Process industries have a particularly urgent need for collaborative equipment management systems, but until now have lacked for programs directed toward their specific needs. TPM in Process lndustries brings together top consultants from the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance to modify the original "TPM Development Program." In this volume, they demonstrate how to analyze process environments and equipment issues including process loss structure and calculation, autonomous maintenance, equipment and process improvement, and quality maintenance. For all organizations managing large equipment, facing low operator/machine ratios, or implementing extensive improvement, this text is an invaluable resource.

Few issues in international affairs and energy security animate thinkers more than the classic topic of hegemony, and the case of the Persian Gulf presents particularly fertile ground for considering this concept. Since the 1970s, the region has undergone tumultuous changes, with dramatic shifts in the diplomatic, military, and economic roles of the United States, China, and Russia. In this book, Steve A. Yetiv and Katerina Oskarsson offer a panoramic study of hegemony and foreign powers in the Persian Gulf, offering the most comprehensive, data-driven portrait to date of their evolving relations. The authors argue that the United States has become hegemonic in the Persian Gulf, ultimately protecting oil security for the entire global economy. Through an analysis of official and unofficial diplomatic relations, trade statistics, military records, and more, they provide a detailed account of how U.S. hegemony and oil security have grown in tandem, as, simultaneously, China and Russia have increased their political and economic presence. The book sheds light on hegemony's complexities, and challenges and reveals how local variations in power will continue to shape the Persian Gulf in the future.

As global consumption of fossil fuels such as oil increases, previously abundant sources have become depleted or plagued with obstructions. Asphaltene deposition is one of such obstructions which can significantly decrease the rate of oil production. This book offers concise yet thorough coverage of the complex problem of asphaltene precipitation and deposition in oil production. It covers fundamentals of chemistry, stabilization theories and mechanistic approaches of asphaltene behavior at high temperature and pressure. Asphaltene Deposition: Fundamentals, Prediction, Prevention, and Remediation explains techniques for experimental determination of asphaltene precipitation and deposition and different modeling tools available to forecast the occurrence and magnitude of asphaltene deposition in a given oil field. It discusses strategies for mitigation of asphaltene deposition using chemical inhibition and corresponding challenges, best practices for asphaltene remediation, current research, and case studies.

This book highlights the continuing impunity enjoyed by corporations for large scale crimes, and in particular the crime of toxic waste dumping in Ivory Coast in 2006. It provides an account of the crime, and outlines contributory reasons for the impunity both under the law and from a criminological point of view. Furthermore, the book reveals the retrogressive role of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Ivory coast, contrary to the societal expectations made of 'non-governmental' organisations (NGOs) and CSOs. This book reveals that in the case of this particular example of state-corporate crime, civil society as an agency of censure and sanction actually played a distinctly retrogressive role. Here, in fact, state and state-corporate crime facilitates corruption within the civil society sphere through a process referred to in the book as the 'commodification of victimhood' and, as a result, ensures that impunity is virtually guaranteed for the corporation and the Ivorian government. This book also examines the failure of international and domestic legal measures to sanction the perpetrators alongside civil society's shortcomings and ultimately advocates a more cautionary approach to civil society's potential to label, censure and sanction large-scale state-corporate crime. This book will help readers understand the difficulties in sanctioning such crime as well as promoting the theoretical framework of state crime, the understanding of which could lead to the alleviation of human suffering at the hands of criminal states and corporations.

At its founding in 1932, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was characterized by tribal warfare, political instability, chronic financial shortages and economic crises. As a desert chieftain, Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud, the ruler and king until 1953, had the skills, the cunning and the power to control the tribes and bring peace to this realm. But financial and economic matters were not his forte and these he left mostly to a single individual, Abdullah al-Sulayman al-Hamdan. He was entrusted with nearly all of the country's early financial dealings and administrative development. The Ministry of Finance, which he headed from its inception, served as nearly the sole government agency dealing with a wide variety of matters, many of which had only a peripheral connection to finance or the economy. This book examines the role of the Ministry of Finance and its minister, Abdullah al-Sulayman, in holding the country together financially and administratively until the promise of substantial oil income was realized a few years after the end of World War II. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in Gulf History and the Economic History of the Middle East.

