[pt] A aplicação dos conceitos do lean é uma prática originada na indústria automotiva utilizada inicialmente em áreas produtivas, permitindo ganhos de produtividade, através da redução de desperdícios nos fluxos de processo. Após o sucesso comprovado da utilização do lean em áreas produtivas, as organizações têm expandido a utilização deste conceito para outras áreas. O objetivo desta dissertação é aplicar a abordagem lean na revisão do fluxo de materiais de um almoxarifado, de uma empresa fabricante de equipamentos para o setor de óleo e gás. A metodologia utilizada tem dois componentes: uma revisão sistemática da literatura sobre o conceito lean e a pesquisa-ação através de um protocolo baseado em um modelo proposto para aplicação de estudos de caso em pesquisa-ação. Este trabalho descreve o processo de aplicação do lean. Os resultados alcançados foram a demonstração da viabilidade da aplicação dos princípios lean no almoxarifado, a identificação do fluxo de valor e do 5S como as principais ferramentas de implementação, uma redução significativa dos tempos de fluxo do almoxarifado. As barreiras encontradas foram a concorrência do tempo das pessoas entre a pesquisa-ação e suas atividades rotineiras e o baixo envolvimento inicial dos setores interface com o almoxarifado (e.g., planejamento, compras e produção). Uma proposta baseada no mapa de fluxo de valor futuro para o fluxo de materiais no almoxarifado, migrando do modelo tradicional empurrado para o modelo enxuto, foi apresentada à empresa e está sendo considerada para implementação. / [en] The application of lean concepts is a practice originated in the automotive industry initially used in manufacturing areas, enabling productivity gains by reducing waste in the process flows. After the proven success of using lean in manufacturing areas, organizations have expanded the use of this concept to other areas. The aim of this work is to apply the lean approach in the review of the flow of materials from a warehouse in equipment s manufacturer for the oil and gas sector. The methodology used has two components: a systematic review of literature on the lean concept and action research through a protocol based on a proposed model for application of case studies on action research. This dissertation describes the lean application process. The results achieved to date demonstrate the feasibility of the application of lean principles in the warehouse, identifying the value stream and 5S as the main implementation tools, and a significant reduction in warehouse s flow lead times. Barriers were found as competition of people s time between action research and their routine activities and the low initial involvement of sectors interfacing with the warehouse (eg, planning, purchasing and production). A proposal based on the map of future value stream to the flow of materials in the warehouse, migrating from traditional pushed to lean model, was presented to the company and is being considered for implementation.

Na indústria de petróleo e gás as tubulações são formas eficientes de transportar esses produtos ou seus derivados das regiões de exploração para as refinarias e em alguns casos até o consumidor. O principal tipo de aço utilizado na fabricação dessas tubulações são os aços ARBL que devido à boa relação entre resistência à tração e tenacidade a baixas temperaturas geram uma boa relação custo/benefício na utilização e na montagem de tubulações. Neste trabalho é apresentado um estudo sobre a soldabilidade do tubo API 5L X80 construído com aço ARBL. Os corpos-de-prova utilizados foram anéis de 508 mm de diâmetro externo com espessura de parede de 19,0 mm. A soldagem foi executada com o processo eletrodo revestida no experimento 1, em um par de anéis, e o outro par de anéis foi soldado, na raiz, com o processo de soldagem MAG-TC e nos passes de enchimento e acabamento foi utilizado o processo arame tubular auto-protegido. Os resultados dos ensaios de resistência à tração, dobramento lateral e de Nick-Break demonstram que ambos os procedimentos de soldagem são qualificados pela norma API 1104. Associando o resultado do ensaio de Charpy V a 0°C e associando-o a quantificação das frações volumétricas de microconstituintes MA e a caracterização microestrutural é possível observar que os valores de energia absorvida na ZAC tem maior relação com o mecanismo de refino de grão, que melhora os valores obtidos, do que com a quantidade de fração volumétrica do microconstituinte MA. / In the oil and gas industries, pipelines are efficient ways of transporting these products, or its derivatives, from exploration regions to refineries and, in some cases, up to the final consumer. The main type of steel used in manufacturing these pipelines are HSLA steels that, due to the good relationship between tensile strength and toughness at low temperatures, create a cost/benefit ratio in the use and installation of these pipelines. This paper presents a study on the weldability of API 5L X80 HSLA pipe steel. The samples used were pipe rings with 508 mm outside diameter and a wall thickness of 19.0 mm. The root welding process was performed using SMAW in Experiment 1 with filing and finishing passes with SMAW. In the second experiment, the root pass were welded with GMAW-CT, and filling and finishing passes with FCAW-SS. Tensile test results, lateral bending tests and \'Nick-Break\' tests showed that both welding procedures were qualified according to API 1104 Standard. Associating these results with Charpy V test at 0°C and with quantification of volume fractions of MA microconstituent is possible to observe that the values of absorbed energy in the HAZ are more closely related to the mechanism of grain refinement, which improves the values obtained with the volume fraction of the amount of microconstituent MA.

