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.

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.

The microbial ecology of 45 high temperature (> 50 ° C) petroleum reservoirs was investigated by isolating and characterizing bacteria that were present in their produced fluids. Initial work was aimed at selecting a suitable high temperature petroleum reservoir for the study of natural microbial populations. Experimental work then focussed on establishing the physico-chemical conditions that prevail in the selected reservoir and on developing media and enrichment conditions for the isolation of microorganisms indigenous to the reservoir. The ability of reservoir bacteria to grow and survive under the physical and chemical conditions found in the selected reservoir was used to assess the likelihood of an indigenous origin for these bacteria. The petroleum reservoir selected for study was the Alton petroleum reservoir (SW Queensland, Australia). It was established that most of the physico-chemical conditions in the Alton reservoir had remained unchanged since oil recovery began. The stability of redox conditions (90 mV) in the reservoir over its operating life was identified as an important factor in the coexistence of strict aerobic and strict anaerobic bacterial populations within the reservoir. An important change that has occurred in the Alton reservoir over its operating life because of oil recovery was an increase in water pH from 6.41 to 8.42 as a result of carbon dioxide loss (1.36 atm to 0.0134 atm) from the reservoir. Development of novel enrichment procedures that simulated Alton reservoir conditions led to the isolation of previously unreported aerobic and anaerobic populations of thermophilic bacteria. The aerobic bacteria isolated were identified as either endosporeforming heterotrophic bacteria from the genus Bacillus or nonspore-forming heterotrophic bacteria resembling members of the genus Thermoleophilum. All aerobes grew on carbon sources such as acetate and n-heptadecane that are normal constituents of the reservoir. The anaerobic bacteria isolated were characterized as sheathed fermentative bacteria from the order Thermotogales or non-sheathed fermentative bacteria. In parallel studies, the natural microbial populations in other reservoirs were investigated and I concluded that fermentative microorganisms were common inhabitants of high temperature petroleum reservoirs. The isolation of fermentative bacteria from these high temperature petroleum reservoirs established that fermentative bacteria are a fourth major microbial group, together with hydrocarbon-oxidizers, sulphate-reducers and methanogens, to be reported in petroleum reservoirs. The fermentative bacteria use organic nutrients and carbohydrates, but not contemporary crude oil as the principal nutrient source within reservoir waters. The thermophilic bacteria isolated from Alton petroleum reservoir demonstrated growth characteristics such as temperature (optima 50-70 ° C and range 37-85 ° C), pH (optima 6.0-9.0 and range 5.0-9.0 and salinity (optima 0-15 g per litre and range 0-30 g per litre), that were consistent with conditions encountered in the Alton reservoir (temperature 75 � C, pH 8.5 and TDS 2.7 g per litre). The isolated bacteria also demonstrated a number of characteristics that might enable them to survive adverse conditions that could be encountered in a petroleum reservoir environment. The characteristics that contribute to aerobic bacteria surviving in and overcoming periods of oxygen limitation include well-documented processes such as sporulation, by Bacillus spp., and microaerophily. The characteristics that contribute to fermentative bacteria surviving were: (1) a natural tolerance to reservoir physico-chemical fluctuations, (2) an ability to remain viable when metabolic activity was suppressed to very low rates by the growth-limiting conditions imposed, and (3) possible formation of viable ultramicrobacteria (UMB). Formation of UMB (bacteria smaller than 0.3 |im) by thermophilic bacteria has not been reported previously. The recovery of thermophilic UMB by filtration from the Alton reservoir water indicates that these bacteria occur in natural habitats. This study found the formation of thermophilic UMB and their survival characteristics differed considerably from that reported for the mesophilic, marine bacterium Vibrio sp. DWI. Unlike mesophilic marine bacteria, thermophilic bacteria did not always respond to nutrient deprivation by forming UMB and that these UMB did not show any increased ability to survive in the face of adverse conditions. Although the formation of UMB as part of routine cell growth and division was not demonstrated directly in this study, circumstantial evidence suggests that they form part of a natural life cycle. The exact conditions that result in UMB formation and their role in survival remain unresolved. The capacity of nonspore-forming indigenous populations from Alton to survive sudden shifts in environmental conditions that might result from common oilfield operations was poor. Such operations were demonstrated to be inhibitory or lethal to Alton reservoir bacteria. It also was concluded that such oilfield operations suppress indigenous microbiota. However, the impacts of most oilfield operations within a reservoir are likely to be confined to the immediate area surrounding injection and producing wells. Minimizing the localized effects of oilfield practices on indigenous reservoir populations will lead to the better management of undesirable microbial activity in reservoirs such as H2S formation (souring) and facilitate development of better microbially mediated oil recovery process. This study showed that selected reservoir isolates possess characteristics which are suitable for in situ biotechnological applications such as microbially enhanced oil recovery (MEOR). Characteristics favourable for enhanced oil recovery include a capability for UMB formation, which would enable better dispersion, and resistance to high concentrations of reservoir components such as calcium, magnesium, strontium, heavy metals and hydrocarbons.

