Foreign Oil Research Articles

The Possibility of Nationalization by the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq under the Light of Signed Petroleum Contracts and Establishment of Kurdistan National Oil Company (KNOC)

In the past 20 years, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq has signed hundreds of Production Sharing Contracts with many international oil companies to expand investment and develop its oil sector. According to the applicable laws in the region, in particular Oil and Gas Law No.22 of 2007, government shall work to establish Kurdistan National Oil Company (KNOC) to take charge of petroleum operations. Meanwhile, according to the same law, the duration of petroleum production sharing contracts shall not exceed 20 years with the possibility of five years extension. Despite the fact that KRG is abided to many legal obligations to share the produced oil under production sharing contracts, there is always a question of whether KRG will be able to administer its oil industry and what will be the future of these oil contracts? This paper argues that KRG cannot nationalize (by appropriating the whole oil industry and assets of foreign oil companies) its petroleum sector even after the establishment of KNOC as there are many legal terms preventing it from nationalizing the oil industry besides the lack of technical ability to run the sector without the direct support from foreign oil companies. Moreover, the paper also discusses different possibilities after the end of oil contracts with foreign international companies; Does KRG continue with the current contractual form or it will shift to other forms of contract such as service contract to develop oil industry in the region? It suggests that the best practice for the government is to institutionalize its oil sector with receiving direct support from oil companies. The establishment of KNOC is considered to be an effective step towards institutionalization of oil sector in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

The Determinants the Rate of Return on Deposits in Islamic Banks

This study aims to identify the determinates of the rate of return on deposits in Islamic banks. The study, according to the best of my knowledge, is the first study to investigate the factors affecting the rate of return in Islamic banks using cross-country data with a large sample of banks and for a prolonged period. To achieve its aim, the author used data from almost all Islamic banks in the world for a 20-year period (1989-2008). The data were analyzed using a two-way fixed-effect model. The empirical results demonstrate that capital adequacy (default risk), credit risk, age, economic growth, and concentration significantly and negatively influenced the return on deposits in Islamic banks. The results also suggest that foreign ownership, size, inflation, and oil prices had significant and positive effects on the rate of return. Moreover, the results indicated that deposit insurance (positive), interest rates (positive), and deposit growth (negative) are not determinants of the rate of return in Islamic banks.

Иранский нефтяной контракт (IPC) – новое поколение нефтяных контрактов

Objective: to estimate the new generation of contracts (IPC, IOC) in the initial sector of oil industry and to compare them with previos contracts of other types used by the global producers in this sector.Methods: dialectical, comparative, descriptive, abstract-logical, and the method of system analysis.Results: in Iran of the post-sanctions period, the new model oil contracts (IPC) are becoming increasingly attractive to foreign investors. Under certain conditions, foreign oil company acquire the opportunity to reserve stocks, but foreign companies still cannot own oil deposits. One of the key advantages of the new contracts is the possibility to intensify development, search and optimal exploitation of oil and gas deposits, and to increase the coefficient of oil and gas extraction. The article presents a general characteristics of the new oil contracts, identifies the key spheres of their application. The key problems are systematized, related to the previous buy-back regime, which are either concealed in the new contract model, or information is insufficient for complete comprehension of the supposed risk distribution, such as the issues of buyback, commercialization, management, etc. The main advantages of the new integrated oil contracts are identified, such as: cost reimbursement, more complicated price structure, and transition to the model of a joint venture, as well as the advantages of the new contracts compared to buy-back contracts.Scientific novelty: the article presents a comparative analysis of the new integrated oil contracts in Iran and buyback contracts, and systematizes the key advantages and disadvantages of the new contracts.Practical significance: the research results can be used in scientific and academic activity of universities, as well as by state authorities when elaborating state policy in the sphere of oil production and processing.