The precipitation and deposition of solids are a major challenge in the production of oil and gas. Flow assurance solids are formed because of unavoidable changes in temperature, pressure and composition of the oil-gas-water flowstream, from reservoir conditions to processing conditions. The advent of subsea production and the increased exploitation of heavy crudes have made flow assurance issues dominant in ensuring efficient and safe exploitation of hydrocarbon assets. Five troublesome flow assurance solids are described in the book: asphaltene, paraffin wax, natural gas hydrate, naphthenate and inorganic scale. These big-five solids are presented in stand-alone chapters. Each chapter is designed to be readable without clutter. Derivations of equations and descriptions of supporting details are given in several appendices. The book is intended for professional engineers and natural scientist working in E&P companies, engineering companies, service companies and specialized companies. An understanding of the big-five solids is required throughout the lifetime of oil and gas assets, from early development to abandonment. The technical, safety and environmental risks associated with deposition problems in near-wellbore formations, production tubing, wellhead equipment, flowlines and processing facilities, are relevant for decisions in the oil and gas industry and in outside regulatory and financial entities.

China has developed sophisticated hedging strategies to insure against risks in the international petroleum market. It has managed a growing net oil import gap and supply disruptions by maintaining a favorable energy mix, pursuing overseas equity oil production, building a state-owned tanker fleet and strategic petroleum reserve, establishing cross-border pipelines, and diversifying its energy resources and routes.

Though it cannot be "secured," China's energy security can be "insured" by marrying government concern with commercial initiatives. This book comprehensively analyzes China's domestic, global, maritime, and continental petroleum strategies and policies, establishing a new theoretical framework that captures the interrelationship between security and profit. Arguing that hedging is central to China's energy-security policy, this volume links government concerns about security of supply to energy companies' search for profits, and by drawing important distinctions between threats and risks, peacetime and wartime contingencies, and pipeline and seaborne energy-supply routes, the study shifts scholarly focus away from securing and toward insuring an adequate oil supply and from controlling toward managing any disruptions to the sea lines of communication. The book is the most detailed and accurate look to date at how China has hedged its energy bets and how its behavior fits a hedging pattern.

Production of oil and natural gas from leased federal lands and waters is a significant source of revenue for the federal government. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued many reports on Interior's management of federal oil and gas resources, including its programs for verifying oil and gas production volumes and ensuring accurate royalty collections. These reports raised questions about whether the government was collecting all the revenue it was due and included 36 recommendations to strengthen royalty collection, among other things. In 2011, GAO added Interior's management of federal oil and gas resources to its list of programs at high risk of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. This book examines efforts Interior has taken since fiscal year 2009 and the reasonableness and completeness of Interior's royalty data. The book also assesses the extent to which Interior's production verification regulations and policies provide reasonable assurance that oil and gas are accurately measured; the extent to which Interior's offshore and onshore production accountability inspection programs consistently set and meet program goals and address key factors affecting measurement accuracy; and Interior's management of its production verification programs. Finally, it provides a descriptive update on Interior's Minerals Management Service's (MMS) key efforts to improve the accuracy of oil and gas royalty data; the assessment of the completeness and reasonableness of fiscal years 2006 and 2007 oil and gas royalty datathe latest data available; and factors identified by oil and gas companies that affect their ability to accurately report royalties owed to the federal government.

