Navigating Digital Borderscapes: A Case Study from Rohingya Refugee Settlements in Bangladesh

Based on a case study of the lived experiences of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh between 2017 and 2019, this article focuses on displaced people’s digital needs and innovative efforts to navigate the challenges in their situation. The article first discusses the major barriers faced by Rohingya refugees in using various digital devices and platforms and how these obstacles adversely affect them in obtaining necessary information and humanitarian services. Our findings from the field highlight the uniquely important role that mobile repair shops in the camps play in providing online-offline hybrid solutions to circumvent restrictions imposed on the refugee community by the host government. The findings also show that different types of community leaders have emerged and that Rohingya women use digital means to push back against double discrimination. The article concludes with policy considerations related to the geopolitically transcendent issues of displacement, democracy, and digital rights.

Vertical Integration Strategy Implementation Through Hybrid Upstream and Downstream Concession Agreements

Upstream developments in prolific oil and gas fields are highly profitable and hence attract various investors/partners, whereas Downstream developments profitability is margin based and challenging under certain situations to receive similar interest for investment in the same location. Vertical Integration Strategy implementation through hybrid upstream and downstream concession agreements can help address this issue. The seventies witnessed major changes in the oil industry's structures and strategies resulting from the nationalization of oil and gas reserves. This ultimately led to a separation between the upstream sector with national oil companies (NOCs) controlling most of the world reserves and crude production, and the downstream sector with the international oil companies (IOCs) controlling the largest share of the refining and marketing aspects in the main consuming countries. In the recent past, NOCs have started forward integration of its upstream sector with downstream sector to take advantage of the synergies and increase profitability. This paper takes the strategy a step more forward by exploring the possibility of developing oil and gas assets through a hybrid upstream/downstream concession agreement that can be awarded by the host government. The model hybrid agreement is built by integrating a typical upstream concession agreement with downstream equity-based joint venture (JV) agreement. It also takes the learnings from Production Development Production Sharing Agreement (DPSA) applied in the development of a Gas-To-Liquids (GTL) asset or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) asset which are usually developed as an integrated upstream and downstream business model. It is also feasible to build the hybrid agreement based on upstream Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) instead of a Concession Agreement. The paper will discuss how the hybrid upstream and downstream concession agreement is built and how it will distribute the risk and rewards across the entire value chain for investors, expand the scope of investment and support in the economic development of the host country.

Abandonment Best Practices in Unitised Area for Wells and Facilities Straddling Two Countries in Malay Basin: A Case Study

Abandonment is considered to be the last stage in the oil gas field cycle. Oil and gas industries around the world are bounded by the necessity of creating an abandonment program which is technically sound, complied to the stringent HSE requirement and to be cost-effective. Abandonment strategies were always planned as early as during the field development plan. When there are no remaining opportunities left or no commercially viable hydrocarbon is present, the field need to be abandoned to save operating and maintenance cost. The cost associated on abandonment can often be paid to the host government periodically and can be cost recoverable once the field is ready to be abandoned. In Malaysia, some of the oil producing fields are now in the late life of production thus abandonment strategies are being studied comprehensively. The interest of this paper is to share the case study of one of a field that is in its late life of production and has wells and facilities that planned to be abandon soon. The abandonment in this field is challenging because it involves two countries, as this field is in the hydrocarbon structure that straddling two countries. Series of techno-commercial discussion were held between operators of these two countries to gain an integrated understanding of the opportunity, defining a successful outcome of the opportunity and creating an aligned plan to achieve successful abandonment campaign. Thus, this paper will discuss on technical aspects of creating a caprock model, the execution strategies of abandoning the wells and facilities and economic analysis to study whether a joint campaign between the operators from two countries yields significantly lower costs or otherwise.

Australia’s Crisis Responses During COVID-19

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global international education sector has been fraught with multiple, intensifying stressors, which have severely affected international students’ lives and study. Host government policies on international education can make a critical difference for this vulnerable population during the pandemic. Australia’s crisis response policies during the pandemic have been closely tracked and vigorously discussed amongst Chinese international students. This study examines how Australia’s crisis responses addressed the needs of international students during the pandemic, and how these policies impacted Chinese international students’ experiences and perceptions of studying in Australia. We collected qualitative data through interviews with Chinese international students, parents and migration agents, virtual ethnography on WeChat, and analysis of Australia’s policy responses. Our thematic analysis highlights participants’ experiences and views of Australia’s crisis responses in the four areas of financing, third-country transit, visas and immigration, and pandemic management. We discuss these findings in relation to the historical context of Australia’s higher education funding reforms during the 1980s and 1990s.

