Energy asset management professionals work for companies involved in various energy-related roles. These might include oil and gas exploration and production, and renewable energy such as wind or solar power. They can also work in other industries that supply renewable energy. They perform a wide range of key administrative tasks, such as analysis, coordination, and negotiation, to maintain the company’s assets. Energy assets may include:
- Land rights: surface rights required to access pads and wellsites, power lines, or pipelines, or other energy related land use
- Mineral rights: rights to the oil, gas, and minerals below the surface
- Wells and facilities: oil- and gas-producing wells and facilities that are solely or jointly owned by the company
Duties performed by energy asset managers vary greatly from one company to another. In general, they:
- Administer contracts
- Calculate and report on revenue and operational costs
- Report volumes of oil and gas production
- Maintain lease agreements
- Ensure the company obtains licences, reports operational activities, shares information, and follows regulations
- Maintain records on decommissioning and closure activities
- Administer third-party agreements, including drafting, sending, requesting, executing, assigning, and filing
Energy asset managers typically specialize in one of several areas.
In joint ventures, they establish and interpret agreements with other oil and gas companies that are jointly investing in oil or gas wells and production facilities.
In operations accounting, they:
- Calculate and record production costs, ownership interest, and overhead
- Calculate and report on allocations and payouts
- Analyze and pay joint-venture billings
- Review and respond to joint-venture audit queries
In production accounting, they:
- Report on the volume of oil and gas produced
- Calculate the associated sales revenues and royalties
- Ensure regulatory reporting is completed accurately and on time
In mineral land management, they:
- Establish and interpret agreements to secure access to below-ground mineral rights, which involves working with government agencies, landowners, and other companies
- Maintain leases, licences, and contracts
- Pay mineral rentals
In surface land management, they:
- Negotiate, establish, and interpret agreements to secure access to above-ground surface rights, which involves working with government agencies, landowners, and other companies
- Maintain leases, licenses, and contracts
- Ensure regulatory guidelines are followed
In wells and facilities asset management, they:
- Analyze hydrocarbon well (and related facility) operational activities
- Record changes in data from wells and facilities
- Maintain records throughout an asset’s life cycle
- Ensure regulatory reporting is completed accurately and on time
- Ensure the company shares information about wells and facilities as obligated, within and outside the organization
Note: Many of these skills are also transferrable to renewable energy assets and other commodities.
