MULTI-CLIENT COLLABORATIVE R&D CONTRIBUTING TO NATIONAL PROSPERITY: A TALE OF TWO INDUSTRIES

1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 794
Author(s):  
J. Cucuzza
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Common Interest ◽  
Research Association ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Business Units ◽  
Track Record ◽  
Business Goals

The business landscape has undergone some significant changes over the last several years. Accompanying these changes has been an alignment of corporate R&D with business goals. This has resulted in significant downsizing of corporate research laboratories and the devolving responsibility for R&D matters to operating sites or business units. The downside of this is that the operations are now more than ever focussing on productivity, industrial relations and other essential short-term profitability-motivated issues. Consequently, the changing environment is creating cultures that value and reward short-term results. This short-termism has important implications to industry and the research community.One of the more successful and cost-effective mechanisms by which Australia can enhance its R&D base and consequent prosperity is through collaborative R&D. The Australian Minerals Industries Research Association (AMIRA), together with its oil and gas Division APIRA, has demonstrated over the years how effective this can be. AMIRA's raison d'etre is to assist the resource industries improve their technology position through collaborative R&D. It achieves this by working closely with researchers and industry to identify areas of common interest, develop research proposals, and seek financial support for these proposals from industry. Once a project commences, the Association administers the financial and reporting aspects, as well as monitoring progress, organising progress review meetings and assisting in technology transfer. AMIRA/APIRA has the track record, the systems and expertise to facilitate and manage collaborative R&D focussing on industry needs.The evolution of the Australian collaborative R&D environment in the oil and gas and minerals sectors has been significantly different. The oil and gas industry, particularly in exploration, does not have a history of strong collaborative R&D in Australia. The reasons for this are varied and can be found in the different corporate cultures between mineral and oil and gas companies.

Recovering large Brownfield projects in distress

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 546
Author(s):  
Andrew Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Investment Decision ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Calendar Time ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Track Record ◽  
Design Changes ◽  
Recent Case Study

A large body of knowledge exists about how to plan and establish projects for success; from project management guidelines to staged gate-execution methodologies. Despite such prescriptive means to guarantee project success, the upstream oil and gas industry has a poor track record for delivering large projects. Little guidance exists on how to restore delivery assurance to partially executed projects in distress. Furthermore, recovery efforts for large brownfield projects, mid-way through their execution, are further complicated and highly constrained. Operators and contractors alike are understandably concerned about the high failure rate of projects, particularly as Australia competes for global capital in the final investment decision for a project’s development. Issues cover the full spectrum of safety, cost, schedule, start-up, and operability. Furthermore, unanticipated issues such as industrial relations, resourcing, project controls, estimate basis, and design changes all play a central role in why projects find themselves in distress. In a recent case study, a structured recovery approach restored delivery assurance to a $900 m upstream brownfield project. Despite the numerous challenges encountered during the recovery efforts, the project went on to deliver ahead of its revised cost and schedule commitment, while also achieving outstanding safety performance. The self-governance program was instrumental in restoring delivery performance through responsive decision making that was robust, repeatable and preserved free calendar time for early intervention on high value recovery issues. The journey of recovery also restored a fractured client and contractor relationship by fostering a project delivery environment that was highly collaborative.

Crystal balls and current affairs: the financial challenge of a changing climate to the oil and gas industry

2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 490
Author(s):  
Adam Davis
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Capital Allocation ◽  
Risk Transfer ◽  
Changing Climate

Despite debate, the fact remains that the climate is changing. When considering the factors that determine potential financial impacts and losses that upstream oil and gas business could suffer due to a changing climate, the issues may primarily appear to be related to weather and geography. On closer examination, the factors that determine the severity of the impacts and losses are largely determined by the design and interdependencies of the financial and economic mechanisms of risk management. There is an increasing consensus in the insurance industry that the challenge presented by climate change, along with the increasing power of climate models, will result in far-reaching changes to the presently accepted practices of risk transfer. This extended abstract describes the increased power of climate models and the improved understanding of the present levels of under-adaptation when viewed from the position of investors in large-scale and long-lived oil and gas assets in Australia. It then looks at risk transfer models and examines potential limitations that have been identified due to the focus on ad-hoc post-disaster recovery when compared to a cost-effective pre-disaster resilience approach. The extended abstract then discusses how changes in the risk transfer approach could affect the financial aspects of an oil and gas business, such as the cost of borrowing, self-insurance, capital allocation and planning.

