Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in History." Includes bibliographical references (p. 230-245).

This empirical study is concerned with the extent to which news announcements affect the performance of common equity securities of oil and gas producing companies. The market effects of news announcements are considered to be of importance in resolving two issues. One concerns financial statement disclosure and the second concerns examination of prior oil and gas industry-related accounting research. This dissertation assumes capital market efficiency and addresses two research questions: do news announcements concerning activities of nonintegrated oil and gas producing companies affect the companies' common stock prices, and are announcements concerning nonintegrated oil and gas companies' financial, personnel, explorational, and developmental and operational activities used equally by investors in their decision-making?

This thesis compares policy instruments in the American and Canadian oil sectors from 1973 to 1977, the years immediately following the Arab oil embargo. Public policy has traditionally emphasized objectives over instruments even though instruments are at the heart of the policy making process. This case study helps to address this deficiency in the policy literature. It begins by providing a review of the instrument choice literature. Doern and Phidd's typology, which arranges instruments in terms of degrees of coercion, subsequently forms the basis for Chapter Two. Chapter Two's analysis of American and Canadian oil policy reveals that both countries agreed upon the security of supply objective. Furthermore, both deployed many similar instruments including suasion, direct expenditures, loans and guarantees, taxation, and regulation to reach the objective. However, one very important difference in instrument choice was made. While Canada deployed the most coercive policy instrument (public enterprise), the United States did not. Chapter Three offers three explanations for this specific difference. They are (1) differences in ideology, (2) market factors, and (3) differences in government institutions. The difference in ideology is the most important explanation. American ideology is decidedly more conservative than Canadian ideology. As such, American governments are less inclined to create government corporations, like national oil companies, than are Canadian governments. Furthermore, ideology is invariably reflected in a nation's party system, and neither of America's mainstream parties advocated the creation of an NOC while Canada's government party did. Market factors are also important. Countries with formidable industrial bases, such as the United States, are less likely to create public corporations than are those with weaker industrial bases. In the particular case of oil, Canada's oil industry was predominantly foreign-owned owing to insufficient pools of domestic capital. America's industry was overwhelmingly domestically-owned. Hence whereas Canada's NOC was the only oil company truly loyal to the Canadian people, an American NOC would have had to compete with home-based multinationals making it relatively unattractive to governing elites, and unnecessary to the American public. Finally, the differences between Canadian and American institutions are stark and important. Canada's parliamentary system of government fosters public corporations because corporations are easy to create and offer significant benefits to their political masters who can control them. The Canadian government set out to create an NOC in the mid-1970s and came across no obstacles. On the other hand, America's presidential system discourages public corporations. Not only did American Presidents and Congressmen not desire an NOC, but they were unable to legislate what comprehensive oil policy they did desire. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The thesis addresses the role of national oil companies and their overseas engagement in the foreign policy decision-making process of states. Over the past 40 years, national oil companies have gained importance in the international oil industry and currently control around 90 per cent of the global oil reserves. A number of political and economic factors – depleting domestic reserves, economic growth – have resulted in an increasing expansion of Asian national oil companies to Africa. Through the use of two Asian national oil companies – Malaysia's Petronas and India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) – and their overseas engagement in Sudan and South Sudan as case studies, the thesis assesses three aspects: factors and motives that influence the relationship between government institutions and Petronas and ONGC, the connection between this domestic relationship and the overseas engagement of both companies, and the implications of the overseas engagement of Petronas and ONGC in both Sudans for the foreign policy decision-making process of Malaysia and India. This set of questions is analysed through a comparative case study design that is supported by in-depth interviews and based on Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA), proposing a four-level theoretical framework. This thesis thus seeks to demonstrate how FPA can help assess the connection between the domestic decision-making process and the international engagement of the companies. In doing so, it not only argues that process and engagement are in fact connected, but also critically addresses conventional assumptions about the overseas engagement of national oil companies. Furthermore, this thesis questions the idea that government institutions and national oil companies act in a coherent and coordinated manner when operating abroad.

There is great expectation that oil development in Ghana will catapult the nation towards prosperity and lead to drastic improvement in the wellbeing of Ghanaians. However, there is also concern that Ghana could fail to achieve these due to the resource curse notwithstanding the fact that scholars of the curse have yet to agree on the inevitability of the curse. Resource curse scholars adduce different reasons for its occurrence or absence. One thing common among the scholars, however, is that none discusses environmental justice in the context of the curse. In this dissertation, I examine Ghana's attempts at avoiding the resource curse through policymaking and implementation using the Guidelines on Environmental Assessment and Management of Ghana's offshore oil sector as a case study. I argue that a strong environmental justice frame is required to avert the curse in Ghana. Specifically, I assess the policy process in Ghana's oil sector, the institutional framework for managing the sector, and analyze the perception of environmental justice for policymaking. The outcome of these assessments show that although the policy process requires broadening for full and effective participation, Ghana has checks and balances policies to avert the resource curse and to deliver environmental justice in the oil sector. In addition, Ghana has an institutional framework that requires strengthening, in various way, in order for it to complement the checks and balances policies

