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Целью работы является развитие теоретических и методических положений управления человеческими ресурсами с учетом формирования специальных компетенций персонала. По результатам работы был сформирован методический подход к менеджменту человеческих ресурсов, который связан со спецификой нефтегазового сектора и учитывает показатели оценки результативности практик управления зелеными и шельфовыми компетенциями, особенностью которого являются этапы оценки содержания программ обучения, степени их внедрения в практику и наличия оценки имиджевых и экономических эффектов для компании, что позволяет оценить достигнутые результаты в формировании зеленого человеческого капитала и развить внутреннюю систему управления персоналом и их компетенциями. / The purpose of the work is to develop the theoretical and methodical provisions of human resource management, taking into account the formation of special competencies of personnel. Based on the results of the work, a methodical approach to the management of human resources was formed, which is associated with the specifics of the oil and gas sector and takes into account the indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of green and shelf competencies management practices, a feature of which are the stages of assessing the content of training programs, the degree of their implementation in practice and the availability effects for the company, which allows assessing the results achieved in the formation of green human capital and developing an internal system for managing personnel and their competencies.

The Nenets, an indigenous peoples in the North of Russia, are increasingly being affected by the gas industry. The increasing prioritisation of extractive industries, the status of the Arctic as a bellwether and the threatened situation of indigenous people in Russia has drawn greater attention to this field of study. One resulting issue concerns the relationship between the Nenets and the gas industry, especially regarding the traditional activity of the Nenets; reindeer pastoralism. The implications of this relationship remains little chronicled and understood, with only piecemeal attempts to consider the wider industry-indigenous pastoralism association. This thesis investigates this issue, with particular reference to the framework of energy justice and the Bovanenkovo gas field on the Yamal Peninsula. Energy justice is a relatively new theoretical framework that probes how justicial extractive industries are, whilst Bovanenkovo is a large and expanding gas field on the traditional territory of the Nenets. A systematic literature review has been employed as this thesis’ methodology, which has detailed the various frames by which the relationship on Yamal has been interpreted around the lens of energy justice. Overall, this review has revealed the presence of injustices on Yamal with distinct distributional, procedural and recognition injustices affecting reindeer pastoralism. The implicit nature by which energy justice is featured within the corpus’ authorship as well as the limited reference to the concept of justice are also demonstrated. A number of alternative frames characterising the relationship have also been elucidated, all of which contribute further to frames of injustice but also indicate remediation. A conclusion is drawn that the situation on Yamal remains complex with many different stakeholders, and that the indigenous Nenets remain ever-affected by resource extractive industries.

