Multinational Oil Research Articles

Human Resource Demand Forecast and Resilience of Multinational Oil and Gas Producing Companies in Nigeria

Human Resource Demand Forecast and Resilience of Multinational Oil and Gas Producing Companies in Nigeria

Insights into corporate social responsibility disclosure among multinational corporations during host‐country political transformations: Evidence from the Libyan oil industry

AbstractThis study investigates the corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) practices of multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in the Libyan oil industry, particularly amidst significant political transformations within the host‐country (HSC). By examining these insights, we aim to shed light on how these corporations navigate and address CSRD considerations in a dynamic and politically evolving environment. To analyse these aspects, we employ various econometric models, including two‐stage least squares (2SLS) and propensity score matching (PSM). Our examination covers a dataset of 6000 data points representing 35 multinational oil corporations headquartered in 18 different home countries (HMCs) across five continents, spanning the years from 2008 to 2015. Our findings indicated that the level of institutional quality convergence between MNCs' HMCs and HSC significantly determines the extent of HSC‐related CSRD by MNCs. Additionally, the study emphasised that MNCs' internationalisation and business horizon within the HSC are critical factors influencing their CSRD in that country. The findings furthermore suggested that MNCs with a higher CSRD might exert an influence on the political decisions of their HMCs' governments concerning the political crisis in the HSC.

Gender and natural resources management in Nigeria: The role of corporate social responsibility in the oil host communities

AbstractThis paper critically examines the multinational oil companies' (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on addressing inequalities and empowering women for sustainable ecosystem management in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The paper adopts a survey research technique, aimed at gathering information from a representative sample of the population, as it is essentially cross‐sectional, describing and interpreting the current situation. A total of 768 women respondents were sampled across the rural areas of the Niger Delta region. Results from the use of logistic regression model indicate that despite women's unique and important responsibilities in the use and management of natural resources, women are typically less involved in the formal governance processes, resulting in their interests, goals, knowledge, and capabilities being both under‐represented and under‐utilized. It also shows that the MOCs' CSR using GMoU model has recorded significant success in addressing gender inequalities and enhancing the capacity of the rural women in natural resources and ecosystem management. The finding suggests that if the MOCs' CSR targeted at addressing gender issue is increased by one unit, the odd ratio is almost 13 times as high. This implies that addressing gender–related barriers and challenges and championing equitable natural resource governance leads to better livelihoods outcomes. It concludes that business has an obligation to help in solving problems of public concern.

Environmental pollution, variegated violence: the fizzling bond of Delta State diaspora from their homeland

Since crude oil was discovered in Oloibiri, present-day Bayelsa State in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, its exploration by the multinational oil companies has continued unfettered. With this exploration resulting in wanton environmental destruction, the consequences are manifested in several ways. For instance, in Delta State, one of the constituent states of the Niger Delta, people’s socio-economic lives have plummeted owing to the discontinuance of their traditional farming and fishing trades. Indigenes have continued to migrate in the search for greener pastures, as a way of mitigating their socio-economic challenges. While it is expected that those who move out of the state would express empathy towards the homeland and justify the developmental agency arrogated to them, these migrants (who also fit the bill of diaspora) end up displaying ethnic ambivalence. Following a qualitative research design, data collected from semi-structured interviews conducted with 20 Delta State diaspora living in London, and five victims of environmental pollution in the state, were subjected to descriptive analysis. In addition to the established causes, this study identifies environmental pollution as causal factor of ethnic ambivalence, and concludes that the consequences go beyond the obvious to destroy the relationships that give meaning and essence to human existence.

Oil, the Perennial Ache of the Niger Delta: A Critical Perspective on Two Collections of Poems

