1. Purpose of standard

1.1     To uniquely associate a Generic company name with all Operating Companies.

1.2     To uniquely link all CDA Participant Company Names, as recorded in their Participation Agreement, with a Generic Company name.

1.3     To associate with a Generic Company Name a list of affiliated companies.

1.4     To relate the Generic Company names with the 3 character codes used by DTI.

1.5     To relate the Generic Company names with the 2 character company codes used by DTI for defining seismic survey names (see CS9).          

2. Use of Standard in the Datastore

2.1     To uniquely identify all companies for whom entitlement to data is set on the DataStore, including those companies listed as partners who are not CDA Participants.

2.2     To cater for company name changes.

2.3     To cater for company mergers and acquisitions.

2.4     To cater for affiliates and legal names on licences.

3. Definitions

3.1     Legal Name - Company name that appears on the Licence. This may be the Parent Company name or an affiliate. Often the name used is a holding company created for a specific deal or Licence Round Application.

3.2     Generic Name - The name agreed between CDA and CDA Participant as the name to be used for entitlement and log-in purposes. In most cases there will be a one-to-one relationship between the Generic Name and the name listed on the CDA Participation Agreement and a one-to-many relationship between the Generic Name and the Legal Name.

3.3     Log-in Name - The name equating to the name listed on the CDA Participation Agreement. This is the Company Name used to manage access to the system via Log-in and may be a Parent Company or an affiliate (see extract from PA below for definition of affiliate). In most cases there will be a one-to-many relationship between the Log-in Name and the Legal Names.

3.4     Short Name - Coded form of a Company Name used by Landmark as a database tool and for display. Originally sourced from the DTI.

3.5     CS-9 Name - 2 letter company code used as a line prefix for seismic according to CDA standard CS-9. Originally sourced from the DTI.

3.6     Common Name - Name used on an entitlement instruction to mean either the Legal Name or the Log-in Name. This is generally interpreted by Landmark as the Log-in Name (For example: a participant may use the Common Name ‘Shell’ or ‘Shell UK Exploration and Production Ltd’ on an entitlement instruction instead of the correct name ‘Shell UK Ltd’).

3.7     Affiliate - The Participation Agreement defines the relationship between affiliates and parent companies thus ‘Affiliate’ means:

(a)  if the Party is a subsidiary of another company the Party’s ultimate holding company and any subsidiary (other than the Party itself) of the Party’s ultimate holding company provided that the subsidiary is a holder of a Licence from time to time; or

(b) if the Party is not a subsidiary of another company any subsidiary of the Party provided that the subsidiary is a holder of a Licence from time to time.

(c) For the purposes of this definition “holding company” and “subsidiary” have the meanings given to those expressions in S.736 of the Companies Act 1985 as amended.

4. Company names on Entitlement Instructions
 

The present (2005) entitlement database has a mixture of Legal Names and Common Names, however the company names of all CDA participants and their known affiliates have now all been replaced by Generic Company Names. Remaining non-generic names all belong to non-CDA participant companies.

Generic Names are now used where possible in the Entitlements database. Companies may continue to report the Legal names and these will be recorded but the Generic Name will then be added to the entitlements database to be consistent with the log-in name.

4.1     Look-Up Table - A table of reference will be maintained that will map the Log-in Name to all relevant Legal Names and Common Names used for that company and authorised affiliates. This table will control the automatic population of the Log-in Name field in the off-line and on-line entitlements databases and would also be available as a drop down list on the Entitlement Instruction Forms (digital versions of these forms only) to aid the correct setting of entitlements.

4.2     Company Name Changes - When a company name change occurs a global name change on the system can be effected. If the relationship between a Legal name and it’s associated Log-in Name changes then this change would be managed in the Look-up Table and reflected in the entitlements databases.

4.3     Company Mergers - When two or more companies merge a decision needs to be made whether to continue with the existing entitlements as separate companies or to create a new company name for the merged entity to use as the Log-in name. If this later course of action is required all existing entitlements will need to be altered. If the merged companies stay separate then 2 or more log-ins will be required to see all the entitled data.

4.4     Acquisitions - When one company is taken over by another, a decision needs to be made whether to continue with the existing entitlements for the acquired company or whether the entitlements should be globally changed to the new parent company name. This would be achieved by altering the relationships in the Look-up Table.

5. Overview of present situation in PetroBank (October 2003)

The attached spreadsheet Generic Entitlements.xls shows how a name change would be managed in the DataStore entitlements database. The associated Generic Entitlements Example.xls gives a practical example of how the changes will be effected.

The change from the current names to Generic Names will be carried out as a progressive upgrade as directed by CDA in agreement with the CDA Participants and Landmark.

The management of the changes will be as detailed below:

5.1     CDA Participants have a log-in which identifies their users by a single company name. This will be the Generic Name of the company.

5.2     The entitlements instruction form will have a pull down list of companies that will reflect the legal names of the entitled parties.

5.3     The Participant will set entitlements by use of either the Generic Name or the Legal name. These are in separate boxes.

5.4     Selection of the legal name will automatically populate an entitlement to the Generic Name of that company, from a one-to-many table matching the Legal names to the Generic Name.

5.5     Entitlements in the CDA DataStore will be set using the Generic Name only. The Legal names will be retained in an off-line database.

5.6     Through a single log-in to the CDA DataStore the company (CDA participant) will be able to see all data owned or entitled for any reason to that company.

5.7     If a company changes its name and wishes to have its Generic Name changed on the DataStore, this will be effected by a global name change. All instances of the old name will be terminated (date stamp) and new entitlements will be set to the new company name with the same reasons for entitlement. The log-in identification and ownership rights will also be changed to the new name.

5.8     Reasons for entitlement will be appended to all instances of entitlement.

5.9     Where a company wishes to actively manage its legal entitlements through CDA then, when setting entitlements, the Legal Names would be set.  If a company wishes to divest itself of its partnership in an asset but retain its trade or purchased interest in the data this would be managed through the ‘Reason for entitlement’. Only the ‘Reason as Partner’ would be terminated.

5.10   If a company wishes to know the Legal entitlement then this would be available as a query to the Helpdesk, who would inspect the off-line database.

5.11   There will be no requirement to get consent from data owners to change the generic names of other CDA Participants. This will be effected on the written instruction of the Participant and changes will be applied to all instances of the previous name(s).

5.12   The exception to the above practice will be for all cases where a company has entitlement through reason ‘Purchased’. In such cases the new generic name will not be added without the written consent of the vendor, unless this vendor is a CDA Participant, in which case consent is deemed to have been granted without requiring written consent.