If joint interest billing (JIB) processing feels like a cement block pulling you under, take heart. You are not alone. For most companies, JIB processing is plagued by multiple inefficiencies, conflicting sources of truth, complicated audit controls and high overall administrative costs.
Red Wolf Natural Resources, an E&P company based in Oklahoma City that invests in operated and non-operated assets, looked to solve this pain point. On average, the company processed 30-40 JIBs per month, requiring at least 30 approvals. They used EnergyLink to download 35-40% of the total amount of JIB data they received.
The approval process involved significant manual data entry, with the entire JIB process from receipt to approval taking five to six weeks. The size and complexity of the JIBs made it difficult to thoroughly review and analyze non-operated costs. The team — Austin Wentroth, controller; Jessica Mayo, administrative assistant; and Marshall Hall, petroleum engineer — was over it.
“When a downturn hits, every operator should analyze their non-op assets closely to manage costs. But when you receive a JIB from a large operator that’s 300 pages, there is no way to review this in detail with the way we were doing it. This was a major bottleneck for our company.”
-Marshall Hall, Petroleum Engineer
JIBFlow — a better way
Wentroth learned about JIBFlow by Enverus at the 2020 virtual SPARK Conference, an annual Enverus conference focused on the latest in industry digital transformation technology and trends. JIBFlow integrates EnergyLink with OpenInvoice so an accountant can send a JIB invoice from EnergyLink to OpenInvoice for approval via a seamless connection. With one click, you send the JIB invoice to OpenInvoice! This makes OpenInvoice a single source for all invoice approvals.
JIB invoices can be processed using the same automation capabilities operators use for invoices, including automatic routing, automated code verification, and automatic approval of low-value invoices. Wentroth knew Red Wolf could save time and effort spent processing JIB invoices, consolidate its data and simplify the review process with the JIBFlow upgrade.
“If there is a button where you can automatically transfer the data to OpenInvoice faster — why wouldn’t you do it? We are a lean enough organization that the cost-benefit is to automate the process so we can do more valuable work overall.”
-Austin Wentroth, Controller
The results
After JIBFlow was integrated and the coding and wells were entered into EnergyLink, the first JIB Red Wolf received was significantly better. They could now send JIB details to OpenInvoice for detailed analysis. Auto-coding in OpenInvoice dramatically reduced the team’s manual input.
For Red Wolf, the benefits of EnergyLink and OpenInvoice go beyond simplifying the JIB review and approval process. With detailed coding, the company categorizes costs into different categories for analysis. This data allows Red Wolf to find potential savings opportunities in their non-operated expenses, a task that is traditionally challenging to do for many operators.
“When you have the power of knowing what you are being charged at a detailed level, you can lower your costs in an area where traditionally people think you can’t,” Hall said.
Read the interactive case study below to learn more details about Red Wolf’s success with JIBFlow, including details on how their petroleum engineer leverages the company’s non-operated spend details to forecast capital expenses and uncover potential cost savings on non-op spend.