This paper examines the mutuality between human beings and their ecologies and the inevitable role of literature in critiquing these relationships, highlighting the beauty and the errors there in and what needs to be done to better the human world. This paper investigates the current state of the nation, Nigeria, and acquaints the people with the view that ecologies are over exploited by the Nigeria ruling class, in connivance with the multinational oil companies, leaving behind monumental and devastating ecological imprints on the landscape, fauna and flora. It investigates the poets’ intervention, the governments nonchalant attitude towards the peoples’ predicaments, the geometrical progression of poverty in the land and the way out of the dilemma. Using Ecocriticism, a trans-disciplinary approach, which scrutinises the relationship between biological sciences and literary imaginative works, the paper analyses the Ibiwari Ikiriko’s Oily Tears of the Delta and Sophia Obi’s Tears in a Basket which demonstrate the collective silence towards the exploitation of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. This paper highlights, from the ecological perspective the pains of the Niger Delta region resulting from the environmental degradation, corruption and the criminality of the Nigerian government and the multinational oil companies. It also finds that there is a deliberate debasing of the nations landscape and calls on the government to do the needful. The paper concludes that there is a deliberate attempt to reawakening the peoples to rise up to the challenges of the moment in view of government insensitivity.

The Moderating Role of Green Work Climate Perceptions on Green Human Resource Management and Organizational Agility of Multinational Oil and Gas Companies in Nigeria

The Moderating Role of Green Work Climate Perceptions on Green Human Resource Management and Organizational Agility of Multinational Oil and Gas Companies in Nigeria

Gender and food security in Nigeria: the role of corporate social responsibility in the oil-producing communities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to critically examine the multinational oil companies’ (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on gender and food security in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts a survey research technique aimed at gathering information from a representative sample of the population. A total of 800 women respondents were sampled across the rural areas of the Niger Delta region. It is essentially cross-sectional, describing and interpreting the current situation.FindingsThe results from the use of a combined propensity score matching (PSM) and logit model indicate that the CSR interventions of the MOCs using GMoUs have contributed to empowering women to effectively discharge their role in food and nutritional security. This is achieved by enhancing coherence in policies on gender, agriculture, nutrition, health, trade and other relevant areas in the Niger Delta. The findings also show that the CSR intervention of MOCs supported ecologically sound approaches to food production, such as agro-ecology that promotes sustainable farming and women’s empowerment in the region.Practical implicationsThis suggests that recognizing and respecting the local knowledge of farmers, including women farmers, will help develop locally relevant food and nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa.Social implicationsThis implies that promoting the implementation of everybody’s right to food, particularly that of women, as well as giving women rights to other resources such as land, in addition to engaging women and men in challenging the inequitable distribution of food within the household, will help strengthen food security in Africa.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the gender debate in agriculture from a CSR perspective in developing countries and serves as a basis for the host communities to demand social projects. It concludes that corporate establishments have an obligation to help solve problems of public concern.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AS IMPERATIVES FOR ABATING OIL SPILLAGES

The Niger Delta region is one of the major areas where the problem of oil spillage is prevalent. Over the years, several enactments have been promulgated with a view to abating the problem. Despite the existence of these enactments, the problem of oil spillage persists. The effect of oil spillage which ranges from environmental, health, economic and other negative developmental effects severely impinge on the enjoyment of human rights, particularly the right to life. Using the doctrinal method of research, this study makes use of both primary and secondary sources to analyse the nature and scope of human rights and the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with a view to proffering a solution to the problem of oil spillage in the Niger Delta region. This study calls for a liberal interpretation of the relevant human rights provisions in the constitution and treaties as well as the adoption and enforcement of the principles of CSR as a way of abating the incidences of oil spillage in the Niger Delta region. This paper further advocates the imposition of stiffer penalties on erring Multinational Oil Companies whose activities negatively impact on the environment. This paper makes a case for the adoption of a corporate environmental system beyond the provision of basic amenities to oil producing host communities.

The effects of cross-cultural differences on HRM functions: the case of multinational corporations in Kuwaiti community

