Organizations are developed to maximize profit and minimize the loss and to give strength to

country economy (Home & Host Country). Organizations actions have direct affects on the
economy. Organizations plan there action according to information they gather from
organizational members. Trade organizations relates from the demand of their customers that can
be international and local.
The project relates from Petroleum Accounting. Petroleum demand is increasing day by day.
Crude Oil is the major part which gives strength to the country economy. There demand is driven
by multiple factors including world supply, product markets, refinery capacity, technological
changers and the prevailing economy.
Accounting is used for organization to take decision because it records all the information which
relates from production till end user in which currency is involves. To understand the overall
accountants should be aware of nature and treatment of exploration, development and production
costs and the agreements on which joint venture formed and international best accounting
practices.
The word Petroleum is derived from the Latin terms Petra (rock) and oleum (oil). Petroleum
refers not only crude oil but also natural gas which found underground rock formation.
Petroleum refers to the hydrocarbon compound of the Crude Oil.
Crude Oil is measured in barrels (bbl) which equates to 42 U.S. gallons and natural gas is
measured in two ways, and both are important in petroleum accounting.
Amount of energy is expressed in million British thermal units (MMbtu).
By volume, this is expressed in:

Mcf
MMcf
Bcf
Tcf

(thousand cubic feet)

(million cubic feet)
(billion cubic feet)
(trillion cubic feet)\

Hydrocarbon is expressed in Barrels of Oil Equivalent (BOE) & gas volumes in Mcf are
converted to barrels on the basis of energy content or sales value. Approximately 5.6 Mcf of dry
gas has the same MMBtu energy (5.8 MMBtu) as an average U.S. barrel of Oil.
We have three types of petroleum industry.
1. Upstream
2. Midstream
3. Downstream
1. Upstream: A complex and capital intensive business including preliminary exploration
(2D & 3D seismic), drilling of wells, development and production of hydrocarbon.

2. Midstream: Midstream gathering and transmission pipelines are a major part of

midstream petroleum industry.
3. Downstream: Downstream operations include oil refineries, petro-chemical plants, fuel
products distributers and retail outlets.
(In this project we discuss only upstream companies.)
Accounting is used by upstream companies consists of four folds:
1. Joint Venture Accounting as per Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) of Petroleum
Concession Agreement (PCA) or Production Sharing Accounting (PSA).
2. Financial Accounting in each partners books of Accounts reflection of JV Accounting.
3. Revenue Accounting.
4. Tax Accounting.
Joint Venture Accounting as per Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) of Petroleum
Concession Agreement (PCA) or Production Sharing Accounting (PSA)
A joint venture is an agreement whereby two or more parties (the ventures) jointly control a
specific business undertaking and contribute resources towards its accomplishment. We can say
joint venture is executed by Exploration & Production Companies in Pakistan. Joint Operating
Agreement of Petroleum Concession Agreement signed by Government of Pakistan with
Licensee. Accountants should be aware of the block system and award of exploration license
(signing of Petroleum Concession Agreement) with Exploration Company (Licensee) in Pakistan
by Government of Pakistan.
The Block System
The onshore/ offshore areas are divided into blocks. It is based on exploration/ appraisal costs
and risks of discoveries blocks are distributed into Zones. Calculation of Oil & Gas prices are
linked with Zones which is also a detail part of Petroleum Policies.
Grant of License
To grant a license Director General Petroleum Concession (DGPC) has established a two-tier
pre-qualification system for grant of license. The first tier is based on the technical competences
of application and the second tier concerns with the financial strength of the application and its
commitment to invest in the upstream sector. Pre-qualified applicants are eligible for
participating in building for grant of a license as Operator or Non-Operator. Applicant companies
that seek to become Operator in an onshore and/or offshore area meet the following benchmarks
as per criteria laid down:

Technical Capacity.

Operational Capacity
Legal and Compliance with Residential Requirement.
Financial Capacity.