The rapid and continuous deterioration of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria in the last four decades has been a major source of concern for the government and practitioners. Hence, the region has been the subject of continuous conflicts and violence between the host communities and the oil producing companies. Despite the effort of the government and practitioners, none have looked at the relationship elements and/or the quality of relationship between these two key stakeholders within the context of the Nigeria oil and gas industry. This research study makes a new contribution to the field of relationship marketing in the area of relationship quality by providing a detailed understanding of relationship elements, and determinants and dimensions of relationship quality. The research study focuses on the oil producing company to host community relationship in the Niger delta region of Nigeria, which was investigated in detail. A qualitative approach was adopted as it is considered appropriate for the research focus, which was to investigate and assess the understanding of different community actors in respect to the quality of relationship between the oil producing companies and host communities in the Niger delta region of Nigeria. In addition, explore how these actors described both the relationship elements and relationship quality constructs, and related this to their understanding of the relationship between the oil producing company and host community. Semi-structured interviews, as the primary method of data collection were conducted with different community actors. The literature review, as the secondary method of data collection were primarily used as a tool to double check and validate the interview findings. Sixteen community actors provided their views and opinions of the relationship between the oil producing companies with the host communities in the region. This research study extended the application of relationship quality frameworks that were conducted in a developed economic environment such as the United Kingdom and United States of America to a developing economic environment such as Nigeria through the replication of these frameworks and re-testing their constructs and propositions in order to develop a detailed and comprehensive framework of relationship quality in the context of a business-to-community (B2Com) relationship in a unique commercial context. In addition, this research study uncovered the importance of mutual goal and culture of the community people in addition to pre-identified constructs (i.e. mutual benefit, communication, control mutuality) as the key determinants of relationship quality for the oil producing company when engaging the host community in the relationship building process. This research study also explored the research on dimensions of relationship quality subjecting its main constructs (i.e. trust, satisfaction and commitment) to a rigorous qualitative test. Doing this, the finding further emphasised some consensus between these dimensions of relationship quality. In addition, the developed framework highlighted the importance of including the relationship elements (i.e. actor bonds, resource ties and activity links) when assessing the quality of the relationship between business and its community. In conclusion, this research document recommendations (such as, the local community forming a complete and harmonious whole when relating with external bodies, the need for international oil and gas companies in Nigeria to gain adequate and appropriate insight and understanding into the role(s) played by each of the actors within the Niger Delta community, and the importance of oil and gas practitioners developing and maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship in the region) for various stakeholders within the NOGI.

