Our Enhanced Production Audit Program (EPAP) helps companies comply with our requirements and supports our compliance assurance program. Created through Directive 076: Operator Declaration Regarding Measurement and Reporting, EPAP
- encourages operators to improve their measurement and reporting processes, which leads to greater compliance and may reduce the number of noncompliances that we find in field inspections and audits; and
- helps operators avoid enforcement-related costs (see Manual 013: Compliance and Enforcement Program).
EPAP includes all measurement and reporting requirements in directives, such as
- Directive 007: Volumetric and Infrastructure Requirements
- Directive 017: Measurement Requirements for Oil and Gas Operations
Who is the program for?
EPAP is for operators who are
- designated as the “operator of record” on Petrinex for facilities reporting volumetric activity, and
- subject to AER measurement and reporting requirements.
The program is for conventional oil, heavy oil, crude bitumen, natural gas, geothermal, and brine-hosted mineral resource facilities. Mineable oil sands facilities are excluded.
What’s included in the program?
Click on the following program components for general information. These components are described in detail in the EPAP Operator's Handbook.
Access the EPAP System on Petrinex
If you are an operator, you can access the EPAP system through Petrinex.
EPAP References and Resources
Operators can use the following references and resources to familiarize themselves with the Enhanced Production Audit Program (EPAP) and help them adhere to our measuring and reporting requirements.
General EPAP Support
- General questions can be emailed to EPAPSupport@aer.ca.
- Company-specific inquiries should be directed to the company’s assigned production audit contact at the AER.
- Questions on Petrinex system functionality related to EPAP can be directed to petrinexsupport@petrinex.ca.
Questionable Fuel Volume – CAI 125
Some companies have asked how the Compliance Assessment Indicator (CAI) Questionable Fuel Volume is determined. This CAI helps identify instances when the volume of gas reported as fuel deviated by more than +/- 75% from the fuel usage volume expected for various facility subtypes. An operator who has this CAI appearing on their monthly compliance assessment report may want to confirm the accuracy of the reported fuel gas volumes.
We have developed the Questionable Fuel Volume – Facility CAI spreadsheet to determine the fuel usage volume expected for various facility subtypes. The spreadsheet uses two assumptions:
- the typical equipment that we might expect to see at a specific facility subtype, and
- the amount of fuel that each piece of equipment may use based on manufacturer specifications.
Based on these assumptions, we developed a formula to estimate fuel usage volume for each facility subtype. The CAI will not be triggered unless the reported fuel volume is +/- 75% of the fuel usage estimate
Noncompliance Events
- EPAP themes and associated noncompliance events
- List of all AER noncompliance events – includes those related to Directive 007, Directive 017, and Directive 076 (noncompliance events 877-971)
Operator's Handbook
Our EPAP Operator’s Handbook can help operators improve their compliance with Directive 076 requirements. The handbook includes the following:
- our expectations regarding the level of assurance over compliance with AER measurement and reporting requirements
- things to consider when designing controls
- details on how to
- evaluate the effectiveness of controls,
- maintain the control designs to ensure that they address any risk of noncompliance,
- interpret and use the compliance assessment reports to identify and track issues, and
- make an annual declaration.
Presentations
- Production Audit [PDF] – An overview of AER’s Enhanced Production Audit Program.
- EPAP on Petrinex – A Year in Review [PDF] – EPAP education sessions held in November 2015.
Refer to EPAP on Petrinex – A Year in Review Q & A [PDF] for more information.