South American Oil Research Articles

The spatial organization of oil and gas investments in South America: an analysis based on communities

Abstract The global economy is organized in value chains, spatially and functionally fragmented. Despite this dispersion, the administrative activities of these chains continue to be concentrated in some cities, which play an important role in certain chains, because they concentrate companies and economic flows. The research on value chains has not focused on the city level and has adopted mainly case studies as the methodological approach. Considering this, we apply a network methodology to analyse the powerful cities in the South American oil and gas investment network, including the attributes that explain this position and the spatial extent of it. To perform this analysis, we use data on green and brownfield investments. Our results indicate that Rio de Janeiro is the most central city in this network, but its action is mainly concentrated in Brazil. This work seeks to contribute mainly to the methodological development of the studies in the area.

Identification of Calcium Naphthenate Deposition in South American Oil Fields

Precipitation of calcium naphthenate soaps from acidic crude oils poses significant operational challenges. Calcium naphthenate deposition in oil fields results from the interaction of a family of special polycyclic tetracarboxylic acids, known as ARN acids, with divalent metal ions (Ca2+) present in produced water. Calcium naphthenate scaling is being increasingly reported from oil fields in South America. We report detailed analyses of three field deposits from various crude-oil-producing fields in South America. All the field deposits were confirmed as calcium naphthenate scale via advanced analytical probes such as mass spectrometry and high-temperature gas chromatography. These field deposits consisted predominantly of polycyclic tetracarboxylic ARN acids. Presence of ARN acids was also validated in South American crude oils. Furthermore, low molecular weight ARN acids with a C70–C72 hydrocarbon skeleton were identified in all the calcium naphthenate field deposits as well as in the crude oil samples. Another interesting observation reported is the striking resemblance in the molecular signature of ARN acids from South America to those from West Africa.

Oil palm genome sequence reveals divergence of interfertile species in Old and New worlds.

Oil palm is the most productive oil-bearing crop. Planted on only 5% of the total vegetable oil acreage, palm oil accounts for 33% of vegetable oil, and 45% of edible oil worldwide, but increased cultivation competes with dwindling rainforest reserves. We report the 1.8 gigabase (Gb) genome sequence of the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis, the predominant source of worldwide oil production. 1.535 Gb of assembled sequence and transcriptome data from 30 tissue types were used to predict at least 34,802 genes, including oil biosynthesis genes and homologues of WRINKLED1 (WRI1), and other transcriptional regulators1, which are highly expressed in the kernel. We also report the draft sequence of the S. American oil palm Elaeis oleifera, which has the same number of chromosomes (2n=32) and produces fertile interspecific hybrids with E. guineensis2, but appears to have diverged in the new world. Segmental duplications of chromosome arms define the palaeotetraploid origin of palm trees. The oil palm sequence enables the discovery of genes for important traits as well as somaclonal epigenetic alterations which restrict the use of clones in commercial plantings3, and thus helps achieve sustainability for biofuels and edible oils, reducing the rainforest footprint of this tropical plantation crop.

Oil supply in Central and South America

This paper estimates a cumulative supply curve for conventional oil in the Central and South American (CSA) region. The curve includes volumes from provinces not previously assessed by other organizations, as well as reserve growth. Volumes for the previously unassessed provinces are estimated using a variable shape distribution (VSD) model. Then the volumes are allocated to CSA countries based on each country's share of proved reserves. Figures provided by the cumulative supply curve are stock variables for all time, unlike the traditional supply curve where they are flow variables that can continue from one period to the next. In this study, the fixed stock approach is used since it provides practical information with respect to the concerns that some have expressed about oil scarcity in the near future. Results indicate that Central and South American oil is more abundant than often assumed, and can be produced at costs below current market oil prices, and substantially below mid-2008 prices.

