Joint Interest Billing Reviewer

A JIB statement that ties to your working-interest percentage isn't the same as a JIB statement that's correct — your share can match the JOA to the penny while the operator bills overhead above the COPAS rate, charges costs that blew past the AFE with no supplemental approval, or direct-charges its own corporate legal and administrative time. This assistant checks each operator billing against your joint operating agreement, the governing AFE, and your COPAS accounting procedure — overhead rates, AFE overruns, allowable direct charges, affiliate markups, and shut-in wells — then recommends pay, partial dispute, or hold, landing as one row for your JIB analyst to confirm before you remit.

Category: Finance

How it works

1. An operator's monthly Joint Interest Billing statement comes in — the charges by category, your working-interest share, the wells and AFEs it covers, and any attached third-party invoices.
2. It checks the billing against your controls: your working-interest share ties to the JOA, overhead is at the current COPAS rate for the well's status, costs stay within the AFE or carry a supplemental AFE, direct charges are COPAS-allowable, and affiliate or contract work is billed at cost.
3. It returns a decision — pay, partial dispute, or hold for full dispute — with the audit risk, the flagged charges tied to the JOA, AFE, or COPAS provision they touch, and reviewer notes.
4. Every review lands as one row in your queue for a JIB analyst or joint-venture accountant to confirm before payment goes out.

Key benefits

• Stop overhead billed above your COPAS-agreed rate
• Catch costs charged past the AFE with no supplemental approval
• Flag operator corporate and legal overhead direct-charged to the joint account
• Give your team an audit-ready record on every operator billing

Use cases

• Non-operating working-interest owners auditing operator JIB statements
• Oil & gas joint-venture and revenue accounting teams at volume
• Land and joint-interest analysts reconciling AFEs and billings
• E&P finance teams enforcing COPAS and JOA terms

Frequently asked questions

Does this assistant automatically pay or dispute JIB statements for me?

No, it never pays, disputes, or releases a billing on its own. It recommends pay, partial dispute, or hold for each operator billing, and a JIB analyst or joint-venture accountant must confirm every decision before anything is sent.

Which documents does it check against my JIB statement?

It checks the billing against your Joint Operating Agreement (JOA), the governing AFE, and your COPAS accounting procedure, including overhead rates, AFE overruns, allowable direct charges, affiliate markups, and shut-in wells.

Does it connect to my operator's billing system or any external apps?

No, it has no external connections. Your JIB statements, JOAs, and AFE detail stay in your workspace, and the assistant works on that uploaded data.

How does it handle overhead charges that are above the COPAS rate?

It flags overhead billed above the current COPAS rate for the well's status, ties the overcharge to the specific provision in your COPAS accounting procedure, and recommends a partial dispute or hold.

Can I customize the audit rules for my specific JOA or COPAS procedure?

The assistant checks against your JOA, AFE, and COPAS accounting procedure as you provide them, so it inherently applies your specific terms and rates, but you can adjust the controls by updating those documents in your workspace.