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Conventional oil reserves in Colombia are depleted. The country´s reserve-to-production ratio is estimated as 5 years. Therefore, the search for new resources and their conversion into proven reserves are essential. In this case, the production of unconventional reservoirs is an option in Colombia. This work evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of the production of a Tight Oil source rock reservoir, considering parameters such as fracture shape factor, fracture propagation, fracture pressure, international oil price, petrophysical characteristics, fluid properties, drilling cost, completion, and fiscal regime. The methodological development of the work allowed concluding that this reservoir located in the middle Magdalena Valley basin has production potential and those factors such as the type of completion, drilling technique, and cost of lifting the resource have a significant impact on the viability of the project. Resumen Las reservas de petróleo proveniente de reservorios convenvionales en Colombia son escazas, la relación reserva/producción en el país es de 5 años. De esta manera, la búsqueda por nuevas reservas y producción de nuevos recursos son imprescindibles. Así, la producción de yacimientos no convencionales es una salida a la escasez de producción de crudo. Este trabajo evalúa la factibilidad técnica y económica de la producción de un yacimiento de roca generadora Tight Oil, fueron considerados parámetros como factor de forma de la fractura, propagación de la fractura, presión de fracturamiento, precio internacional del petróleo, características petrofísicas, propiedades de los fluidos, costo de perforación, completamiento y el régimen fiscal. El desarrollo metodológico del trabajo permitió concluir que este yacimiento ubicado en la cuenca del valle medio del magdalena tiene potencial de producción y que factores como el tipo de completamiento, técnica de perforación y costo del levantamiento del recurso tienen un impacto significativo en la viabilidad del proyecto.

Research on predicting the growth trend of natural gas reserves and production will help provide a scientific basis for natural gas exploration and development. The metabolically improved modified weight coefficient GM(1,n) method is applied to the multi-cycle Hubbert model to predict the trend of new proven natural gas reserves in the Sichuan Basin. The ultimate recoverable reserves (URR) is introduced as a boundary condition in the production-time series to predict the natural gas production growth. The research results show that: (1) The annual newly added proven natural gas reserves of the Sichuan Basin maintain a multi-cycle growth trend, which will reach the peak reserves in 2034, at which time the proven rate of natural gas will reach 36%. (2) Based on the predicted results of proven reserves, the final recoverable reserves of natural gas are estimated to be $$5.25-5.75\times {10}^{12}{m}^{3}$$ 5.25 - 5.75 × 10 12 m 3 . The production in 2035 will reach $$750-810\times {10}^{8}{\mathrm{m}}^{3}/\mathrm{a}$$ 750 - 810 × 10 8 m 3 / a , and production will grow rapidly. The exploration and development of natural gas in the basin will be prospective for a long time.

This paper examines the impact of oil resources endowment, measured by proven reserves and oil rents, on the economic growth in the presence of quality of governance factors. To address this issue,...

With the discovery of the Pre-Salt reserves, exploration of oil and gas is being strongly extended in Brazil, contributing to the recent increase of the demand for drilling capabilities. This paper discusses the impact of this oil discovery by assessing the relationship among the growth of proven reserves, the financial position of firms, and patent applications in the Brazilian upstream oil and gas industry. We provide empirical evidence indicating that firms with a lower financial performance prior to the pre-salt discovery were more aggressive in increasing the number of patent filings addressing technologies of the upstream oil and gas domain.

Territorial conditions for the integration of production activities for the extraction and processing of oil in the modern global world have became as a critical issue. The most striking feature of the placement of oil reserves is their high concentration in one relatively small region - the Persian Gulf basin. Here, in the Arab monarchies of Iran and Iraq,almost 2/3 of proven reserves are concentrated, and most of them (more than 2/5 of world reserves) are in three Arabian countries with a small indigenous population - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Even with the huge number of foreign workers who flooded these countries in the second half of the twentieth century, there are just over 20 million people, 0.3% of the world's population. Among the countries with very large reserves (more than 10 billion tons in each, or more than 6% of the world) are Iraq, Iran and Venezuela. These countries have long had a significant population and a more or less developed economy, and Iran and Iraq are the oldest centers of world civilization. Therefore, the high concentration of oil reserves in them does not look unfair, as in the three Arabianmonarchies, where yesterday’s illiterate and semi-wild nomads and herders are swimming in oil and petrodollars. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development includes 29 economically developed countries. It includes Australia, Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Spain, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the United States, Turkey, Finland, France, Sweden, Czech Republic, Switzerland, South Korea, Japan. The organization of the countries of oil exporters includes Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Venezuela. The aim of this work is to investigate present conditions particularly territorial conditions to production activities integration in order to the extraction and processing of oil which are the main factor in increasing the productivity of this sector of the economy.

