Applying maintenance strategies from the space and satellite sector to the upstream oil and gas industry : a research agenda

Practitioners from both the upstream oil and gas industry and the space and satellite sector have repeatedly noted several striking similarities between the two industries over the years, which have in turn resulted in many direct comparisons in the media and industry press. The two sectors have previously worked together and shared ideas in ways that have yielded some important breakthroughs, but relatively little sharing or cross-pollination has occurred in the area of asset maintenance. This is somewhat surprising in light of the fact that here, too, the sectors have much in common. This paper accordingly puts forward the viewpoint that the upstream oil and gas industry could potentially make significant improvements in asset maintenance—specifically, with regard to offshore platforms and remote pipelines—by selectively applying some aspects of the maintenance strategies and philosophies that have been learned in the space and satellite sector. The paper then offers a research agenda toward accelerating the rate of learning and sharing between the two industries in this domain, and concludes with policy recommendations that could facilitate this kind of cross-industry learning.

Strategic dalliances as an enabler for discontinuous innovation in slow clockspeed industries: evidence from the oil and gas industry

The concept of ‘strategic dalliances’– defined as non-committal relationships that companies can ‘dip in and out of,’ or dally with, while simultaneously maintaining longer-term strategic partnerships with other firms and suppliers – has emerged as a promising strategy by which organizations can create discontinuous innovations. But does this approach work equally well for every sector? Moreover, how can these links be effectively used to foster the process of discontinuous innovation? Toward assessing the role that industry clockspeed plays in the success or failure of strategic dalliances, we provide case study evidence from Twister BV, an upstream oil and gas technology provider, and show that strategic dalliances can be an enabler for the discontinuous innovation process in slow clockspeed industries. Implications for research and practice are discussed, and conclusions from our findings are drawn.

Public, private, or hybrid? What the upstream oil and gas industry can learn from other sectors about ‘the cloud’

Despite the compelling case for moving towards cloud computing, the upstream oil & gas industry faces several technical challenges—most notably, a pronounced emphasis on data security, a reliance on extremely large data sets, and significant legacy investments in information technology (IT) infrastructure—that make a full migration to the public cloud difficult at present. Private and hybrid cloud solutions have consequently emerged within the industry to yield as much benefit from cloud-based technologies as possible while working within these constraints. This paper argues, however, that the move to private and hybrid clouds will very likely prove only to be a temporary stepping stone in the industry’s technological evolution. By presenting evidence from other market sectors that have faced similar challenges in their journey to the cloud, we propose that enabling technologies and conditions will probably fall into place in a way that makes the public cloud a far more attractive option for the upstream oil & gas industry in the years ahead. The paper concludes with a discussion about the implications of this projected shift towards the public cloud, and calls for more of the industry’s services to be offered through cloud-based “apps.”

Cloud computing : what upstream oil and gas can learn from other industries

The topic of “the cloud” has attracted significant attention throughout the past few years (Cherry 2009; Sterling and Stark 2009) and, as a result, academics and trade journals have created several competing definitions of “cloud computing” (e.g., Motahari-Nezhad et al. 2009). Underpinning this article is the definition put forward by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, which describes cloud computing as “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction” (Garfinkel 2011, p. 3). Despite the lack of consensus about definitions, however, there is broad agreement on the growing demand for cloud computing. Some estimates suggest that spending on cloudrelated technologies and services in the next few years may climb as high as USD 42 billion/year (Buyya et al. 2009).

Structured contract strategies for capital and operations expenditure projects in the oil and gas industry

This project was a step forward in developing a 'descriptive theory' of contracting in the oil and gas industry that reflects the operating environment in which the project manager operates. This study investigates the existing processes and methods used in establishing contracts which are very often prescriptive, and not always appropriate or optimal for a given situation. This study contributes to contracting effectiveness or optimal contracting in the oil and gas industry.

