Example agent design
Joint-Interest Cost Agent for Oil and Gas
A joint-interest cost agent checks field tickets and vendor invoices against MSA rates, AFEs, the JOA, and the field record before the JIB goes out, and routes each exception with its evidence to the JIB accountant. Non-operators run it in mirror on the JIBs they receive. This is a starting design. An AI Blueprint adapts it to your goals and the systems it will connect to.
- Owner
- The JIB accountant, who decides each exception. The controller handles large items, and operations approves supplemental AFEs.
- Reads
- Field tickets and invoices from the invoice network and AP mailbox · MSAs and price schedules from the document store · AFEs, expense decks, and working-interest decimals from the ERP · Daily drilling and completion reports exported out of operational systems
- Never writes
- Entries, payments, or vendor master changes. Vendor disputes and partner notices stay drafts for a person to send, and it never connects to SCADA, historians inside OT zones, or field controllers.
- Typical cost
- AI Blueprint $4,500–$7,500, credited toward the build. Typical first build $35,000–$75,000. Agent Operations after launch $2,500/mo for one production agent. See the first engagement
The workflow
Joint-interest cost review today and with the agent
Planning comparison only. Scope, timing, and outcomes vary by data, workflow, approvals, adoption, and implementation conditions.
- MSA rates
- TodayTickets billed above MSA rates or for standby after release.
- With the agentEach billed rate checked against the MSA schedule in force on the service date.
- Duplicates
- TodayDuplicate tickets across invoices and summary bills.
- With the agentDuplicates caught across invoices before coding.
- Coding
- TodayCharges coded to the wrong well or a closed AFE.
- With the agentEach line mapped to its well and AFE, with closed or overrun AFEs flagged.
- AFE overruns
- TodayFound after the job is finished.
- With the agentCumulative cost tracked against each AFE while the job is running.
- Non-op JIBs
- TodayReviewed late in the audit window.
- With the agentReviewed against the JOA, COPAS exhibit, elections, and decimals inside the JOA's adjustment and audit window.
How it runs
Five steps from field ticket to partner JIB
An illustrative solution design, not a reported client result. It runs in two mirrored modes: operators check vendor charges before billing partners, and non-operators check the JIBs they receive.
Read tickets, invoices, and contracts
The agent extracts line items from invoice-network exports, the AP mailbox, and photographed paper tickets, and maps each well and lease name to its cost center and AFE.
Check rates, duplicates, and the field record
It compares billed rates with the MSA schedule in force on the service date, catches duplicates across invoices, and checks billed days and standby against daily drilling and completion reports.
Apply AFE and JOA rules
It tracks cumulative cost against each AFE, flags closed or overrun AFEs, and applies the JOA and COPAS chargeability rules, while deterministic code computes coding and partner allocations.
The accountant and operations approve
Each exception arrives with evidence, the rule cited, and a suggested action. The JIB accountant decides, the controller handles large items, and operations approves supplemental AFEs.
Human approval point
Release and keep the evidence
Approved coding goes to the ERP as a staged batch that an authorized user posts. Vendor and partner messages stay drafts for a person to send, and the evidence binder covers the adjustment and audit window in the accounting procedure.
Human approval point
Systems
The systems it reads
- ERP
- AFEs, expense decks, and working-interest decimals from Quorum, Enertia, IFS BOLO or Excalibur, W Energy Software, or PakEnergy.
- Invoice network
- Field tickets and invoices from OpenInvoice and the AP mailbox, including photographed paper tickets.
- Document store
- MSAs and price schedules, the JOA, and the COPAS accounting procedure, in Microsoft 365 or the company's document store.
- Field record
- Daily drilling and completion reports, exported out of operational systems.
Technologies ITECS evaluates and integrates through each system's available API, export, or import under your licenses; listing a product does not imply a formal partnership or a certified integration. The AI Blueprint confirms the systems each company runs.
Controls
Read-heavy and write-controlled by design
- Read-heavy
- Reads the systems listed above through access scoped to this workflow.
- Write-controlled
- Writes nothing listed under Never writes in the spec at the top of this page. Anything it drafts waits at the approval points below.
- Approval points
- The JIB accountant decides each exception, the controller handles large items, and operations approves supplemental AFEs. An authorized user posts approved batches.
- Audit trail
- Each run keeps its inputs, sources, output, and the reviewer's decision.
In this design
- Approved coding goes to the ERP as a staged batch that an authorized user posts, and vendor and partner messages stay drafts for a person to send.
- Runs on the business network and uses data exported out of operational systems. It never connects to SCADA, historians inside OT zones, or field controllers.
- Access is property- and partner-scoped, so one partner's data stays out of another's view, and owner tax IDs and bank details are masked where a task does not need them.
- Rate math, decimals, and allocations are computed in deterministic code, and each flag cites the rule and source behind it.
- ITECS does not provide legal, accounting, or engineering advice through its agents, and no design promises an outcome. The agent prepares and checks; the company's accountants, landmen, engineers, and counsel decide.
Deployment fit
Where this design can run
- Hosted AI Agents
- Runs in a governed Linux environment ITECS operates, on frontier models through enterprise API agreements, connected to the ERP, the invoice network, and the document store through controlled integrations, with human review and an audit trail.
- Private AI Servers
- Runs on local models on a server inside your network, for partner billing and vendor contract records that should not leave it. The same build ladder applies; server hardware is quoted after a sizing call.
Typical first engagement
Start with an AI Blueprint
The AI Blueprint sets the actual build rung and its fixed-fee not-to-exceed. The rows below show the typical path and the catalog range for each step.
- FirstAI BlueprintAgent Discovery & Technical Specification. Credited toward the build.$4,500–$7,500
- Typical first buildIntegrated / Line-of-Business AgentIt is an integrated build because it reconciles tickets, invoices, MSAs, AFEs, and the JOA, with an audit trail, exception handling, and a reviewer workflow.$35,000–$75,000
- After launchAgent Operations, one production agent$2,500/mo
Prices from the published AI pricing catalog.
Customize this design
Bring your goals and your systems. The AI Blueprint decides the scope and the systems, not this example, and ends with a fixed-fee not-to-exceed for the build.
FAQ
Joint-Interest Cost Agent FAQ
Will the agent post entries or pay vendors on its own?
No. It stages proposed coding, JIB allocations, and dispute drafts for review; an accountant approves each exception, and approved coding goes to your ERP as a staged batch that an authorized user posts.
Does it connect to SCADA or field control systems?
No. The agent runs on the business network and uses data exported out of operational systems, following CISA's December 2025 guidance that places LLMs in the business layers and keeps them out of OT safety decisions.
How does it handle our JOA, COPAS exhibit, and partner audit rights?
The overhead method, chargeability rules, and material pricing are abstracted from your executed JOA and accounting procedure and reviewed by your team. Each flag cites its rule and source page, building an evidence record you can use inside the adjustment and audit window your accounting procedure sets.
We are a non-operator. Does this apply to us?
Yes, in mirrored form. Non-operators review incoming JIBs against their JOA, elections, and decimals, and build written-exception candidates inside the adjustment and audit window their accounting procedure sets.
Is this legal, accounting, or engineering advice?
No. ITECS does not provide legal, accounting, or engineering advice through its agents. The agent applies rules the company approved and drafts or flags for review; accountants, landmen, engineers, and counsel decide, and no design promises an outcome.
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