Information Letter – Changes to the IOGC Electronic Submission Website – January 2014
Overview
Indian Oil and Gas Canada (IOGC) has identified enhancements and changes to electronic royalty data submissions by royalty payors that are intended to improve the accuracy and timeliness of submitted revenues. IOGC is targeting March 10, 2014 to implement these changes to its Electronic Submission Website. Companies must begin using the new data file upload formats as of the implementation date. The target date is subject to change and will be confirmed at a later time.
Combined with the Royalty Statement package provided monthly to each royalty payor by IOGC, the enhancements and changes to electronic submissions will give your company better information regarding payments, and will help both to maximize the number of on-time payments and to reduce submission errors. It will also assist in aligning the management and administration of First Nations’ oil and gas resources with standard industry practices.
Summary of Changes
IOGC is making changes to the electronic royalty information submission process, including: adding new data fields; enhancing validation of submitted data; and changing processes for zero statements, price and volume backup information, and error notification.
New Data Fields
The following new royalty data fields will be required as part of the electronic submission: total net royalty amount; gas cost allowance deduction; confidential well indicator; and hours production amount (for confidential wells). The format changes may affect your internal processes or software programs and are specified in Appendix A to facilitate any necessary changes before these enhancements are deployed to the website. The implementation will be preceded by an updated Electronic Royalty Data Submission User Manual, which will provide complete details on the enhancements and be posted on IOGC’s website. Companies will have the opportunity to have IOGC assist them in testing their changes during the test period.
Enhanced Validation of Submitted Data
IOGC is implementing additional validation of the data submitted through the web site forms and via data uploads to ensure the submitted data is more accurate prior to running assessments and producing statements. There will be enhanced validation of many existing royalty fields, including: oil, gas and product prices; gas heating values; oil, gas and products gross royalty amounts; and oil trucking rates.
The enhanced validation of prices will incorporate new minimum and maximum acceptable prices for crude oil, natural gas and products reported to IOGC. The ranges are intended to eliminate gross reporting errors sometimes made by companies. They are based upon analysis of historical submitted prices and anticipated future trends. IOGC expects these price ranges to be suitable for some time but will amend them in the future as needed. Appendix B lists the minimum and maximum acceptable prices as well as the acceptable heating value range.
Submitted records with values within the limits will be accepted while records with values outside the limits will either be rejected and generate an error notice or be accepted and generate a warning, depending on the problem. Whether an error or warning is generated, it will be specified in the updated Electronic Royalty Data Submission User Manual. If there is a legitimate value outside of the acceptable ranges that has been rejected, then that statement’s information must be emailed to submissions@aandc-aadnc.gc.ca with supporting back up documentation so that IOGC can manually enter the statement.
Zero Statements
Effective immediately, zero Gas/Oil Royalty statements are no longer required to be submitted to IOGC. Zero statements are those with zero or null volumes and revenues. If submitted, zero statements will still be accepted.
Price and Volume Backup Information
Pricing and Volume Backup information was initially required by IOGC on a regular basis but IOGC has since decided that this information will be obtained from companies on an as-needed basis. Therefore, the upload process for this information on the Electronic Submission Website will be removed.
Companies are still required to maintain their pricing and volume backup information records for the appropriate time period, as per the lease or applicable statutes, and present them to IOGC upon request. Future submissions of backup information should be emailed to submissions@aandc-aadnc.gc.ca.
Error Notification
Improvements will also be incorporated to provide error handling assistance. Currently, companies need to log in to check the status of their submission. To improve communication, an email will be automatically generated and sent to the email address of the royalty payor’s identified administrator following a submission. The email will indicate the submission status and any related errors or warnings, although the manual check option will still exist. Companies are responsible to correct any errors, check any warnings, and ensure their corrected submissions have been accepted.
Areas Affected in Electronic Submission Website
The changes to the Electronic Submission Website will affect the following:
- Upload Gas Royalty Statement File
- Upload Oil Royalty Statement File
- Gas Royalty Statement Web Form
- Oil Royalty Statement Web Form
- Pricing and Volume Backup Menu Options (being removed)
Items 1 and 2 relate to the file upload formats for gas and oil royalty statement data. The file formats are changing mainly to accommodate additional data requirements.
Items 3 and 4 relate to the existing royalty statement forms on the website, which will incorporate both the new fields and the enhanced validation requirements. The forms are available for those companies that do not submit their data via file upload.
Item 5 relates to Pricing and Volume Backup information that companies are no longer required to regularly submit. Therefore, the upload process for this information on the Electronic Submission Website will be removed.
Test Period Prior to Deployment
Until February 28th, 2014, companies can obtain IOGC’s assistance to test their changed upload file formats or modified information for the web form. Companies should email their test upload files or test web form data to IOGC at submissions@aandc-aadnc.gc.ca with the subject heading Test Upload File or Test Web Form Data, as the case may be. IOGC expects that responses, including the automatically generated error and warning notification log, will be sent within five business days.
IOGC is unable to allow companies direct access to its test environment, which is why companies must send their test information to IOGC for processing.
Electronic Submission Website Unavailable Immediately Prior to Deployment
IOGC plans to shut down its Electronic Submission Website at the close of business on March 6th, 2014 and to migrate the changes from its test environment to the website on Friday March 7th, 2014. Consequently, the Electronic Submission Website will be unavailable from March 7th to 9th, 2014.
The improved Electronic Submission Website is planned to be available for use by companies as of March 10th, 2014. Exact dates will be confirmed closer to that time frame.
Regulatory Authority
Indian Oil and Gas Canada (IOGC) is a regulatory agency within Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) responsible for managing and administering oil and gas resources on First Nation reserve lands across Canada. The mandate of IOGC is:
- to fulfil the Crown’s fiduciary and statutory obligations related to the management of oil and gas resources on First Nation lands; and
- to further First Nation initiatives to manage and control their oil and gas resources (i.e. governance).
Enquiries
Enquiries regarding this information letter should be made to:
Royalty Supervisor
Indian Oil and Gas Canada
Suite 100, 9911 Chiila Boulevard
Tsuu T’ina (Sarcee), AB T2W 6H6
Tel.: 403-292-6009
Fax: 403-292-5618
submissions@aandc-aadnc.gc.ca
Read more: http://www.pgic-iogc.gc.ca/eng/1390335186989/1390335163787
NT3