Yes / This study aims to examine the extent to which corporate governance structures and ownership types are associated with the level of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures (CSRD) in a developing country. Design/methodology/approach: Multiple regression techniques are used to estimate the effect of corporate governance structures and ownership types on CSRD using a sample of Libyan oil and gas companies between 2009 and 2013. Findings: First, our results suggest that although the level of CSRD in Libya is low in comparison to its western counterparts, ownership factors have a significant positive influence on CSRD. Second, we find board meetings to have a positive impact on CSRD. However, we fail to find any significant effect of board size and presence of CSR committees on CSRD. Overall, our results support prior theoretical evidence that pressures exerted by the government and external stakeholders have a considerable influence in promoting firm-level CSRD activities, specifically as a legitimising mechanism in fragile states. Research limitations/implications: First, our research is based on the annual reports and it did not examine any other reports or other mass communication mechanism that companies’ management may use to disclose CSR information. Future studies might consider disclosures in other channels, if any, such as the internet, CSR reports etc. Additionally, this research adopts the neo-institutional theory perspective. Future studies might integrate multi-theoretical lense to offer a richer basis for understanding and explaining CSRD determinants. Originality/value: Our research contributes to the literature by first providing additional evidence for existing studies, which suggest that on average better-governed companies are more liable to follow a more socially responsible agenda than poorly governed companies as a legitimising mechanism in fragile states. Also, our study overcomes a major weakness in existing Libyan studies, which have mainly used descriptive data.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In a world where emerging markets are increasingly driving the world’s economic growth, and an increasing part of the world’s energy supply comes from politically unstable or undemocratic countries with less developed institutions and inadequate rule of law, the field of political risk has acquired especially great significance. In order to keep up with international and domestic demand, as well as maintain profit levels, there has been and will continue to be a search for new sources of petroleum reserves. This has pushed the extractive industries to invest in new territories, some of which pose potential risks for new investments. These trends are changing where and how oil and gas companies conduct their business, as many of the political risks that face the extractive industries stem from the political, institutional and structural framework of the host country. The core of this study has been the investigation of the assumption that high levels of democracy constitute low levels of political risk. The assumption that high levels of democracy constitute low levels of political risk implies, conversely, that low levels of democracy constitute high levels of political risk. The debate around this assumption is an essential part of this research study; its validity was tested through conducting an industry-specific political risk analysis, using the case of Statoil’s operations in Angola. Angola poses an interesting case for analyzing political risk in the oil and gas sector, as it exhibits many of the qualities that are found amongst these “new” actors in the oil industry. Furthermore, additional and new research on the risk of investing in these emerging markets is more relevant than ever before. The stipulation of the relevance of this research study is based on the following two main points: firstly, the general decline in the level of democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa; secondly, the fact that many of the current oil and gas resources are located in these very areas, i.e. in undemocratic and unstable countries. Moreover, there is little research on the effects the level of democracy has on the industry-specific risk, in this case the oil and gas industry. Hence further research on this area is both relevant and necessary. The political risk analysis shows that the political risks that face Statoil in the undemocratic nation of Angola are in fact not high. The analysis concludes with a result that indicates that investment in Angola poses a medium level of political risk. This challenges the abovementioned assumption, as the political risks are not necessarily higher in an undemocratic country. This study finds that the political risk associated with Angola is in the short- to mid-term seen as stable and medium; however, there are simmering tendencies and trends that currently point to a different long-term political risk picture. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In ‘n wêreld waar opkomende markte die ekonomiese groei van die wêreld toenemend voortdryf en ‘n toenemende deel van die wêreld se energie voorraad van politiese onstabiele of ondemokratiese lande met minder ontwikkelde instellings en onvoldoende regering kom, het die veld van politieke risiko groot waarde gekry. Om by te hou by die internasionale en plaaslike vraag, sowel as om winsvlakke te handhaaf, is en sal daar altyd ‘n soektog na nuwe bronne van petroleum reserwes wees. Dit het die ekstraksie industrieë gedruk om in nuwe gebiede te belê waarvan sommiges potensiële risiko’s het vir nuwe beleggings. Hierdie neigings verander waar en hoe olie- en petrolmaatskappye hul besigheid doen omdat baie van die politieke risiko’s wat die ekstraksie industrieë moet hanteer voortvloei uit die politieke, institusionele en strukturele raamwerk van die gasheerland. Die kern van hierdie studie was die ondersoek van die aanname dat hoë vlakke van demokrasie aanleiding gee tot lae vlakke van politieke risiko. Die aanname dat hoë vlakke van demokrasie aanleiding gee tot hae vlakke van politieke risiko impliseer dat lae vlakke van demokrasie aanleiding gee tot hoë vlakke van politieke risiko. Die debat rondom hierdie aanname is ‘n noodsaaklike deel van hierdie navorsingstudie; die geldigheid daarvan is getoets deur die uitvoering van ‘n industrie-spesifieke politieke risiko analise, deur gebruik te maak van die geval van Statoil se operering in Angola. Angola is ‘n interessante geval vir die ontleding van politieke risiko in die olie en petrolsektor, omdat dit baie van die kwaliteite toon wat onder die “nuwe” rolspelers in die olie-industrie gevind word. Verder is bykomende en nuwe navorsing op die risiko van belegging in hierdie opkomende markte meer relevant. Die stipulasie van hierdie relevansie van hierdie navorsingstudie is gebaseer op die volgende twee punte: eerstens, die algemene afname in die vlak van demokrasie in Sub-Sahara Afrika; tweedens, die feit dat baie van die huidige olie en petrolbronne in hierdie areas geleë is, d.i in ondemokratiese en onstabiele lande. Daar is ook min navorsing oor die uitwerking wat demokrasie het op die industrie-spesifieke risiko, in hierdie geval die olie en petroleum industrie. Daarom is verdere navorsing in hierdie area beide relevant en noodsaaklik. Die politieke risiko ontleding wys dat die politieke risikos wat Statoil in die gesig staar in die ondemokrastiese nasie van Angola nie hoog is nie. Die ontleding sluit af met ‘n gevolgtrekking wat toon dat belegging in Angola ‘n medium vlak van politieke risiko toon. Dit daag die bogenoemde aanname uit, omdat die politieke risiko’s nie noodwendig hoog is in ‘n ondemokratiese land nie. Hierdie studie vind dat die politieke risiko wat met Angola geassosieer word in die kort tot middel termyn is en as stabiel en medium beskou word; daar is egter neigings wat dui op ‘n ander langtermyn politieke risiko prent.

