Production Of Non-renewable Resources Research Articles

Resources and reserves in a carbon-constrained world

For many years, definition and production of non-renewable resources has been crucial to meeting industrial and societal demands for energy and materials. In the evolving energy transition, the priority is to meet not only the world’s increasing energy requirements but also societal expectations of net zero by 2050 or sooner. Renewable energy will play a key role in achieving this, but this will require key and critical minerals and materials, whether for use in wind turbines or for building new energy distribution systems. Fossil fuels will continue to be used for some energy and industrial processes and increasingly for the production of hydrogen. Essential to the energy transition will be ongoing assessment of resources and reserves, including of critical minerals, geological sites for CO2 and H2, carbon-based and carbon-free fuels. Some of the principles underpinning the traditional use of the terms reserves and resources can be usefully applied to provide rigour and uniformity to the assessment of renewable energy opportunities. Carbon offsets, negative emissions and recycling will also be used to achieve net zero. Whatever the energy transition pathway that countries choose to take, knowledge of and ready access to non-renewable resources and reserves will be essential to achieving a clean energy future.

Reduction of carbon footprint of the production and field transport of high-viscosity oils in the Arctic region

Despite the efforts to green the global economy, the non-renewable resources are still one of the major components of energy mix. The growing energy demand and depletion of deposits around the globe make the production of oil in the Arctic region a more and more attractive option. However, heavy and high-viscosity oils (HVO), typical for the Arctic region, require considerable amount of energy to be extracted. This, in turn, could lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions producing more sever negative environmental impact than the production of non-renewable resources in other regions of the world.This research presents an approach designed to reduce carbon footprint related to hydrocarbons production in the Arctic region. The proposed method is based on the technology used to produce synthetic oil from associated petroleum gas and mixing it with the extracted crude oil. It allows decreasing the viscosity of produced oil, which facilitates oilfield exploitation,limits costly use ofpetroleum gas, and diminishes heat consumption needed for the transport of oil. The performed simulation using ASPEN Hysys shows that the carbon footprint of the proposed process will be lower by up to 24 % than the results obtained for the technology that is being currently used at the oilfields in the Arctic region.

Jurisdictional Tax Competition and the Division of Nonrenewable Resource Rents

This paper presents a model of nonrenewable resource extraction across multiple jurisdictions which engage in strategic tax competition. The model incorporates rents due to both resource scarcity and capital scarcity as well as intra-region Ricardian rents. Regions set taxes on nonrenewable resource production strategically to balance tax revenues and local benefits from investment conditional on other regions’ tax rates. A representative extraction firm then allocates production capital across regions and time to maximize the present value of profits. Generally, we find that the division of resource rent between firms and regional governments ultimately depends on the relative scarcity of natural and production capital, relative costs across space, and the value regional governments place on economic activity. This theoretical result provides policymakers with information on the determinants of optimal tax rates and motivates future empirical research on the factors influencing the division of resource rent in practice.

Land grabbing and speculation for energy business: a case study of ExxonMobil in East Java, Indonesia

ABSTRACTMost contemporary land grab research focuses on the food and biofuel industries. In resource-rich countries such as Indonesia, however, the prevalent form of land transfers is investment in and production of non-renewable resources. This case study of ExxonMobil Corporation in the Bojonegoro District of East Java province, Indonesia – the area known as the “Cepu Block” – starts with the government’s provision in 2001 of a large concession for energy production. It highlights a combination of legal pressures, market transactions and political manipulation of civil society protests that resulted in the exclusion of local people from decision-making and dispossession of their land and livelihoods.

Industrial sustainable development level in China

This research aims to set up a comprehensive index system to evaluate the sustainable development level of the industrial sector in China and to determine the key influencing factors that hinder the sector’s sustainable development. To achieve these research goals, we build a theoretical model with 26 indexes selected from resource, environment, economy, and society subsystems. An empirical analysis is conducted through Principal Component Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. Results indicate that the sustainable development level of China’s industrial sector became positive in 2007 and peaked in 2012. The environment subsystem has the largest effect on the sustainable development level. The sustainable development level is also greatly influenced by solid wastes, production of non-renewable resources, energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP), and industrial research and development (R&D) expenditure. The basic conclusion is that the sustainable development level of the

Fitting Multiple Bell Curves Stably and Accurately to a Time Series as Applied to Hubbert Cycles or Other Phenomena

Bell curves are applicable to understanding many observations and measurements across the sciences. Relating Gaussian curves to data is a common because of its relation to both the Central Limit Theorem and to random error. Similarly, fitting logistic derivatives to oil or other non-renewable resource production is common practice. Fitting bell curves to a time series is an inherently non-linear problem requiring initial estimates of the parameters describing the bell-curves. Poor estimates lead to instability and divergent solutions. Fitting to a cumulative curve improves stability, but at the expense of accuracy of the final solution. Jointly fitting multiple bell curves is superior to extraction of curves one at a time, but further exacerbates the non-linearity. Including both the cumulative data and the bell-curve data within the inversion, can exploit the greater stability of the cumulative fit and the greater accuracy of a direct fit. The algorithm presented here inverts for multiple bells by combining cumulative and direct fits to exploit the best features of both. The versatility and accuracy of the algorithm are demonstrated using two different Earth Science examples: a seismo-volcanic sequence recorded by a hydrophone array moored to the seafloor and US coal production. The MatLab function used here for joint curve determination is included in the online manuscript complementary material.

