Decommissioning liability for offshore oil and gas installations: planning for a happy ending

2013 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 446
Author(s):  
Stephen Murray
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Happy Ending ◽  
Policy Objective ◽  
Tax Cost ◽  
Tax Relief ◽  
Offshore Installations ◽  
The Government ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

This extended abstract outlines the draconian statutory decommissioning liability regime for offshore installations in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), drawing comparisons with the other jurisdictions. The impact of the regime on regulatory and contractual requirements for decommissioning security that creates barriers for new entrants into the UKCS is highlighted. One such barrier is the calculation of decommissioning security by reference to the pre-tax cost of decommissioning (i.e. without considering tax relief on decommissioning expenditure at the time it is incurred). This extended abstract comments on recent novel proposals from the government to limit the amount of capital tied up in decommissioning security by adopting measures that will facilitate calculation of decommissioning security on a post-tax basis. The UKCS is a mature province and the government is seeking to balance its desire to maximise economic recovery from the UKCS with its policy objective of ensuring that taxpayers are not responsible for decommissioning costs. The proposals envisage that the government will enter decommissioning relief deeds with owners of offshore installations. This will provide certainty about the rate of relief they will achieve in relation to their own share of decommissioning expenditure; it also ensures relief is available where they incur such costs due to the default of other parties. In essence, the government is contemplating entering a form of stabilisation agreement that will provide redress in the event that future changes in law reduce the tax relief available for decommissioning expenditure. The proposals show a bold attempt to promote investment by addressing political risk in a highly developed jurisdiction.

Statistical Analyses of Solo and Joint Bids for Federal Offshore Oil and Gas Leases

1978 ◽  
Vol 18 (02) ◽  
pp. 87-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmer L. Dougherty ◽  
John Lohrenz
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
British Petroleum ◽  
Outer Continental Shelf ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
The Government ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Offshore Oil ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

Abstract This study of Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) bid data, plus a critical analysis of other such studies, was made to determine the impact of joint bidding on competitiveness of OCS lease sales, It concludes that no class of joint bids has been shown to reduce the level of competition. Banning joint bidding by two or more major oil companies did result in an abrupt increase in the number of pint bids that included one major. Introduction Sealed, competitive bids for U.S. offshore oil and gas leases are classed as either solo or joint bids. Solo bids are submitted by one bidder with 100-percent ownership. Joint bids are submitted by several bidders who divide ownership among themselves. The pragmatic question that triggered this study was, "Is there a kind of solo or joint bid whose occurrence tends to decrease the number of sealed, competitive bids?" Such a bid would lower the level of competition. This study reports the results of a statistical analysis to measure the impact of joint bidding on the level of competition in sales of U.S. oil and gas leases. The study first presumed that the level of competition increases as the number of competing bids increases. This presumption while not unassailable, also was not unreasonable. Three previous studies of solo and joint bidding were reviewed first, revealing that conclusions drawn by two of the studies are statistically unsupported. Our study of the pragmatic question found no consistent correlation supporting a positive answer to the question. The U.S. policy regulation proscribing joint bids involving two or more majors tended to broaden the proportion and number of bids involving majors. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES OF FEDERAL OFFSHORE SOLO AND JOINT BIDS Joint bidding for U.S. offshore oil and gas leases has been seated in previous studies of which three will be reviewed in detail. GASKINS AND VANN Gaskins and Vann computed values of the ratio of the sum of the highest bids to the sum of the U.S. presale estimates, Fmax/est, for leases that presale estimates, Fmax/est, for leases that received the same number(s) of bids. Precise definition of Fmax/est is given in the Nomenclature. Gaskins and Vann observed that values of F increased with n, from which they concluded the "government gets a larger percentage of its estimated value when there are more bidders." For the March 28, 1974, sale, Gaskins and Vann calculated Fmax/est for four different categories of highest bids:all bids,bids in which only nonmajors were involved,bids in which one or more majors were involved, andbids in which Mobil Oil Corp. was a participant. (No list was given of which bidders are classed as major.) Values of Fmax/est when majors and/or Mobil were involved in the highest bid were more often lower than for the other categories of highest bids. From this, Gaskins and Vann concluded that the "data support the hypothesis that major oil companies, and Mobil in particular, were able to attain lower winning bids..." We recalculated values of F,../est for the March 28, 1974, sale. These are shown in Table 12 along with comparable values of Fm../mean and Fmean/est. The agreement between values of Fmax/est presented by Gaskins and Vann and in Table 1 is excellent in most cases. Some of the differences, however, may be explained by differing definitions of majors. We considered these eight companies as major: Amoco International Oil Co., British Petroleum Ltd., Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Exxon Corp., Gulf Oil Corp., Mobil Oil Corp., Shell Oil Co., Texaco Inc. Other differences may be caused by disagreements in source data and/or computations.

scholarly journals An allision risk model for passing vessels and offshore oil and gas installations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf

2020 ◽  
Vol 235 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-32
Author(s):  
Martin Hassel ◽  
Ingrid Bouwer Utne ◽  
Jan Erik Vinnem
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Risk Model ◽  
Industry Standard ◽  
Satisfactory Performance ◽  
Offshore Installations ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Oil ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Norwegian Continental Shelf

This article presents a new risk model for estimating the probability of allision risk (the impact between a ship under way and a stationary installation) from passing vessels on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). Offshore petroleum operators on the NCS are required by the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to perform risk assessments to estimate the probability of impacts between ships and offshore installations, both for field related and passing (merchant) vessels. This has typically been done using the aging industry standard COLLIDE risk model, but this article presents a new risk model based on a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) that can replace the old COLLIDE model for passing vessels. The new risk model incorporates a wider range of risk influencing factors (RIFs) and enables a holistic and detailed analysis of risk factors, barrier elements and dependencies. Even though the risk of allision with passing vessels is very small, the potential consequences can be critical. The new risk model is more transparent and provides a better understanding of the mechanisms behind allision risk calculations. The results from the new model are aligned with industry expectations, indicating an overall satisfactory performance. The article discusses several key elements, such as the use of expert judgement to estimate RIFs when no empirical data is available, model sensitivity, and a comparative assessment of the new risk model to the old COLLIDE model.

