Getting to Know TMS, Part 3 – First Purchaser and Producer Services

Through the acquisition of Chorus Logistics, W Energy Software extended our customers’ supply chain visibility, making even more possible by combining a state-of-the-art mobile app for drivers, producers, operators, and end-users with a cloud-based back-office suite and our oil & gas SaaS ERP. Energy industry veteran and technology guru Jeff O’Block takes to our blog with a new series that aims to demystify transportation management systems and explore the benefits for bulk commodity carriers, crude first purchasers, energy trading and risk management, and ESG.

In my last blog post in this series introducing you to W Energy Software’s transportation management system (TMS), I outlined the use case for bulk commodity carriers. Crude first purchasers share a lot of the same challenges and many of the solutions I discussed are still relevant to this post, including the ability to automate dispatch, optimize truck routes (fuel and cost) in real time, and ensure DOT compliance, so check that post out for a recap.

The crude first purchaser business is really fascinating to me. These service providers buy commodities at the wellhead for a discount, blend, transport, hold, and sell for a profit. It can be logistically complex, which is why first purchasers require digital systems to track deal flow, manage field tickets, balance volume measurements, and manage fleet operations. At the same time, these midstream companies can look and feel like an upstream business since many first purchasers also take on the Burdon of allocating sales volumes back to the wellhead and cutting checks to interest owners on behalf of producers.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room, or the “wolf.” If you are in the first purchaser business, no doubt you’ve used or are familiar with one of the more popular TMS solutions on the market with a lot of claims around the first purchaser space. Before I show you what a great first purchaser solution looks like with W Energy Software, let’s look at the alternative that has many of its users howling with frustration!

If you run with the pack, I don’t have to tell you about the recent 3x price hike for what is now aging software. The vendor has also earned a bad rep for customer service and failing to keep innovating, i.e., adding new features in response to market demand. For first purchasers though producer services are king, yet users struggle with disconnected workflows across marketing, accounting, and revenue disbursement.

W Energy Software’s TMS leverages a scalable cloud platform and powerful mobile app to automate e-ticket flow and field data capture for measurements that impact sales runs, such as gravity, BS&W, and temperature. Everything first purchasers need to buy, move, and sell crude oil with category-leading technology to manage contracts, allocate sales, value purchases, track inventory, and manage the complexities of payments to interest owners.

Great TMS features and solutions for producer services, sure we do all of that but what truly sets W Energy Software’s TMS apart is seamless integration (simply nonexistent with other solutions). W Energy Software’s all-in-one TMS and accounting solution is unmatched in the market and for the first purchaser space, we take that further by connecting all of the workflows related to producer services, including division order, revenue accounting and disbursement.

With W Energy Software’s TMS you can easily stay tuned into markets with analytics and OPIS/DTN pricing integrations, model “what if” scenarios, optimize deal flow, and shrink your back-office costs. Oh, and our cloud-based architecture means predictable licensing – no software fee surprises!