Report information on oil and natural gas production
Last updated on April 9, 2024
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Information about B.C. oil and gas production is reported throughout the oil and gas well and facility life cycle. This information is used to calculate the amount of royalties or taxes due.
Learn about:
- Who reports oil and gas information
- Where information is reported and the type of information reported
- Meeting reporting deadlines
- Authorization or Cancellation of a Representative (FIN 146) (PDF, 260KB)
Who reports oil and gas information
A royalty taxpayer, operator of a reporting facility and the first purchaser of oil must report information. Some information is reported monthly and other information is reported annually.
Royalty taxpayer
A producer of oil or gas is a royalty taxpayer. A producer is a person who takes ownership of oil or natural gas production. Producers are the direct recipients of proceeds from the first sale of the oil or natural gas and are responsible for paying royalties on oil or natural gas production.
Operator of a reporting facility
Operators of a reporting facility must report required information through Petrinex. You are an operator of a reporting facility if you are the current facility operator on record with the Oil and Gas Commission. As an operator of a reporting facility you are also responsible for monthly and/or ongoing infrastructure reporting in Petrinex.
If the current operator decides to allow a third party to operate the facility, operatorship can be transferred by the operator on record through Petrinex. The new operator must agree to the transfer of operatorship.
A reporting facility is defined broadly in law. It includes, among other things, buildings, structures, installations and equipment used in the recovery, development, production, storage, handling, processing, treatment or disposal of oil and gas. A full list of reporting facility subtypes and descriptions is available in the Petrinex Industry Readiness Handbook (PDF, 2.5MB).
Purchaser
A purchaser is a person who purchases oil or condensate produced in B.C. from a reporting facility, and is often referred to as the first purchaser of oil.
Where information is reported
We obtain information from industry participants from Petrinex and the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources (EMPR).
Petrinex reporting
Certain information is reported monthly and annually through Petrinex, depending on your role and the product. Reporting facility operators will report volumetric, allocation and valuation data, if applicable.
Volumetric reporting
Reporting facility operators must report balanced volumetrics for all products at facilities they operate. This information includes inventories, production, receipts, use and storage in that producing month for oil, natural gas, natural gas by-products and water at the facility.
Allocation reporting for marketable gas and natural gas by-products
Reporting facility operators must submit allocation information for all volumetrics that are identified as “allocations triggers.” The reporting facility operator accounts for these volumes by allocating them to:
- A royalty/taxpayer of a well event or unitized operation, or
- The upstream delivering facility (if the royalty/taxpayer and well information is not known)
Oil/condensate pipeline split and valuation reporting
The volume of oil and condensate sold is assigned to owners and purchasers through the pipeline split process at a Custody Transfer Point in Petrinex. A Custody Transfer Point may include a Terminal, Pipeline, Gas Plant, Waste Plant, or any facility that is outside B.C.
Identified owners and purchasers must then report valuation information for their share of these volumes.
When oil is recovered or being inventoried, reporting requirements depend on specific circumstances:
Oil recovered from a custody transfer point and allocated to a producer
Oil that is recovered at a Custody Transfer Point and allocated back to the Producer that produced the oil must be reported in Petrinex as production from the producing well.
An oil split and oil valuation must also be reported in Petrinex. The valuation must be based on the actual consideration received for the sale of the oil, less allowable transportation costs.
Note: Processing and treating fees at the Treating Facility are not allowable transportation costs.
Oil recovered from waste plants and not allocated to a producer
Oil that is recovered at a Waste Plant and not allocated to the Producer that produced the oil is reported in Petrinex as production from the producing well. However, this oil does not incur an oil royalty under the Royalty Regulations.
This is because the Waste Plant operator takes ownership of the oil under the treating contract.
Petrinex still requires an oil split and oil valuation to be reported by the Producer, but with Contract Number WO and zero priced.
Oil inventoried at a custody transfer point
The volumetric disposition of oil to a Custody Transfer Point requires an oil pipeline split in Petrinex for the entire oil delivery, with the assumption that all the oil delivered has been sold in the current month.
The price used for the volume sold is applied to the full volume.
Once the inventoried oil volume is sold in a subsequent month, the Royalty Taxpayer needs to amend the valuation using the weighted average of the original price and the new month’s price for the entire volume.
The Royalty Taxpayer and Purchaser will need to communicate with each other to ensure the oil valuation is in balance.
Oil inventoried at a non-custody transfer point
Oil delivered and inventoried at a Custom Treater Facility or other Non-Custody Transfer Point does not require an oil pipeline split.
Inventoried volumes at the Custom Treater Facility that get delivered to a Custody Transfer Point in the following month will require an oil split and valuation at that time.
Natural gas liquids (NGL) and sulphur valuation
Royalty taxpayers must report valuation information on NGL and sulphur product allocated to them from gas plants or gathering systems.
Purchase information
Purchasers must report purchase information in Petrinex on a monthly basis. This information includes who sold them the product, as well as the volume, price, value density and sulphur content.
Annual reporting
Qualifying royalty taxpayers provide information to establish allowable costs for the year, including producer cost of service and gas cost allowance.
EMPR reporting
Producers report pricing and cost of service information monthly through the Natural Gas Pricing System Portal. Access tutorials to learn how to use the portal.
Oil and Gas Commission reporting
Throughout the regulatory life cycle – application, operational compliance and decommissioning – producers and facility operators report information on their infrastructure, wells, pipelines, and facilities. This information is reported through Petrinex or the Oil and Gas Commission.
Meeting reporting deadlines
Monthly reporting deadlines are listed in the Petrinex reporting calendars.
Reporting errors in Petrinex produce error messages and generate potential penalties. Learn more about penalty rules and reporting errors.
In some circumstances you must coordinate the timing of submissions with other parties to ensure you meet your reporting deadlines.
For example: Facility operators must volumetrically balance their facilities each month. An upstream facility cannot be fully balanced until the downstream operator has reported its receipts. Since it is each facility operator’s responsibility to be balanced, you are encouraged to contact the downstream operator if the deadline approaches and that information has not been reported.
Resources
If you failed to report required information before a deadline that was due before October 2018, you must report the information using these amendment forms.