DGPC operate a balanced scorecard system to check companys performance. Pre-qualified

companies and/ or consortia are evaluated under the following bid criteria under the Petroleum
Policy 2007.
1. Gas Price Gradient (GPG) for when the Reference Crude Price (RCP) is above USD45/
bbl; with a minimum GPG set at 0.2 and maximum GPG allowed set at 1.0. No
application company will bid GPG at less than 0.2 or more than 1.0 unless instructed to
by DGPC to a rebid.
2. Firm Work Units for Phase I of the initial term ordered at the time of bidding.
DGPC numerically rank bids by candidate companies with regards to each individual category as
per balance scorecard. The bid with the highest weighted average score will be declared the
winner.
Accounting Procedure of JOA which describes how funds are generated and nature of
expenditure chargeable to Joint Account, Accountants must be aware that Joint Accounts
maintained by operator for Joint Operations are nothing but a receipts and payment register
concluded with each partners under/ over advance balance at month end which is represented by
cash, bank, debtors and creditors. Classification of expenditure under Exploration, appraisal
(Extend Well Test), Development and production phases are maintained in joint venture books
due to:

This information are required by each partner to account for it share of cost in its books
of accounts.
To calculate accounting as well as taxable profit, different treatments are used for
exploration, appraisal (Extend Well Test), and Development and production expenditure.
Joint venture has no ability to submit tax return.

Accounting Procedure
a) Funds Management
Upon approval of work program and budget, the Operator has a right on a current basis
only, to make monthly advance cash calls to all WIOs for the period covered by such
work program and budget. The Operator shall restrict the funds held in the bank account
for Joint Operation to a level consistent with that required for the conduct of Joint
Operation.
b) Charges to the Joint Accounts
1) Allocable Charges

In the event any of operators employees of field camps, sub-offices or other

facilities serve properties in addition to joint Property and costs cannot be
identified, such cost shall be pro-rated or charged on an equitable basis (E&P
companies charged on tie writing basis) to be approved by the Operating
Committee
2) Direct Charges
Direct charges are those which have a direct affect on the cost of product. All
payments to the Government (other than tax and royalty payments). Fields offices,
camps, warehouses, supply bases, offices and other facilities to serving the license
or lease.
Itemize detail of direct charges are:
i.)
Labor
Labor costs like their salaries, allowances etc. are included.
ii.)
Material
Material costs, equipment, purchases of goods (locally & importing,
duties, surcharges, license fees) are all included.
iii.)
Transportation
Transportation of employees, materials, costs of package, insurance and
other related costs.
iv.)
Services
Services charges like consultants, contract services, utilities and other
services.
v.)
Working Interest Owners Exclusively Owned Equipment & Facilities
Charged on the basis of actual usage at rates commensurate with the cost
of ownership and operation.
vi.)
Damages of Losses to Property
Damages which are not covered by insurance like fire, flood, storm,
accident etc.
vii.) Litigation Expenses
These are the protection expenses of the Working Interest Owners interest.
viii.) Insurance
Premium insurance is charged to joint Account.
ix.)
Other Expenditure
Any other expenditure incurred will be included.
3) Indirect Charges Included in Overhead
Expenses relate to legal, treasury, tax (excluding corporate income tax), and
employee relation. Overhead is determined total annual expenditure incurred for
joint operation less payment to Government, litigation expenses, and damages and
losses to property.
i.)
Exploration 3% of Expenditures or a minimum of USD 5,000 P/ M.
ii.)
Development and Production Expenditures
From USD 0 to USD 5,000,000 = 2%
From USD 5,000,000 to USD 30,000,000 = 1%

Above USD 30,000,000 = 0.25%

All the transactions related to sales in made with the consent of WIOs and the amount will be
collected by the purchaser. Any sales return will be deducted by the purchaser and add to the
material organization already have.
Accounting In Each Partners Books of Accounts
Books of Accounts record all the transactions. It raises Financial reporting issues. Petroleum
exploration and production raises numerous issues of accounts. Some of these challenges
includes, but are not limited to:

Should wells costs be treated as Assets or Expenses? Should the cost of a dry hole well be
capitalized as a cost of finding oil and gas reserves or expected?
Will the amount of oil and gas reflects assets in financial statements because there prices
fluctuates?
If production decline over time and productive life varies by property, how should
capitalized costs be amortize and depreciated?
Should the gain/ loss be recognized on the sale if the company forms a joint venture and
sells portions of the lease to its venture partners?

Upstream petroleum companies follow one of two financial accounting method for Petroleum
E&P activities.
1. Successful Efforts.
2. Full Cost.
The methods are different as how the costs are accounted for development and its impact on
profit & loss.
Cost of exploratory dry hole and other property carrying costs are charged to expenses in the
year incurred. Costs of successful exploratory well and all development costs are capitalized. Net
of unamortized capital costs are amortized using unit of production calculations.
Fixed Assets capitalized all property acquisition, exploration and development costs, even dry
hole costs.