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the maintenance management system (MMS) on production output and profitability (PO&P) at the Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa (PetroSA) GTL Refinery as a source of competitive advantage. State-Owned Companies and, or more specifically the PetroSA GTL Refinery must maintain its strategic importance for government fuel security but, at the same time, it must compete against private refineries in terms of achieving high production volumes, maximising profitability and to maintain its stake of 6.5% of the available production capacity. The literature review for this study suggested that the maintenance management system (MMS) impacts positively on production output and profitability (PO&P). The MMS has a tremendous influence on PO&P at the PetroSA GTL Refinery. Using a quantitative research design, cross-sectional research survey and the Maintenance Scorecards (MS) assessment tool, this study was conducted on six areas of the PetroSA GTL Refinery. Two population groups, namely production and maintenance groups participated in the survey. Fifty-six respondents belonged to the maintenance group and thirty-eight respondents belonged to the Production Group. All the Maintenance and Production Group respondents completed the MS questions designed to fit the characteristics of these population groups. Correlation analysis in terms of the means, standard deviations, gap analysis, Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r) as well as the coefficient of determination (R²) was used to analyse the data. The findings of the study indicated a moderate positive linear correlation between the MMS and PO&P. Recommendations based on the findings were tabled in chapter 7 to improve and enhance production perspective (asset health gap), safety perspective (asset prioritisation gap) and the learning and growth perspective (skills and working condition gap). / Business Management / M. Com. ((Business Management)

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The oil industry is under pressure to select refinery projects that will provide higher and more predictable returns. In the past Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) techniques have been used to choose between refinery project alternatives. One of the problems with DCF techniques is that they ignore management flexibility when evaluating projects that contain embedded options. Real Option Valuation (ROV) is an approach that takes management flexibility into account and places a value on this flexibility. ROV has been used extensively by the oil industry for the evaluation of oil and gas reserves. The aim of this study is to determine the extent to which the use of ROV will improve the decision making process when evaluating a refining project containing embedded options as well as to determine the most appropriate option valuation method for refining projects. This was done by evaluating a refining project using both a probabilistic DCF approach and the various option pricing models and comparing the results. It was concluded that ROV will improve the decision making process when evaluating refining projects containing embedded options. The most appropriate option pricing method for refining projects was found to be the simulation approach since simulation is already being used by refineries to perform probabilistic DCF analysis. It is not recommended that ROV should be blindly applied to all refining projects containing embedded options. The use of ROV should be limited to larger refining projects for which probabilistic cash flows have been developed and the extent of the ROV analysis required should be determined by a careful review of the net present value (NPV) cumulative probability curves. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die olie industrie is onder druk geplaas om projekte te kies met 'n hoër opbrengs op kapitaal en 'n opbrengs wat meer voorspelbaar is. In die verlede is slegs die Verdiskonteerde Kontant Vloei (VKV) metode gebruik om projekte te selekteer vir die raffinadery. Een van die onderliggende tekortkominge met die gebruik van die VKV metode is dat verskillende bestuursopsies in terme van alternatiewe met ingeboude opsies, nie voldoende ondersoek word nie. Reële Opsie Waardasie (ROW) is 'n metode wat bestuursopsies in ag neem deur 'n waarde te plaas op elke beskikbare bestuursopsie. ROW het wye toepassings in die olie industrie vir die evaluasie van gas en olie reserves. Die doel van hierdie studie is om te bepaal tot watter mate die gebruik van ROW die besluitnemingsproses sal verbeter in terme van die evaluasie van projekte met ingeboude opsies vir raffinaderye en watter opsiewaardasie metode die mees geskikte is vir sulke projekte. 'n Raffinadery projek is evalueer deur beide KV en verskeie opsie-prysbepalingsmetodes te gebruik en die resultate is vergelyk. Die resultate van die studie het bewys dat die ROW metode die besluitnemingsproses verbeter. Die studie het gewys dat die mees geskikte opsie-waardasie metode vir projekte in the raffinadery die simulasie benadering is omdat simulasie alreeds vir probalisties VKV ontleding gebruik word. 'n Verdere aanbeveling is dat die ROW metode nie blindelings gevolg moet word vir alle projekte met ingeboude opsies nie. Die gebruik van ROW moet beperk word tot groter projekte waarvoor probabilistiese kontantvloei alreeds ontwikkel is. Die mate van ROW ontleding moet bepaal word deur 'n noukeurige ondersoek te doen van die kumulatiewe netto huidige waarde-waarskynlikheidskurwe.

This study demonstrates how discourse is used to construct popular myths. This study analyzes magazine advertisements used by businesses in overcoming the rhetorical problem posed by a public opinion that blamed them for environmental problems. This study shows how businesses used advertisements to construct a popular myth that businesses were doing their part in overcoming the environmental crisis.

