The problem with which this investigation is concerned is determining the viability of economic development in the oil and natural gas sector in Bahrain since its independence in August 1971, and the changing role of the government in shaping oil policies and managing downstream operations. This inquiry emphasizes the importance of cooperation and coordination in the oil industry among the Arab Gulf States. This study concludes that Bahrain's economy is passing through and era which will have one of two possible endings: one will protect the independence of the country and promote cooperation with the other Arab Gulf States as a transitional stage toward a board regional unity; the other will lead Bahrain to become a commercial outlet for Saudi Arabia.

The research undertaken in this study is designed to examine the reliability of management estimates of expected future net revenues from the production of proved oil and gas reserves determined in accordance with the requirements of the prediction model specified in ASR No. 253. The issue of the required disclosure of earnings forecasts has been a topic of considerable controversy for many years. Within that controversy, the most frequently encountered opposition questions the reliability and ultimate utility of earnings forecasts. Similar opposition to both past and present forecast disclosure requirements exists in the oil and gas industry. In order to examine the reliability of management estimates of expected future net revenues, a two-part analysis was conducted. In the first part of the analysis, error metrics comparing management forecasts to actual results were computed and examined. Included in the examination were various relationships among and within the computed metrics. In the second part of the analysis an attempt was made to establish the association between the error metrics and specific related variables. It was anticipated that the degree of association determined would provide evidence of the relative accuracy of management in predicting the timing and volume of future production within the framework of the prediction model.

Video summarizing Ph.D. dissertation for a non-specialist audience.

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

The study analyses the relative separation of the effects of changes in a nation's dollar exchange rate and crude oil's dollar price on a country's short-run crude oil derived demand. It examines the role of the dollar exchange rate on domestic and international petroleum flows and discusses the short-run inefficiencies that occur due to adjustment times in a country's domestic petroleum market. A four-equation, structural model of a country's short-run petroleum demand function for its two petroleum flows (crude oil and imported product) was used. Using the translog function, estimates of direct and indirect dollar exchange rate effects were estimated. To account for the role of a nation's refinery industry on international petroleum flows, a measure of the industry's flexibility was developed. The industry is said to be flexible when it can alter its inputs' naturally occurring product fractions to more closely meet the country's final demand. The index developed in this study measures the industry's increase in its output product slate's weighted average API, relative to the weighted average API of its crude oil and feedstocks inputs, adjusted for the crude oil's naturally occurring product fractions.

This thesis addresses the substantive problem: how does variation in energy wealth impact upon the foreign policies of major energy-producing states? To answer this question, the thesis draws upon the ‘resource curse’ literature, as well as existing works of foreign policy analysis, to formulate a new theory. Based on a framework of neoclassical realism, this energy impact theory of foreign policy proposes that energy wealth, conceived as a national capability, has a significant and reliable effect on major energy-producing states’ foreign policies. Specifically, it is hypothesised that increases in energy capabilities amplify the scale and scope of these states’ international activity; promote boldness, ambition, and aggression; and encourage the adoption of unilateralist approaches to foreign policy. Decreases in energy capabilities are anticipated to have the opposite effects. Having delineated the core features of this middle-range theory, the model is tested using an initial, most-likely case study of the Soviet Union and Russian Federation, 1970 to 2010. The results of this empirical study are enormously encouraging since, following meticulous qualitative analysis of events data, the theory is concluded to have significant explanatory value in this context, as well as substantial promise as a more general model. In this way, the thesis endeavours to make a distinctive contribution, not only to research into the factors shaping Moscow’s international conduct, but also to the broader theoretical literatures on the ‘resource curse’ and foreign policy analysis. It is anticipated that this thesis marks only the beginning of a much more extensive programme of research.