A Hybrid Petroleum Fiscal System for Investment in the Exploration and Production E&P of Hydrocarbon

Globally, there are two types of petroleum fiscal system; the concessionary and the contractual petroleum fiscal system. The main differences between the two types of petroleum fiscal system is the ownership of the resources and some distinct fiscal terms. The contractual petroleum fiscal system specifies a cost recovery option and profit oil split unlike the concessionary petroleum fiscal system that allows the contractor to recoup his capital before payment of tax. This tends to increase the risk associated with the host government revenue as investment in the production of hydrocarbon is filled with uncertainties. There is a need to redesign the concessionary petroleum fiscal to enable it reduce the risk associated with the host government revenue by making the host government to earn revenue early from petroleum investment. This research therefore evaluated a hybrid petroleum fiscal system for investment in the exploration and production of hydrocarbon. The concessionary petroleum fiscal system was adjusted to include a cost recovery option. Petroleum economic model for investment in a typical onshore oil field was built using spreadsheet modelling technique with the fiscal terms in the hybrid petroleum fiscal system embedded in it. The cost recovery option and oil price in the model were varied between 0-100% and $20-$100 per barrel. The NCF, IRR and payout period of the investment were determined. It was observed that the lower the cost recovery option, the higher the host government revenue. From the profitability analysis of the investment in the hybrid petroleum fiscal system, it was observed that when the price of oil was $100/bbl, the NCF of the host government was $9146 and $8426.3 for 0% and 80% cost recovery option. The lower the cost recovery option, the higher the payout period and the lower the internal rate of return. Though lower cost recovery increased the host government revenue more but it may make the hybrid petroleum fiscal system unattractive for investment in periods of low oil price. Hence a higher cost recovery option was recommended for the use of this type of petroleum fiscal system.

Comparative analysis of the relative attractiveness of the current fiscal terms in the South East Asia region

This paper aims to assess the relative competitiveness of the current fiscal terms in South East Asia in the context of changes proposed and implemented across the region. A discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis was carried out based on the generic fiscal terms of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam based on an offshore, shallow water development. Where applicable, a comparison will be made against the previous fiscal terms of the country. Analysis will focus on investor returns and from the host government perspective evaluating net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and government take. The fiscal terms were also assessed on whether they are progressive or regressive and provide an equitable return to both investors and host governments. Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia have seen recent shifts in their fiscal terms with new terms introduced in 2017, 2018, and 2021, respectively. Indonesia saw the introduction of the Gross Split Production Sharing Contract (GS PSC), which based on this analysis does not appear to be an improvement on the previous Cost Recovery Production Sharing Contract (CR PSC). Thailand saw the introduction of a CR PSC which was applied to the two expired offshore, producing, blocks. Based on our analysis, the newly introduced fiscal terms for Malaysia appears to provide a significant improvement to the previous terms and is likely to encourage further investment. Governments and regulators will face greater pressure to provide further incentives and greater flexibility to attract investments in the face of maturing fields, marginal fields, challenging sour gas resources, and capital constraints resulting from and Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) pressures on oil and gas companies.

Governance distance and the performance of cross-border private participation infrastructure projects

PurposeThe privatization of infrastructure promotes efficiency and service standards. While cross-border private participation infrastructure (PPI) projects hosted in emerging markets have become more prevalent in recent years, there have also been more failures. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how governance distance affects the survival of cross-border PPI projects.Design/methodology/approachThe authors provide theoretical justification and empirical evidence to verify our views. The authors test the hypotheses on a sample of 4,678 cross-border PPI project investments made in emerging market countries between 1990 and 2016. Estimation techniques consist of a binary logistic regression model and a rare events logistic model.FindingsThe findings suggest that increased governance distance can lead to project failure. The study results show that governance distance is negatively correlated with the probability of project survival. Greenfield investment intensifies the negative effect of governance distance while competitive contracts mitigate the negative effect of governance distance.Practical implicationsThe results reveal that transnational investment in infrastructure projects is susceptible to institutional differences between home and host countries. Therefore, both private enterprises and host government should pay attention to the impact of inter-country differences on negotiations and project operation. Competitive contracts mitigate this negative effect, but entering in the form of greenfield investment amplifies the negative effect of distance.Originality/valueTransnational industrial engineering projects are easily affected by the differences in governance levels between the two countries. This study introduces governance distance into the field of infrastructure projects, focusing on the impact of differences between home and host countries on transnational projects. The findings on infrastructure projects that are closely related to host government contribute to the literature by broadening the research of institution and distance.

