The case for shared infrastructure to unlock onshore resources

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 431
Author(s):  
Kai C. Eberspaecher
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Barriers To Entry ◽  
Pipeline Transportation ◽  
General Development ◽  
Current State ◽  
Capital Assets ◽  
Strategic Review ◽  
Resource Policy ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Shared Infrastructure

This paper outlines the current state of the upstream industry for smaller oil and gas developers in Australia’s mature onshore basins. In particular, a strategic review of the market landscape based on Porter’s Five Forces model is undertaken from a junior exploration company’s perspective with a focus on barriers to market entry, such as access to infrastructure, capital, assets and expertise. In the strategic framework context, the paper examines the opportunities to break down natural monopolistic structures and barriers to entry across incumbent producers, pipeline transportation companies and contractors. It also investigates potential changes in resource policy dealing with access to infrastructure and general development requirements. In its analysis, the importance of junior explorers to extend the longevity of mature basins by looking at other petroleum provinces around the globe is highlighted. Examples in North America (onshore) and the UK (offshore) are used to showcase approaches in assisting smaller companies converting resources into reserves. In its conclusion, the paper demonstrates qualitatively how shared infrastructure, coopetition and incorporating renewables can be game changers for junior explorers in unlocking further resources and new prospects in the Australian onshore hydrocarbon provinces. The paper also calls for further coordination between companies, industry bodies and government under an improvement framework to ensure continued success.

French and Spanish Queer Film

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Perriam ◽  
Darren Waldron
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Audience Research ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
Current State ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Screening Questionnaires ◽  
On Line ◽  
The Uk

This book advances the current state of film audience research and of our knowledge of sexuality in transnational contexts, by analysing how French LGBTQ films are seen in Spain and Spanish ones in France, as well as how these films are seen in the UK. It studies films from various genres and examines their reception across four languages (Spanish, French, Catalan, English) and engages with participants across a range of digital and physical audience locations. A focus on LGBTQ festivals and on issues relating to LGBTQ experience in both countries allows for the consideration of issues such as ageing, sense of community and isolation, affiliation and investment, and the representation of issues affecting trans people. The book examines films that chronicle the local, national and sub-national identities while also addressing foreign audiences. It draws on a large sample of individual responses through post-screening questionnaires and focus groups as well as on the work of professional film critics and on-line commentators.

Fatigue Monitoring and Management across Different Industries

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 993-996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranjana K. Mehta ◽  
S. Camille Peres ◽  
Linsey M. Steege ◽  
Jim R. Potvin ◽  
Mike Wahl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Physiological State ◽  
Work Conditions ◽  
Severe Injuries ◽  
Circadian Phase ◽  
Current State ◽  
Fatigue Monitoring ◽  
Performance Capability

Fatigue, often defined as a physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance capability resulting from sleep loss, circadian phase, or workload (physical or cognitive), has been implicated as a critical risk factor resulting in severe injuries and accidents. A great deal of research has been done into the identification, measurement, and management of fatigue, however it is still poorly understood. This may be due to the characteristics and variability of work conditions across different industries; for example, fatigue in manufacturing is largely related to physical demands, and in aviation fatigue is related to sleep and shift-work. This panel will comprise of academics and practitioners across manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, aviation, and oil and gas industries. Topics covered within each industry will include fatigue causes and consequences, existing fatigue monitoring/management practices, barriers to fatigue monitoring and management, and recommendations/discussions around improving the current state.

scholarly journals Two decades of neuroscience publication trends in Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. B. Maina ◽  
U. Ahmad ◽  
H. A. Ibrahim ◽  
S. K. Hamidu ◽  
F. E. Nasr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Accurate Data ◽  
Publication Trends ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Current State ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Research Environments ◽  
New Policies ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Extract Information

AbstractNeuroscience research in Africa remains sparse. Devising new policies to boost Africa’s neuroscience landscape is imperative, but these must be based on accurate data on research outputs which is largely lacking. Such data must reflect the heterogeneity of research environments across the continent’s 54 countries. Here, we analyse neuroscience publications affiliated with African institutions between 1996 and 2017. Of 12,326 PubMed indexed publications, 5,219 show clear evidence that the work was performed in Africa and led by African-based researchers - on average ~5 per country and year. From here, we extract information on journals and citations, funding, international coauthorships and techniques used. For reference, we also extract the same metrics from 220 randomly selected publications each from the UK, USA, Australia, Japan and Brazil. Our dataset provides insights into the current state of African neuroscience research in a global context.

