Decisions under uncertainty; drilling decisions by oil and gas operators.

Includes bibliography.

The oil and gas journal.

Some vols. also on film.

Rising oil prices, executive branch policy, and U.S. security implications : hearing before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, March 24, 2000.

Shipping list no.: 2000-0331-P (pt. [1]), 2001-0033-P (pt. 2).

Mericos H. Whittier, his career; the story of a California oil pioneer, civic leader and humanitarian whose noteworthy career won him honor among men.

Mode of access: Internet.

Recovery of oil by mining : hearing before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, second session, on the recovery of oil by mining, March 2, 1984.

Bibliography: p. 271.

Domestic and international petroleum situation and the implications of fees on imported oil : hearings before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-ninth Congress, second session

"September 18, 1986"--pt. 2.

Proposed 1983 Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas lease sale offshore the Mid-Atlantic States : OCS sale no. 76 /

"December 1982"--Final.

Oil shale technologies [microform] : hearings before the Subcommittee on Energy Research and Development of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, first session, on S. 419 ...

Reuse of record except for individual research requires license from Congressional Information Service, Inc.

Fuel oil journal.

Title from cover.

Assessing the performance of a nucleus estate and smallholder scheme for oil palm production in West Sumatra: a stochastic frontier analysis

In this paper, we study the performance of smallholders in a nucleus estate and smallholder (NES) scheme in oil palm production schemein West Sumatra by measuring their technical efficiency using a stochastic frontier production function. Our results indicate a mean technical efficiency of 66%, which is below what we would have expected given the uniformity of the climate, soils and plantation construction among the sample farmers. The use of progressive farmers as a means of disseminating extension advice does not appear to have been successful, and more rigorous farmer selection procedures need to be put in place for similar schemes and for general agricultural extension in future. No clear relationship was established between technical efficiency and the use of female labour, suggesting there is no need to target extension services specifically at female labourers in the household. Finally, education was found to have an unexpectedly negative impact on technical efficiency, indicating that farmers with primary education may be more important than those with secondary and tertiary education as targets of development schemes and extension programs entailing non-formal education. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Risk management in oil and gas construction projects in Vietnam

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to the identify risk factors, which affect oil and gas construction projects in Vietnam and derive risk responses. Design/methodology/approach - Questionnaire survey was conducted with the involvement of project executives of PetroVietnam and statistical analysis was carried out in order to identify the major project risks. Subsequently, mitigating measures were derived using informal interviews with the various levels of management of PetroVietnam. Findings - Bureaucratic government system and long project approval procedures, poor design, incompetence of project team, inadequate tendering practices, and late internal approval processes from the owner were identified as major risks. The executives suggested various strategies to mitigate the identified risks. Reforming the government system, effective partnership with foreign collaborators, training project executives, implementing contractor evaluation using multiple criteria decision-making technique, and enhancing authorities of project people were suggested as viable approaches. Practical implications - The improvement measures as derived in this study would improve chances of project success in the oil and gas industry in Vietnam. Originality/value - There are several risk management studies on managing projects in developing countries. However, as risk factors vary considerably across industry and countries, the study of risk management for successful projects in the oil and gas industry in Vietnam is unique and has tremendous importance for effective project management.

Regulation of the petrol industry in the UK: issues and evidence

The petrol industry has been investigated twice by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in the last 20 years. On both occasions the MMC found that the conduct of the companies was not against the public interest. These findings were based on the perceived stable relationship between oil and petrol prices. This paper develops a model of petrol price using a co-integration approach, concluding that one must question the findings of the MMC.

