Business Benchmarks

The dramatic fall of oil and gas prices in the second half of 2008 only exacerbated the problems of declining production in Russia. The needed investment in the hydrocarbon sector is huge. This article takes a look at the future of Russian production and exports.

Unconventional fossil fuels are the most important drivers of resource growth. These are sources of oil or gas for which production technology is immature. Economic and geopolitical factors encourage the technology innovations that convert unconventional resources to conventional reserves.

Until the credit crunch hit in late 2007, the world had witnessed high and rising oil prices with no observable slowdown in growth. So what role has the oil price played in the world economy?

Abdurahman Benyezza, North Africa Regional Director for Eni, presents an overview on the oil and gas industry in Tunisia, which is emerging again with a new focus on gas field development.

Being ready to operate is one of the most critical steps in the development of an oil field. For complex projects characterized by technical risks and challenges, a structured approach is mandatory to ensure operational excellence and readiness.

The oil and gas industry has always been a competitive arena, in which handling risks effectively has now become critical for business efficiency. The effect of risks on project costs should be carefully quantified in order to implement efficient measures to mitigate these risks.

Charles Osborne of BP diseases the role that real options can play in managing risk.

Oil trading is a broad term, incorporating the exchange of physical oil cargoes and trading of paper instruments, which does not necessarily result in physical delivery of oil. It is a complex mechanism composed of several markets—spot, over-the-counter, and futures markets.

Historically robust demand and hydrocarbon prices in the past have conditioned the industry to regard operating expenditure (opex) as a minor element compared with capital expenditure (capex). There are important lessons about opex that can be learned from our downstream cousins.

Peter Jackson of Cambridge Energy Research Associates presents a macroeconomic perspective on the peak oil theory introducing the concept of an undulating plateau.