Assessment of the government’s role performance in public-private partnership (PPP) toll road projects in Indonesia

Purpose This study aims to investigate the government’s role in the development of toll road projects that adopt public-private partnership (PPP) schemes in Indonesia. In addition to investigating its role, this study also attempts to quantitatively assess its performance as the use of quantitative analysis in this area is still fairly limited. The analysis was developed from the perspectives of two main stakeholders involved: government and private sectors. The findings of this study are expected to help both government and private sectors to better understand the government’s role as well as its performance in PPP toll road projects in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach The data was analysed by using statistical methods. Following the identification of the government’s role in PPP toll road projects from the literature, a preliminary survey involving 12 highway construction experts was conducted to verify the initial findings from the literature review. Subsequently, the authors conducted a survey of 146 respondents from both government and private sectors. To analyse the collected data, both descriptive and inferential statistics were used, which include analysis of means, analysis of reliability, as well as independent T-test. T-test was used to examine differences in perception between the two groups. Findings In total, 12 criteria from the literature were used to assess the government’s role and its performance in PPP toll road projects in Indonesia. Based on the analysis, the authors find that the government’s role in the development of PPP toll road projects can be considered moderate in its performance. In this respect, the author argue that, instead of focusing on meeting all the criteria, it would be better for government to focus on meeting only a number of them, which include realizing smooth land acquisition, selecting appropriate concessionaire, offering a solution to community protests over environmental issues, providing substantial government support, providing supervision, enforcing the law and eradicating corruption. The results of this study provide valuable information for international parties aiming to participate in PPP toll road projects in Indonesia, considering this country has been offering a wide opportunity for private sectors to be involved in developing infrastructure. Meanwhile, for the host government, the findings can be used as the basis for conducting improvements to attract private sectors’ involvement and to achieve more successful upcoming PPP toll road projects in Indonesia. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study might provide valuable information for the host government to evaluate its role and performance to achieve more successful PPP toll road projects in the future. Rather than focusing on all attributes, the improvements can be made by focusing only on the critical ones: those ranked high on the importance and low on its performance. In addition, this finding can also help private sectors to better understand both the role and performance of government in Indonesia as this country offers a great opportunity for infrastructure investment through PPP schemes. Practical implications The findings of this study might provide valuable information for the host government to evaluate its role and performance to achieve more successful PPP toll road projects in the future. Rather than focusing on all attributes, the improvements can be made by focusing only on the critical ones: those ranked high on the importance and low on its performance. In addition, this finding can also help private sectors to better understand both the role and performance of government in Indonesia as this country offers a great opportunity for infrastructure investment through PPP schemes. Social implications Text. Originality/value This paper contributes to the body of knowledge on the criteria to assess the government’s role performance in the Indonesian PPP toll road projects. Whilst there is still limited research has been conducted regarding the government’s role in the PPP toll road projects in Indonesia, this study presented the criteria of the government’s role and showed how to assess and evaluate the host government’s performance based on these criteria in a more objective approach using quantitative method. This result can be used as the basis for improvements to achieve a more successful PPP toll road project in Indonesia and might be in other similar developing countries.

The resurgence of nationalism and its implications for supply chain risk management

PurposeThis paper examines nationalism as a driver of political risk and how it can lead to supply chain disruptions for foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs).Design/methodology/approachConceptual research based on a review of the literature on nationalism and supply chain risk management.FindingsThis research unveils how economic nationalism could engender supply chain disruptions via discriminatory practices toward all foreign MNEs and how national animosity may generate additional risks for the MNEs of nations in conflict with one another. These discriminatory practices include an array of host government and grassroots actions targeting foreign MNEs. While economic nationalism and national animosity emanate from within a host country, they may stimulate geopolitical crises outside the host country and thereby affect the international supply chains of foreign MNEs.Research limitations/implicationsThis research lays the foundation for analytical and empirical researchers to integrate key elements of nationalism into their studies and recommends propositions and datasets to study these notions.Practical implicationsThis study shows the implications that nationalist drivers of supply chain disruptions have for foreign MNEs and thus can help managers to proactively mitigate such disruptions.Originality/valueThis study reveals the importance of integrating notions of national identity and national history in supply chain research, since they play a key role in the emergence of policies and events responsible for supply chain disruptions.