As informações evidenciadas pelas empresas que exploram e produzem óleo e gás são objetos de consideráveis controvérsias. O centro dessa controvérsia está nas deficiências do modelo do custo histórico em fornecer informações adequadas para os usuários das demonstrações contábeis. O mais importante evento para as empresas que exploram e produzem petróleo é a descoberta de reservas de óleo e gás, e não os lucros e as receitas derivadas das vendas do óleo e do gás. O modelo do custo histórico, entretanto, não consegue mensurar e evidenciar adequadamente as reservas provadas de óleo e gás até que essas reservas sejam desenvolvidas, produzidas e vendidas. Outro problema relacionado ao modelo do custo histórico para as empresas do setor petrolífero, é de que os custos incorridos para se descobrir reservas de óleo e gás possui pouca, se é que há alguma, relação com o valor das reservas provadas. Como resultado dessas deficiências do modelo do custo histórico, e como uma tentativa de \"adaptar\" os resultados, duas formas de capitalizar os custos da atividade de exploração e produção de óleo e gás são utilizadas e aceitas, o método da Capitalização Total e o método da Capitalização pelos Esforços Bem Sucedidos. A avaliação das reservas provadas de óleo e gás das empresas, assim como as decisões de investimentos, são afetadas pela incerteza econômica, pela incerteza técnica, assim como pelas flexibilidades gerenciais embutidas na exploração e produção de óleo e gás. A técnica do Valor Presente Líquido não possui atributos para capturar essas flexibilidades, pois não considera a opção de, por exemplo, adiar o desenvolvimento de uma reserva para o momento em que o preço do barril de petróleo se mostrar conveniente para os planos da empresa. Este estudo tem por objetivo explorar e aplicar as diferentes formas de avaliação de reservas petrolíferas: a) contábil; b) fluxo de caixa futuro (Hotelling); c) fluxo de caixa descontado padronizado; d) margem direta; e) fluxo de caixa descontado; e f) opções reais, a fim de descobrir qual delas apresenta-se como a melhor forma para capturar o valor justo do principal ativo das empresas que exploram e produzem petróleo - as reservas provadas de óleo e gás. Na comparação das técnicas de avaliação, a avaliação pela teoria de precificação de opções se mostrou como a melhor forma de se avaliar as reservas provadas das empresas analisadas, seguida pelas avaliações do fluxo de caixa descontado e pelo princípio de avaliação Hotelling. / The information disclosed by oil and gas companies is a source of great controversy. The main issue is the deficiency of the historical cost model to supply adequate information for financial statement users. The most important event for oil exploration and production companies is the discovery of oil and gas reserves, and not the profits and revenues deriving from oil and gas sales. However, the historical cost model does not manage to adequately measure and disclose the oil and gas reserves until they are actually developed, produced and sold. Another problem in the historical cost model for petroleum companies is that there is hardly any or no relation between the costs incurred to discover oil and gas reserves and the value of the proved reserves. As a result of these deficiencies in the historical cost model, and in an attempt to \"adapt\" the results, two ways of capitalizing the costs of oil and gas exploration and production activities are used and accepted, the Full Cost method and the Successful Efforts method. The evaluation of the companies\' proved oil and gas reserves as well as the investment decisions are affected by economic uncertainty, technical uncertainty and by the management flexibilities inserted in oil and gas exploration and production. The Net Present Value technique does not have the attributes to capture these flexibilities, since it does not consider the possibility of delaying the development of a reserve to a moment at which oil prices are convenient for company plans for example. This study aims to explore and apply different forms of evaluating oil reserves: a) accounting; b) future cash flow (Hotelling); c) standardized measure of discounted cash flow; d) direct margin; e) discounted cash flow; and f) real options, with a view to discovering which of these comes out as the best way to obtain the fair value of oil exploration and production companies\' main asset - their proved oil and gas reserves. In the comparison among different techniques, evaluation according to option pricing theory revealed to be the best way to evaluate the proved reserves of the analyzed companies, followed by the discounted cash flow evaluation and by Hotelling\'s evaluation model.

A seleção de projetos de investimento é uma das atividades essenciais no dia-a-dia das organizações, e, neste exercício de avaliação, é preciso lidar em geral com uma carga considerável de incerteza. Analisar apenas as características individuais dos projetos é insuficiente diante do impacto que seus aspectos relacionais pode causar nos resultados. Além disso, um fator adicional nesse processo de escolha é a carga informacional já disponível internamente, na forma de conhecimento e percepção de analistas e gestores. Mais ainda, o próprio conceito de valor neste caso depende da perspectiva de quem avalia. Motivado por estas questões, buscou-se neste trabalho elaborar uma proposta de avaliação da carteira de projetos de investimento logicamente estruturada e modular, adaptável a diversas realidades organizacionais possíveis. A montagem do procedimento otimizatório reuniu conceitos de métricas de risco e retorno de projetos, Teoria Moderna de Portfólio, Teoria da Utilidade, simulação de Monte Carlo e decomposição de Cholesky. Por fim, a utilidade da proposta foi testada via sua aplicação em amostra de projetos no segmento de óleo e gás. / The investment projects selection is one of the essential activities in day-to-day operation of companies, and in this evaluation exercise it is generally required to handle a considerable amount of uncertainty. Analysing only the individual characteristics of projects is insufficient considering the possible impact of their relational aspects in results. Furthermore an additional item in this selection process is the informational load already available internally in the form of knowledge and perception of analysts and managers. Moreover even the concept of value in this case depends on the perspective of who evaluates. Motivated by this issues, this study aimed to formulate a proposal for investment projects portfolio evaluation logically structured and modular, adaptable to various possible organizational realities. The conception of optimization procedure brought together concepts of risk and return project metrics, Modern Portfolio Theory, Utility Theory, Monte Carlo simulation and Cholesky decomposition. Finally the proposal utility was tested by its application in a sample of oil and gas projects.

