Iranian Oil Industry Research Articles

Enhancing localisation in public procurements: A framework for evaluating suppliers' capabilities

This study investigates a framework for assessing suppliers' capabilities in public procurements to bolster localisation objectives. The study utilises the Action Design Research (ADR) methodology, combining the strengths of Action Research and Design Science, to examine the 'Ten Products Group' initiative within Iran's oil industry (2014–2023). This approach allows for the investigation of an applied problem within its specific contextual framework. The research highlights the importance of a comprehensive capability evaluation framework that includes qualitative assessments of suppliers' organisational, technological, and manufacturing capabilities. The framework incorporates both self-reporting and independent outside evaluation, enabling the inclusion of competent participants in public procurements and aligning contractual duties with the objective of localisation.The study emphasises the need for a transparent and thorough capability evaluation framework, contributing to the development of local industries and economic growth in situations where suppliers lack necessary capabilities. It suggests that a well-designed capability evaluation framework can facilitate the growth of local industries through public procurements, enabling the inclusion of competent suppliers and supporting economic development. The study's limitations include its focus on the context of localisation in public procurement and the potential challenges associated with implementing the proposed capability evaluation framework in practice.

Precarious Petroleum

As a major source of energy and revenue, “oil” has been rightly seen as a driver of the world's far-reaching twentieth-century social, political, and cultural transformations. But this conceptual abstraction of petroleum as a homogenous substance—lifted to the surface from static reservoirs and shipped around the world—is belied by the compositional heterogeneity of its deposits and the unpredictable dynamism of the buried geographies that hold them. Such factors have had important consequences within the histories of hydrocarbon-rich states like Iran. In the 1960s and 1970s, Iranian officials sought to build a new industry via the Shahpur Petrochemical Complex, a choice enabled by the unexpected availability of high-sulfur natural gas within the existing spaces of Iran's oil industry, and one that faced opposition from British Petroleum, which operated and largely controlled Iran's oil industry. Using archival and published materials, this article delves beneath the earth to focus on petroleum's sulfur impurities, the uncontrolled transformations of underground petroleum geographies, and the subterranean migrations of natural gas that resulted. It argues that centering notions of uncontrollability and petroleum's multiplicity opens new avenues for studying the histories of developing states like Iran, showing how the spaces opened by uncertainty were politically productive.

The Legacy of Dr. Mohammad Mosaddeq

“Yes, my sin—my greater sin and even my greatest sin is that I nationalized Iran's oil industry and discarded the system of political and economic exploitation by the world's greatest empire. This at the cost to myself, my family; and at the risk of losing my life, my honor, and my property.” — Mohammad Mosaddeq at his tribunal, December 1953 In 2005, on a trip to Iran, I decided to go to Ahmadabad and take a video of the place. I had many reasons for doing so. One was for my own gratification; another was to honor my father. My father, Nosratollah Amini, was Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq's personal attorney, and the only one besides the immediate family who had permission to visit him during his years of house arrest from 1956 until his death in 1967. Even Jawaharlal Nehru of India, who during a visit to Iran had asked to see him, was dissuaded from doing so. He was told that Mosaddeq was sick, which was not true.

A Dynamic Model for Analyzing Investment Policies in Iran's Oil Production and Its Scenarios

various related scenarios. The study aims to identify and assess different financial and investment policies that could enhance investment attraction in Iran's oil industry. Methodology: The study employs system dynamics and content analysis to develop the model. The statistical population for the content analysis includes upstream oil industry documents and related articles on investment. In the quantitative section, employees, managers, and experts in the oil industry were selected as the sample population. Data analysis was conducted using Vensim software, and nine different scenarios were developed to evaluate financial and investment policies. Findings: The results revealed that intermediary financing, with an increase of 128.854 units, was identified as the most attractive policy. Debt-based financing, with an increase of 108.333 units, and financing based on underground reserves, with an increase of 69.580 units, followed. These findings highlight the importance of diversifying financial resources and utilizing innovative financial structures in Iran's oil industry. Conclusion: The study concludes that a combination of different financial resources and the application of diversified financial policies can significantly contribute to attracting more investments and reducing financial risks in Iran's oil industry. These findings align with previous studies on financial and investment policies and provide valuable insights for policymakers in Iran's oil sector.