Foreign Financial Inflows and Poverty in Nigeria

This paper aims to study the effect of foreign financial inflows on poverty in Nigeria (1981-2015). The impetus for this study stems from the paradoxical observation that, although Nigeria is blessed with a high influx of foreign financial inflows (FFI), the country grieves from severe and lasting poverty. It is expected for every economy that there is existence of foreign financial inflows that the rate of poverty should be at its minimal level. The major objective of this research work is to examine how foreign financial inflows influences poverty in Nigeria. In the process of carrying out this research work, various variables such as inflation, gross domestic product, exchange rate, foreign direct investment, remittance, oil revenue and non-oil revenue were adopted. The data used in this research were secondary data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin 2016 and World Development Indicators (WDI). The augmented dickey fuller test (ADF) for unit root test, Correlation analysis, Bound test and Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) were used in the estimation to this paper work. Findings were drawn from the research that foreign direct investment and oil revenue are significant to poverty reduction in Nigeria while the rest of the variables adopted were insignificant. Therefore, recommendation is suggested that the government should create a conducive environment for investors to be willing to invest so as to increase the foreign direct investment and also encourage the export of oil product in order to increase revenue from it.

The Asean Way and Haze Mitigation Efforts

Transboundary haze pollution is an almost annual occurrence in Southeast Asia. Haze originates from peat and forest fires mostly in Indonesia, with Malaysia and Singapore suffering the worst of its effects. Most of these fires are manmade, and linked to land clearing activities of local and foreign commercial oil palm plantations. The regional nature of haze has concentrated mitigation activities at the ASEAN level. However these initiatives continually fail to effectively mitigate haze. This article argues that haze mitigation has been problematic due to the ASEAN style of regional engagement, which prioritizes the maintenance of national sovereignty. States are compelled to act in their national interests, as opposed to the collective regional interests. The economic importance of the oil palm sector to the states involved, coupled with traditionally close relationships between key economic actors and political elites, meant that the maintenance of the status quo, where major plantation companies could continue to clear land using the cost-effective method of burning, was of crucial national interest. Therefore, the ASEAN style of regional engagement has enabled member states to shape ASEAN initiatives to preserve the interests of these political and economic elite, while the public continue to suffer the haze.

РОЛЬ МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫХ НЕФТЯНЫХ КОМПАНИЙ В СОЗДАНИИ НОВЫХ ЦЕНТРОВ МИРОВОЙ НЕФТЕДОБЫЧИ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ БРАЗИЛИИ)

Emergence of Brazil as a large oil exporter in the last years has become a significant development in the world oil market. The article focuses on the role played by foreign capital in development of the Brazil oil sector in the long historical perspective. The analysis led to the following conclusions. First, every time when Brazilian government was opened the oil industry for foreign investment, oil production went up with some time lag. Second, opening of the oil sector to foreign competition positively impacts the national oil company Petrobras, which plays a central role in the realization of the Brazilian government oil policy. Access to foreign investment and technology as well as competitive pressure increases the efficiency of the national oil company. Third, for decades terms of doing business for foreign companies in the Brazilian oil sector periodically changed depending on the situation in national economy. During periods of high economic dynamism Brazil introduced restrictions on activities of foreign oil companies, while with the deterioration of economic situation and aggravation in macroeconomic imbalances the government on the contrary opted for liberalization of foreign capital activity in oil production. It is concluded that in the last five – seven years the involvement of international vertically integrated oil companies in the Brazilian oil sector reached such a scale that any new attempt to complicate and impair business climate for foreign investors could result in not only economic but also political collusions.

Factors causing employees to resign from foreign oil company in China National Oil Offshore Corporation South East Sumatra (CNOOC SES Ltd.)

This study was conducted to determine and analyse the influence of organisational culture, work-life balance (WLB) and work pressure on employee engagement and employee turnover intention. This research uses a quantitative approach using structural equation modelling (SEM) and surveys. The population used is CNOOC SES Ltd. employees which amounted to 574 people. This research was tried in January to August 2018. This research was tried out at the CNOOC SES Ltd. Office, which is located at Indonesia Stock Exchange Tower 1 floor 19-23 JendralSudirmanKav 52 Jakarta, 12190, Indonesia. The findings in this study are that there is a significant and positive influence between company culture and WLB on employee engagement and there is a significant and negative influence between work pressure on employee engagement.

