Reserves in Nontraditional Reservoirs: How Can We Account for Them?

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Summary The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), on 29 December 2008, adopted new rules for disclosing oil and gas reserves. The definitions contained within these rules are broadly consistent with the SPE Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS); the definitions in the previous rules differed from PRMS in a number of specific instances (SPE 2007). A notable difference in the new rules is inclusion of more nontraditional resources as potential oil and gas reserves rather than as mining reserves. With new disclosure rules, new questions arise about the manner in which reserves in nontraditional resources are to be reported.