Oil documents and nationalization of the Iranian oil industry

İran, yeraltı kaynaklarıyla 20. yüzyıldan itibaren birçok devletin ilgisini çekmiş ve Batı'nın İran üzerindeki etkisini artırmıştır. İran’da petrolün gün yüzüne çıkışından itibaren meydana gelen gelişmeler, bu kaynağın uluslararası bir ticaret malzemesine dönüşmesine sebep olmuştur. 1901 yılında William Knox D’Arcy’e verilen imtiyazlar ise bu sürecin temelini atmıştır. Bu noktada, ilk ve en önemli muhatap İngiltere olmuştur. Zira petrol özelinde İngilizlerle gelişen ilişkiler İran’ın kaderini etkilemiştir. İncelememize tâbi olan kitap, İran petrol tarihinin yaklaşık yarım asırlık sürecini (1901-1954) belgeler ışığında ele almaktadır. Bu minvalde modern İran petrol tarihinin nasıl şekillendiğini, 1901’den 1954’e kadarki süreçte Batılıların Ortadoğu petrol siyasetinin değişim ve dönüşümünü ortaya koyar.

Intelligent oil field technology maturity level assessment: using the technology readiness level criteria

Purpose This study aims to focused on conducting a comprehensive assessment of the technology readiness level (TRL) of Iran’s oil field intelligence compared to other countries with similar oil reservoirs. The ultimate objective is to optimize oil extraction from this field by leveraging intelligent technology. Incorporating intelligent technology in oil fields can significantly simplify operations, especially in challenging-to-access areas and increase oil production, thereby generating higher income and profits for the field owner. Design/methodology/approach This study evaluates the level of maturity of present oil field technologies from the perspective of an intelligent oil field by using criteria for measuring the readiness of technologies. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to 18 competent oil industry professionals. Using weighted criteria, a mean estimate of oil field technical maturity was derived from the responses of respondents. Researchers evaluated the level of technological readiness for Brunei, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia’s oil fields using scientific studies. Findings None of the respondents believe that the intelligent oil field in Iran is highly developed and has a TRL 9 readiness level. The bulk of experts believed that intelligent technologies in the Iran oil industry have only reached TRL 2 and 1, or are merely in the transfer phase of fundamental and applied research. Clearly, Brunei, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have the most developed oil fields in the world. In Iran, academics and executive and contracting firms in the field of intelligent oil fields are working to intelligently develop young oil fields. Originality/value This study explores the level of maturity of intelligent technology in one of Iran’s oil fields. It compares it to the level of maturity of intelligent technology in several other intelligent oil fields throughout the globe. Increasing intelligent oil fields TRL enables better reservoir management and causes more profit and oil recovery.

The backgrounds and motives of Iran for severing its diplomatic relations with Britain 1951-1954 M

Iran went through important incidents during the second half of the twentieth century that affected its political and social reality. These events coincided with the accession of Muhammad Mossadegh to the position of Iranian prime minister, who was elected twice between 1951-1953. In turn, he carried out many reforms, including the issuance of the Social Security Law and land reform, but the most important of them was The law of nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, which has been in the hands of the British since 1913. Mosaddegh believes that the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company is the arm of the British government to control Iranian oil, which contradicts the goals of the National Front that Mossadegh founded with a group of his colleagues, as it seeks to end the foreign presence in Iran At the same time, Mosaddegh reduced the powers of the Shah to a large extent and made them honorary functions, which annoyed Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and his sister Ashraf Pahlavi, who was more severe than her brother and was trying to impose her personality in Iran and wanted to preserve the throne of her brother, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, and the situation between Iran and Britain worsened. After the expulsion of the British company's employees, which prompted Britain to take action, file a complaint against Iran before the UN Security Council, and take legal action I am against oil buyers from Iran and contracting with international oil companies not to deal with Iran

