Query No. 26 Subject: Depreciation on processing facilities.[1] A. Facts of the Case 1. A public sector undertaking under the administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of India, is engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil and gas in various oil and gas fields and transportation of crude oil to refineries. In respect of accounting for oil and gas producing activities, the company follows the Successful Efforts Method of Accounting (SEM) and also the Guidance Note on Accounting for Oil and Gas Producing Activities (Revised) 2013, issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
2. Various costs which are incurred in building up the oil and gas producing properties and eventually capitalised following SEM method of accounting, are as follows:
3. The querist has stated that the company has set up these facilities at the oil and gas fields/group of fields, for initial processing of the crude oil so as to separate associated natural gas and water content from it, upto the outlet valve on the field and before transporting the crude oil to the refineries. It is also to be noted that these facilities are part of the producing properties and are essential and built at any oil and gas field, without which crude oil cannot be processed and transported to the refineries. Further, the utility of these assets is also directly linked to the existence of the producing fields. A flow chart has been provided by the querist to describe the process of the production of crude oil and natural gas for the perusal of the Committee. The individual functions of equipments used in processing have also been explained by the querist for the perusal of the Committee.
4. The querist has also stated that the company charges depletion field wise using the Unit of Production (UoP) method based on production and related proved developed reserves of the respective oil and gas fields for the assets covered under paragraph 2(a). However, for the assets covered under paragraph 2(b), depreciation is charged as per the rates provided in Schedule XIV to the Companies Act, 1956 under Written Down Value (WDV) method. The company is providing depreciation based on the specific rates given in the Schedule XIV read with footnote 8 of Schedule XIV for assets used by a mineral oil concern under the Clause II(B)(7) and II(D)(7). Besides these, the company is also applying general rates applicable for assets which are of general in nature like building (factory/office) and general plant & machinery.
5. The querist has further stated that paragraph 3(ii) of Accounting Standard (AS) 10, ‘Accounting for Fixed Assets’ and paragraph 1(ii) of Accounting Standard (AS) 6, ‘Depreciation Accounting’, specifically state that these Standards do not deal with the accounting for wasting assets including mineral rights, expenditure on the exploration for and extraction of minerals, oils, natural gas and similar non-regenerative resources. Further, as per AS 10, expenditure on individual items of fixed assets used to develop or maintain the activities covered as above but separable from those activities, are to be accounted for in accordance with this standard.
6. According to the querist, in the absence of specific Accounting Standard on accounting for oil and gas activities, the Guidance Note on Accounting for Oil and Gas Producing Activities (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Guidance Note’), issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is applicable to the company. As per the above Guidance Note, development costs cover all the direct and allocated indirect expenditure incurred in respect of the development activities, inter alia, costs incurred to acquire, construct, and install production facilities such as lease flow lines, separators, treaters, heaters, manifolds, measuring devices and production storage tanks, natural gas cycling and processing plants and utility and waste disposal systems. Further, as per the Guidance Note, all these assets are required to be depleted using the Unit of Production (UoP) method. As per the querist, the above provision of the Guidance Note revised in 2013 is exactly same as that of the original Guidance Note issued in 2003.
7. The querist has also referred to the opinion issued on 11.05.2010 by the Expert Advisory Committee, ICAI (Query No. 10, published in the Volume XXX on the subject, ‘Depreciation on facilities / assets engaged in processing of crude oil’).
8. The querist has further stated that for assets described under paragraph 2(a) above, the company follows the depletion method which is in conformity with the Guidance Note and outside the purview of Accounting Standard (AS) 10 and Accounting Standard (AS) 6 (being clearly the expenditure on the exploration for and extraction of oil and natural gas). However, for the assets described under paragraph 2(b) above, the company has so far preferred to charge depreciation as per the rates provided under Schedule XIV to the Companies Act, 1956, presuming that such assets shall not fall under the exclusion criteria as indicated in AS 10 and AS 6 (considering that these may be treated as the individual items of fixed assets, separable from the main activities of exploration and extraction of oil and gas upto the well head). The yearly depreciation charged so far is higher than the amount of depletion under UoP method and this accounting treatment is being followed by the company consistently so far on conservative basis so as to ensure that the minimum rate of depreciation as prescribed under Companies Act is charged. Further, the querist also drawn attention to the EAC opinion dated 11.05.2010 (refer paragraph 7) on similar issue.