With the depletion of fossil fuel reserves and the increasing concern about greenhouse gas emission, the need to develop technologies for using renewable and sustainable energy resources is becomin...

This study presents the log analysis results of a log suite comprising gamma ray (GR), resistivity (LLD), neutron (PHIN), density (RHOB) logs and a 3D seismic interpretation of TIM field located in the southwestern offshore of Niger Delta, Nigeria. This study focuses essentially on reserves evaluation of hydrocarbon-bearing sands. Well data were used in the identification of reservoirs as well as hydrocarbon presence and determination of petrophysical parameters. Three horizons that corresponded to selected sands tops (sand D, sand E, and sand F) were mapped after well-to-seismic tie. The three horizons marked the tops of reservoir sands and provide the structures for hydrocarbon accumulation. Structural depth maps were created from the mapped horizons. The structural style is dominated by widely spaced simple rollover anticline bounded by growth faults, and this includes down-to-basin faults, antithetic faults and synthetic faults. The petrophysical values – the porosity, net-to-gross, water saturation, hydrocarbon saturation that were calculated yielded an average porosity value of 0.23, water saturation value of 0.32 and an average net-to-gross value of 0.62. Hydrocarbon in-place was evaluated. The total hydrocarbon proven reserves for the mapped horizons (sand D, sand E, and sand F) were evaluated to be 39.04MMBO of oil, and 166.13BCF of gas for sand E. Keywords: Niger Delta, Petrophysics, Reserve estimation, Hydrocarbon saturation

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forms the core of China's foreign policy and future foreign cooperation, and energy cooperation is an important component of the BRI. Energy security is closely related to the interdependent relations between countries. The present paper investigates energy interdependent relations between China and the countries along the Belt and Road using data collected in the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, between 2000 and 2015. The main results are as follows: (1) Abundant proven reserves of energy resources exist in these countries, which were equivalent to 758.73 billion tons of standard coal in 2015, accounting for 52.27% of the world. The distribution of these resources presents a pattern with two centers—one in Russia, and one in West Asia and the Middle East. (2) Established interdependence relations exist between China and the countries along the Belt and Road in terms of energy cooperation. China has imported 437.21 million tons of standard coal from these countries and their guarantee degree to China's energy security is 58.42%, of which 13.56% refers to coal, 73.37% to oil, and 13.06% to gas. Meanwhile, their dependence degree in energy exports to China was 13.56%, or 11.15% for coal, 14.92% for oil, and 10.55% for gas. An interdependence relation thus exists between China and these countries, and the degree of mutual dependence between them was 0.23 (0.22 for coal, 0.13 for oil, and 0.38 for gas), locating China in a relatively passive position with respect to the countries along the Belt and Road as a whole, but a relatively active position in relation to individual countries (with the exception of Russia). Our findings are useful to the tasks of identifying the spatial distribution pattern of energy in countries along the Belt and Road, assisting in the promotion of energy cooperation between China and these countries, and the future construction of the BRI.

The global 2030 agenda for promoting clean energy development explicitly calls for the implementation of official policy related to sustainable development. China pledged to formulate an energy structure that focuses on non-fossil energy and natural gas towards 2030. Natural gas is therefore entering a new critical and potentially advantageous development stage. Optimizing the utilization structure in a scientific manner can be regarded as the significant means to increase natural gas consumption in order to achieve the targets upon 2020 and 2030. In this study, what ultimately matters from a sustainable lens is not whether the future natural gas consumption increases but rather whether the restricted and limited proven reserves should be arranged and utilized to reach the best effectiveness on economy-energy-environment system to further ensure sustainable development. Herein, with aims to offering operationally actionable-related insights on the optimal natural gas consumption pathways for policy governors, this paper examined the multiple effectiveness of a spectrum of representing indicators selected from the economy-energy-environment system in China under natural gas consumption structure constraint policy scenarios using a dynamic CGE approach and Markov Chains forecasting technique. Consequently, this study recommends one optimal natural gas consumption structure scenario to policy governors given its comprehensive effectiveness in promoting sustainable development in China according to horizontal and vertical comparative analyses.