PurposeWith increasing globalization, the importance of referring to cross-cultural contexts is also amplifying in the contemporary era. The models, framework and dimensions devoted to such situations are increasingly mannered in practice today. With due consideration derivation to the input manner, an organization’s performance is also taken aside for its increasing marginality. The following study aims to examine the American multinational oil and gas company operating in Kuwait's oil sector to evaluate the respect. The branch has a total of 600 employees, which were all included in the data collection phase. Hence, the results derived with cumulative aspects of leadership, power distance and organizational value as their impact on human resource management (HRM) functions.Design/methodology/approachThrough the quantitative approach of a self-adapted questionnaire, 101 responses were collected, and through SPSS Version 22, results were discreet.FindingsThe results reverted with the manual that the cultural dimension of Hofstede, i.e. power distance, did not have an apparent impact on the HRM functions. Whilst leadership and organizational values had their dissolved set of effects on HRM functions of the chosen firm. However, HRM functions were apparent enough to have its impact upon leadership, power distance (PD) and organizational value accumulated. Opening to the opportunities where in the future studies, a greater extent of population as well as variables could be considered for a better impact.Research limitations/implicationsThe Major limitation of the study is related to the number of respondents as the research was conducted solely for the chosen branch of this private oil and gas firm in Kuwait, which makes its results limited and narrowed in the analysis phase. Moreover, the methodology selection did not do justice to the resulting research’s agenda, which was restricted due to the pandemic’s situation. Where with a better and respective methodology approach, better results could be attached.Originality/valueThe rationale of research refers to the gap concerning theoretical aspects within a field of business. As for the resulting study, in a cross-cultural management setting, the relevancy and implication of HRM functions concerning their transparency have not been explored. Globally, in different industries, the, study of similar nature has been conducted but has not examined, the fossil fuel industry particularly, which would be the focal point of this research.

Ecotourism for transformative and youth development in sub-Saharan Africa: the role of corporate social responsibility in Nigeria’s oil host communities

ABSTRACT We examine the impact of multinational oil companies’ (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives on enabling youth participation in ecotourism development in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Results from the use of average treatment test of a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicate a significant difference between youths in MOCs’ CSR global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) households and non-GMoU households in the four parameters measured: availability of finance (3.76), access to adequate training (5.91), direct patronage (18.97), and economic capability of the youths (8.2). It shows that opportunities to supply products and services to the tourism sector can help ensure a sustainable market and increase incomes and other revenues in local communities driven from ecotourism-related activities, while minimizing economic leakages. This suggests that pro-youth GMoU ecotourism projects of MOCs have the potential to play in the formation of linkages to help promote local economic development through job creation and business opportunities. It implies that a younger generation can help to promote economic diversification and contribute to job creation and enterprise development, while helping to address underdevelopment in remoe areas and intractable environmental challenges of sub-Saharan Africa.

State-Corporate environmental crime and human security in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

Admittedly, environmental crime or green criminology as sub-filed or a separate section of legal jurisprudence is struggling to evolve in Nigeria. This is particularly so in the light of lax legislation regulating the Nigeria oil industry. This paper advanced the argument that all human acts such as oil spills, gas flaring and other forms of environmental degradation in contravention of existing environmental legislation amount to environmental violence; and constitute environmental crime; which crime is increasing unabated in the Nigeria Delta region of Nigeria, with huge human security implications. The environment isthe life and sustainer of humanity, unfortunately man has become a destroyer instead of a protector and replenisher of the environment on account of the unsustainable drive for capital accumulation for industrialization and development. The outcomes of the activities associated with industrialization and development instead of ameliorating has rather deepened the poverty and misery of the Niger Delta. The acts of ecocide and genocide committed by the Multinational Oil Corporations with the tacit connivance Nigerian state had continuously threatened human security, without commensurable commitments to halting the impending Armageddon. The argument of this paper is guided by resource curse theory. Data were purely qualitative, and generated from secondary sources and subjected to content analysis. The fundamental finding of this paper is that the trouble with environmental governance in Nigeria is not the want of regulations, albeit weak but the weak extractive and regulatory capacity of the Nigeria state to enforce compliance. The paper recommends very strongly that the Nigerian state must assert its stateness, effectively perform its regulatory roles, and criminalize all acts of environment violations.