The future of oil and natural gas production in Mexico is of importance for both Mexico's economic growth, as well as for U.S. energy security, a key congressional interest. Mexico is a top trade partner and the 3rd largest crude oil supplier to the United States. Mexico's state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) remains an important source of government revenue even as it is struggling to counter declining oil production and reserves. Due to an inability to meet rising demand, Mexico has also significantly increased natural gas imports from the United States. Still, gas shortages have hindered the country's economic performance. This book provides an overview of Pemex and the content and prospects for Mexico's energy reforms, before discussing specific issues facing Mexico's oil and gas industry. It then examines the U.S.-Mexico energy relationship through the lenses of trade and energy cooperation. It concludes by suggesting several oversight issues for Congress related to what the enactment of energy reform might portend for Mexico's economic development, the U.S. energy matrix, and bilateral or North American energy cooperation.

Originally published in 1984, this study focuses on petroleum agreements between non-OPEC LDCs with oil-importing LDCs and how issues such as high oil prices affect each country. The information presented in this study was drawn from interviews with petroleum officials in petroleum companies, petroleum ministries and unpublished documents such as contracts and focussing on case studies of countries such as Peru, Guatemala and Malaysia. This title will be of interest to students of environmental studies and economics.

Several fiery rail accidents in 2013-2015 in the U.S. and Canada carrying crude oil produced from the Bakken region of North Dakota have raised questions at many levels on the safety of transporting this, and other types of crude oil, by rail. Sandia National Laboratories was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy to investigate the material properties of crude oils, and in particular the so-called "tight oils" like Bakken that comprise the majority of crude oil rail shipments in the U.S. at the current time. The book provides a literature survey of public sources of information on crude oil properties that have some bearing on the likelihood or severity of combustion events that may occur around spills associated with rail transport. The book also contains background information including a review of the notional "tight oil" field operating environment, as well a basic description of crude oils and potential combustion events in rail transport.

These days, one would have a difficult time picking up a newspaper, or watching a newscast that did not have a lead story dealing with some aspect of oil. From instability in the Middle East, to stock market crashes and concerns over the health of the world economy, to wars that seem to break out unexpectedly around the world, to discussions of global warming, and even speculation over the fate of mankind, oil is usually lurking somewhere in the background. To many, oil markets and their linkages to a whole spectrum of events remain something of a mystery. Unfortunately, most of the easily obtained information on oil is deeply flawed. Whole web-conspiracy sites depict ruthless insiders and reckless dictators manipulating energy markets at will. The 30 essays in this volume, written by the leading experts in the field, attempt to set the record straight. While their assessments may lack the sensationalism of many popular pundits, serious readers will find their insights invaluable in the years to come in providing a framework for understanding many of the events of the day. The volume is divided into sections. Part I provides a broad overview of the political dimensions underlying the supply of oil. Some of the key questions addressed include: is the world running out of oil? And if so, is the cause physical scarcity or political/policy failure? Why are many of the oil-producing countries in the developing world so unstable? Can oil markets be made to provide more stability to the world system? Part II examines some of the political responses to oil-related developments. Here, the key questions concern the role of the political process in the development of alternative sources of energy. The various means through which countries approach their energy security is assessed, as is the problem of climate change. The section ends with the provocative question: do governments really need to go to war for oil? Oil production, energy markets, and the political environment produce distinct regional patterns. Part III examines oil and political power in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and South-East Asia. Part IV expands some of the main regional themes through a series of case studies on specific countries: Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Russia and Brazil. A final section looks to the future: will the oil curse continue for many countries? How will the growth and expansion of China affect oil prices and availabilities? Will oil-based sovereign wealth funds contribute to global stability or will they create increased political tensions between consuming and producing countries? Will volatile oil markets undermine the US dollar as well as the global financial system? Perhaps appropriately, the volume ends with an assessment of the future of oil in a carbon constrained world. All in all, the essays in this volume cover the whole spectrum of the politics of oil. They will help shed light on this vital, yet still often misunderstood topic. The book does not represent any particular political or ideological position. Instead, each author has sought to objectively seek a deeper understanding as to the complexity and subtlety of forces that have all too often eluded policymakers around the world.