Factors causing employees to resign from foreign oil company in China National Oil Offshore Corporation South East Sumatra (CNOOC SES Ltd.)

Factors causing employees to resign from foreign oil company in China National Oil Offshore Corporation South East Sumatra (CNOOC SES Ltd.)

Extracting American Power on Global Terrains

Extracting American Power on Global Terrains Darren Dochuk (bio) Megan Black, The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018. 360 pp. Figures, maps, notes, and index. $39.95. In 1943, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes recommended that President Franklin D. Roosevelt create the Petroleum Reserve Corporation (PRC). The PRC would oversee new foreign oil production with focus on the Middle East, all in partnership with corporate powerhouses like Aramco and Gulf Oil. Facing pushback from the British, who feared rising American dominance in the region, Roosevelt and Ickes conceived the Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement, which proposed the establishment of an International Petroleum Commission (IPC). Through this agency, with Ickes assuming a managerial role, British and American governments would work with both countries' largest petroleum companies to manage oil supplies in the region. The agreement immediately came under attack from smaller, independent oil companies complaining about a government-sanctioned international cartel, and once public opposition mounted, Roosevelt shelved the scheme. Even as a failed experiment, the Anglo-American proposal raises a vexing question: why was the U.S. Secretary of the Interior so heavily invested in foreign affairs in the first place? This query lies at the heart of Megan Black's highly original and illuminating book, The Global Interior. Using another Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall, and his late-1960s tour of the Middle East as her entrée, she ponders a central point: "What could he—or the Interior Department, for that matter—have to do with the politics of the world?" (p. 1) Known as the arm of the federal government charged with managing public parks, natural resources, and Indigenous affairs, the Interior Department has usually been portrayed as "an inward-looking engine of domestic policy" (p. 2). Yet, as Black shows, this narrow purview belies the degree to which it has always been an outward-looking institution with expansionist aims on an international scale. When Ickes and Udall involved themselves in Middle Eastern oil politics, they were performing a duty that had always been central to their job description: to oversee an "ever-widening quest for [End Page 439] minerals," be they in the American West or Global South, on land, under the sea, or in outer space. Theirs was the perpetual quest to plumb uncharted fields of hidden wealth (p. 2). Black's capacious treatment of the Interior Department as a universal operator allows her to deliver a bold and multifaceted argument pertaining to the nature of American imperialism. Here her book's title takes on multiple meanings. First on her mind is this: why is it that the United States managed to extend its global power and project its "political authority over other sovereign entities in service of economic gain and ideologies rooted in race, gender, and nation" without registering among "everyday Americans" as an empire (pp. 3–4)? How did American imperialism manage to operate in the shadows? Black offers an answer that serves as the fundamental claim of her book. The Interior Department, she argues, "was a key mechanism for ensuring and obscuring the projection of American power in the world, from U.S. settler colonialism to its global hegemony during and after the Cold War" (p. 4). "As the United States drew distinctions between domestic and foreign, exploitation and benevolence, and nature and politics," she adds, "the Interior Department oversaw important operations of power betwixt and between that allowed the nation to pursue its global dreams that were oriented with incredible consistency to extractive ends" (p. 4). Operating as a counterpoint to the military arm of government, and state-sanctioned military violence, trading swords for ploughshares, hard power for soft power, and a doctrine of imperial conquest for economic development, Interior was able to pursue its extractive frontiers with a lighter, disarming touch. The Interior Department's strategy for projecting and concealing American power unfolded in phases. During its first dispensation in the nineteenth century, the department was charged with imposing U.S. federal authority in the mid-continent interior and undertaking the day-to-day labor of expropriating and preparing lands for white settlement and capitalist development. It couched this endeavor...