The impact of CSR on rural women custodians of seed, food and climate change resilience in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to critically examine the multinational oil companies’ (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on development of enterprising rural women as custodians of seed, food and traditional knowledge for climate change resilience in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts a survey research technique, aimed at gathering information from a representative sample of the population, as it is essentially cross-sectional, describing and interpreting the current situation. A total of 768 rural women respondents were sampled across the rural areas of the Niger Delta region in Nigeria.FindingsThe results from the use of a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicated that the meagre interventions of MOCs’ CSR targeted at the empowerment of rural women as custodians of seed, food and traditional knowledge for climate change resilience recorded significant success in improving the role of women in agricultural production, especially in women’s involvement across value chains.Practical implicationsThis suggests that any increase in the MOCs’ CSR targeted at increasing rural women’s access to seed preservation facilities, food processing facilities and extension systems that impact a strong body of knowledge and expertise that can be used in climate change mitigation, disaster reduction and adaptation strategies will enhance women’s responsibilities in households and communities as stewards of natural and household resources and will position them well to contribute to livelihood strategies adapted to changing environmental realities.Social implicationsThis implies that MOCs’ GMoUs’ policies and practices should enhance women’s participation, value and recognize women’s knowledge and enable women as well as men farmers to participate in the decision-making process in agriculture, food production and land governance, as women need to be acknowledged and supported as the primary producers of food in the region, able to both cultivate healthy food and climate change resilience through small-scale agro-ecological farming system.Originality/valueThis research contributes to gender debate in agriculture from a CSR perspective in developing countries and explains the rational for demands for social projects by host communities. It concludes that business has an obligation to help solve problems of public concern.

Industry groups in international governance: a framework for reform

The Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights encourage engaging with businesses as partners in important global governance agendas. Indeed, many international organizations are now partnering with business groups to secure funding and private sector engagement. At the same time, reforms at the World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization and others seek to restrain the dangers of mission distortion and capture by business groups. Shareholders at major multinational oil and gas companies also recognize these dangers and seek to rein in lobbying that is at odds with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Despite these tensions, little scholarly attention has been paid to the regulations that govern how industry and trade groups may participate in the work of international organizations. Specifically, little attention has been devoted to how those regulations could best capture the potential benefits of business engagement while restraining the potential harms. This article offers a history of engagement between international organizations and industry and trade associations, reviews arguments for embracing or restraining their participation, and develops a framework for regulations to govern their access.

Fossil fuel companies' climate communication strategies: Industry messaging on renewables and natural gas

Research shows that multinational oil and gas companies have recently made a strategic shift away from outright climate denial to more nuanced discourses of climate delay. Communication on social media is an under-analyzed part of the fossil fuel industry's strategy to delay the energy transition away from fossil fuels to a renewable future. This study examines how four companies (Shell, ExxonMobil, BP, and TotalEnergies) are communicating about the renewable transition by analyzing tweets published by their global Twitter accounts. Each of these companies tweets about different renewable technologies in the context of showcasing their own renewable projects. TotalEnergies and BP focus mostly on solar, ExxonMobil on biofuels, and Shell on hydrogen; geothermal and hydropower are hardly mentioned by any of the companies. The number of tweets mentioning renewables increased rapidly after 2015. Topic modeling on tweets about renewables shows that renewables are often mentioned together with natural gas, emphasizing how both are essential for emissions reductions. Similarly, computational text analysis on tweets about natural gas reveals how companies highlight the social good of natural gas including promoting its role in emissions reductions, presenting natural gas as a fuel for a cleaner future, and emphasizing that natural gas is critical to meeting growing societal demand for energy. This pattern of communication - linking renewables to natural gas and promoting natural gas as part of their corporate response to climate change - suggests an evolution of fossil fuel companies' strategic efforts to delay the energy transition and obstruct climate action.

Hydrocarbon Extraction in the Niger Delta: Reasons for the Acute Environmental Pollution

The Niger Delta has remained the epicentre of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation activities for over six decades. During this period, operations of the oil companies have adversely impacted the environment. This is because the oil companies operations have involved unabated oil spillages and massive gas flaring. However, all these have occurred despite the existence of plethora of laws that are aimed to prevent hydrocarbon activities from impacting the environment adversely. It would seem that since oil revenues constitute the live wire of the State, its only concern is revenue generation; the cost to the environment notwithstanding. As such, the philosophy underlying hydrocarbon extraction in the Niger Delta appears based on maximum profit at minimum cost. Hydrocarbon operations are not without some pitfalls; however, the paper argues that the acute impact of oil operations on Niger Delta environment was State-created. It contends that the situation was due to the State’s sole reliance on hydrocarbon revenues to fund its budget. It argues further that the situation was compounded by the near insolvent position of the State oil company NNPC; in comparison to the oil multinationals, its joint ventures partners. As a result, hydrocarbon operations have acutely impacted the region’s flora and fauna.

Critical Legal Issues in State Participation in the Oil Business in Nigeria: Any Success?

