Doctor of Philosophy / The apparent increase in market concentration and vertical integration in the Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) industry has led to concerns about the presence of market power. For the Indonesian CPO industry, such concerns attract more attention because of the importance of this sector to the Indonesian economy. CPO is used as the main raw material for cooking oil (which is an essential commodity in Indonesia) and it contributes significantly to export earnings and employment. However, dominant producers argue that the increase in economies of scale and scope lead to an increase in the efficiency, which eventually will be beneficial for the end consumers and export earnings. This research seeks to examine whether the dominant producers do behave competitively and pass the efficiency gains to the end consumers, or they enhance inefficiency through market power instead. In order to identify the most suitable model to measure market power in the Indonesian CPO industry, different market power models are explored. These models can be divided into static and dynamic models. In general, all of them accept the price–cost margins as a measure of market power. However, static models fail to reveal the dynamic behaviour that determines market power; hence the dynamic models are likely to be more appropriate to modelling market power. Among these dynamic models, the adjustment model with a linear quadratic specification is considered to be a more appropriate model to measure market power in the Indonesian CPO industry. In the Indonesian CPO industry, producers can be divided into three groups, namely the public estates, private companies and smallholders. However, based on their ability to influence market price, smallholders are not considered as one of the dominant groups. By using the adjustment cost model, the market power of the dominant groups is estimated. The model is estimated using a Bayesian technique annual data spanning 1968–2003. The public estates and private companies are assumed to engage in a noncooperative game. They are assumed to use Markovian strategies, which permit firms to respond to changes in the state vector. In this case, the vector comprises the firms and their rivals’ previous action, implying that firms respond to changes in their rivals’ previous action. The key contribution of this thesis is the relaxation of the symmetry assumption in the estimation process. Although the existence of an asymmetric condition often complicates the estimation process, the different characteristics of the public estates and private companies lead to a need for relaxing such an assumption. In addition, the adjustment system—which can be seen as a type of reaction function—is not restricted to have downward slopes. Negative reaction functions are commonly assumed for a quantity setting game. However, the reverse may occur in particular circumstances. Without such restrictions, the analysis could reveal the type of interaction between the public estates and private companies. In addition, it provides insights into empirical examples of conditions that might lead to the positive reaction function. Furthermore, the analysis adds to the understanding of the impact of positive reaction functions to avoid the complicated estimation of the asymmetric case. As expected, the public estates act as the leader, while the private companies are the follower. Interestingly, results indicate that as well as the private companies, public estates do exert some degree of market power. Moreover, the public estates enjoy even higher market power than the private companies, as indicated by market power indices of -0.46 and -0.72, respectively. The exertion of market power by both the public estates and the private companies cast some doubts about the effectiveness of some current policies in the Indonesian CPO industry. With market power, the underlying assumption of a perfectly competitive market condition—that serves as the basis for the government interventions—is no longer applicable. Hence, many government interventions are unlikely to have the desired effect. The Indonesian competition law that has been imposed since 1999 might be effective in preventing firms to sign collusive contracts. In fact, even without such an agreement, firms in the CPO industry are likely to exert some degree of market power. As an alternative, eliminating the ‘sources’ of market power might be a better solution. If the public estates have the aim of maximising welfare, privatisation might improve their efficiency, hence they have ability to suppress the private companies’ market power. However, if in fact, the public estates deliberately reduce output to gain higher profit, privatisation might increase the degree of market power of both groups of companies even further. In such a condition, addressing the long term barriers of entry stemming from the requirement of high investment might be a better alternative to address the market power problem in the CPO industry.

Thesis (M.Bus(Taxation))--University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1990. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (M. Bus. )--Edith Cowan University, 2006. / Submitted to the Faculty of Business and Law. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1998. / Bibliography: leaves 230-240.

Thesis (Professional Degree)--University of Missouri, School of Mines and Metallurgy, 1934. / The entire thesis text is included in file. Typescript. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed July 15, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-117) and index (p. 118-129).