Modelling and forecasting the trends of life cycle curves in the production of non-renewable resources

In this study, we review mathematical models of trends in the production of non-renewable resources. We propose new models that allow specifying curve asymmetry and use genetic algorithms as curve-fitting methods. We estimate the quality of fit of our proposed models and use them to predict oil production in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, the EU, the U.S., Norway, Syria, the UK, and some fields in Russia; gas production in the EU, the UK and Italy; shale gas production in the U.S.; coal production in the U.S. and Germany; as well as global gold production. The models fit the data accurately in all these cases.

Trends in the extraction of non-renewable resources: The case of fossil energy

This paper considers a strategy for the extraction and production of non-renewable resources that are finite in quantity. Specifically, we illustrate empirical data on reserves, production, consumption, and price evolution for fossil fuel. Our model is an intertemporal model of a short decision time horizon with a monopolistic resource producer extracting non-renewable resources. The model is solved numerically using a finite horizon solution method called Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC), which approximates well models with a longer decision time horizon. Consistent with the results of recent empirical studies, our numerical solution method shows a U-shaped path for the price and an inverted U-shaped path for the extraction rate, in the case of modest initial stock of proved reserves.

Abscissa-Transforming Second-Order Polynomial Functions to Approximate the Unknown Historic Production of Non-renewable Resources

For many non-renewable resources, reliable production data are only available from a certain point in time but not from the beginning of production periods. In order to constrain the unknown historic production of such resources for those ancient times for which no reliable annual production data are available we present a novel mathematical technique, based on Verhulst’s logistic function. The method is validated by the United States’ crude oil production for which the complete production cycle, starting in 1859, is well documented. Assuming that the oil production in the USA between 1859 and 1929 is unknown, our method yields values for this period of 16.0 gigabarrels (Gb) based on a second-order polynomial fit and 13.5 Gb based on a third-order polynomial fit of post-1929 production data, respectively. Especially the latter amount compares well with the actual value of 12.1 Gb, thus illustrating the strength of the method. For global gold (Au) production, our method yields an ancient production up to the year 1850, when official and reliable production statistics began, of approximately 10,000 metric tons (t) based on a second-order polynomial fit. For mercury (Hg) a production of 64,000 t was determined for the time up to the year 1900, when annual production figures started to become available, again using a second-order polynomial fit. While the results obtained by the application of second-order polynomial functions could be confirmed by higher-order polynomial functions in the cases of both USA oil as well as global Au production, this was not possible in the case of global Hg production because of a highly irregular production curve.

Sustainable development and the exploitation of mineral and energy resources: a review

Natural resources, e.g., metals, industrial minerals, water, and soil, are the essential basis for our economy and well-being. We have to know where these raw materials come from and how they are mined. Sustainable development requires the maintenance, rational use and enhancement of natural resources, as well as a balanced consideration of ecology, economy and social justice. Four general rules concerning the implementation of sustainable development for renewable and non-renewable resources are discussed. Examples of the consumption of selected materials from historical times to the present day are presented, as well as of regional distribution, usage (in contrast to consumption), lifetimes of resources, the supply-and-demand cycle, recycling and substitution in modern times. To fulfill the requirement of sustainable development, the efficiency with which resources are utilized has to be improved. The learning process, often driven by financial rewards, leads from one technology to a better one, thus increasing the efficiency of the use of a resource or commodity. Examples of learning curves are discussed. Industrial countries have to transfer their advanced technologies to developing countries in order to avoid undesirable development in the mining industry and use of natural resources in those regions. The use of the best available technology by the mining industry, taking into account economic considerations, and the necessity to establish environmental guidelines are essential if environmental impact of the production of non-renewable resources is to be minimized. Far more critical than the production of non-renewable resources under the aspect of sustainable development and the capacity of the pollutant sinks of the Earth is the element of natural attenuation with regard to the resources soil and water.

On ad valorem taxation of nonrenewable resource production

Taxing a nonrenewable resource typically shifts production through time, compresses the economically recoverable resource base and shrinks social welfare. But by how much? In this paper a computational model of natural gas use, representing numerous demand and supply features believed important for shaping efficient intertemporal allocations, is utilized to answer this question under different ad valorem royalty taxes on wellhead production. Proportionate social welfare losses from fixed royalties up to 30% are found to be small and the excess burden stands at less than 6.5% for a 30% royalty. This result replicates findings of several earlier studies and points to a general conclusion.

97/03422 On ad valorem taxation of nonrenewable resource production

97/03422 On ad valorem taxation of nonrenewable resource production

Geological influences, metal prices and rationality

Much empirical work has been performed to test the predictions of Hotelling-style models of non-renewable resource production. Disparate, seemingly contradictory results have emerged, some damaging to the predictions of rational models of present value maximization. This paper presents a theoretical model of mining which incorporates the facts that varying qualities of material must be extracted at any time from a deposit, so that a cut-off grade must be determined, and that the extractive sector is embedded in an economy with more than one sector. The model reconciles many of the disparate findings from a rationalist, Hotelling perspective. Empirical results for Canadian gold mining are consistent with the theoretical predictions.

The Optimal Exploration and Production of Nonrenewable Resources

Most studies of nonrenewable resource production and pricing assume there is a fixed reserve base to be exploited over time, but in fact, with economic incentives reserves can be increased. Here we treat the reserve base as the basis for production and exploratory activity as the means of increasing or maintaining reserves. "Potential reserves" are unlimited, but as depletion ensues, given amounts of exploratory activity result in ever smaller discoveries. Given these constraints, resource producers must simultaneously determine their optimal rates of exploratory activity and production. We solve this problem for competitive and monopolistic markets and show that if the initial reserve endowment is small, the price profile will be U-shaped; at first production will increase as reserves are developed, and later production will decline as both exploratory activity and the discovery rate fall.