SPE Trinidad and Tobago Section Energy Resources Conference 2021, TTCE 2021 -- 28 June 2021 through 30 June 2021 -- -- 171347, Oil Industry is going green and there is no solid and comprehensive publication that outlines the use of green energies and methods in oil recovery. Thus, this paper is going to close that gap. As there are more environmental restrictions especially in developed countries, inclusion of green energy methods in petroleum recovery processes is very important for the future of these reserves. We will focus on extra/heavy oil as conventional oil is simpler to produce and doesn't need EOR processes that may come with environmental footprints. The objective of this study is to investigate and outline the ‘green’ production and recovery processes of heavy oil recovery in environmentally-sensitive locations where greenhouse gas emissions, type of energy used to extract oil and gas (e.g., generation of steam using natural gas vs solar), environmental impact of surface facilities, transportation of produced oil and gas and other associated materials/chemica ls required for recovery (e.g. solvents for steam injection process) are critical for the operations as well as economics. Copyright 2021, Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Summary Proven reserves of «traditional» oil are on a declining trend. Therefore, it is necessary for producing companies to consider hard-to-recover reserves as a resource base in the future. Currently, the term «hard-to-recover reserves» is not defined enough. Some categories of the hard-to-recover reserves may be deleted from this list due to the development of technology, making the production of hydrocarbons much easier. However, an exploration of subsurface using modern technology makes it possible to produce these hydrocarbon reserves. That was impossible previously. The examples are the production of Permian petroleum bitumen and the development of domanic formations.

We assess the informativeness for stock markets of proven reserves of oil and gas, and embedded CO2 in those reserves. Based on a two-step regression approach, we attempt to test the relationship between proven reserves, CO2 embedded in those reserves and stock market value controlling for the selection bias (i.e. the decision of managers to disclose voluntary environmental information about embedded CO2). Results, based on a sample of U.S. and Canadian firms are the following. Proven reserves increase the firm’s value, while embedded CO2 reduces stock market value substantially. Furthermore, the decision of managers to disclose information about embedded CO2 is positively related to analyst following, share price volatility, firm size, and institutional ownership.The current study assesses the long-term incidence of embedded CO2 (in oil and gas proven reserves) on firms’ stock market value, while most studies are focusing on yearly CO2 emissions.

Carbonate oil and gas reserves account for more than 50% of the world’s proven reserves and more than 60% of the world’s production. The marine sedimentary rocks, mainly concentrated in Tarim, Ordos and Sichuan basins, are widely distributed in China covering an area of 4.5 million km2. The amount of oil and gas resources is abundant, and the proved reserves are still increasing as exploration extends. However, China has found such reservoirs difficult to produce: deep burial, poor matrix permeability, significant reservoir heterogeneity and weak oil and water regularity are typical reservoir characteristics. At present, the standard primary recovery factor is only 16.4%. The authors first reviewed the classification and characteristics of the marine carbonate rocks in China. We then took Tarim Oilfield as the main analysis target, reviewed its exploration and production history in the past 20 years and the current situation. We summarized the major production problems and the technical countermeasures that has proved effective in improving the oil recovery in the fractured-cavernous carbonate reservoir. These technologies include fine geological modeling, unit division, connectivity evaluation, dynamic reserve evaluation, numerical simulation, unit displacement by water and gas injection, etc. This work summarizes the field experience, breakthroughs and key technologies from Tarim Field. The understandings help engineers in designing of technological processes for fractured-cavernous reservoir and improve oil recovery in similar carbonate reservoirs.