Um dos problemas mais relevantes em organizações de grande porte é a escolha de locais para instalação de plantas industriais, centros de distribuição ou mesmo pontos comerciais. Esse problema logístico é uma decisão estratégica que pode causar um impacto significativo no custo total do produto comercializado. Existem na literatura diversos trabalhos que abordam esse problema. Assim, o objetivo desse trabalho é analisar o problema da localização de instalações proposto por diferentes autores e definir um modelo que seja o mais adequado possível ao mercado de distribuição de combustíveis no Brasil. Para isso, foi realizada uma análise do fluxo de refino e distribuição praticado neste segmento e da formação do respectivo custo de transporte. Foram consideradas restrições como capacidade de estoque, gama de produtos ofertados e níveis da hierarquia de distribuição. A partir dessa análise, foi definido um modelo matemático aplicado à redução dos custos de frete considerando-se a carga tributária. O modelo matemático foi implementado, em linguagem C, e permite simular o problema. Foram aplicadas técnicas de computação paralela visando reduzir o tempo de execução do algoritmo. Os resultados obtidos com o modelo Single Uncapacited Facility Location Problem (SUFLP) simulado nas duas versões do programa, sequencial e paralela, demonstram ganhos de até 5% em economia de custos e redução do tempo de execução em mais de 50%. / One of the most relevant problems at large organizations is the choice of locations for estabilishing facilities, distribution centers or retail stores. This logistics issue is an strategic decision which may cause signicant impact at the eective cost of the product. There are several papers tackling this issue. The objective of this dissertation is to analyze the Facility Location Problem previously developed by other authors and to dene the most applicable model to the fuel distribution industry in Brazil. It started from the analyzis of the upstream and downstream ow in practice at this segment and from the respective transportation cost formation. Some constraints were considered like stock capacity, multicommodity oer and distribution hierarchy levels so it could be possible to dene a mathematical model applied to freight economy considering the incident taxes. The dissertation also has the objective of creating a program using the C language which could simulate the problem. It were applied parallel computing techniques to reduce runtime of the algorithm. The results obtained from the Single Uncapacited Facility Location Problem (SUFLP) executed in both program versions, sequential and parallel, demonstrate up to 5% of eective costs gain and reduction of more than 50% in execution time.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O estudo partiu do diálogo entre as políticas públicas de meio ambiente e o referencial teórico crítico da educação e da justiça ambiental. Ancorada na filosofia da práxis, uma categoria central do materialismo-histórico, busca ir além dos aspectos teóricos. A pesquisa tem o objetivo de contribuir para o entendimento e melhoria dos processos complexos e contraditórios de implementação da educação ambiental como condicionante de licença de operação e produção da indústria de petróleo e gás no Brasil. Tais projetos mitigatórios são conduzidos e monitorados pelo órgão ambiental, mas devem ser implementados e executados pelos próprios empreendedores que causam os impactos socioambientais nas localidades. Em contrapartida, projetos de educação ambiental crítica e participativa, desenvolvidos compulsoriamente no licenciamento offshore, estão voltados para os grupos socioambientais impactados. Preconizam o fortalecimento e a integração desses grupos diante do Estado e do próprio empresariado e devem estimular participação em processos decisórios da gestão ambiental local. A tese a ser demonstrada é a de que, neste campo de disputas pelo uso e gestão do território, os PEAs em sua práxis educativa e enquanto política pública no âmbito do licenciamento, constitui-se em um instrumento em potencial na construção de cidadania política. Na busca por investigar a efetividade desses PEAs, implementados na maior bacia petrolífera do país, a bacia de campos, a pesquisa faz primeiramente um estudo documental e posteriormente um estudo empírico com os atores sociais participantes dos projetos. A pesquisa documental revelou que existiam cinco PEAs desenvolvidos entre os anos de 2010 e 2012: o Projeto Pólen e o NEA-BC (Petrobras); o PEA ObservAção (PetroRio, antiga HRT); o PEA FOCO (Statoil) e o QUIPEA (Shell). A pesquisa empírica foi feita nos municípios de São Francisco de Itabapoana, São João da Barra, Armação dos Búzios e Cabo frio, contemplados com 80% dos projetos desenvolvidos na região e percorreu 17 localidades