La normalisation est l'activité de production des règles qui prescrivent des pratiques productives par une obligation de résultat (caractéristiques d'un produit) ou de moyens (caractéristiques d'une procédure productive), elles peuvent être élaborées au sein des entreprises ou à un niveau sectoriel. Notre recherche contribue à éclairer deux types d'enjeux économiques de la normalisation identifiés dans l'amont pétrolier : le premier renvoie à l'évaluation des coûts et des avantages du recours à des normes sectorielle dans l'élaboration des systèmes de règles applicables par les opérateurs de l'entreprise ; le second renvoie à l'évaluation des modes de normalisation, notamment à l'idée que, plus que la normalisation interne à l'entreprise, l'investissement dans la normalisation sectorielle permettrait la structuration concurrentielle de l'amont pétrolier.Tout d'abord, l'usage de règles est indispensable pour pouvoir opérer, notamment dans la durée (assurer un niveau de sécurité et d'efficacité permettant l'accès à la ressource et réduisant les risques d'accident majeur) ; ensuite l'identification des vecteurs de gains de la normalisation – couplée à l'analyse conventionnaliste de la qualité et des mondes de production – aide à distinguer quatre types de produits correspondant à quatre situations d'interfaces pour lesquelles différents mix de normalisation (sectorielle, interne,…) doivent être recherchés. Enfin la prévention des risques (parfois extrêmement coûteux) et plus généralement la gestion de la qualité sont impactées positivement par la normalisation sectorielle.Néanmoins les gains obtenus dans notre cas pratique ne peuvent pas être transposés à d'autres cas pratiques puisque la question des gains de la normalisation ne peut trouver de réponse universelle compte tenu de la diversité des types de normes d'une part, et des types d'interfaces et de situations productives concernées d'autre part. / Standardization activities are dedicated to the elaboration of rules which are used to prescribe practices through obligations of results (product characteristics) or obligations of means (production processes characteristics). These rules can be elaborated by firms or by industry associations. Our study contributes to answer two economic questions of the oil upstream industry. The first one is the measurement of the added value of the use of industry standards in the elaboration of the firm references documents collections (its technical specifications). The second one is related to the different types of standardizations and the idea that industry standardization is a tool to organize concurrency of the market in the oil industry.Firstly, the use of standards is essential to produce efficiently, safely (without accident) for many years and often essential in order to access natural resources. Secondly the identification of the main sources of standardization benefits, in addition to the conventionalist analyze of quality and of the “mondes de production” help us to identify four productive interfaces for which a mix of standardization (with internal and external standardization) is more adapted. Finally the prevention of risks, and more globally the quality management, is positively impacted by industrial standardization.Nevertheless, the gains observed in our case study cannot be transposed to other case studies because, as the institutionalism theory and the conventionalism theory explain, the interrogation about the benefits of standardization cannot be completely resolved because of the diversity of the type of standards in one side, and the diversity of production situations in the other side.

This thesis is concerned with the legal management of risk in oil and gas operations upon the United Kingdom Continental Shelf. The work focusses in particular upon geological risk, political risk and the regulatory and commercial risks pertaining to major accidents. Geological risk relates to the fact that generally, oil and gas is concealed within geological formations in the deep underground. Exploration activity is, as a result, both difficult and expensive. The thesis considers the extent to which the UK's chosen licensing system has struck an appropriate balance on who should bear the risk of failure of such operations. Political risk involves (on the one hand) the risks faced by investors in interacting with the state and (on the other) the risks faced by the state when designing its regulatory system. Investors are in a precarious position due to the high level of capital investment and long-term nature of oil and gas operations: they are therefore concerned to ensure stability and autonomy of operation. The state, on the other hand, is concerned that it is not taken advantage of by the (usually more knowledgeable) industry player when designing its regulatory system. The risk of major accident is reflected both in regulation of health, safety and the environment and in the contractual arrangements entered into by commercial entities in order to determine which party should bear ultimate liability in the event that an accident causes wide-spread loss. Having regard to the example of the law applied on the UK continental shelf, the thesis demonstrates that while risk can never be wholly removed from oil and gas operations, the law can be effectively used to mitigate risk and thereafter to facilitate he appropriate distribution of such residual levels of risk as remain.

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo estimar a renda de informação apropriada pelos vencedores dos leilões para exploração e produção de petróleo e gás natural no Brasil. Assume-se um modelo estrutural de leilão de valor privado independente. Foram estimadas as distribuições dos lances e dos valores privados dos lançadores de forma não-paramétrica, assumindo assimetria entre os participantes (Petrobras+OGX versus outros). Para isso, explorou-se um banco de dados construído a partir de informações de todos os leilões realizados entre 1999 e 2008. Tal estudo é relevante por tentar avaliar o sucesso do governo brasileiro e das empresas licitantes nestes leilões, principalmente diante da discussão do novo marco regulatório do pré-sal. Os resultados sugerem que a Petrobras e a OGX obtiveram rendas de informação significativamente maiores que as demais concorrentes. Tais rendas variam entre 14% e 63%, dependendo do número de competidores e de seu tipo. De maneira geral, o governo tende a extrair maior parte do preço de reserva do vencedor do leilão quando este não é a Petrobras ou a OGX e quanto maior for o número de concorrentes. / This dissertation aims to estimate the information rent grabbed by the winners of auctions for exploration and production of oil and natural gas in Brazil. It assumes a structural model of independent private values for the auctions. We estimated non-parametrically both the distributions of bids and the distribution of private values from bidders, assuming asymmetry between the participants (Petrobras + OGX versus others). For this, we explored a database with information about all the auctions held between 1999 and 2008. This study is relevant since it tries to assess the success of the Brazilian government and bidders in these auctions, especially before the discussion on the new regulatory framework of pre-salt. Results suggest that Petrobras and OGX obtained information rents significantly higher than other competitors. These rents vary between 14% and 63%, depending on the number of competitors and on their types. In general, the government tends to capture most of the reserve price of the winning bidder when it is not Petrobras or OGX and the greater the number of competitors.