Increased oil and gas production presents challenges for transportation infrastructure because some of this increase is in areas with limited transportation linkages. Technology advancements such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (pumping water, sand, and chemicals into wells to fracture underground rock formations and allow oil or gas to flow) have allowed companies to extract oil and gas from shale and other tight geological formations. This book examines overall challenges that increased oil and gas production may pose for transportation infrastructure; specific pipeline safety risks and how the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is addressing them; and specific rail safety risks and how DOT is addressing them.

Almost four decades ago, in response to the Arab oil embargo and recession it triggered, Congress passed legislation restricting crude oil exports and establishing the SPR to release oil to the market during supply disruptions and protect the U.S. economy from damage. After decades of generally falling U.S. crude oil production, technological advances have contributed to increasing U.S. production. This book examines what is known about price implications of removing crude oil export restrictions; other key potential implications; and implications of recent changes in market conditions on the SPR. This book also discusses and describes the status of applications to export liquefied natural gas-natural gas cooled to a liquid state for transport- and the Department of Energy's process to review them; and the status of applications to build LNG export facilities and FERC's process to review them.

As a result of advanced oil drilling and extraction technologies (primarily horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing), crude oil production in the United States is growing and, according to Energy Information Administration (EIA) reference case projections, may reach 9.6 million barrels per day by 2019. Production of light tight oil (LTO) is, and is expected to be, the primary contributor to U.S. crude oil production growth in the near to medium term. This book provides background and context about the crude oil legal and regulatory framework, discusses motivations that underlie the desire to export U.S. crude oil, and presents analysis of issues that Congress may choose to consider during debate about U.S. crude oil export policy.

The primacy of crude oil as an energy source has provided a platform for social-economic development in most oil producing and consumer nations. Food, housing, transportation, investment services and inflationary trend is largely dependent on the volatility of crude oil prices. The anticipated shift in crude oil demand premised on the United States shale exploitation and the economic pandemonium generated in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has re-enacted crude oil pricing as the barometer for global economic trend. Crude oil exploitation, production, transportation and utilisation processes, however adversely impact on marine and coastal habitat. Pollution and infections attributable to toxic substances from crude oil and its derivatives can have long and short term health implications on animals and humans. Crude oil dependence is also contributory to global warming and its complications from climate change. This book examines the environmental and global market impact of crude oil production, analyses attempts to curb inherent challenges through energy efficiency and the development of renewable alternative energy sources.

The U.S. petroleum refining industry -- the largest refining industry in the world -- experienced a period of high product prices and industry profits from the early 2000s through about 2007. Since the recession of 2007 to 2009, the industry has been in transition. Federal and state agencies regulate petroleum refining and the use of petroleum products to protect human health and the environment, as well as for other purposes. EPA, DOT, and California strengthened five key regulations, including EPA and DOT's coordinated fuel economy and GHG vehicle emission standards, and EPA's RFS, which has required that refiners and others ensure transportation fuels include increasing amounts of renewable fuels such as ethanol produced from corn. This book examines major changes that have recently affected the industry and the future of the industry.

North America is experiencing a boom in crude oil supply, primarily due to growing production in the Canadian oil sands and the recent expansion of shale oil production from the Bakken fields in North Dakota and Montana as well as the Eagle Ford and Permian Basins in Texas. Taken together, these new supplies are fundamentally changing the U.S. oil supply-demand balance. The United States now meets 66% of its crude oil demand from production in North America, displacing imports from overseas and positioning the United States to have excess oil and refined products supplies in some regions. This book provides a background of the United States rail transportation of crude oil, as well as discusses the issues it leaves for Congress.

Congress authorised the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) of 1975 to help prevent a repetition of the economic disruption caused by the 1973-1974 Arab oil embargo. EPCA specifically authorises the President to draw down the SPR upon a finding that there is a "severe energy supply interruption." This book provides insight on several topics such as authorisation, operation, and drawdown policy of the SPR; the Northeast home heating oil reserve and the national oilheat alliance, petroleum distillate sales provisions, sale implementation plan, and distribution plans.