An independent technology commercialization model in oil and gas industry: a grounded theory approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a commercialization model based on gaining economic benefits through the transfer of technological capabilities in the oil and gas industry. Since commercialization models are mostly based on the implement of technology to produce and sell new products, this study focuses on developing a specific independent technology commercialization model. Design/methodology/approach The method of this research is qualitative based on the grounded theory. For this purpose, general variables with content analysis were extracted by reviewing documents (Literature review) and then for identifying special components, interviewing experts in the Iranian oil and gas industry. Participations were selected using snowball sampling for semistructured interviews. Findings The findings of this research were extracted based on grounded theory with data analysis in MAXQDA software. In this research, first, 210 open codes were identified based on qualitative content analysis of relevant documents and results of interviews with experts. Then the classification of open codes was done, and 46 subcategories (variables) were determined in the commercialization model. Finally, 46 subcategories were classified into 10 categories as axial codes in grounded theory as components of the commercialization model. Research limitations/implications The results of this research have led to the creation of new practical and theoretical implications. In this research, a new perspective of commercialization with the aim of transferring technology and obtaining its economic benefits for oil and gas industry companies was discussed. Also, based on the practical implications explained in this research, policymakers can use the suggested model to effectively implement independent technology commercialization to acquire economic benefits. Originality/value This study is purely original and the outcome of the research conducted by the authors. The research findings are the outcome of in-depth study on technology commercialization in the Iranian oil and gas industry.

Towards a successful implementation of public procurement for innovation: the case of Iran’s oil industry

ABSTRACT Public procurement for innovation (PPI) is an assertive demand-side innovation policy. However, research is behind in understanding the know-how of designing and implementing successful PPI, particularly in developing economies. This study's primary goal is to provide a conceptual framework of influential factors in designing and implementing a successful PPI. To this aim, we did a case study on some projects under the PPI initiative, defined for Iran's oil industry. Reviewing the corresponding literature and analyzing the case materials, including interviews, observation, and documents, our findings suggest a conceptual framework that includes four categories of influential factors in the successful implementation of PPI: contract-dependent, buyer-dependent, supplier-dependent, and infrastructure-dependent factors. This study contributes to the literature on public procurement for innovation policymaking, particularly in the context of emerging economies seeking to catch up, and can also be used as a manual by authorities in the field of technology and innovation.

A sustainable integrated crude oil supply chain network design with consideration of social performance and environmental laws in a case study

The oil or petroleum industry is among the most significant world industries and plays a decisive role in economic and political interactions due to its strategic importance. This massive industry has significantly been influenced by instabilities, political unrests, and sudden price fluctuation in recent years. Additionally, the decision-making process in the oil SC has become a challenging issue because of the presence of considerable facilities in the oil fields, oil refining, and distribution of petroleum products. Hence, the integrated optimization of oil SC has been quite popular with researchers. On the other hand, since there are environmental requirements, people have their shares in the extension of this industry, and developmental planning should consider ecological and social issues. The effort has been made in this article to propose a mathematical programming model for the design of oil supply chain network to reduce their environmental effects and improve the social indices while saving costs. Then, the model was solved with actual data from a real case study of the Iran Oil Industry. Finally, some recommendations have been provided based on analyses of the numerical results.

Cascade Roadmaps as a Tool for Technology Strategy Formulation: the Case of Iran Oil Industry

Cascade Roadmaps as a Tool for Technology Strategy Formulation: the Case of Iran Oil Industry

The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Iranian Oil and Gas Industry Planning: A Survey of Business Continuity Challenges

The Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected various aspects of life, and its compounding and cascading impacts have been observed in most industries and firms. The oil and gas (O&G) industry was among the first to experience the impacts as the pandemic began due to the global economic recession and a sharp decline in demand for oil. The pandemic revealed major risk management and business continuity challenges and uncovered some of the vulnerabilities of the O&G industry and its major companies during a prolonged global disaster. Examining and understanding how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the O&G sector in different countries, considering their unique circumstances, can provide important lessons for managing the current and future similar events. This study investigated various impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the O&G industry using Iran’s Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) as a case study. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with key managers of the company. Qualitative methods, specifically thematic analysis, were used to analyze the data. Findings of this study provide further insights into how the pandemic impacted the operations, risks, and business continuity of the POCG. The results show that the pandemic caused significant operational, financial, and legal impacts by disrupting routine maintenance, reducing the availability of human resources under the public health measures and mobility restrictions, increasing processing and delivery times, increasing costs and decreasing revenues, and delaying contractual obligations.