Alternative Contracting Approaches in Current Oil and Gas Business Environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Bradford Critzer ◽  
Douglas Andrew Colbert
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Market Conditions ◽  
Project Outcomes ◽  
Lump Sum ◽  
Current State ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Financial Impacts ◽  
Oil And Gas Sector ◽  
Broad Overview

Abstract This paper presents a broad overview of the current state of the oil and gas engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor base following a period of challenging market conditions, subsequent owner/operator investment deferments, and the resulting financial impacts to the contractor base. These factors have caused a reduced tolerance for oil and gas volatility and a reduced appetite for lump sum contract risk. This paper identifies alternative contracting approaches to traditional competitively bid lump sum contracting. These alternative approaches result in a better understanding and assignment of risk between owner/operator and contractor, encourage continued participation by contractors in the oil and gas sector, and increase the probability of successful project outcomes.

Initiatives in UK Offshore Decommissioning Following the Wood Review: Applicability for Decommissioning in Norway

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rune Vikane ◽  
Jon Tømmerås Selvik ◽  
Eirik Bjorheim Abrahamsen
Keyword(s):  
Swot Analysis ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Regulatory Body ◽  
Cost Estimates ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Gas Recovery ◽  
The Uk

Abstract The 2014 Wood Review is a report reviewing UK offshore oil and gas recovery and its regulation, led by Sir Ian Wood. The report identifies and addresses key challenges in the UK petroleum industry, among them the lack of a strong regulatory body and a decommissioning strategy. The UK petroleum industry is mature, and Norway may benefit from UK's experiences in decommissioning. The article investigates the applicability of the Wood Review recommendations for decommissioning in Norway. The analysis of the recommendations in the Wood Review is carried out by a SWOT-analysis of the general recommendations with a high potential impact on decommissioning as well as the five recommendations specific to decommissioning. The recommendations in the Wood Review were broadly accepted by UK authorities and formed the basis for numerous initiatives aimed at improving policies and practices in UK decommissioning. The key initiatives are presented to illustrate how the Wood Review recommendations has been interpreted. A summary of the key differences between the petroleum industries and the regulatory authorities in Norway and the UK is provided for background. Decommissioning in Norway face similar challenges to those identified in the Wood Review. The analysis indicates that several of the UK initiatives following the recommendations in the Wood Review has the potential of improving decommissioning in Norway. Differences in regulatory regimes between the regions may complicate the implementation of some of the initiatives following the Wood Review in Norway. In most cases only minor changes to regulations and/or practices are required. Recent UK initiatives with a high impact on decommissioning include increased focus on sharing of information and lessons learned, increased collaboration, the development of a decommissioning strategy, benchmarking of decommissioning cost estimates for all projects and the development and publishing of annual UK decommissioning cost estimates. There are indications that the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) and the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MPE) are falling behind their UK counterparts in key areas. Norway has limited experience with decommissioning, and scrupulous analysis of lessons learned in other regions is essential. Decommissioning of Norwegian offshore infrastructure is a major undertaking and even minor improvements may have a substantial impact on personnel risk, risk to the environment or the total decommissioning expenditure. The Norwegian regulatory regime has been an integral part of the Norwegian petroleum industry's success in previous decades, and changes to the regime require careful deliberation. The recent implementation of initiatives aimed at improving decommissioning regulations and practices in the UK represents a unique learning opportunity for Norwegian authorities. The analysis suggest that Norway may benefit from adopting some of the UK initiatives following the Wood Review recommendations.

Development and Evaluation of a Mobile Plant to Prepare Natural Gas for Use in Foam Fracturing Treatments

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Griffin Beck ◽  
Melissa Poerner ◽  
Kevin Hoopes ◽  
Sandeep Verma ◽  
Garud Sridhar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Gas Processing ◽  
Current State ◽  
Fracturing Process ◽  
Mobile Plant ◽  
Processing Plants ◽  
Production Techniques