scholarly journals Characterization and Treatment Technologies Applied for Produced Water in Qatar

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 3573
Author(s):  
Hana D. Dawoud ◽  
Haleema Saleem ◽  
Nasser Abdullah Alnuaimi ◽  
Syed Javaid Zaidi
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Treatment Techniques ◽  
Treatment Technologies ◽  
Oil Gas

Qatar is one of the major natural gas (NG) producing countries, which has the world’s third-largest NG reserves besides the largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Since the produced water (PW) generated in the oil and gas industry is considered as the largest waste stream, cost-effective PW management becomes fundamentally essential. The oil/gas industries in Qatar produce large amounts of PW daily, hence the key challenges facing these industries reducing the volume of PW injected in disposal wells by a level of 50% for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the reservoir. Moreover, it is important to study the characteristics of PW to determine the appropriate method to treat it and then use it for various applications such as irrigation, or dispose of it without harming the environment. This review paper targets to highlight the generation of PW in Qatar, as well as discuss the characteristics of chemical, physical, and biological treatment techniques in detail. These processes and methods discussed are not only applied by Qatari companies, but also by other companies associated or in collaboration with those in Qatar. Finally, case studies from different companies in Qatar and the challenges of treating the PW are discussed. From the different studies analyzed, various techniques as well as sequencing of different techniques were noted to be employed for the effective treatment of PW.

scholarly journals Critical strategic analysis forecast of the oil and gas business unit of General Electric Company: A conceptual review

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Adeyemi Z. Oshilalu ◽  
◽  
Yolandie C. Baldie ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Strategic Analysis ◽  
Value Chain Analysis ◽  
General Electric ◽  
General Electric Company ◽  
Electric Company ◽  
Business Units ◽  
Market Focus

The General Electric Company (GE) is considerably assessed as one of the world’s most successful corporations in the 20th Century. GE is a huge multinational conglomerate with one of the most highly innovative business units/divisions in the world. Due to the vast majority of GE’s products and services, a critical strategic analysis forecast of one of the conglomerate’s eight business units – Oil and Gas is presented for a conceptual review. The paper details how these Strategic Business Units (SBUs) explored the efficiency and market focus of their business portfolio through diversification, innovation, and acquisition. Resource allocation and value chain analysis of the SBU was conducted to determine the certainty of the company’s competitive edge. The portfolio of the SBU; oilfield services, oilfield equipment, turbomachinery, and process & digital solutions were reviewed using the Boston consulting group (BCG) matrix while the Ansoff matrix was employed to analyze and predict the company for sustainable future growth and divestment. In 2017, the synergy between these SBU and Baker Hughes to deliver a full-stream integrated oilfield portfolio revealed a strong and enhanced competitive advantage of the SBU across the global oil and gas industry, however, the analysis of the company shows that the SBU still experiences underperformance in the stock market.

Best Practices for the Design and Installation of Bolted Joints

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Tetteh-Wayoe
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Bolted Joints ◽  
Pipeline System ◽  
Technical Literature ◽  
Operational Life ◽  
Welded Pipe

The cost effective design and construction of liquid pipeline facilities traditionally necessitates the use of bolted joints as opposed to welds. Some of these bolted joints are frequently disassembled and reassembled as part of regular maintenance, while others are assembled at the time of construction and expected to retain a seal for the lifetime of the pipeline. Consequently, the design and installation practices employed for bolted connections are relied upon to produce the same operational life and integrity as welded pipe. In an effort to ensure that the bolted joints used on our pipeline system are as reliable as our welded joints, we investigated industry best practices for flange assembly and the root causes of joint failure. We have completed extensive research of technical literature, including the torquing procedures used in various industries, and performed field-testing on our own system. Generally we have found that: • Flange assembly failures and concerns about this issue are common in the oil and gas industry; • Practices for tightening flanges are inconsistent; and • To accomplish and retain an effective gasket seal, and thus minimize life cycle leaks, one has to consider many factors, including the amount of torque applied to nuts, the stud and nut friction, the type of gasket used, the size of the studs/nuts/flanges, the type of equipment used for tightening, the calibration of the torquing equipment, flange face alignment, and torquing sequence. Using the results of our investigation, we implemented several measures to enhance both the quality and the long-term integrity of our bolted flange connections. This paper describes the results of our investigations, as well as the practices implemented for flange assemblies required for maintenance and new construction activities.