Whilst the topic of leadership has been widely studied it remains little understood, particularly at the first-level line of leadership, especially as it relates to developing countries such as Kuwait. This study critically analyses and presents the needs, skills and capabilities of frontline leaders working in the Kuwait’s Oil and Gas Sector companies. It also examines how such needs and competencies can be developed so as to make these leaders more effective in leading functional units (teams) and to improve organisational performance overall. The study produces a frontline leadership needs and skills development framework that contributes to a better understanding of leadership in a Middle Eastern country (Kuwait), taking into account important contextual factors that influence leadership. Influenced by a social constructivist philosophy and based on qualitative evidence gathered from 42 Team Leaders, the essential leadership needs neglected by previous literature (and possibly lacking in Kuwait) were: business knowledge, technical skills, leadership and managerial skills, communication skills, decision-making skills and change management skills. These leadership needs reflected what the third line leaders understood and personally believed to be essential leadership dimensions for them to be effective and to competently undertake their work. These leadership needs constituted the foundation for their present and future leadership development in order to enhance their leadership capabilities. However, no single methodology was identified as a ‘one size fits all’ solution to meeting the development needs of the Team Leaders. Nevertheless, on the job-training was considered to be the most effective approach to develop these skills and capabilities. It is recommended that top management, and in particular human resources departments within the Oil and Gas Sector companies should continuously identify the needs of third-line leaders and focus on developing skills and competencies considered to be lacking and the most important by these frontline leaders, rather than offering a raft of seemingly unconnected development activities.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luciano_Tadeu_Lucci_De_Biasi.pdf: 775515 bytes, checksum: dd6d434b1493df3e8d028427981188a6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-09-16 / The present paper studied the level of disclosure of the asset abandonment provision by analyzing the financial report of three companies in the oil and gas industry Petrobr??s, Chevron and British Petroleum. The financial reports have been prepared according to three different accounting standards: Brazilian (CPC), the international (IFRS) and North American (USGAAP). The aim of this study was to suggest a framework to increase the quality of disclosure of the items that comprise the measurement of asset retirement obligation provision to provide a decrease in information asymmetry related to the provision of abandonment of assets. The research methodology was qualitative approach with the application of descriptive research method in the form of case study. This research examined the financial statements of the years 2006-2011 of Petrobr??s, filed at the Comiss??o de Valores Imobili??rios and at the Securities and Exchange Commission Securities, of Chevron and British Petroleum, both also filed at the Securities Exchange Commission, in order to verify compliance the level of disclosure that the accounting standards IFRS, USGAAP and CPC recommend. This study verified those companies have reached the minimum level of disclosure required, but Petrobr??s (CVM) that demonstrated the reconciliation of the allowance for asset retirement only for 2010 fiscal year. On the other hand British Petroleum was the only one to provide details such as discount rate, expected cash outflow for the abandonment of the asset and the period of the economic cycle of the assets. This study also concluded there are significant discrepancies in the way information regard asset retirement obligation is disclosed among those financial reports. Thus, the structure of disclosure suggested in this work can be useful to standardize the disclosure of the information regard asset retirement obligation with the possibility of improving the quality of the accounting information and by reducing information asymmetry / O presente trabalho estudou o n??vel de evidencia????o da provis??o de abandono de ativo de tr??s empresas do setor de petr??leo e g??s, Petrobr??s, Chevron e British Petroleum, elaboradas com base em tr??s padr??es cont??beis diferentes, o brasileiro (CPC), o internacional (IFRS) e o norte americano (USGAAP). O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi o de sugerir uma estrutura de evidencia????o com o intuito de incrementar a qualidade da divulga????o dos itens que comp??em a mensura????o dessa provis??o para proporcionar uma redu????o na assimetria da informa????o referente ?? provis??o de abandono de ativo. A metodologia de pesquisa utilizada foi a abordagem qualitativa com a aplica????o de m??todo de pesquisa descritiva na forma de estudo de caso. Essa pesquisa analisou as demonstra????es financeiras entre os anos de 2006 a 2011 da Petrobr??s, apresentadas na Comiss??o de Valores Mobili??rios e na Securities Exchange Commission, da Chevron e da British Petroleum, ambas tamb??m apresentadas na Securities Exchange Commission, com o intuito de verificar a ader??ncia do n??vel de evidencia????o perante os padr??es cont??beis IFRS, USGAAP e CPC. O estudo verificou que as empresas atingiram o n??vel m??nimo da evidencia????o exigido, exceto a Petrobr??s (CVM), que demonstrou a concilia????o da conta de provis??o para abandono de ativos somente a partir de 2010. J?? a British Petroleum foi a ??nica a apresentar detalhes como taxa de desconto utilizada, e sa??da de caixa esperada para o abandono dos ativos e o prazo do ciclo econ??mico dos ativos. Esse estudo concluiu tamb??m que h?? importantes discrep??ncias na forma de apresenta????o. Logo, a estrutura de evidencia????o sugerida nesse trabalho pode ser ??til para padronizar a forma de apresenta????o dessas informa????es com a possibilidade de melhoria na qualidade da informa????o cont??bil e da redu????o da assimetria da informa????o