Domestic demand for petroleum coupled with rising world oil prices have become burden to the Thai government.  One idea is a legislative solution which requires modifying and updating petroleum law. A condition a petroleum law must meet to maximise state revenue is that the law must provide tools for handling exceptional cases, e.g. production from large and small fields, because the contract pattern contains the general assumption that large fields are profitable.  Sliding scale royalties and income tax, as well as a windfall profit (the Special Remuneratory Benefit) are suited to generating maximum state revenue and are fair to international oil companies upon consideration of the field sizes and frontiers.  But what should the rate be? The proposed fiscal incentive options aim to lower the economic cut-off thereby increasing the cumulative reserves which can be economically produced.  Some provisions of the existing petroleum law and concession contract which should be made for amendment at the first stage are submitted in this thesis. As for Thailand as an oil importing country, factors other than fiscal aspects need to be considered, for example, issue of a maritime area subjected to overlapping claimed by Thailand and its neighbours.  Action should be taken to resolve a state of uncertainty for interested oil companies. The issue of company size is also important as it is involved in marginal fields.  A large oil company would prefer to transfer its right of a marginal field or declining field to another smaller company. Developing a marginal field depends on a mixture of technical, commercial and regulatory issues.  Smaller sized companies appear to have more flexible work arrangements.

This thesis essentially constitutes an analysis of laws designed to protect the marine environment from the pollution arising from the exploitation of offshore oil and gas reserves, Chapter 2 addresses not only the origin and nature of oil and gas, but also the techniques employed in surveying for and producing these energy forms. Chapters 3 and 4, in turn, outline the history of offshore operations in South Africa and the UK, respectively, with regard, <i>inter alia</i>, to the location, size and economic significance of these operations. In order to properly address the South African legal framework's failure to adequately regulate pollution arising from offshore upstream operations, an explanation of the nature and forms of such pollution must first be set out. Chapter 5 analyses the concept of pollution from a legal perspective, while also giving detailed consideration to the various forms of pollution that may arise at each of the three stages of offshore oil and gas operations, which are surveying, drilling and production, and decommissioning. Chapter 6 has a dual focus. Firstly, it discusses particular environmental principles that underpin the development and application of environmentally orientated laws. Secondly, it considers various regulatory techniques and their suitability to environmental regulation of the offshore industry. Chapter 7 provides a detailed overview of the international legal framework applicable to offshore oil and gas operations. Chapters 8 and 9 consider the aspects of the UK's and South Africa's domestic legislation that provide for the environmental regulation of offshore oil and gas operations. Both chapters are structured so as to identify enviro-legal considerations relevant to each stage of offshore upstream operations. Both also contain critiques of the manner in which the relevant South African environmental law compares to that of the UK. To this end, legal lacunae and differences in regulatory approaches are identified and various suggestions are made for improving the current South African state of affairs. An argument is submitted for the formulation of a statutory solution to the South African predicament, particularly by means of the promulgation of an entirely new Act specifically designed to regulate the country's rapidly escalating offshore oil and gas industry.

This study comprises an analysis of the development of oil and gas in the Scottish sector of the North Sea and its impact on the Scottish economy between 1967 and 1989. It first examines the creation and extension of the power of the multinational oil companies. It discusses the decline of that power as nationalism in the Middle East forced the multinationals to make concessions. The result was a weakening of multinational firms which culminated in the movement to explore for oil in more stable areas. Subsequent OPEC activity drove the price of oil up and created an oil boom in the North Sea, lasting until the end of 1985. The high oil prices that triggered the oil boom in the North Sea had a tremendous impact on the British economy. Increasing oil import prices seemed likely to drive Britain to the brink of bankruptcy, if not into bankruptcy. Consequently, successive British governments adopted a policy of developing Britain's North Sea assets as rapidly as possible, to avert economic disaster. These two factors combined to create a window of opportunity for industry that lasted about ten years. It was expected that Scottish industry would benefit greatly from this unprecedented development. That it did not can be attributed to several reasons including, among others: the lack of abiity to adapt to the specifications of the oil and gas industry; the lack of government action to force greater Scottish content; the well developed, interlocking infrastructure of the major international petroleum suppliers, service companies and operators; and the lack of time to respond before the boom was over. The result of these negative factors was a Scottish content in Scottish Sector North Sea oil and gas development of less than twenty-five percent.

This thesis has as its primary purpose determining what, if any, resentment toward junior executive programs may exist among regular or "old" employees of a selected group of petroleum companies in the Port Arthur, Beaumont, and Port Neches area of Texas. At the same time, measures taken in these companies to cope with the problem will be studied and appraised.