Common Questions

EPAP

The Enhanced Production Audit Program (EPAP) is a new measurement and reporting compliance assurance program that was introduced by the Alberta Energy Regulator (formerly Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board [ERCB]) in January 2010 through the publication of Directive 076: Operator Declaration Regarding Measurement and Reporting Requirements.

The Saskatchewan Ministry of Economy (ECON) introduced EPAP in April 2016 through the publication of Directive PNG076: Enhanced Production Audit Program (EPAP).

Read a more detailed description of EPAP.

To invite a Corvelle consultant to your office to describe EPAP in more detail, please contact us.

Operators typically form an EPAP implementation project team that reports its work to a steering committee consisting of senior management from the areas of the company that are affected most directly.

The EPAP implementation project team works directly with staff in the following areas of the company:

1. Field Operations
2. Production Accounting
3. Measurement

Typically staff in the following areas of the company are also be affected:

1. Audit Function
2. Facilities Engineering
3. Production Engineering

To invite a Corvelle consultant to your office to describe typical roles and responsibilities for EPAP implementation and operation, please contact us.

In general EPAP requires that operator employees maintain some evidence of the good work that they are doing.

For example, if you are responsible to see that all meters are calibrated or proven at the intervals stated in the Regulator measurement requirements, you will ensure that the records you maintain, that demonstrate that meter calibration and proving has been completed, are a little more formal and are retained for possible future evaluation.

Review a list of frequently asked questions related to EPAP.

To invite a Corvelle consultant to your office to describe how to strengthen evidence of control performance, please contact us.

Alberta operators were required to submit their EPAP Declaration to the AER for the first time in 2011. Saskatchewan operators are required to submit their EPAP Declarations to ECON for the first time in 2017. All operators will submit their EPAP Declaration to the Regulator annually during the second month after their selected declaration month.

This period was revised in 2012 from the prior requirement to submit within 30 days of the end of their selected declaration month.

New operators, those with a newly assigned BA_ID, submit their first EPAP Declaration in the second year after receiving their BA_ID.

To invite a Corvelle consultant to your office to describe the typical annual EPAP operation cycle, please contact us.

In preparation for submitting their first EPAP Declaration to the Regulator, operators conduct an evaluation of the controls to minimize the risk of noncompliance at oil & gas properties that they operate.

For example, the evaluation of the well test control consists of a review of a sample of the evidence that well test reports were reviewed by the field operations staff. The daily or monthly review of well test reports is a control operators execute to ensure reasonableness and completeness of well tests.

Read a summary of the work of a typical EPAP implementation project team.

To invite a Corvelle consultant to your office to describe the evaluation of the controls process, please contact us.

EPAP applies to Alberta and Saskatchewan oil & gas operators who report data to Petrinex.

EPAP does not apply to:

. Other oil & gas producing jurisdictions such as other Canadian provinces or states in the USA.
. Measurement and reporting requirements for minable oil sands.

Where operators own a non-operating interest in Alberta or Saskatchewan facilities, the operators of those facilities are responsible for complying with EPAP as well as other Regulator requirements including measurement and reporting requirements.

EPAP applies only to Regulator measurement and reporting requirements. EPAP does not apply to:

. Other Regulator requirements.
. Alberta Department of Energy or Environment requirements.

To invite a Corvelle consultant to your office to describe where EPAP applies in more detail, please contact us.

Regulator substantive production audits, conducted over many years, suggest that the state of compliance with Regulator measurement and reporting requirements varies considerably from operator to operator and from facility to facility.

To respond to this variation, the Regulator developed EPAP to

1. raise the level of assurance over compliance with Regulator measurement and reporting requirements, and
2. raise the level of compliance with Regulator measurement and reporting requirements.

Achieving these two goals will also raise the level of assurance over accuracy and completeness of:

1. volumetric data, and
2. crown royalty invoices.

To invite a Corvelle consultant to your office to describe EPAP goals and the background for the development of EPAP, please contact us.