Assessment of BEE progress in the petroleum industry and its role in creating value for the players within the industry.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / There are relatively few women in senior leadership or management positions in South African industry. The oil industry is no exception to this and could in fact be considered to exemplify the ways in which women are marginalised. This small-scale qualitative project aims to explore challenges and experiences women face when entering senior management positions in the Petroleum Industry in Cape Town. The main objective of the study is to explore how gender (and other relevant subject positions) impacts on women's career development and opportunities. I used a qualitative feminist methodological framework and conducted a total of 12 semi-structured interviews with women employed in upper management positions in the 8 oil companies in the greater Western Cape area including the South African Petroleum Industry Association and Department of Energy (SAPIA). A thematic data analysis was then utilised to interpret the data. My findings show that many women perceive the route to success as difficult yet possible suggesting that the popular ''glass ceiling'' conceptual scheme should be replaced by the ''labyrinth of leadership'' model discussed in Early and Carli 2007 with relation to the oil industry. Further findings suggest that although the oil industry provides unique challenges to women as a gendered organization, it also incorporates various progressive initiatives for their advancement.

Thesis. 1977. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Duplicate leaves 13 and 16 bound in. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.C.P.

Thesis. 1979. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY. / Bibliography: leaves 141-142. / by Henry Furlow Owsley, III. / M.S.

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The need for a sustainable development of natural resources has, in recent time taken centre stage in most natural resource rich countries. Environmental degradation resulting from the unsustainable development of petroleum resources has also resulted in the impoverishment of a large number of people. In countries like Nigeria, revenue accruing from energy and natural resources projects has become the mainstay of the nation's economy. However, the main beneficiaries of the wealth created by the exploration and production of petroleum are the state who owns all natural resources in line with the provisions of Nigerian law and the companies that exploit these resources. As a result, local landowners, do not directly benefit from petroleum exploitation even though they bear the direct consequences of petroleum exploitation. One consequence is the reduction of productive agricultural lands which has disrupted some of the traditional occupations of the people in the Niger Delta where the bulk of Nigeria's petroleum production takes place. It is this disruption that is the focus of this thesis. Despite Nigeria's support for the sustainable development of Nigeria's petroleum resources, environmental degradation resulting from the exploitation of petroleum has continued unabated. This raises a fundamental question as to the effectiveness of the regulatory regime governing petroleum activities in Nigeria. Using doctrinal and socio-legal methodology, this thesis explores the existing regulatory regime to ascertain if it is robust enough or effective to ensure the sustainable development of Nigeria's petroleum resources. It considers what impact, if any, does a failure in the regulatory regime have on the local population. Having established the failure of the legal regime, the study examines the consequences of the State's failure to sustainably develop its petroleum resources and consider if s Having established the failure of the legal regime, the study examines the consequences of the State's failure to sustainably develop its petroleum resources and consider if such failure has any impact on the stability and sustainability of petroleum projects themselves. Perhaps the most surprising finding to emerge from this study is that while the failure of the regulatory regime has negatively impacted the local population, the resulting social unrest or risks does not negatively impact the stability and sustainability of petroleum projects in real terms when compared with the cost of improving environmetal practices. In the search for solutions to address the failure of the existing regime and its consequences, the study examined relevant provisions of the new Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) intending to ascertain if there are significant improvements capable of ensuring the sustainable development of Nigeria's petroleum resources. It concludes that while the PIB contains some improvements on the existing regulatory regime, there are problematic provisions that require some attention if the nation is to achieve the goal of sustainable development of its petroleum resources.

This study argues for the need to ensure that host countries derive appropriate benefits from natural resources exploited within their territories. In this regard, the most important return from petroleum extraction, is from the fiscal take. Taxation of the extractive sector is thus a major revenue source. The host country interest from the extractive activities is in parallel to the interest of investor countries to share in the revenues derived from investments in the extractives sector by entities from those countries. Further, the capital exporting countries assert interest in protecting the investors from the risks associate with foreign investments, particularly in developing host countries. Historically, International Oil Companies enjoyed an upper hand in negotiating investment protection and stability terms as a result of information asymmetries. Many agreements concluded between the investor entities with developing host countries have been askew and overly favourable to the investor to the extent of endearing unconscionability. This study reveals that Tanzania's existing Production Sharing Agreements contain fiscal terms which do not allocate an appropriate share of financial benefits to the host country. It also reveals that arrangements to protect and provide investment stability have employed terms which are inimical to the economic and social well-being of the Peoples of Tanzania, for example through the excessive and wasteful grant of tax concessions. It was observed that Tanzania has offered fiscal terms to IOCs that do not allow the country to enjoy appropriate benefits from the exploitation of its natural resources. This project, therefore, establishes the effect of stabilisation terms as embedded in the Tanzanian fiscal regime, what redress measures should be sought to correct the imbalance and inequitableness engraved in the abusive use of stabilization arrangements through the PSAs.

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Skill deficiencies in organisations affect performance, productivity, economic growth and development. Despite quantitative studies and current policy discussions, which acknowledge that skill deficiencies have negative impacts on both employers and employees in developed countries, these studies placed little or no emphasis on the potential impact of skill shortages in developing economies. On the other hand, descriptive studies on skill shortages in Nigeria gave accounts of possible effects on economic growth, however, relatively little is known about the incidence of skill deficiencies experienced by organisations and their impacts on business and employee performance, growth and development. This mixed methods study explored the impact of skill deficiencies on organisations' performance, economic growth and infrastructure delivery, effects on employees, how these effects are managed and possible ways of sustaining skills. A sequential explanatory mixed methods design was used to explore both employers' and employees' experiences of skill deficiencies and possible management measures. This method facilitated the exploration of both convergent and divergent views between employers and employees, assisted in avoiding the subjectivity of using only employers' accounts and provided avenues for capturing salient features of why skill deficiencies occur. Both employers and employees participated in the survey (n=263) and interviews (n= 45). The results suggest that although oil and gas organisations experienced significant skill deficiencies on both business and employee performance and infrastructure delivery; higher impacts were felt in upstream organisations. The economic consequences of skill shortages on individuals, firms and aggregate economy extends to job satisfaction, hiring costs, adoption of new technologies and new work processes, workload, turnover and commitment. Both employers and employees identified that current skill deficiencies affect their performance, potentials for growth and provision of services to clients, adding that the many consequences necessitated the use of various skill and workforce development strategies in managing these effects. Even with the recognition that incidence of skill shortages require supply side response, while skill gaps needs training; the results nonetheless showed that training was used for both skill shortages and skills gaps alongside other workforce development. The findings clarified the causes and extent of skill deficiencies on organisations and proposes changes for remediation of these deficiencies. One of the changes required relates to the need for collaboration and partnership of the social partners of skills, and building links between the world of learning and the world of work. Overall, the structural factors highlight the need for reforming and rejuvenating the education system and investing in skills.

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