Venezuelan Oil

Venezuelan oil diplomacy has long been a factor shaping the international energy regime, and domestic political conflicts in Venezuela have always interacted synergistically with conflict over the global energy system. So it is the case with intense domestic conflicts that have swirled around President Hugo Chavez, the country's controversial populist leader. Partly at stake is whether the rules of the global oil regime will correspond to a neoliberal framework permitting freer access to minerals and hydrocarbons on the part of capital, or whether national sovereignty continues to legitimate host countries' right to regulate access and demand compensation for exploitation of resources. Are the resources in a sovereign nation's subsoil a free gift of nature that lie worthless without the application of labour and investment, or do they constitute exhaustible natural wealth for which the nation is entitled to compensation? This question recurs in debates over the imposition of royalty, participation in OPEC, management of state-owned enterprises, and foreign participation in different phases of the industry.Venezuela ranks sixth in the world in proven reserves of conventional crudes, with 78 billion barrels.1 235 billion barrels of heavy oil (at an eight percent recovery rate) in the Orinoco tar belt can be added to this total. At a 30 percent rate of recovery, the oil ministry estimates Venezuela's total reserves at 700 billion barrels, more than proven reserves in the entire Middle East. Impractical today, such reserves might become attractive if most global oil fields have passed peak rates of recovery, global demand continues to increase, and technological improvements in emulsifying heavy oils are made. In addition, Venezuela has the world's ninth largest reserve of gas, trailing only the US in the Western hemisphere. Venezuela consistently ranks in the top five exporters of oil to the US market.Oil powers Venezuelan diplomacy. Deliveries of oil on credit helped Argentine President Nestor Kirchner face down the International Monetary Fund in 2003-04. Venezuela experts are advising other Latin governments, including Colombia and Bolivia, on contracts with foreign investors. Oil money funds Telesur, a Venezuelan-initiated, hemispheric television network. Petrosur is Venezuela's effort to create a South American oil company; PetroCaribe provides discounted oil to countries in the Caribbean Basin. Oil diplomacy has helped Chavez obstruct the US initiative for a NAFTA-like free trade area of the Americas and promote his Bolivarian alternative for the Americas, which prioritizes social objectives and regional integration.VENEZUELA AND GLOBAL OIL REGIMESVenezuela's leadership in shaping third world oil policies arose in part from the consequences of the Mexican revolution. Mexico was the first third world country to nationalize foreign oil companies (in 1938), but consequently the foreign majors excluded PEMEX production from global markets until the 19705, when Mexican oil was welcomed back as part of an effort to counterbalance the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In 1943, because of political space opened by Mexican nationalization, the companies accepted a new oil law revising generous concessions of the past and acknowledging that their profits are subject to Venezuela's sovereign powers of taxation. A few years later, the Venezuelan government and Standard oil agreed to stabilize each side's share of profits at 50 percent. American companies promoted this 50-50 agreement in the Middle East, helping them muscle their way into subsoil previously the preserve of European companies. Illustrating how transitory such agreements can be, in 1958 a Venezuelan government, facing a difficult economic situation inherited from a recently deposed dictatorship, unilaterally raised taxes.Venezuela's advantage as a low-cost producer was diminishing as the country began shakily in 1959 what would be its first extended period of democratic rule. …

Restructuring the Oil Segment in South America: Public Policy, Private Capital and Energy Integration

The World Oil Industry (WOI) developed through two types of economic organization, built up around vertically integrated and internationalized enterprises: the US model, based on private international firms, and the model centered on setting up State-run enterprises, initially in the United Kingdom, Argentina and Mexico. However, from the first oil crisis (1973) onwards, the World Oil Industry has gradually been unbundled through nationalization and the loss of control over the reserves by the oil majors. With this new configuration of the industry, from the 1980s onwards, the strategies of the major international oil companies focused on developing the spot market, while lowering investment and operating costs, introducing correlated diversification strategies, and enhancing industrial concentration through mergers and acquisitions and/or cooperation agreements between companies. The core purpose of these strategic shifts is to obtain control over new oilfield areas. The restructuring processes of national oil industries all over the world—particularly in South America—constituted an important drive aligned with these new guidelines, headed up by the global oil operators. This paper analyzes the changes in the South American oil sector during the 1990s, analyzing aspects involved in awarding mineral rights in the upstream segment. Despite similar policies, market deregulation processes follow different patterns. However, the most significant aspect is an increase in the presence of international private capital in the dynamics of this sector, mainly in regional energy integration processes.

Detection of mesocarp oleoyl-thioesterase gene of the South American oil palm Elaeis oleifera by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction

The thioesterase enzyme functions in lipid synthesis by cleaving the acyl-ACP bond and liberating the fatty acid. Thioesterases have been isolated from a number of plant sources. The gene for this enzyme was detected in Elaeis oleifera by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), cloned and sequenced and found to have considerable sequence similarity with other previously cloned thioesterases. Its highest homology is to the Brassica napus oleoyl-ACP thioesterase, 72% at the nucleotide level over the coding region examined, and 83% identity (90% positives) at the amino acid level.

Why the end of the Cold War doesn't matter: the US war of terror in Colombia

Orthodox narratives of US foreign policy have been employed as uncontested modes of historical interpretation with US post-Cold War foreign policy in the Third World characterised by discontinuity from its earlier Cold War objectives. Chomsky's work adopts an alternative revisionist historiography that views US post-Cold War foreign policy as characterised by continuity with its earlier Cold War objectives. This article examines the continuities of US post-Cold War policy in Colombia, and explains this in terms of the maintenance of US access to South American oil, the preservation of regional (in)stability and the continued need to destroy challenges to US-led neoliberalism.

Business Reengineering in a South American Oil Company

The competitive environment of business today is the most challenging obstacle management must surmount in its quest for corporate success. In the past, corporations have applied several techniques such as automation, quality programs, and motivational theories to increase productivity and profits. However, these approaches have produced results only in the short run. Now the new concept of business reengineering offers the key to reducing costs, enhancing quality, and increasing sales. The present paper explores the concept of business reengineering. It then examines a case study for reengineering in a South American oil company. The case study presents a proposed top‐down plan for conducting a reengineering project and suggests how to reengineer two specific business processes—developing information systems and international procurement. These examples emphasize the main role of information technology as the most powerful enabler of reengineering projects.

South American Oil and Gas Fields: Reasons for Their Presence and Distribution

South American Oil and Gas Fields: Reasons for Their Presence and Distribution

South American Oil Reserves

South American Oil Reserves

South American Oil Reserves

South American Oil Reserves

South American Oil

South American Oil