Djibouti president entrenches own, national roles

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Court ◽  
Port Management ◽  
Fourth Term ◽  
Court Action ◽  
Oil And Gas Pipelines ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Subject Djibouti's political and regional outlook. Significance On December 4, President Ismail Omar Guelleh announced that he would stand for a fourth term in April 2016 elections. Guelleh's announcement comes shortly after China confirmed that it was in talks to expand its presence in Djibouti, establishing its first overseas military base. The developments help to boost the government just as the UK High Court is scrutinising its role in alleged corruption. Impacts The impact on China's regional posture is modest, given its existing naval presence alongside a range of multilateral anti-piracy missions. Djibouti's UK High Court action against a former Guelleh ally has drawn in DP World, exacerbating tensions with Dubai over port management. Infrastructure links, including planned oil and gas pipelines, will deepen ties with Ethiopia, as well as interdependence.

The RUMA Alliance targets: an overview

Livestock ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 176-179
Author(s):  
Chris Lloyd
Keyword(s):  
Task Force ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Antibiotic Use ◽  
Codes Of Practice ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Ongoing Support ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Roll Out

The Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA) was established to promote the highest standards of food safety, animal health and animal welfare in the British livestock industry. It has a current focus to deliver on the Government objective of identifying sector-specific targets for the reduction, refinement or replacement of antibiotics in animal agriculture. The creation and roll out of sector specific targets in 2017 through the RUMA Targets Task Force, has helped focus activity across the UK livestock sectors to achieve a 50% reduction in antibiotic use since 2014. This has been realised principally through voluntary multi-sector collaboration, cross sector initiatives, codes of practice, industry body support and farm assurance schemes. This article provides an overview of RUMA's work to date providing insight into the methods used to create the targets, why they are so important, the impact they are having and how ongoing support and robust data are vital components in achieving the latest set of targets.

Numerical Prediction of MODUs Drift During Hurricane Katrina

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galin Tahchiev ◽  
Jun Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Steady Motion ◽  
The Body ◽  
Wave Forces ◽  
Simplified Approach ◽  
Wave Drift Damping ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
The Impact

During severe hurricanes, such as Katrina, the mooring system of a number of Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (MODUs) in the Gulf of Mexico failed. Drifting MODUs may potentially damage other critical elements of the offshore oil and gas infrastructure by colliding with floating or fixed production systems and transportation hubs, or by rupturing pipelines owing to their dragging anchors over the seabed. To avoid or mitigate the damage caused by a drifted MODU, it is desirable to understand the mechanics of the drift of a MODU under the impact of severe wind, wave and current and have the capability of predicting the trajectory of the drift. To explore the feasibility and accuracy of predicting the trajectory of a drifting MODU based on real-time or hindcast met-ocean conditions and limited knowledge of the condition of the drifting MODU, this study employed a simplified equation describing only the horizontal (surge, sway and yaw) motions of a MODU under the impact of steady wind, current and wave forces. The simplified hydrodynamic model neglects the first- and second-order oscillatory wave forces, unsteady wind forces (owing to wind gustiness), wave drift damping, and the effects of the body oscillation on the steady wind and current forces. It was assumed that the net effects of the oscillatory forces on the steady motion are insignificant. To verify the accuracy and feasibility of our simplified approach, the predicted drifts of two MODUs were compared with the corresponding measured trajectories recorded by the Global Positioning System (GPS).

scholarly journals Bringing the Battle to Britain: Band of Brothers and Television Runaway Production in the UK

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-333
Author(s):  
Simone Knox
Keyword(s):  
Professional Experience ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Television Production ◽  
Tax Relief ◽  
Runaway Production ◽  
Production History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Contractual Agreements ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

This article explores the development and pre-production history of the 2001 HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. It does so via a combination of original archive research (conducted at the BFI Reuben Library) and interviews with several industry figures with relevant professional experience, including John Barclay, the current Head of Recorded Media for the UK trade union Equity, and Roger Harrop, the former director of regional film commission Herts Film Link. Using these methodologies, the article identifies Band of Brothers as the first significant US runaway television production in the UK, and uncovers how this HBO programme came to benefit from British film tax relief. Here, close attention is paid to dubious practices concerning tax policy and contractual agreements for actors, especially Damian Lewis's pay. The article demonstrates the impact Band of Brothers has had on television production in the UK in terms of providing Equity with a useful precedent when negotiating for subsequent international productions such as Game of Thrones (2011–19). Band of Brothers offers important and timely lessons to be learned, especially given the recent growth of US television runaway productions in the UK.

UK Fiscal Prospects

2010 ◽  
Vol 213 ◽  
pp. F66-F70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Barrell ◽  
Simon Kirby
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Budget Process ◽  
Spare Capacity ◽  
Intention To Move ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The UK is restructuring the fiscal policy framework once again, with an intention to move toward independent assessment and forecasting in the budget process. At the same time a large-scale, if delayed, fiscal consolidation is planned at a time when there is significant spare capacity in the economy. Economic growth is also projected to be below trend, at least this year and perhaps next. It is unusual to see a fiscal tightening when the output gap appears to be widening. These policy settings should be seen in the context of the most radical change in the nature of the relationship between the government and the economy for at least thirty years. This note assesses the impact of the new programme on the economy as well as setting out a projection for the medium-term public finances.

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