Is it necessary and feasible to estimate the asset value of petroleum resources from oilfield level?

This paper aims to assess the necessity and feasibility of applying the ‘Bottom-up’ approach at the oilfield level to estimate the asset value of petroleum resources on the Norwegian continental shelf by following the internationally recommended Net Present Value (NPV) method. The ‘Bottom-up’ approach estimates the resource rent and the asset value first from the oilfield level and then sums up the oilfields’ results to arrive at an aggregate one. On the contrary, the ‘Aggregate’ approach considers the entire petroleum extraction industry as one production unit and calculates the resource rent and the asset value accordingly.

Assessment of necessity is implemented with a simple model, which demonstrates that under some simple and practical assumptions, the estimates by following the ‘Aggregate’ and the ‘Bottom-up’ approaches may coincide, implying that either of the two approaches can be equally applied in practice.

Assessment of feasibility is carried out by a thorough investigation on the availability of quality data at oilfield level. The conclusion is that data needed for applying the ‘Bottom-up’ approach that are in accordance with the National Accounts’ concepts and of at least equivalent quality as those at the industry level are hard to be obtained, at least at present.