Summary Proven reserves of «traditional» oil are on a declining trend. Therefore, it is necessary for producing companies to consider hard-to-recover reserves as a resource base in the future. Currently, the term «hard-to-recover reserves» is not defined enough. Some categories of the hard-to-recover reserves may be deleted from this list due to the development of technology, making the production of hydrocarbons much easier. However, an exploration of subsurface using modern technology makes it possible to produce these hydrocarbon reserves. That was impossible previously. The examples are the production of Permian petroleum bitumen and the development of domanic formations.

How will global economic and political cycles and inequality, still existing restrictive gender norms (UNDP, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Human Development Report. Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York (2019). Available at http://www.hdr.undp.org/), and value change affect the future of the region, which had combined proven reserves of 497 billion barrels of crude oil, which represents approximately 34% of the world’s estimated proven crude reserves, and which is the EU’s sixth-largest export market (€78.1 bn of exports in 2019, +5% over 2018)? In this chapter, we present the starting points of our analysis: the global world political and economic environment which the Gulf will most probably face in the near future and the foreseeable emergent real vacuum in world affairs and global leadership; and the multivariate analysis of civil society in the countries of Gulf by international comparison. Here, in the introduction, we present an outline of the social scientific scenery in which this book is located, all characterized by the quest for evidence-driven debates about the realities of the Gulf region by international comparison. The chapter briefly introduces the decisive factors, discussed at length in this book with a wealth of new original, global time series analyses and opinion-survey-co-driven evidence. We highlight, among others, the necessity of the multivariate analyses of opinions on religion, gender, and the desire for democracy, based on World Values Survey data, underlining the general approach of this book in the framework of the recent United Nations Human Development Report, 2019 with its emphasis on inequality and still existing restrictive gender norms.

A key factor in the development of the Arctic is the projects aimed at the development of oil and gas-bearing offshore and onshore fields, whose reserves are estimated at 13% of the world’s proven reserves and 43% of the undiscovered reserves. Arctic oil production and oil and gas engineering projects in the coming years will become drivers of oil and gas industry development in the world due to the huge mineral resource base. Efficient development of new fields under conditions of low temperatures, harsh climate and lack of necessary infrastructure is impossible without innovative technological solutions capable of ensuring hydrocarbon recovery and competitive energy prices on the market. The oil and gas industry is gradually becoming more progressive in terms of digital transformation, which makes it possible to state the fact that a large customer is emerging in the market of innovative technological solutions, capable of becoming in the near future a locomotive in the field of digital technologies. The program of technological transformations requires a forecast of digital technologies application in oil and gas projects in the Arctic. Technological forecasts for the development of oil production and oil and gas mechanical engineering for the development of Arctic hydrocarbons have revealed the need to prioritize digital transformation with an emphasis on the development of remote drilling and production control systems, technologies for monitoring production facilities with the help of drones and machine vision, the creation of corporate data processing and analysis centers, the use of artificial intelligence in the construction of effective logistics routes and identification of hydrocarbon accumulation sites.

The Shuangjianzishan deposit in Inner Mongolia is a typical Ag-Pb-Zn deposit of the southern Great Xing’an Range. Proven reserves of Ag, Pb, and Zn in this deposit have reached the scale of super-large deposits, with favorable metallogenic conditions, strong prospecting signs, and high metallogenic potential. This paper reports a study involving integrated geophysical methods, including controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotelluric, gravity, magnetic, and shallow-seismic-reflection methods, to determine the spatial distribution of ore-controlling structures and subsurface intrusive rock for a depth range of

The main aspects of regional development of the mineral base of Ukraine are defined. The structure of regional development of the mineral base of Ukraine was investigated by grouping administrative and territorial units by the activity of subsoil work, by the degree of industrial development of available proven reserves of minerals, by quantity and type, by the presence of strategically important minerals. It is established that balanced development of the mineral base of individual regions is complicated by the uneven distribution of studied and forecast mineral resources within the limits of separate territories, as well as the peculiarities of distribution of consumers of mineral raw materials. The main disadvantages in the regional structure of the mineral base were identified and the main directions of their optimization were determined in order to achieve balanced development indicators. The state of national programs development of mineral base of Ukraine for period to 2010 and 2030 was adopted for the balanced development of Ukraine’s mineral base. But this program does not include the issue of the regional nature of the development of a mineral base in the conditions of decentralization, which is provided for by the Concept of reforming local self-government and territorial organization of power in Ukraine. The study of official sites of regions, cities and united communities showed a systematic absence of official regional development programs for the mineral resource base.