Legal and Risk Management Issues in Contracting Renewable Energy Sources

AbstractConsiderable interest in renewable energy sources and significant increases in the cost of foreign oil have compelled various countries to search for low-cost energy sources and technologie...

Impact of Islamic banking development and major macroeconomic variables on economic growth for Islamic countries: Evidence from panel smooth transition models

This study examines the nonlinear relationship between Islamic banking development, major macroeconomic variables and economic growth in Islamic countries. Using the panel smooth transition model, the results show a positive nonlinear relationship between Islamic banking development and economic growth. Moreover, the relationship between the macroeconomic variables and economic growth is asymmetric and regime-dependent. Further, by using the dynamic panel quantile model, we show that for many cases the Islamic banking variables lead economic growth across the quantiles. More specifically, foreign direct investment, oil production and inflation have a positive impact on economic growth during the normal financial development state, while government consumption, one-lag economic growth, terms of trade and financial development have a negative impact on economic growth for this state. The human capital index, education and the rule of law have an insignificant impact, regardless of the prevailing regime. The results for the separated oil-importing and oil-exporting economies are generally consistent with the combined sample regarding the Islamic banking development variables. As for the macro variables, they have a positive and significant (insignificant) effect on EG for the oil-importing (oil-exporting) economies for almost all models.

“A Vibrant National Preoccupation”: Embracing an Energy Conservation Ethic in the 1970s

Abstract This article examines the popularity of the “energy conservation ethic” in the United States during the 1970s, which environmentalists, politicians, and oil companies endorsed as a solution to the energy crisis. It demonstrates that broad support for an energy conservation ethic contained two competing paradigms: one “ecological” and the other “nationalist.” The former advocated conservation as a means to a sustainable low-carbon future, while the latter viewed the conservation ethic as a tool to eliminate dependence on foreign oil in order to reestablish the economic and geopolitical strength of the United States. Thus, in contrast to a view that traces a relatively linear transition from the utilitarian and nationalist ethos of early twentieth-century conservationism to the more holistic concern with “the environment” of the postwar environmental movement, this article underscores the persistence of utilitarian conservationist conceptions of resource stewardship in the middle of the “environmental decade.” These competing paradigms contributed to the argument for energy price deregulation as the most effective way to discipline US energy consumers. In this way, the energy crisis and the conservation debates that it evoked reflected the rightward turn of the United States in the 1980s. Current energy history tends to focus on the political, environmental, and socioeconomic histories of energy production and consumption rather than efforts to reduce demand but, as this article demonstrates, discourses of conservation can also shape political trajectories in unexpected ways.

Mechanism and influence of removing algae with chlorine dioxide treatment for ship ballast water

This study aims at examining the performance of the ClO2 on treating ballast water of Dalian new port area foreign trade oil pool in the cases of different experimental parameters, and Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii (CR), Gymnodinium catenatum (GC) and Gymnodinium cf. mikimotoi (GCM) are used for this experiment. The results shows that under certain test condition, the removal rates are in proportion to the dosage of ClO2 and reaction time, and inversely proportion to pH value, humic acid and ammonia nitrogen content. Accordingly, on operating at the optimal dosage of ClO2 and parameters of experiment, this process is proven to be an effective technology to remove these three algae and organic compounds in ballast water. In ballast water, the removal ability of ClO2 for these three algae is less sensitive to pH value, humic acid and ammonia nitrogen content than to ClO2 dosage and reaction time. Removing GC, GCM and CR with ClO2 are attributed to the second order reaction. Investigating the performance of such process, could serve to develop management strategies that enable mitigating the impacts of harmful substance in ballast water and help improving and ensuring quality of ballast water.