9. The querist has pointed out that the provisions of the Guidance Note on the subject issue remains unchanged even after its revision in 2013 (i.e. even after the EAC opinion dated 11.05.2010) and specifically includes all such assets as referred in paragraph 2(b) for application of depletion under UoP method.
10. The statutory auditors of the company in their limited review report on the accounts for the quarter/period ended 31.12.2013 have, without qualifying, drawn attention to the fact that the company has implemented Guidance Note on Accounting for Oil and Gas Producing Activities (revised 2013). However, the company has continued to provide depreciation on other production facilities being part of producing properties as per the rates prescribed under Schedule XIV to the Companies Act, 1956, in preference to the depletion method based on Unit of Production as recommended vide Guidance Note on Accounting for Oil and Gas Producing Activities, issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
11. In view of the facts mentioned in paragraphs 8, 9 and 10, it is felt that a fresh opinion on the subject issue needs to be obtained from the EAC with respect to the assets indicated in paragraph 2(b) above as to whether for such assets, depletion under UoP method needs to be applied following the Guidance Note instead of charging depreciation as per the rates prescribed under Schedule XIV to the Companies Act, 1956.
B. Query
12. The querist has sought the opinion of the Expert Advisory Committee (EAC) as to whether for such assets, as described in paragraph 2(b) above, depletion under UoP method needs to be applied following the Guidance Note instead of charging depreciation as per the rates prescribed under Schedule XIV to the Companies Act, 1956 taking into consideration all the relevant facts and context references as referred to above and any other references as deemed fit by the EAC.
C. Points considered by the Committee
13. The Committee notes that the basic issue raised in the query relates to depreciation on assets/facilities as described under paragraph 2(b) above (hereinafter referred to as the ‘processing facilities’). The Committee has, therefore, considered only this issue and has not examined any other issue that may arise from the Facts of the Case, such as, depreciation on other assets and facilities as mentioned under paragraph 2(a), propriety of capitalisation of various costs incurred in building up the oil and gas producing properties, as discussed in paragraph 2 above, etc. Further, since the querist has raised the issue with reference to Schedule XIV to the Companies Act, 1956[2], the Committee has not examined the applicability of the Companies Act, 2013 in the extant case.
On the basis of the above, in the said earlier opinion, the Committee was of the view that the exclusions under AS 6 and AS 10 have been made in respect of expenditure on the exploration for and extraction of oil and gas and not in respect of processing after the extraction of oil and gas. Accordingly, in case processing is done after extraction, the Committee had opined that these Standards shall apply in respect of accounting for the ‘processing facilities’.
The Committee is of the view that the basis of applying UoP method to oil and gas assets as per the Guidance Note is that the useful life of such assets depends primarily on the available oil and gas reserves. In other words, oil and gas assets as per the Guidance Note are such where depletion of the asset is coterminous with the depletion of related oil and gas reserves. Thus, if there are no oil and gas reserves, there will be no use of such assets and, therefore, these assets will have to be abandoned. Accordingly, the Committee is of the view that the UoP method should be followed by the company only in respect of those processing facilities (which are part of the production process) which can be considered as ‘oil and gas assets’. Thus, both the conditions, i.e., being part of the production process as well as being ‘oil and gas assets’ are necessary to apply UoP method as per the Guidance Note. Accordingly, the Committee is of the view that if processing facilities in the extant case are ‘oil and gas assets’ as discussed above, UoP method as per the Guidance Note can be applied, provided it is allowed under the requirements of relevant statute, for example, in case of companies, the requirements of the Companies Act. D. Opinion 17. On the basis of the above, the Committee is of the opinion that in order to apply the UoP method as per the Guidance Note, it is necessary that apart from being part of the production process, the processing facilities can also be considered as oil and gas assets, as discussed in paragraph 16 above. Accordingly, if processing facilities in the extant case are ‘oil and gas assets’ as discussed above, UoP method as per the Guidance Note can be applied, provided it is allowed under the requirements of relevant statute, for example, in case of companies, the requirements of the Companies Act.
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[1]Opinion finalised by the Committee on 5.9.2014. [2]Schedule XIV to the Companies Act, 1956 has been replaced with Schedule II to the Companies Act, 2013, which comes into force from April 1, 2014.
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