Data as an asset: what the oil and gas sector can learn from other industries about “Big Data”

The upstream oil and gas industry has been contending with massive data sets and monolithic files for many years, but “Big Data” is a relatively new concept that has the potential to significantly re-shape the industry. Despite the impressive amount of value that is being realized by Big Data technologies in other parts of the marketplace, however, much of the data collected within the oil and gas sector tends to be discarded, ignored, or analyzed in a very cursory way. This viewpoint examines existing data management practices in the upstream oil and gas industry, and compares them to practices and philosophies that have emerged in organizations that are leading the way in Big Data. The comparison shows that, in companies that are widely considered to be leaders in Big Data analytics, data is regarded as a valuable asset—but this is usually not true within the oil and gas industry insofar as data is frequently regarded there as descriptive information about a physical asset rather than something that is valuable in and of itself. The paper then discusses how the industry could potentially extract more value from data, and concludes with a series of policy-related questions to this end.

Using Big Data to manage safety-related risk in the upstream oil and gas industry: A research agenda

Despite considerable effort and a broad range of new approaches to safety management over the years, the upstream oil & gas industry has been frustrated by the sector’s stubbornly high rate of injuries and fatalities. This short communication points out, however, that the industry may be in a position to make considerable progress by applying “Big Data” analytical tools to the large volumes of safety-related data that have been collected by these organizations. Toward making this case, we examine existing safety-related information management practices in the upstream oil & gas industry, and specifically note that data in this sector often tends to be highly customized, difficult to analyze using conventional quantitative tools, and frequently ignored. We then contend that the application of new Big Data kinds of analytical techniques could potentially reveal patterns and trends that have been hidden or unknown thus far, and argue that these tools could help the upstream oil & gas sector to improve its injury and fatality statistics. Finally, we offer a research agenda toward accelerating the rate at which Big Data and new analytical capabilities could play a material role in helping the industry to improve its health and safety performance.

Modelling and performance of an active heave compensator for offshore operations

The development of offshore oil and gas fields require the placement of different equipment on the sea floor. This is done by deploying the equipment from vessels operating in dynamic positioning on the surface. The deployment operation has different phases, and in higher sea states, it may require wave-load synchronization, when the load is going through the splash zone, and heave compensation when the load is close to the sea floor. In this paper, we analyse the performance of a particular type of hardware operating in a heave compensation mode. We derive a comprehensive model, analyse limits of performance and evaluate a control strategy.

Taking cues from outer space : the E&P sector can learn much about asset maintenance from the space and satellite industry

The E&P sector can learn much about asset maintenance from the space and satellite industry. Practitioners from both the upstream oil and gas industry and the space and satellite sector have repeatedly noted several striking similarities between the two industries over the years, which have in turn resulted in many direct comparisons in the media and industry press. The similarities between the two industries have even resulted in a modest amount of cross-pollinating between the respective supply chains. Because the operating conditions of both industries are so extreme, some oil and gas equipment vendors have occasionally sourced motors and other parts from aerospace contractors. Also, satellites are now being used to assess oil fires, detect subsidence in oil fields, measure oil spills, collect and transmit operational data from oil and gas fields, and monitor the movement of icebergs that might potentially collide with offshore oil and gas installations.

Steel–concrete–steel sandwich system in Arctic offshore structure: Materials, experiments, and design

The gravity based structure (GBS) with external Steel–Concrete–Steel (SCS) sandwich ice-resistant wall has been developed for the Arctic oil and gas drilling. This paper firstly reported the experimental studies on the mechanical properties of steel and concretes under Arctic low temperature. With the test data, design equations were developed to incorporate the influences of the low temperature on these mechanical properties. Two types of Arctic GBS structure with flower-conical SCS sandwich shell type and plate type of ice-resistant wall have been developed for the Arctic offshore structure. Besides the studies on the materials, two SCS sandwich prototype shells and plates were, respectively, prepared and tested under patch loading that simulated the localized ice-contact pressure. The structural behaviors of the SCS sandwich structure under patch loading were reported and discussions were made on the influences of different parameters on the structural behavior of the structure. Analytical models were developed to predict the punching shear resistances of the SCS sandwich structure through modifying the code provisions. The accuracies of the developed analytical models were checked through validations against 27 tests in the literature. Corresponding design procedures on resistances of SCS sandwich structure were recommended based on these discussions and validations.