dos municípios e foram realizadas 52 entrevistas. Esta etapa da pesquisa traz as motivações acerca dos projetos, opiniões sobre o processo formativo, as transformações práticas vividas pelos atores a partir das vivências nos projetos e aspectos da participação desses atores sociais dentro e fora dos PEAs. 70% dos entrevistados trazem as crenças nos projetos devido às: propostas, objetivos e metodologias (discussões participativas, encontros de comunidades) e à equipe de executores (com os quais os atores têm uma relação de afeto e admiração); 28% abarcam as descrenças: lentidão e subjetividade dos resultados; o não entendimento acerca da origem dos projetos (mitigatórios, compesatórios, etc); conflito nas relações entre os quilombolas e os empresários; gastos com os projetos e não com a comunidade. Outras categorias surgem: remuneração/contratação; Obtenção de uma sede para o projeto; a excelência no processo formativo (onde alguns métodos devem ser repensados); a interação e a articulação entre os projetos. O estudo também revelou que os participantes passaram a participar de instâncias da gestão pública de seus territórios. As questões são apontadas para que esses projetos possam ser aperfeiçoados, mesmo diante de todas as contradições, tensões e conflitos que isso impõe em uma sociedade desigual, reduzindo a natureza, a mercadoria e a relações precificadas. / This study originated from the dialogue between public environmental policies and the critical theoretical education and environmental justice references. Anchored on the praxis philosophy, a central category of historical materialism, aimed to go beyond the theoretical aspects. The research also aimed to contribute to the understanding and improvement of the complex and contradictory processes regarding the implementation of environmental educational programs, which are one of the demands to obtain the environmental license required for oil and gas exploitation in Brazil. Mitigating projects such as the one cited above, are conducted and monitored by the environmental agency, and must be implemented and executed by the companies whose activies cause social and environmental impacts on identified social groups. On the other hand, the participatory environmental education projects, compulsorily developed for licensing offshore focused on the impacted social groups. They stimulate, as one goal, the strengthening and integration of these groups on the State and the business itself and should encourage participation in decision-making on the local environmental management level. The thesis to be demonstrated is that on this field of contest for the territory usage and its management, the PEAs in their educational praxis and as a public policy in the licensing scope, can be stated as a potential tool for the citizenship policy construction. With the purpose of investigating the effectiveness of PEAs, implemented in the largest oil basin of the country, the Campos basin, the first step of the present investigation was an extensive survey on documents and the second step was an empirical approach with selected social actors participating in the the projects. The documents survey revealed that there were five PEAs developed between 2010 and 2012 in Campos basin: the Pollen Project and the NEA-BC (Petrobras); PEA OBA (PetroRio); PEA FOCO (Statoil) and the QUIPEA (Shell). The empirical research has been done in the municipalities of San Francisco de Itabapoana, São João da Barra, Buzios and Cabo Frio, awarded 80% of the projects developed in the region. The field research included 17 locations in the municipalities were 52 interviews were conducted. 70% of respondents cited they believed in the projects due to the proposal itself, the objectives and the methodologies, including participatory discussions, community meetings and the team of performers, with which, the actors demonstrated a relationship of affection and admiration. About 28% approached the disbelief due to slow and subjectivity of results; lack of understanding about the nature of the projects (mitigation, compensation nature, etc); conflicts in relations between social actors (Maroons) and entrepreneurs; spending resources on the projects and not on the communitys needs. Other categories were rised: remuneration / contracting; headquarters needed for the project; excellence in the informative/training process; the interaction and coordination between the projects. The study also confirmed that participants increased their participation within the public administration bodies on their territories. The issues are highlighted as a contribution for the improvement of these projects improvement, regardless all the contradictions, tensions and conflicts imposed by an unequal society, reducing the goods and the nature priced relationships.