The Darlot-Centenary gold deposit is one of the larger known mineralised systems in the southern end of the West Australian Yandal Greenstone Belt, with an estimated 2.7 Moz having been extracted from the Darlot Centenary Mine since 1988. The area is well explored near surface but given the proven endowment there is potential for significant additional mineralisation at depth. With current proven reserves dwindling, Gold Fields recognised the need to identify a technology to fast-track target generation in order to more rapidly evaluate the nearby rock volume. In August 2016 Gold Fields began investigating the potential for 3D reflection seismic to accelerate evaluation of the rock volume accessible via existing workings. In November 2016 a seismic crew was on ground acquiring approximately 150km3 of 3D seismic data (25km2 surface area x 6km depth). The survey coverage was designed to image the local steeply dipping geology and structures. Processing of the seismic dataset was completed in Q1 2017 and Gold Fields has completed preliminary interpretation of the 3D cube. The seismic data has provided a rich 3D picture of the Darlot structural framework to depth, which could not be obtained by any other geophysical method. It has highlighted a number of features with similar characteristics to known mineralisation and has provided a better defined structural framework that has greatly assisted the fundamental geological understanding and further aided ranking of these targets in terms of prospectivity.

Surface geophysical measurements of resistivity, magnetic and gravity were evaluated in combination along same traverses to detect and quantify ore reserves in order to enable the design of effective and sustainable mining strategy for some remote barite fields in the Abakaliki basin, southeastern Nigeria. In addition to the surface geophysical measurements, geological field mapping of ores bodies and host rocks were undertaken to calibrate geophysical models. Numerical modeling and geological interpretation of the geophysical data indicate and delineate zones of ore occurrences and provide ore tonnage estimates for the studied fields. However, tonnage estimates in some regions were severely flawed as demonstrated by some consequent futile surface excavations. The failure recorded by the open excavated pits is linked to the pitfalls in some ore quantity estimates that bear largely on survey layout design and significant errors emanating from data interpretation due to complex structural and stratigraphic setting of ore incidence, all of which contributed to constrain the reliability on the geophysical data alone as a mine design tool. Best practice necessitates that excavation designs are to be preceded by exploratory drilling to ascertain proven reserves.

Since the “Tenth Five-Year Plan”, lithologic and stratigraphic reservoirs have been the main contribution of both the discovery as well as reserve and production increase in China; there were about 80% of proven reserves. The typical reservoirs in six major basins in the eastern, central, and western China were adopted as reservoir forming models. The reservoir forming models in three types of slopes, three types of depressions, and three types of lithologic reservoir assemblages have been built on the basis of application of new technologies, physical modeling of reservoir forming mechanism, and investigation to the formation and distribution of the reservoirs. The evaluation methods for large lithologic reservoirs provinces were established based on the forming mechanism and main controlling factors mentioned above. In addition, the study reveals the main controlling factors and the laws of enrichment of two types of stratigraphic reservoirs (pinch-out and weathered karst reservoirs) based on the evaluation methods for large stratigraphic reservoir provinces that have been established. By comprehensively understanding the laws of enrichment of lithologic-stratigraphic reservoirs in four types of basins, specific evaluation methods and fine exploration techniques have been developed. The findings led to an exploration direction in the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” period. The study supported the exploration and selection of oil and gas plays, as well as promoted the exploration of lithologic and stratigraphic reservoirs. Keywords: Lithologic trap, Stratigraphic trap, Lithostratigraphic reservoir, Large oil and gas field, Large oil and gas province, Formation and distribution, Exploration potential