The playing field upon which actors, both state and non-state, develop strategies to secure existing supplies of oil and seek access to new ones is as systemically, politically and strategically complex is as it is geographically vast. In considering this activity, the terminology used by pundits and journalists to describe the significance of issues such as oil demand, the complexities of access to petroleum and concerns over security threats to supplies of oil is familiar. Juxtapositions such as the ‘geopolitics of oil', ‘energy geopolitics', the ‘geopolitics of resource wars' and the ‘geopolitics of oil and gas' are all familiar. But what do they mean when they use ‘geopolitics' in this context? Thus, by extension, can petroleum geopolitics - a hybrid conceptual construction used in this thesis - be disassembled into its component parts, analysed and systematically understood. This is the aim of this thesis. This thesis contends that the very nature of oil and gas reserves, the processes of exploration and production, and the means that govern and characterise the transportation of petroleum overland and by sea is inherently geopolitical - that some core features of geopolitical theory and key geopolitical concepts are pivotal in determining the ontology and process of the international oil business. Indeed, so central has oil been to the advancement of industrial capacity, technology, warfare, transportation and economic prosperity of states since the 20th century, it could be argued that petroleum is the single largest determinant of the geopolitics that characterises the modern international system. In order to address the interrelationship and correlations between core aspects of the petroleum industry and causal geopolitical phenomena, I begin by advancing a framework of analysis that systematically binds key geopolitical features and concepts – specifically: Spatial Phenomena; Environmental Ontology; Territorial Access; Geopolitical Features; State and Non-state Concepts; and, Strategic Resources and Geopolitics - with examples of empirical findings revealed in subsequent chapters in the thesis. Fundamentally, this process works to assess causality and correlations between geopolitical phenomena such as space and distance, sovereignty, territory, boundaries, chokepoints, resource nationalism, transnationalism, resource security and conflict, and the features and processes inherent in petroleum reserves and the exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas. The framework is followed with a sequential analysis of the three empirical foci of the project: the ontology of oil and natural gas reserves; the planning and processes of exploration and production; and, the processes of the conveyance petroleum. I have concentrated my research to activities within Eurasia, which comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia, and the Indo-Pacific maritime realm, which extends eastwards from the Red Sea to the western Pacific Rim. After systematically assessing the empirical findings and examining key areas of geopolitical theory, I conclude that there is an identifiable and logical correlation between geopolitical phenomena, petroleum reserves, and the means to produce and distribute oil and gas between source and market.

Innovation and ‘creative destruction’ should thrive in the competitive, high risk and high cost environment of the North Sea. Paradoxically, uptake of new technology is slow. The focus of this research was to understand how new technology is developed and how end users make decisions about innovation. Innovation process in the literature can sometimes come across like a ‘black box’ without much explanation of what happens inside the box. This study seeks to explicate what transpires inside the ‘black box’ to improve our understanding of the innovation process. The linear models of technology-push and market-pull are too simplistic to account for the complexity of relationships and engagements that affect innovation at small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) level. Subsequent models of innovation are suited to how large corporations manage innovation but neglect patterns of social interactions at the micro level where SMEs operate. These innovation models are incomplete because they relegate the importance of context and how it shapes understanding, action and outcome. This study, rooted in a social constructionist paradigm, takes a process-relational stance on entrepreneurship and innovation, recognising the dynamic relationships between social actors and context. Taking Heidegger’s explication of how we relate to the world, this thesis submits that innovation occurs when actors move into the ‘occurrent’ mode. The happenings and doings in the innovation process are treated as the results of perpetual social constructions. This study is based on extended interviews with eleven individuals in relevant roles and with direct experiences of the technical innovation construction in the oil and gas industry. The purposeful sample of research encompasses a variety of roles including technology entrepreneurs, end users of technology and venture capitalists. This study makes a number of contributions. Firstly, the research improves our understanding of how different social constructions are welded together to develop shared understanding. Secondly, a conceptual framework is presented that bridges a number of theoretical concepts, which allows us to see that innovation cannot be properly understood using simplistic models that ignores the social constructions human actors instantiate. Thirdly, the research claims that problem framing is foundational to innovation construction, where social actors collaborate to develop shared understanding, and mentally represent in the present a future that is not totally knowable. Fourthly, an alternative model of innovation construction is presented that is relational and accounts for the social constructions of process participants. Finally, a number of research implications for academics and insights for practitioners engaged in the technical innovation construction are offered.