Since the finding of oil and independence in Nigeria in the 1960s, State participation in the oil business has been tremendous ranging from the enactment of state ownership of oil legal regimes to the creation of national oil companies and refineries. Change in the ideological climate of ownership due to the end of the cold war has equally underscored renewed incursion of multinational oil companies into the oil business with a variety of joint venture and production-sharing contracts with the national oil company: NNPCL. Further opening of the gates for local content development has also seen the emergence of local content vehicles and private refineries on the Nigerian oil business landscape. This study which employs the doctrinal method critically surveys the international and municipal dynamics that resulted in State ownership theories of minerals, the resource conflicts wars and corruption they have bred and the pernicious tenacity with which multinational oil companies have remained relevant on the oil business landscape without any demonstrable contribution in the downstream sector and gas-flare-down. The study equally underscores the circumstances in which the seven sisters have underpinned and shoved the Nigerian state into blurred privatisation, deregulation and liberalisation policies. The study finds that the participation of the State in business has neither grown the economy by meeting the energy requirement of the people through state refineries nor has it employed its legislative management to get the multinationals to do so through private refineries. What the nation has harvested is a basket of corruption, poverty and underdevelopment concluding that State participation in the oil business has been a failure.

Cult violence in Nigeria and corporate social responsibility in oil-producing communities

ABSTRACT Since the beginning of 2014, reports of cult violence have increased sharply in the Nigeria’s oil-producing communities. Hence, we set out to examine the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from multinational oil companies (MOCs) in mitigating the spread of cult group violence in the region. A total of two thousand four hundred respondents were sampled across the nine states of the Niger Delta. Results from the use of estimated logit model reveal that MOCs via Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) are in good position to deter the aggression and rise of cult violence using interventions for youth as a priority target group mechanism. This calls for pro-youth capacity building programmes, specially designed to equip the clusters with appropriate skills required for peaceful engagement and to complement government efforts in the planning and implementation of the development agenda for their respective communities. In turn, this will contribute towards enhancing a peaceful environment for doing business in the Niger Delta region.

Oil Exploration in Eastern Obolo Environment, 1996 – 2021

Eastern Obolo is richly endowed with abundant natural resources especially crude oil and gas. Oil exploration has impacted disastrously on the people and their environment. Despite its immense contribution to the up-keep of the state, the area has suffered monumental neglect and deprivation in addition to the destruction of the ecosystem. The fauna and flora are under threat. The exploration of crude oil apart from causing damages to the ecosystem has been one of the major sources of communal conflicts and crime in the area. This vexed situation has in recent years encouraged youth restiveness, violent protests, pipeline vandalisation and kidnapping. Against this backdrop, the paper argues that unless there is a paradigm shift in the manner the oil multinationals as well as the state and federal government respond to these ugly situations, violent crisis will continue to prevail.

Oil extraction and gender equality for social equity: The role of corporate social responsibility in Nigeria's coastal communities

We examine the impact of multinational oil companies' (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) on gender equality for social equity using a combined propensity score matching and logit model. The result indicates a significant relationship between CSR and gender equality for social equity in coastal communities of Nigeria's oil producing region. This implies that CSR of MOCs is a critical factor for promoting equal opportunity, equal access, equal treatment, equal sharing and division of resources. The finding suggest for improved CSR investment of MOCs on empowering the women in coastal communities in taking up alternative livelihoods from conservation and marine resources.

Monetary Compensation in Pollution Litigation in Nigeria: How Adequate?

Since the discovery of oil in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, there has been a steady increase in conflict between the communities hosting the multinational oil companies and the host communities. The conflicts have found expression in court disputes over the years. The dominant claims in these disputes are usually monetary compensation. The question has continued to arise as to whether there are consistent legal frameworks to guide the disputants in the process of getting compensated for oil spillages and other collateral damages that result from the exploratory activities of these multinational oil companies. Looking at the procedural laws, who and which is more favoured: the company or the victim? This paper which adopts the doctrinal method surveys the problem of monetary compensation in litigation involving victims of oil company operations and the companies. It was found that although there are skeletal procedural principles currently in force in the area, a well-developed statutory procedure governing the space has not been enacted leaving the victims largely short-changed and the companies given leeway to escape from the direct consequences of their actions on the socio-ecological structure of the Niger-Delta. A ‘new’ law in the area is therefore advocated.