The Transnational Role of Foreign Companies in the Upstream Sector of Oil and Gas in Indonesia: pre-Gross Split Mechanism

This article aims to explain how and why foreign oil and gas companies carry influence over the government in the upstream oil and gas sector. It looks at the troubling issue of domination in Indonesia particularly before the Gross Split mechanism was introduced. From a transnational point of view, states and non-states continuously attempt to overpower the other to gain the most from this industry. Although the roles and obligations of foreign oil and gas companies are strictly regulated, domination is still visible in areas of cost recovery to add to the weak domestic market resulting in an asymmetric competition. Market failures have become increasingly alarming as liftings continue to fail to reach the national quota. Using the introduction of the Gross Split mechanism as a turning point, this article looks back at how transnationalism has translated into this sector. This article is of the view that the lack of effort to enrich knowledge bases, enforce the adoption of appropriate technology and prepare its domestic market for healthy competition, has brought it further away from addressing its underlying issues.

The socio-economic impact of national and foreign oil mining companies existences and activities in Tjepu 1967-2004

The aim of this paper is to analyze programs and policies run by national and foreign oil companies that affect the level of the economy of the people in Tjepu. While historical research usually focuses on events that are presented in chronological order, this study will add to the study of linkages between historical agencies/actors and the environment relating to the quality of the economy from generation to generation in the exploration and exploitation of national and foreign oil companies in Tjepu. This study uses historical methods, especially in collecting literature and field data including interviewing a number of people related to oil mining activities. The results of this study indicate that there are positive and negative sides of the existence of national and foreign oil companies operating in Tjepu. The existence of oil companies is opening up employment opportunities for local residents although the number is limited. In addition, the existence of oil companies also encourages the emergence of small businesses such as restaurants and other service businesses. But on the other hand, pollution due to mining activities also affects the health level of the community and pollutes the ground water in Tjepu

Foreign Exchange Rate and Economic Growth Nexus: New Evidence from Nigeria (1981 to 2017)

The paper estimates the impact of foreign exchange rate on economic growth of Nigeria. The study makes used of Autoregressive Distributed Lag model (ARDL) on time series Data, for the period 1981-2017. The data set on real effective exchange rate, inflation rate, money supply, lending interest rate, real GDP and foreign direct investment, oil revenue and trade openness (% of GDP) were tested for stationary using ADF and PP tests and established stationarity at I (1) for five variables and I (0) for two variables. The correlation test result shows that the highest correlation is between money supply and oil revenue while the lowest correlation is between inflation rate and foreign direct investment. The ARDL Co-integration test revealed the existence of long-run relationship among the variables. ARDL test results reveal that real effective exchange rate is negatively and significant in explaining economic growth in Nigeria in the long-run. In the short-run, the lag value of real effective exchange rate is insignificant in explaining the changes in the current rate of economic growth. in the same period, the lag value of money supply is negative and significant in explaining GDP. But in the long run it is positive and significant in explaining economic growth in Nigeria. The rate of inflation both in the short run and long run is negatively and significant in explaining GDP. The Error Correction Term value of 20.7% shows the speed of adjustment toward long-run equilibrium The findings of the study imply that interest rate in Nigeria is inflationary. Meaning that increase in the rate of interest rate will lead to an increase inflation rate. Therefore, the research study concludes that the impact of foreign exchange rate on the economic growth of Nigeria is negative and significant and that the monetary authorities should adopt flexible exchange rate in Nigeria. Keywords: ARDL, foreign exchange rate, Economic growth, monetary authorities. DOI : 10.7176/JESD/10-18-18 Publication date :September 30 th 2019

When Local Law Impedes Conflict Resolution: Women's Oil Protests in the Niger Delta

Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region hosts a long-standing conflict among residents, the government, and foreign oil companies operating in rural areas. Both peaceful and armed cadres of men have led mobilizations against extractive operations but then all-female demonstrations arose relatively suddenly, seemingly separate from men, starting in 2002. Based on qualitative field data, this ethnographic case study explores how women's perceptions of law informed their decision to protest in response to their oil-related grievances from 2002 to 2012. It asks why women avoided the use of formal state law, remaining embedded in localized traditional law for formal, rights-based legal matters. The main findings are that women see written law from the state as inherently good but corrupting individuals as the reason it cannot be galvanized for conflict resolution. They also perceive a binary between local and state law, with indigenous leaders acting as gatekeepers controlling access between the two legal planes. This study suggests that traditional law may impede women's ability to resolve their oil-related problems in Nigeria.