Addressing the project implementation challenges in the Saudi Arabian power supply industry: an investigative approach towards improving project delivery

For many decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been widely known for being a reliable oil exporter. This fact, however, has not exempted it from facing significant domestic energy challenges. One of the most pressing of these challenges involves bridging the widening electricity supply-demand gap where, currently, the demand is growing at a very fast rate. One crucial means to address this challenge is through delivering power supply projects with maximum efficiency. Project delivery delay, however, is not uncommon in this highly capital-intensive industry, indicating electricity supplies are not coping with the demand increases. To provide a deeper insight into the challenges of project implementation and efficient practice, this research adopts a pragmatic approach by triangulating literature, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The research was conducted in the Saudi Arabian power supply industry – Western Operating Area. A total of 105 usable questionnaires were collected, and 28 recorded, semi-structured interviews were conducted, analysed and synthesised to produce a conceptual model of what constitutes the project implementation challenges in the investigated industry. This was achieved by conducting a comprehensive ranking analysis applied to all 58 identified and surveyed factors which, according to project practitioners in the investigated industry, contribute to project delay. 28 of these project delay factors were selected as the "most important" ones. Factor Analysis was employed to structure these 28 most important project delay factors into the following meaningful set of 7 project implementation challenges: Saudi Electricity Company's contractual commitments, Saudi Electricity Company's communication and coordination effectiveness, contractors' project planning and project control effectiveness, consultant-related aspects, manpower challenges and material uncertainties, Saudi Electricity Company's tendering system, and lack of project requirements clarity. The study has implications for industry policy in that it provides a coherent assessment of the key project stakeholders' central problems. From this analysis, pragmatic recommendations are proposed that, if enacted, will minimise the significance of the identified problems on future project outcomes, thus helping to ensure the electricity supply-demand gap is diminished.

Corrosion mechanisms of duplex stainless steels in the petrochemical industry

The recent search for new sources of hydrocarbons has led to production from very severe environments which can contain considerable amounts of carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, and chloride ions, combined with temperatures which can exceed 100°C. Oil and gas production from such wells requires highly corrosion-resistant materials. The traditional solution of using carbon steel with additional protection is generally inadequate in these very-aggressive environments. Duplex stainless steels (DSS) are attractive candidates because of their high strength, good general corrosion resistance, excellent resistance to chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking, and good weldability. Although duplex stainless steels have a very good reputation in both subsea and topsides pipework, it is recognized that the tolerance of these materials to variations in microstructure and chemical composition are still not fully understood. The object of this paper is to review the corrosion behaviour of duplex stainless steels in the petrochemical industry, with particular emphasis on microstructures and the effect of changes in chemical composition.

A micro industry with closed energy and water cycles for sustainable rural development

Sustainable development requires combining economic viability with energy and environment conservation and ensuring social benefits. It is conceptualized that for designing a micro industry for sustainable rural industrialization, all these aspects should be integrated right up front. The concept includes; (a) utilization of local produce for value addition in a cluster of villages and enhancing income of the target population; (b) use of renewable energy and total utilization of energy generated by co and trigeneration (combining electric power production with heat utilization for heating and cooling); (c) conservation of water and complete recycling of effluents; (d) total utilization of all wastes for achieving closure towards a zero waste system. Enhanced economic viability and sustainability is achieved by integration of appropriate technologies into the industrial complex. To prove the concept, a model Micro Industrial Complex (MIC) has been set up in a semi arid desert region in Rajasthan, India at village Malunga in Jodhpur district. A biomass powered boiler and steam turbine system is used to generate 100-200 KVA of electric power and high energy steam for heating and cooling processes downstream. The unique feature of the equipment is a 100-150 kW back-pressure steam turbine, utilizing 3-4 tph (tonnes per hour) steam, developed by M/s IB Turbo. The biomass boiler raises steam at about 20 barg 3 tph, which is passed through a turbine to yield about 150 kW of electrical power. The steam let out at a back pressure of 1-3 barg has high exergy and this is passed on as thermal energy (about 2 MW), for use in various applications depending on the local produce and resources. The biomass fuel requirement for the boiler is 0.5-0.75 tph depending on its calorific value. In the current model, the electricity produced is used for running an oil expeller to extract castor oil and the castor cake is used as fuel in the boiler. The steam is used in a Multi Effect Distillation (MED) unit for drinking water production and in a Vapour Absorption Machine (VAM) for cooling, for banana ripening application. Additional steam is available for extraction of herbs such as mint and processing local vegetables. In this paper, we discuss the financial and economic viability of the system and show how the energy, water and materials are completely recycled and how the benefits are directed to the weaker sections of the community.