Evaluating the Performance of Engineered Enclosures for Piping Repairs

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Troy Halligan ◽  
Brent Vyvial ◽  
Clay Rodery ◽  
Adam Thistlethwaite ◽  
Kannan Subramanian
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Process ◽  
Analytical Approach ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Refining ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Process Industries ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Design Life ◽  
Interim Measure

Abstract Engineered enclosures for the repair of piping, often referred to as clamps, are used to restore the integrity of in-service piping components as an interim measure until the damaged components can be repaired. They are typically used in the petroleum refining and chemical process industries, nuclear and non-nuclear utilities, and other on-shore and offshore facilities in the oil and gas industry. This type of enclosure has typically been viewed as a short term repair with a limited design life. However, it is the authors’ experience that properly engineered and installed enclosures perform in a manner consistent with the design criteria covering the original piping component(s) to which they have been installed. To investigate this further, a series of tests were conducted on several engineered enclosures that had been recently removed to replace the damaged component. Tests were also conducted on several new constructed enclosures of a similar configuration and size to those that had been recently removed. An analytical approach was also performed on one such enclosure-pipe configuration to support and study the experimental results in detail. This paper presents and summarizes the tests, analyses, and results from this work. The results provide information that can benefit users, standards developers, and regulatory authorities in better understanding the considerations affecting the design life of engineered enclosures.

Dealing with oil and gas unions

2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 736
Author(s):  
Allan Drake-Brockman ◽  
Daniel White
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Industrial Activity ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Ripple Effects ◽  
Case Examples ◽  
Industrial Action ◽  
Poor Outcomes

Since the commencement of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) on 1 July 2009, there has been a significant increase in union activity in Australia’s oil and gas industry. Recent case examples concerning the Pluto Project and various other disputes flag the importance of project managing industrial relations to ensure project delivery dates are met. Due to the contract interdependencies on large scale oil and gas projects, industrial action taken by a union in relation to a single sub-contractor can have ripple effects—causing budget blow-outs. Emerging union influence is such a concern that some of Australia’s leading companies operating in the oil and gas industry now identify industrial activity as a key project risk. Furthermore, many Australian leading financial institutions now assess a company’s potential exposure to industrial action as part of their key lending criteria. New innovative industrial relations strategies are now part of the weaponry Australian unions use when representing their members—this includes global union strategies. Moreover, there is already evidence that the FW Act can promote the occurrence of demarcation disputes between unions. This type of industrial activity leads to poor outcomes for employers and can prove to be very costly—especially in a multi-million dollar a day industry. Providing insight into the recent union activities in the industry are the following cases: Heath v Gravity Crane Services Pty Ltd Boskalis Australia Pty Ltd v Maritime Union of Australia CFMEU v Woodside Burrup Pty Ltd Offshore Marine Services Pty Ltd v Maritime Union of Australia There are a number of strategies oil and gas companies and sub-contractors can use to mitigate the effects of union influence in the workplace.

Centrifugal Compressor Stability Prediction Using a New Physics Based Approach

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Jeffrey Moore ◽  
David L. Ransom
Keyword(s):  
Centrifugal Compressor ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Cfd Simulation ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
New Physics ◽  
System Stability ◽  
Stability Prediction ◽  
Stability Margins ◽  
Area Of Interest

The accurate prediction of centrifugal compressor stability continues to be an important area of interest in the oil and gas industry. Ensuring stability is critical to the cost-effective installation and operation of these machines in remote environments, where field stability problems are much more expensive to diagnose and correct. Current industry standards and tools for the prediction of impeller destabilizing forces are based on empirical methods that, to date, have served fairly well for systems with reasonable stability margins. However, as stability margins are decreased, use of a modeling method that is more physics based and can better represent the observed trends in machine behavior at low stability margins is required. Furthermore, the development of mega-class Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) compressors and ultra-high pressure reinjection compressors provides further motivation to improve accuracy. In this paper, a new physics based expression for the prediction of impeller cross-coupling, previously described by Moore, et al. [1] is further investigated by analyzing several classes and scale factors of impellers ranging from 2-D designs used in reinjection to full 3-D impellers typically used in LNG. The new expression is based on both Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation and experimental test data from a known instability. These results are then applied to two case studies of marginally stable and unstable compressors in the field that were studied by the authors’ company. For each case study, the system stability is evaluated using both the new physics based expression as well as the more traditional empirical approaches. Comparisons are made for overall stability prediction as well as sensitivity to system changes. Conclusions are made regarding the applicability and limits of this new approach.

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