Esta tese teve como objetivo analisar o processo de geração e apropriação da renda petrolífera nos modelos de organização adotados pela indústria brasileira de petróleo. O interesse pelas jazidas de petróleo tem sua origem nas altas rendas geradas na cadeia produtiva, principalmente na fase de exploração, as quais podem ser apropriadas por quem exerce a propriedade sobre o recurso. O entendimento da moderna indústria petrolífera brasileira em um contexto de altos preços de petróleo, de incremento da produção e da descoberta de grandes acumulações de petróleo no pré-sal, leva à discussão em torno da disputa da riqueza gerada, o modelo de organização da indústria e o papel da empresa estatal, PETROBRAS. Tais aspectos foram avaliados seguindo uma perspectiva histórica, baseada no estudo da renda marxista e na aplicação de categorias concretas de análise à indústria petrolífera, abrangendo no período de estudo o pré-monopólio do petróleo, a consolidação da indústria petrolífera com bases estatais, o modelo de concessão e o modelo misto para explorar o pré-sal. A indústria petrolífera mexicana e venezuelana foram estudadas como referencia. Realizada a análise, identificou-se - dada a disponibilidade de recursos petrolíferos orientados a atender o abastecimento interno - o predomínio de excedente econômico gerado no mercado nacional e em menor medida uma renda petrolífera, diferencial e absoluta conseguida no mercado internacional. Também se constatou que dentro do estado nacional moldou-se um processo de disputa do excedente econômico nas suas várias etapas históricas, já que, uma vez definida a hegemonia sobre o petróleo, a disputa pelos excedentes se dá no seio do próprio Estado, entre os estados e os municípios. Concluiu-se que o modelo de organização da indústria petrolífera brasileira é resultado da disputa pelas forças envolvidas na apropriação da renda petrolífera. / This thesis aims to analyze the process of generation and appropriation of oil rent in the organizational models adopted by the Brazilian oil industry. Interest in owning of petroleum fields has its origin in the high rents generated in the production chain, especially in the exploration phase, which may be appropriated by whoever has the property rights on the resource. The understanding of modern Brazilian oil industry in a context of high oil prices; the increase of production and the discovery of large accumulations of oil in pre-salt, leads to discussions around the dispute of the wealth generated, the organizational model of the industry and the role of state-owned company, PETROBRAS. These aspects were evaluated following a historical perspective, based on the study of Marxist rent theory and the application of concrete categories of analysis specific to the oil industry, covering in the period of the study the pre-monopoly, the consolidation of the oil industry with state basis, the concession model and the mixed model to explore the pre-salt. Given the availability of oil resources geared to meet domestic supply during the analysis it was identified the predominance of economic surplus generated in the domestic market and to a lesser extent, a differential and absolute rent achieved in the international market. On the other hand, also within the national state a process of dispute of that economic surplus was shaped, once defined hegemony over oil the dispute for economic surpluses occurs within the state itself, between the states and municipalities. It was concluded that the organizational model of Brazilian oil industry is a result of the dispute by the forces involved in the appropriation of oil rents.

Oil is one of the most valuable resources. For a country like Uganda, which is one of the least developed countries in the world with more than one third of the population still living below the poverty line; the discovery of this valuable resource has the capacity to radically alter the economy of the country. But on the other hand, oil exploration, mining and refining are complex, costly, long duration projects with many challenges that require sophisticated financial management, planning, scheduling and cost control. The project management profession is charged as a single point of responsibility for initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling projects in order to meet stakeholder’s needs and expectations. The research objectives were: 1. To identify and examine the challenges and risks associated with the oil industry in Uganda. 2. To investigate the effectiveness of project management practices in the Ugandan oil industry in terms 1 above. 3. Identify how project success can be measured in the Ugandan oil industry. A case study was the research technique adopted and interviews were conducted with the major stakeholders in the Ugandan oil industry. The research findings reveal the challenges and risks that continue to plague the Ugandan oil industry and the role of project management in the exploration phase of the project. The research findings were used to evaluate the role, responsibility and service that project management professionals are expected to render and the actual role, responsibility and service that the professionals have been rendering to the stakeholders in the Ugandan oil industry. The research then concludes by proposing ways of improving the chances of project success in the Ugandan oil industry.