Evaluating the Impact of Fossil Fuel Vehicle Exit on the Oil Demand in China

Vehicle ownership is one of the most important factors affecting fuel demand. Based on the forecast of China’s vehicle ownership, this paper estimates China’s fuel demand in 2035 and explores the impact of new energy vehicles replacing fossil fuel vehicles. The paper contributes to the existing literature by taking into account the heterogeneity of provinces when using the Gompertz model to forecast future vehicle ownership. On that basis, the fuel demand of each province in 2035 is calculated. The results show that: (1) The vehicle ownership rate of each province conforms to the S-shape trend with the growth of real GDP per capita. At present, most provinces are at a stage of accelerating growth. However, the time for the vehicle ownership rate of each province to reach the inflection point is quite different. (2) Without considering the replacement of new energy vehicles, China’s auto fuel demand is expected to be 746.69 million tonnes (Mt) in 2035. Guangdong, Henan, and Shandong are the top three provinces with the highest fuel demand due to economic and demographic factors. The fuel demand is expected to be 76.76, 64.91, and 63.95 Mt, respectively. (3) Considering the replacement of new energy vehicles, China’s fuel demand in 2035 will be 709.35, 634.68, and 560.02 Mt, respectively, under the scenarios of slow, medium, and fast substitution—and the replacement levels are 37.34, 112.01, and 186.67 Mt, respectively. Under the scenario of rapid substitution, the reduction in fuel demand will reach 52.2% of China’s net oil imports in 2016. Therefore, the withdrawal of fuel vehicles will greatly reduce the oil demand and the dependence on foreign oil of China. Faced with the dual pressure of environmental crisis and energy crisis, the forecast results of this paper provide practical reference for policy makers to rationally design the future fuel vehicle exit plan and solve related environmental issues.

Check contagion of price fluctuations in the index of currency and oil with the index of stock prices in the Stock Exchange

Presence of the efficient financial markets and institutes is considered as one of the characteristics of the developed countries which play an important role in the economy of these countries and straighten the economic growth and development of these countries. Tehran stock exchange is able to accelerate movement toward growth and development as the most main pillar of the capital market in the country meanwhile equipping and injecting the stagnant savings in the country and leading them into production. Methodology: Since the value of the present shares in the stock exchange is affecting by some various factors especially the macro-economical variables, so price fluctuation transmissibility of some macro-economical variables has been studied with stock price index in the present research. Results: For this purpose, the VAR method has been used to study the capital market transmissibility from markets of foreign exchange, oil, and gold. The research data was collected daily (since March 2008 until end of August 2014) and they have been tested using Eviews software. Conclusion: The results of this research revealed the capital market transmissibility from both foreign exchange and oil markets.

Check the spread of price fluctuations in the gold index with stock price index stock exchange

Presence of the efficient financial markets and institutes is considered as one of the characteristics of the developed countries which play an important role in the economy of these countries and straighten the economic growth and development of these countries. Tehran stock exchange is able to accelerate movement toward growth and development as the most main pillar of the capital market in the country meanwhile equipping and injecting the stagnant savings in the country and leading them into production. Methodology: Since the value of the present shares in the stock exchange is affecting by some various factors especially the macro-economical variables, so price fluctuation transmissibility of some macro-economical variables has been studied with stock price index in the present research. For this purpose, the VAR method has been used to study the capital market transmissibility from markets of foreign exchange, oil, and gold. Results: The research data was collected daily (since March 2008 until the end of August 2014) and they have been tested using Eviews software. Conclusion: The results of this research revealed the capital market non-transmissibility from the gold market.