In Taiwan, prior to the petroleum industry liberalization starting from 1990, the whole petroleum market was highly regulated and monopoly. Since 90s, the first private owned gas station was built in 1997; the Formosa Petrochemical Corporation went public in September, 2000; the Petroleum Administration Law was implemented on October 13th, 2001; and almost all famous international petroleum businesses had plans to establish branches in Taiwan. As the result, the monopoly market gradually became more and more competitive during that period. The China Petroleum Corporation, one of the state-owned enterprises, was the only price leader in the market, and currently still has absolute influence. This research, therefore, is focus on how CPC adjusting its business strategies and marketing management while facing the intensive competition in this liberalizing market. The main findings are as follows: 1. Since the Formosa Petrochemical Corporation and other international petroleum companies joined into this competitive market, CPC has actively adopted much adjustment. However, the company and all staffs must try harder if they plan to keep 70% market share. 2. For future competition, CPC has adopted not only some defensive tactics to keep the current market shares, but also many aggressive strategies so that the company can continuously penetrate, expand, and diversify the new market . Moreover, CPC has asked its staffs to provide their best service in order to secure the client base and to improve the competence. In fact, those good business strategies really helped CPC increase its total sales and profits; or keep its current market shares at least. However, CPC still need to deploy some other marketing approaches such as to keep its cost down, to better off its service, and to train qualified staffs, so that the company can advance its competitive preference and diversify its marketing strategies as well. Keywords: petroleum industry liberalization, the Petroleum Administration Law, business strategies, and market share

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Upon request of the VPR and the thesis advisor this item has been made administrative access only until further notice. / Biodegradation of petroleum has been observed to be one of the most important factors that can alter reservoir chemistry. Biodegradation of petroleum has been connected to the generation of heavy oil at the expense of light hydrocarbon components. Generally, heavy oil is associated with the increasing in metal and sulfur content as well as viscosity. In addition, petroleum biodegradation will result in the production of certain metabolites that are implicated in forming emulsions and corrosion problems in the producing and refining facilities. However, identifying the microrganisms that catalyse this biodegradation is crucial to understanding their role in the hydrocarbons alteration. In this thesis, I addressed the connection between the petroleum biodegradation and the formation of light hydrocarbon components at the expense of heavy hydrocarbon components, and the increase in gas/oil ratio. A comparison between light, extra light, and medium sour crudes lends support to the hypothesis of light hydrocarbons formation through biodegradation of long chain oil components. The results suggested that there was no direct relationship between the relative density of oil and the level of biodegradation, but, there was a positive correlation between the level of biodegradation, the formation of light hydrocarbons, and an increase in the gas/oil ratio. As a first step in investigating this correlation, a metagenomics approach was used to identify and characterize the biodiversity in a European oil field. Extrapolation of the oilfield microbiome data based on an analysis of 200 species generated a hypothetical metabolic map that suggests a new model for petroleum formation and degradation that challenges the accepted dogma in which aerobic and anaerobic petroleum degradation is taking place in the hydrocarbons reservoir, as it is a matter of rate; where the aerobic petroleum degradation targets the short-chain hydrocarbons specifically methane and result in heavy oil generation; whereas the anaerobic petroleum degradation leads to form the gaseous components such as methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. Hence, the gaseous components have a direct impact on the oil density when they represent the majority of the oil field composition by making it more gaseous than liquid.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-109).