Upstream · Exploration
Reserves & certification
A field is worth only what can be produced from it, at today’s price, with today’s techniques. That is what reserves measure — and an independent third party certifies them. For a company raising capital, that figure is the first document in the file.
What “reserves” means
Oil in place — OOIP — is the total volume held in the rock. Reserves are the share that can be produced commercially with known techniques. They are ranked by certainty: 1P, proved, at least 90% likely to be recovered; 2P, proved plus probable, the median value banks rely on; 3P, with possible. Alongside, contingent resources (2C) are technically recoverable but not yet commercial — for lack of price, pipe or decision.
How they are calculated
- Volume in place — field area, net pay, porosity, oil saturation, formation volume factor: five parameters, each with its uncertainty.
- Recovery factor — the share the drive mechanism and techniques (primary, secondary, EOR) allow out. On heavy crude it is low; that is where EOR changes the number.
- Production profile — the volume spread over time, with wells, facilities and costs.
- Economic test — at the reference price each barrel must cover its cost; what fails leaves reserves and stays a resource.
- Classification — under the SPE PRMS framework, the one investors and auditors expect.
Who certifies, and why a third party
A company does not certify its own reserves. An independent evaluator receives the data, redoes the calculation, and signs a report that engages its liability. That report is what banks, partners and the State read. EnerTchad, being incorporated, has no reserves of its own to certify yet: our first report will accompany the takeover of the first block, and we will publish it in the investor area.
What we put in place
The same as the majors; no in-house figure.
Chosen before the first block is taken over, engaged at every step that changes the number.
The basin’s public data, gathered by EnerConseils, as the starting point of every evaluation.
The certified report in the investor area, with its price assumptions — EITI transparency applied to reserves.
Benchmarks
| Category | Probability | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 1P | ≥ 90% | bank financing, firm commitments |
| 2P | ≥ 50% | median value, development plans |
| 3P | ≥ 10% | potential, high scenarios |
| 2C | — | resources not yet commercial |
PRMS framework (SPE/WPC/AAPG/SPEE). The basin 2P figure is public industry data.