Classification of Costs Incurred

In oil and gas producing activities costs are classified into four categories.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Property acquisition costs.

Exploration costs.
Development costs.
Production costs.

1. Property Acquisition Costs.

Nature
Acquisition costs include the costs incurred to purchase lease or otherwise acquire
property or mineral right.
Lease bonuses.
Option to purchase or lease properties.
Broker fees, recoding costs and legal expenses.
Misc costs incurred in obtaining mineral right.
Treatment

Successful Effort Method: Costs are expensed out as incurred in the same
financial year.
Full Cost Method: Cost is capitalized. Only loss on impairment of long lived
assets is expensed out.

Exploration Costs
Nature
Costs incurred on areas that are considered to have prospects of containing oil and gas
reserves including costs of drilling exploratory and stratigraphic test wells.
Exploratory costs are of two types.
a. Geology and Geophysics
Geology is the science that studies the planet earth and geophysics studies the
earth by quantities the earth by quantitative physical methods, is used in
conjunction with geology in the exploration for oil and gas.

Treatment

I.
II.

Successful Effort Method: Except the cost of wells, all exploration cost
are correctly expense incurred.
Full Cost Method: Cost must be capitalized is capitalized.

b. Drilling Cost
When subsurface formations point to the presence of hydrocarbon, detailed
planning in conducted including decision on a drilling method and choice of
contractor to drill and exploratory well as per the committed work program.
Exploratory Well: An exploratory well is any well that is not a developed well.
Developed Well: A well drilled within the proved area of an oil or gas reservoir
to the depth of a stratigraphic horizon known to be productive.
Strategic Test Well: A drilling effort, geologically directed, to obtain information
pertaining to a specific geologic condition. Such wells customary are drilled
without the intention of being completed for hydrocarbon production. This
classification also includes tests identified as core tests and all types of
expendable holes related to hydrocarbon exploration. Stratigraphic tests wells are
classified as (a) exploratory type, if not drilled in a proved area or (b)
development type, if drilled in a proved area.
Treatment
a) Successful Effort Method: Exploratory drilling costs are deferred (kept in
CWIP) until the outcome of the well is known. If an exploratory well finds
proved reserves, the deferred costs are capitalized. Absent proved reserve, the
deferred costs of the well are expensed out.
b) Full Cost Method: All drilling and equipment costs that are incurred are
capitalized.
Disclosure for each annual period and Income Statement is presented, as follows:

Capitalized exploratory well costs including (1) additions to capitalized

exploratory well costs that are pending the determination of proved
reserves; (2) capitalized exploratory well costs that were reclassified to
well, equipment and facilities and (3) capitalized exploratory well costs
that were charged to expense.
Exploratory well costs that greater than one year after the completion of
drilling.
A description of the project and activities undertaken in order to evaluate
the reserves and projects, including the remaining activities necessary to
make the determination of proved reserves for each exploratory well or
project that continue to be capitalized for a period greater than one year.

Post Balance Sheet Event

Information at the end of the organization period covered by financial statement but before those
financial statements are issued shall be taken into account in evaluation conditions that exists at
the balance sheets date.
Development Costs
Including depreciation and applicable operating costs of support equipment and facilities and
other costs of development activities are costs incurred to:

Drilling sites, clearing ground, drilling road, building and relocating public roads, gas
lines and power lines.
Including casing, tubing, pumping equipment and wellhead assembly.
Acquire, construct and install production such as lease flow lines, separator, treaters,
manifolds, measuring devices and production storage tanks.
Provide improved recovery system.

Treatment
Development costs are capitalized and depreciation, depletion and amortization (DD&A)
charged as follows. Basic unit of production computation.
Production Costs
Costs incurred to operate and maintain wells and related equipment and facilities, including
depreciation and applicable operating costs of support equipment and facilities and other costs of
operating and maintaining those wells and related equipment and facilities. They become part of
the cost of oil and gas produced.
I. Costs of labor to operate the wells and related equipment and facilities.
II. Repair and maintenance.
III. Materials, supplies, fuel consumed in operating the wells and related equipment and
facilities.
Treatment
Production costs are generally expensed as incurred under both methods.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.

Petroleum Policy 2007.

Petroleum Concession Agreements.
IFRS 6.
Petroleum Accounting 6th Edition by ICAEW.
Industry Best Practices.