Alignment of technology development plans in the oil industry of developing countries: The case of Iran

Technology development plays a significant role in the petroleum industry. In countries where all oil activities are carried out under the supervision of the National Oil Company, technology development must be done at the industry level. The development of technology at the industry level requires careful planning at different layers of the industry. Systematic planning and alignment at different levels of plans are essential factors for success in this regard. At each level of the industry, certain conditions and requirements, technology strategies, interactions among stakeholders at different levels, and technology priorities affect each other through bilateral relations between different levels of the industry. This interaction necessitates the existence of alignment between them. This study aims to discover different aspects of technology planning with two famous techniques of roadmapping (TRM) and quality function deployment (QFD) and provide a model to ensure the alignment in technology plans of the oil industry of developing countries and to this end, the Iranian oil industry is studied as a case. The current model maintains the interrelationship between the strategic technology fields of the industry and technology priority applications in major companies as well as putting the future technology needs in the technology portfolio of the industry. Meanwhile, it provides a platform for managers to identify the priorities of companies and form learning circles‌ to participate in the development of higher technology programs.

Great Britain in the conflict over Iran oil: the First World War period

The article highlights the activities of Great Britain in the competition for control over oil fields and the oil industry in Iran (Persia) and the South Caucasus in 1914-1918, which was not the subject of special research in Russian historiography. On the eve of the war, Great Britain actually controlled the production and refining of oil in Persia through the AngloPersian Oil Company. With the outbreak of the war, British interests in the region were put under threat by Germany and the Ottoman Empire, which sought to challenge the British monopoly on Persian oil. Despite the fact that the territory of Persia remained far from the major battles of World War I, the country was a strategically important war theater for Great Britain. The British troops stationed in Persia controlled the territory of southern Persia, while the north of the country was controlled by Russian troops. After Russia’s withdrawal from the war at the end of 1917, there was a threat of strengthening the positions of Turkish troops and their allies in Persia and their advance to the Caucasus, to the oil fields of Baku. To counter this threat, a special taskforce was formed, called «Dunsterforce». During its 8-month stay in Persia, Dunsterforce strengthened the British position in the country, successfully suppressing anti-British forces with weapons, diplomacy and the pound sterling. Dunsterforce failed to protect Baku from capture by the Turks in September 1918. However, in November 1918, British troops managed to take over Baku. As a result, by the end of the war the western, eastern and southern shores of the Caspian Sea were under the full control of the British military. under the full control of the British military.

Developing the Persian version of the Anticipated Turnover Scale (P-ATS) and measuring its psychometric properties among Iranian industrial workers

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to measure the psychometric properties of the Persian version of Anticipated Turnover Scale (P-ATS) using a large sample of workers in the oil industry in Iran (N = 443). The psychometric properties of the scale were assessed using face, content, convergent, and construct validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability methods. A two-factor solution emerged from exploratory then confirmatory factor analyses. Content validity index and ratio were .93 and .98, respectively. There were high significant correlations between P-ATS and both perceived stress and workability. The Cronbach’s alpha was .90 and test-retest correlation coefficient was .87. The P-ATS exhibited very good psychometric properties and can be applied as a useful tool to predict job turnover among Iranian employees.

Optimizing profit and reliability using a bi-objective mathematical model for oil and gas supply chain under disruption risks

Today, oil and natural gas are the most important sources of human energy. These two essential sources have strategic importance in economic and political equations of the world and can play a significant role in the process of international relations. To this end, this research design a multi-echelon network for the oil and gas supply chain includes extraction, purification, storage and shipping to the target market. Furthermore, a bi-objective mathematical model is formulated which attempts to maximize total profit from the sale of fossil fuels and to maximize the reliability of processing plants to meet the applicants’ demand. Besides, there may be disturbances in the extraction phase due to the failure of the extractors. To this end, several disruption scenarios are provided to deal with possible disorders. Moreover, a real-world case study in the Iranian oil and gas industry is applied to verify the proposed model and it is solved using augmented ε-constraint and goal programming methods. Also, the sensitivity analysis is performed to provide some useful managerial insights. The results show that the ε-constraint method was selected as the best approach in terms of CPU time and objective functions’ values. Moreover, an increment in demand led to the use of more gathering centers, which increased the inventories and economic factors such as costs. Likewise, shipping costs of products to gathering centers are also very effective in selecting them. Therefore, locating gathering centers is a very important and precise task that is affected by geographical conditions, transport equipment, and proximity to key applicants.

