Royalty Auditing
Mineral rights owners typically receive monthly royalty payments when a company extracts oil or gas from wells on their property. The payments usually are a fixed percentage of the market value of the oil or gas or the proceeds from selling it. Disagreements over royalties are common in the energy industry.
In some cases, disputes are honest misunderstandings which can be resolved by an expert eye of an accountant or an attorney. In other cases, and all too frequently, royalty audits can reveal that oil and gas drilling companies are using transactions between affiliated companies, deductions for the costs of transportation, processing and marketing to drive down the amount of royalty mineral owners are entitled to.
The Gelber audit team has more than 30 years of experience in auditing energy firms, and includes energy attorneys, engineers, and analysts expert at compiling production and financial data. The team understands royalties and knows how to find underpayments to landowners.
Compliance & Best Practices
Operating under its authority under Dodd-Frank laws and FERC 670, FERC is taking an aggressive stance on market manipulation and related misbehaviors, having levied $445 million in civil penalties and disgorgements in 2013 alone. Companies must get themselves into the position of self-reporting problems before they are discovered by regulators.
When companies self-report and take voluntary corrective action, penalties and disgorgements are a mere fraction of the amounts levied otherwise. This applies in electric power, transmission and congestion markets, as well as natural gas and transportation markets, whether your entity trades physically or financially. This is truer should you trade around owned assets owned in which case the FERC may perceive you to have additional market manipulating abilities.
Gelber has remained on the cutting edge of the Best Practices for power, natural gas, crude oil and oil products, and regulatory compliance. Our 25 years in the energy business plus our unique independent positioning has given us the expertise and ability to perform a best practices review, provide recommendations, and implement those recommendations.
Gelber services include:
Bookout Compliance and Reporting Review
Physical Swap Data Record Keeping and Reporting Requirements
Embedded Trade Option Identification, Valuation, and Reporting
QIR's
GAP Analysis
Staff & Management Education
Self-Reporting Decision Review
FERC Legal Consulting (FERC 670)
Government Reporting and Outsourcing
Up to Congestion (UTC) Business Practice Limitation at Owned Interconnect/Nodes/Hubs
Liquefied Natural Gas
Gelber offers LNG and natural gas consulting for foreign buyers and for project developers. Our experience in the US natural gas market coupled with both high level and technical industry contacts, has positioned us to lead LNG projects for both import and export facilities along the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic, and the Pacific coasts. In addition to our expertise in pricing, transportation, throughput agreements, contracting, and supply alternatives, we can perform the procurement and delivery of natural gas to the US LNG liquefaction facilities. With our access to diverse language skills, we can assist buyers anywhere around the globe.
Energy Procurement
Procurement of energy is where it begins. Gelber & Associates manages competitive bidding to meet requirements and then assures delivery and reliability, making sure the energy is there when you need it and the billing is accurate. Led by a dedicated account manager for personal service, our team maintains on-going knowledge of the market to make sure energy suppliers are aware of needs and obligations while diligently monitoring and checking monthly nominations and requirements. Using sophisticated technologies, like CASS B2B payment systems, we quickly identify and rectify problems before they turn into a production or operations problem and strive to eliminate overbillings cold while communicating any monthly usage or usage outliers. The procurement methods are fully integrated with energy risk management practices to ensure maximum performance and efficiency.
Bankruptcy Support
Energy prices decline from time to time putting many companies under financial strain. Effectively addressing the concerns of bankruptcy or insolvency requires experienced professionals who understand the issues associated with these complex situations. Gelber offers experience about price expectations to help companies properly adjust to the ebbs and flows of commodity prices. Gelber has practical knowledge of bankruptcies from our involvement in previous downturns. Gelber’s analytical and structuring skills in combination with our market, hedging, and forecasting skills are a necessary resource to add to or work with the banking, legal and financial resources a company might use in conventional approaches to bankruptcy. Gelber provides enterprise valuation modeling, damage qualification, forensic accounting to oil, gas, and coal. Gelber work to develop solutions for your situation.
Want to learn more? Let's chat about your needs.