The economic activities of multinational corporations (MNCs) in the extractive industries of developing countries produce a myriad of immediate negative social, economic and environmental impacts on communities hosting their operations. Consequently, stakeholders have increasingly called for (greater) accountability of these corporations for the impacts of their operations on stakeholders and the wider society. The extent to which these MNCs are accountable for their operations' negative environmental impacts in the developing countries is underexplored as prior studies have primarily focused on corporate social responsibility rather than accountability of these corporations. However, accountability apparently means different things to different parties, and especially in a non-Western context. This thesis primarily seeks to explore the concept of accountability in a developing country context and how it is understood and practised within the Nigerian oil industry. More specifically, it seeks to understand the extent to which oil MNCs in Nigeria discharge accountability in the context of gas flaring and oil spills environmental pollution emanating from their operations. The study utilises a mixed methods approach to generate data to provide understanding on stakeholders' conceptions of accountability, the nature of accounts constructed by the MNCs on gas flaring and oil spills environmental incidents, and the plausible corporate sense-making embedded within those accounts. The empirical data produce both general and nuanced conceptions of accountability between the MNCs and stakeholders. An account-giving heuristic highlights four broad and further nuanced accounts the corporations provide on these negative environmental incidents which are largely in conflict with stakeholders' narratives. Moreover, the sense-making analysis of the MNCs' accounts suggests that those accounts apparently serve corporate self-interest rather than the discharge of accountability. However, organisational, institutional, relational, and national contextual factors apparently encourage the un-accountability of the MNCs. Accountability in the Nigerian oil industry will remain elusive without critical institutional and regulatory reforms.

In 1982, the Financial Accounting Board (FASB) issued Statment of Financial Accounting Standards No. 69 (SFAS No. 69) which required oil and gas producing companies to disclose supplementary information to the basic financial statements. These disclosures include, costs incurred, capitalized costs, reserve quantities, and a standardized measure of discounted cash flows. The FASB considered these disclosures to be necessary to compensate for the deficiencies in historical cost financial statements. The usefulness of the new signals created by SFAS No. 69, however, is an empirical question and research regarding that objective is lacking. The objective of the study is to test the usefulness of SFAS No. 69. The research strategy used to achieve that objective is to compare the discriminant and predictive power of SFAS No. 69 signals or SFAS No. 69 signals combined with financial signals to that of financial signals alone. The research hypothesized that SFAS No. 69 signals by themselves or as supplmentary to financial signals have more discriminant and predictive ability for business failure in oil and gas industry than do financial signals alone. In order to test that hypothesis, the study used the multiple discriminant analysis technique (MDA) to develop three equations. The first is based on SFAS NO. 69 signals, the second on financial statement signals, and the third on joint financial and SFAS No. 69 signals. Data were collected from the 10-K's arid the annual reports of 28 oil and gas companies (14 failed and 14 nonfailed). The analysis was repeated for four time bases, one year before failure, two years before failure, three years before failure, and the average of the three years immediately before failure. After assessing the discriminant and predictive ability of each equation in the four time bases, a t-test was used to determine a significant difference in the discriminant and predictive power existed between SFAS No. 69 signals or SFAS No. 69 signals combined with financial signals and financial signals alone. The study concluded that SFAS No. 69 signals by themselves or as supplementary to financial statements have more discriminant and predictive power for business failure than financial signals alone in the analyses of the third year before failure and of the average of three years before failure. The study, however, found no significant difference in the discriminant and predictive ability in the analyses of one year and two years before failure. The results indicated that SFAS No. 69 signals are useful for financial report users in detecting the deterioration of the financial position of an oil and gas company before failure.

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.