Risk assessment in Iranian oil and gas construction industry: a process approach

PurposeSuccessful risk management is influential in different phases of construction projects. It can play a critical role in reducing the possibility of claims as well as related disputes. The risk management knowledge area in large capital projects such as oil and gas is considered a questionable problem in the construction industry. The present study makes an effort to identify the importance of process groups in improving risk management performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study is selected and ranked 36 factors leading to the claim in Iran's oil and gas industry through the Delphi method and a questionnaire. Factors categorized into a risk breakdown structure (RBS) include eight groups. Factors are linked to one of the process groups by a Delphi method. Finally, the relationship between RBS and the five process groups is analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsFindings showed that the planning process group had more confirmed factors than others. Most of the supported communications belonged to the contractor and the owner parties. Also, the cause of delay in the implementation phase due to the contractor performance had a higher relative importance index.Originality/valueThis article, from a project life-cycle perspective, considers the new structure between the risks leading to claims and the key parties to the project. It can be a good criterion for identifying risks and a timelier response to them before the risks turn into disagreements.

Investigating the factors affecting landscape adaptation with the heritage of the oil industry to achieve urban sustainability

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Abadan oil industry in Iran is very significant due to its various valuable layers as a part of national memory and identity. Therefore, to protect and reuse this industrial heritage, the adaptive reuse strategy by means of the landscape is considered. The purpose of this study is to achieve urban sustainability through a landscape adaptable to the oil industry heritage.METHODS: This research is descriptive-correlational and has been done through a survey. The statistical population of this research consists of pundits and experts of Abadan’s oil industry and the sample size is 88 people. In the analytical section, while using documentary studies, a questionnaire with 21 closed questions was used for data collection. After collecting the data, its validity and reliability were measured and confirmed.FINDINGS: In this study, the relations between nine environmental, historical, economic, social, cultural, policy, technology, physical, and infrastructure factors were measured as the factors affecting the landscape adaptable to the oil industry heritage.CONCLUSION: The results showed that the completion and facilitation of policies lead to the creation and strengthening of opportunities for cultural and social interactions in the industrial landscape. Also, the impact of physical factors on infrastructure, economic, and environmental leads to strengthening economic factors and infrastructure reuse in urban development. Findings indicated that the impact of environmental factors on economics and policy by using landscape leads to success in the mentioned fields.

Rethinking Collaboration: Medical Research and Working Relationships at the Iranian Pasteur Institute

The Pasteur Institute of Iran underwent a major expansion of its research productivity and international recognition during some of the most significant events of modern Iranian history: the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, followed by the Anglo-American coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953. During this period, the institute’s French director, Marcel Baltazard, was embedded in a complex set of working relationships with his Iranian employees, research subjects, and government ministers; American scientists and foreign aid workers; and French Pasteurians and diplomats. Baltazard constantly described these relationships as instances of “collaboration.” The temporal and geographical context demands a critical reading of scientific collaboration alongside the negative implications of political collaboration. Investigating the political commitments and social attitudes of the French director and Iranian staff, this essay demonstrates that scientific collaboration at the institute both reinforced socioeconomic inequalities within Iran and mirrored global Cold War geopolitics that undermined Iranian sovereignty.

Identification and prioritization of critical success factors of knowledge management implementation using a novel hybrid group decision-making model

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to identify and prioritize the critical success factors (CSFs) of knowledge management (KM) implementation through a novel hybrid model, namely, Fuzzy Delphi method (FDM), interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and revised Simos, which is one of group decision-making (GDM) approaches.Design/methodology/approachThe CSFs of KM implementation were identified through a systematic literature review. FDM was adopted to determine the CSFs in the Iranian oil industry. Then, a novel hybrid model consisting of ISM and revised Simos techniques were used to classify and prioritize the CSFs.FindingsThe obtained results suggest that there are 13 CSFs of KM implementation. The result of ISM shows that the CSFs of KM implementation were classified into five levels. The result of revised Simos reveals that the “human resources management” obtained the highest priority and “leadership commitment and support” and “intellectual capital” ranked second and third, respectively.Research limitations/implicationsAs this research was performed in the Iranian oil industry, caution should be taken regarding the generalizability of the obtained results.Practical implicationsThe top managers of the surveyed companies could get acquainted with CSFs of KM implementation in their organization and use a GDM technique that has various advantages to solve the relevant problems.Originality/valueThis paper provides a twofold contribution to expand KM and GDM literature and to the best knowledge of the authors, it is a novel hybrid GDM model of its kind.