As informações evidenciadas pelas empresas que exploram e produzem óleo e gás são objetos de consideráveis controvérsias. O centro dessa controvérsia está nas deficiências do modelo do custo histórico em fornecer informações adequadas para os usuários das demonstrações contábeis. O mais importante evento para as empresas que exploram e produzem petróleo é a descoberta de reservas de óleo e gás, e não os lucros e as receitas derivadas das vendas do óleo e do gás. O modelo do custo histórico, entretanto, não consegue mensurar e evidenciar adequadamente as reservas provadas de óleo e gás até que essas reservas sejam desenvolvidas, produzidas e vendidas. Outro problema relacionado ao modelo do custo histórico para as empresas do setor petrolífero, é de que os custos incorridos para se descobrir reservas de óleo e gás possui pouca, se é que há alguma, relação com o valor das reservas provadas. Como resultado dessas deficiências do modelo do custo histórico, e como uma tentativa de \"adaptar\" os resultados, duas formas de capitalizar os custos da atividade de exploração e produção de óleo e gás são utilizadas e aceitas, o método da Capitalização Total e o método da Capitalização pelos Esforços Bem Sucedidos. A avaliação das reservas provadas de óleo e gás das empresas, assim como as decisões de investimentos, são afetadas pela incerteza econômica, pela incerteza técnica, assim como pelas flexibilidades gerenciais embutidas na exploração e produção de óleo e gás. A técnica do Valor Presente Líquido não possui atributos para capturar essas flexibilidades, pois não considera a opção de, por exemplo, adiar o desenvolvimento de uma reserva para o momento em que o preço do barril de petróleo se mostrar conveniente para os planos da empresa. Este estudo tem por objetivo explorar e aplicar as diferentes formas de avaliação de reservas petrolíferas: a) contábil; b) fluxo de caixa futuro (Hotelling); c) fluxo de caixa descontado padronizado; d) margem direta; e) fluxo de caixa descontado; e f) opções reais, a fim de descobrir qual delas apresenta-se como a melhor forma para capturar o valor justo do principal ativo das empresas que exploram e produzem petróleo - as reservas provadas de óleo e gás. Na comparação das técnicas de avaliação, a avaliação pela teoria de precificação de opções se mostrou como a melhor forma de se avaliar as reservas provadas das empresas analisadas, seguida pelas avaliações do fluxo de caixa descontado e pelo princípio de avaliação Hotelling. / The information disclosed by oil and gas companies is a source of great controversy. The main issue is the deficiency of the historical cost model to supply adequate information for financial statement users. The most important event for oil exploration and production companies is the discovery of oil and gas reserves, and not the profits and revenues deriving from oil and gas sales. However, the historical cost model does not manage to adequately measure and disclose the oil and gas reserves until they are actually developed, produced and sold. Another problem in the historical cost model for petroleum companies is that there is hardly any or no relation between the costs incurred to discover oil and gas reserves and the value of the proved reserves. As a result of these deficiencies in the historical cost model, and in an attempt to \"adapt\" the results, two ways of capitalizing the costs of oil and gas exploration and production activities are used and accepted, the Full Cost method and the Successful Efforts method. The evaluation of the companies\' proved oil and gas reserves as well as the investment decisions are affected by economic uncertainty, technical uncertainty and by the management flexibilities inserted in oil and gas exploration and production. The Net Present Value technique does not have the attributes to capture these flexibilities, since it does not consider the possibility of delaying the development of a reserve to a moment at which oil prices are convenient for company plans for example. This study aims to explore and apply different forms of evaluating oil reserves: a) accounting; b) future cash flow (Hotelling); c) standardized measure of discounted cash flow; d) direct margin; e) discounted cash flow; and f) real options, with a view to discovering which of these comes out as the best way to obtain the fair value of oil exploration and production companies\' main asset - their proved oil and gas reserves. In the comparison among different techniques, evaluation according to option pricing theory revealed to be the best way to evaluate the proved reserves of the analyzed companies, followed by the discounted cash flow evaluation and by Hotelling\'s evaluation model.