Hydraulic fracturing treatments are used to produce oil and gas reserves that would otherwise not be accessible using traditional production techniques. Fracturing treatments require a significant amount of water, which has an associated environmental impact. In recent work funded by the Department of Energy (DOE), an alternative fracturing process has been investigated that uses natural gas as the primary fracturing fluid. In the investigated method, a high-pressure foam of natural gas and water is used for fracturing, a method than could reduce water usage by as much as 80% (by volume). A significant portion of the work focused on identifying and optimizing a mobile processing facility that can be used to pressurize natural gas sourced from adjacent wells or nearby gas processing plants. This paper discusses some of the evaluated processes capable of producing a high-pressure (10,000 psia) flow of natural gas from a low-pressure source (500 psia). The processes include five refrigeration cycles producing liquefied natural gas as well as a cycle that directly compresses the gas. The identified processes are compared based on their specific energy as calculated from a thermodynamic analysis. Additionally, the processes are compared based on the estimated equipment footprint and the process safety. Details of the thermodynamic analyses used to compare the cycles are provided. This paper also discusses the current state of the art of foam fracturing methods and reviews the advantages of these techniques.

scholarly journals Online grocery shopping: promise and pitfalls for healthier food and beverage purchases

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (18) ◽  
pp. 3360-3376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie B Jilcott Pitts ◽  
Shu Wen Ng ◽  
Jonathan L Blitstein ◽  
Alison Gustafson ◽  
Mihai Niculescu
Keyword(s):  
Grocery Shopping ◽  
Nutrition Labelling ◽  
Current State ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
Brick And Mortar ◽  
Environment Domain ◽  
Impulse Purchases ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Psychosocial Domain

AbstractObjectives(i) To determine the current state of online grocery shopping, including individuals’ motivations for shopping for groceries online and types of foods purchased; and (ii) to identify the potential promise and pitfalls that online grocery shopping may offer in relation to food and beverage purchases.DesignPubMed, ABI/INFORM and Google Scholar were searched to identify published research.SettingTo be included, studies must have been published between 2007 and 2017 in English, based in the USA or Europe (including the UK), and focused on: (i) motivations for online grocery shopping; (ii) the cognitive/psychosocial domain; and (iii) the community or neighbourhood food environment domain.SubjectsOur search yielded twenty-four relevant papers.ResultsFindings indicate that online grocery shopping can be a double-edged sword. While it has the potential to increase healthy choices via reduced unhealthy impulse purchases, nutrition labelling strategies, and as a method to overcome food access limitations among individuals with limited access to a brick-and-mortar store, it also has the potential to increase unhealthy choices due to reasons such as consumers’ hesitance to purchase fresh produce online.ConclusionsAdditional research is needed to determine the most effective ways to positively engage customers to use online grocery shopping to make healthier choices.

scholarly journals 20 years of African Neuroscience: Waking a sleeping giant

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
MB Maina ◽  
U Ahmad ◽  
HA Ibrahim ◽  
SK Hamidu ◽  
FE Nasr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Research ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Depth Information ◽  
Current State ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Global North ◽  
New Policies ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Work Done

Understanding the function and dysfunction of the brain remains one of the key challenges of our time. However, an overwhelming majority of brain research is carried out in the Global North, by a minority of well-funded and intimately interconnected labs. In contrast, with an estimated one neuroscientist per million people in Africa, news about neuroscience research from the Global South remains sparse. Clearly, devising new policies to boost Africa’s neuroscience landscape is imperative. However, the policy must be based on accurate data, which is largely lacking. Such data must reflect the extreme heterogeneity of research outputs across the continent’s 54 countries distributed over an area larger than USA, Europe and China combined. Here, we analysed all of Africa’s Neuroscience output over the past 21 years. Uniquely, we individually verified in each of 12,326 publications that the work was indeed performed in Africa and led by African-based researchers. This step is critical: previous estimates grossly inflated figures, because many of Africa’s high-visibility publications are in fact the result of internationally led collaborations, with most work done outside of Africa. The remaining number of African-led Neuroscience publications was 5,219, on average only ~5 per country and year. From here, we extracted metrics such as the journal and citations, as well as detailed information on funding, international collaborations and the techniques and model systems used. We link these metrics to demographic data and indicators of mobility and economy. For reference, we also extracted the same metrics from 220 randomly selected publications each from the UK, USA, Australia, Japan and Brazil. Our unique dataset allows us to gain accurate and in-depth information on the current state of African Neuroscience research, and to put it into a global context. This in turn allows us to make actionable recommendations on how African research might best be supported in the future.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document