The utilization of waste date seed as bio-oil and activated carbon by pyrolysis process

The renovation of biomass waste in the form of date seed waste into activated carbon and biofuel by fixed bed pyrolysis reactor has been focused in this study to obtain gaseous, liquid, and solid products. The date seed in particle form is pyrolysed in an externally heated fixed bed reactor with nitrogen as the carrier gas. The reactor is heated from 400◦C to 600◦C. A maximum liquid yield of 50wt.% and char of 30wt.% are obtained at a reactor bed temperature of 500◦C with a running time of 120 minutes. The oil is found to possess favorable flash point and reasonable density and viscosity. The higher calorific value is found to be 28.636 MJ/kg which is significantly higher than other biomass derived. Decolonization of 85–97% is recorded for the textile effluent and 75–90% for the tannery effluent, in all cases decreasing with temperature increase. Good adsorption capacity of the prepared activated carbon in case of diluted textile and tannery effluent was found.

Environmental incidents in a developing country and corporate environmental disclosures : a study of a multinational gas company

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the environmental disclosure initiatives of Niko Resources Ltd – a Canada-based multinational oil and gas company – following the two major environmental blowouts at a gas field in Bangladesh in 2005. As part of the examination, the authors particularly focus on whether Niko's disclosure strategy was associated with public concern pertaining to the blowouts. Design/methodology/approach – The authors reviewed news articles about Niko's environmental incidents in Bangladesh and Niko's communication media, including annual reports, press releases and stand-alone social responsibility report over the period 2004-2007, to understand whether news media attention as proxy for public concern has an impact on Niko's disclosure practices in relation to the affected local community in Bangladesh. Findings – The findings show that Niko did not provide any non-financial environmental information within its annual reports and press releases as a part of its responsibility to the local community which was affected by the blowouts, but it did produce a stand-alone report to address the issue. However, financial environmental disclosures, such as the environmental contingent liability disclosure, were adequately provided through annual reports to meet the regulatory requirements concerning environmental persecutions. The findings also suggest that Niko's non-financial disclosure within a stand-alone report was associated with the public pressures as measured by negative media coverage towards the Niko blowouts. Research limitations/implications – This paper concludes that the motive for Niko's non-financial environmental disclosure, via a stand-alone report, reflected survival considerations: the company's reaction did not suggest any real attempt to hold broader accountability for its activities in a developing country.

Understanding coal seam gas associated water, regulations and strategies for treatment

The coal seam gas (CSG) industry is globally of potentially great importance economically. This study exemplifies the complex relationship between land use and management, groundwater impact and associated water treatment especially in relation to Queensland where a significant increase in the amount of gas extracted over the past 6 years has occurred. In order to effectively manage the environmental impact of the CSG industry it is necessary to appropriately understand the nature of the gas deposits, methods for gas collection, the physicochemical composition of the by-product associated water and the technologies available for water remediation. Australia is mainly considered arid and semi-arid and thus there is a need to not only beneficially reuse water resources but also protect existing ground water reservoirs such as the Great Artesian Basin (GAB). This paper focussed primarily on the Surat Basin located in Queensland and northern New South Wales. The mechanism for CSG formation, relation to local geological features, extraction approach and the potential impact/benefits of associated water was discussed. An outline of the current legislative requirements on physical and chemical properties of associated water in the Surat Basin was also provided, as well as the current treatment technologies used by the major CSG companies. This review was of significance in relation to the formulation of the most appropriate and cost effective management of associated water, while simultaneously preserving existing water resources and the environment.