A significant drop in oil price in 2014 resulted in enormous pressure on marketing managers of international oilfield service companies to address new market expectations. In such competitive conditions, some marketing managers lack strategies to leverage profitability during downturns. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that senior marketing managers of international oilfield service companies in the Middle East successfully used to enhance sales performance, revenues, and profits during periods of declining oil prices. Theory of market segmentation, targeting, and positioning formed the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews of 5 senior marketing managers of international oilfield service companies throughout the Middle East. Data analysis was composed of organizing data, becoming familiar with the data, putting data in nodes, giving proper codes, interpreting the data, and presenting the results, which led to 5 primary themes including customers, relationship, differentiation, services, and prices. To increase reliability and reduce bias, triangulation was achieved by combining, comparing, and contrasting companies' annual reports and website contents with participants' information. Identifying the right strategies that lead to higher profitability is crucial for international oilfield companies. Developing dynamic segmentation strategies, targeting new market players, differentiating via innovation, and promoting reliable relationships increase the likelihood of grasping new opportunities. This study's implications for positive social change include having more sustainable and profitable firms contributing to prosperity of local communities, which leads to healthier economies and more stable societies.

In recent years oil and gas mining has moved into increasingly deeper water in search of undeveloped fields. As water depths approach and exceed 3000 m conventional offshore foundation systems become inefficient and ineffective in stabilising platforms and floating production storage units. The trend of supporting structure design in deep water has been to install catenary and taut leg mooring systems. Consequently, many types of anchoring systems are being developed and used in order to withstand large mooring forces. The SEPLA (Suction Embedded Plate Anchor) is ideal for use in this situation. This project has employed advanced numerical techniques and centrifuge testing to study pullout behaviour of plate anchor foundations in different soil profiles and suction caisson installation effect with the aim of generating a robust framework for design. The behaviour of strip and circular plate anchors during vertical pullout in uniform and normally consolidated clays has been studied by means of small strain and large deformation finite element analyses. Both fully bonded (attached), and ‘vented’ (no suction on rear face), anchors have been considered. The current numerical results were compared with existing laboratory test data, finite element results and analytical solutions. This study showed that the ultimate pullout capacity factors (Nc) for deep embedment were 11.6 and 11.7 for smooth and rough strip anchors and 13.1 and 13.7 for smooth and rough circular anchors respectively. When the anchor base was vented, the soil stayed attached to the anchor base for deep embedment, and the pullout capacity was therefore the same as for the attached anchor. The separation depth ratio, Hs/B or Hs/D was found to increase linearly with the normalised strength ratio, su/γ'B or su/γ'D. / Numerical simulation has been conducted to assess the bearing capacity for inclined pullout plate anchors. This bearing capacity analysis was performed by embedding the anchors in clay with different initial inclinations and different embedment ratios. Both the attached anchor base and vented base were evaluated. The results showed that the bearing capacities of the inclined plate anchors were associated with the inclination angles and base conditions. The separation depth of the plate anchors can be assessed by a simple equation from vertically pulled out plate anchors. Large deformation finite element analyses of plate anchor keying in clay has been performed. The effects of anchor thickness, anchor padeye eccentricity, anchor-soil interface roughness, soil shear strength, anchor submerged weight and soil disturbance have been studied with anchors in uniform or normally consolidated clays. The numerical results were compared with transparent soil test and existing centrifuge test data. The study showed that the RITSS method works well in simulating the anchor keying process. Anchor padeye eccentricity played an important role in anchor keying. A normalised anchor geometry ratio was used to estimate the loss in embedment during plate anchor’s keying. Both finite element analysis and centrifuge tests have been conducted to study the suction caisson installation effect. In finite element analysis, the soil disturbed zone varied from 3 times the caisson wall thickness to a full area inside a caisson. / Centrifuge tests of suction embedded plate anchors were conducted in normally consolidated kaolin clay and transparent uniform soil. It can be concluded that the reduction in anchor capacity due to soil disturbance after suction caisson installation depends on re-consolidation time and soil sensitivity. The soil disturbance also reduced the loss of embedment during the anchor keying process.