Countries that are rich in petroleum have less democracy, less economic stability, and more frequent civil wars than countries without oil. What explains this oil curse? And can it be fixed? In this groundbreaking analysis, Michael L. Ross looks at how developing nations are shaped by their mineral wealth--and how they can turn oil from a curse into a blessing.

Ross traces the oil curse to the upheaval of the 1970s, when oil prices soared and governments across the developing world seized control of their countries' oil industries. Before nationalization, the oil-rich countries looked much like the rest of the world; today, they are 50 percent more likely to be ruled by autocrats--and twice as likely to descend into civil war--than countries without oil.

"The Oil Curse" shows why oil wealth typically creates less economic growth than it should; why it produces jobs for men but not women; and why it creates more problems in poor states than in rich ones. It also warns that the global thirst for petroleum is causing companies to drill in increasingly poor nations, which could further spread the oil curse.

This landmark book explains why good geology often leads to bad governance, and how this can be changed.

New applications of horizontal drilling techniques and hydraulic fracturing, in which water, sand, and chemical additives are injected under high pressure to create and maintain fractures in underground formations, allow oil and natural gas from shale formations to be developed. As exploration and development of shale oil and gas have increased, including in areas of the country without a history of oil and natural gas development, questions have been raised about the estimates of the size of these resources, as well as the processes used to extract them. This book examines the environmental and public health requirements, risks, and size of shale resources of unconventional oil and gas development.

After discussing the basic methodology of life-cycle assessments and examining the choice of boundaries, design features, and input assumptions, this book compares several of the publicly available assessments of life-cycle emissions data for Canadian oil sands crudes against each other and against those of other global reference crudes. As congressional concern over the environmental impacts of Canadian oil sands production may encompass both a broad understanding of the global resource as well as a specific assessment of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the book surveys both the general scientific literature as well as the individual findings of the State Department's Keystone XL Project Environmental Impact Statement. As life-cycle assessments have become an influential, albeit developing, methodology for collecting, analysing, and comparing GHG emissions, this book concludes with a discussion of some tools for policy-makers who are interested in using these assessments to investigate the potential impacts of U.S. energy policy choices on the environment.

Exploration seismology uses seismic imaging to form detailed images of the Earth's interior, enabling the location of likely petroleum targets. Due to the size of seismic datasets, sophisticated numerical algorithms are required. This book provides a technical guide to the essential algorithms and computational aspects of data processing, covering the theory and methods of seismic imaging. The first part introduces an extensive online library of MATLAB (R) seismic data processing codes maintained by the CREWES project at the University of Calgary. Later chapters then focus on digital signal theory and relevant aspects of wave propagation and seismic modelling, followed by deconvolution and seismic migration methods. Presenting a rigorous explanation of how to construct seismic images, it provides readers with practical tools and codes to pursue research projects and analyses. It is ideal for advanced students and researchers in applied geophysics, and for practicing exploration geoscientists in the oil and gas industry.

High oil prices affect nearly every household and business in the United States. During the course of 2008, oil prices doubled to over $145 per barrel and then fell by 80%. In early 2011, there was a run-up of about 20%, sending gasoline prices to near 2008 highs. This book provides background on financial speculation in oil, the workings of oil derivatives markets, and the different types of firms that trade in those markets. Also discussed are the concepts of manipulation and excessive speculation, and the fundamental factors that affect oil prices.

The development of offshore oil, gas and other mineral resources in the United States is impacted by a number of interrelated legal regimes, including international, federal and state laws. International law provides a framework for establishing national ownership or control of offshore areas, and U.S. domestic law has adopted these internationally recognised principles. This book describes the nature of U.S. authority over offshore areas pursuant to international and domestic law and explains the laws, at both the state and federal levels, governing the development of offshore oil and gas and the litigation that has flowed from development under these legal regimes; recent changes to authorities regulating offshore development and legislative proposals concerning offshore oil and natural gas exploration and production.