many media both domestic and international. Have presented over 800 speeches to and outside industry over career.
Hobbies
Snow Skiing, Travel, Sports.