The North Peixian mining area of China has rich coal resources, with total proven reserves of 2.37 billion tons. However, the underground coal mining activities have resulted in ground collapse, which has caused serious harm to the environment and threatened the lives and properties of local residents. In this study, 12 Sentinel-1A terrain observation by progressive scans (TOPS) mode acquisitions between 30 July 2015 and 13 May 2016 over the abandoned mining area in North Peixian were analyzed using the interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) time series method to detect the ground subsidence, with the maximum ground subsidence reaching 83 mm/a and an average value of about 12.7 mm/a. The subsidence results derived from the Sentinel-1A TOPS mode dataset were proven to be effective in investigating and monitoring the ground subsidence in the North Peixian mining area. Compared to the rapid deformation during the ongoing period of mining excavation, the ground subsides slowly in abandoned mining areas and shows a linear relationship with time over a relatively long period of time. Spatial correlation between the subsidence distribution and land cover was found, in that the magnitude of the subsidence in urban areas was smaller than that in rural areas, which is associated with the controlled coal mining activities under buildings, railways, and water bodies. The results demonstrate that Sentinel-1A TOPS SAR images can be used to effectively and accurately detect and monitor ground subsidence in a mining area, which is critically important when investigating land subsidence in a large-scale mining area.

Nicaragua is an underdeveloped Central American country of 130, 373 km2 with a population of 6.2 million inhabitants, 90% electricity access and 672 MW of peak demand. Currently, the electricity mix is nearly 50% renewable but the entire energy system is highly dependent on fossil fuels and biomass. This work aims to show potential for a renewable transformation of the Nicaraguan energy system. With a substantial renewable energy potential (geothermal, wind, solar, etc.) and no proven reserves of oil, coal and gas, neither in Nicaragua nor in Central America, an Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) for the electric sector was developed. The potential renewable transformation of the entire electric sector would create positive technical and economic conditions to the penetration of electric mobility. The results of this work indicate that optimal integrated renewable expansion mix will require prioritize the development of geothermal (high capacity factor to meet the base load with the lowest cost), wind, hydro and biomass sources and energy-efficiency programs. Although the potential use of electrical vehicles brings positive environmental impacts, from consumers' perspective electric vehicles are not cost-effective with current oil prices and relative high prices of electric vehicles. Thus, it will be necessary national and regional public policies in order to trigger the energy mix transformation and the introduction of electric mobility. This seminal work is the base for a further detailed research and proposing a regional energy transition initiative to be extended for Central American countries with similar characteristics and interconnected by a regional network; gaining scale for regional electric mobility.

Tahe oil field is the first marine origin oil field in China, with proven reserves of 500 million tons. Given the important role of the paleogeomorphology in controlling the formation and distribution of karst reservoirs, this paper restored the pre-Carboniferous paleokarst landform in the major blocks of the Tahe oil field, via the paleogeomorphic genesis assembly method. First, four types of secondary landform units (karst platform, karst gentle slope, karst steep slope, and karst intermountain basin) were defined. Next, landform identification factors were added to these four types, to further divide the paleokarst landform into ten tertiary landform units. This enabled a more precise identification of the paleogeomorphic landforms. The karst development and the properties of hydrocarbon reservoirs in micro-geomorphic units were assessed. In addition, the relationship between petroleum production and geomorphology was analysed to robustly predict karst reservoirs in the Tahe oil field. The results show that karst develops differently according to the ancient landform units it developed from and that the current karst function is highly dependent on the precursor ancient landform. In addition, the morphology of the ancient landform significantly controls hydrocarbon accumulation, with oil and gas production being highly associated with the degree of karst development in each landscape unit. The research results indicate that the position of the slope in the karst hill and residual peak is favorable for future oil and gas exploration.

Empirical studies on FDI location determinants have neglected the role of natural resources. Panel data estimations for 125 host countries over the period between 1995 and 2012 show that a country's endowment of Non-Renewable Energy Resources (NRERs) matters for FDI attraction, when measured by the share of oil, coal and gas exports in total exports but not when measured by oil, coal and gas ‘proven reserves’. Thus, although to possess a vast amount of proven NRERs is not a sufficient condition for FDI inflows, countries with low export diversification, highly dependent on the exports of mineral fuel, tend to succeed in attracting FDI. This evidence supports the content that resource seeking FDI targets mainly economically feeble countries. Moreover, our results firmly indicate that regardless NRERs endowments, FDI attraction is fostered when countries make convincing efforts to open up their economies to international trade and devote resources to the enhancement of their human capital, control of corruption, and have more beneficial tax rates.

At present, tight oil reservoirs account for more than 60% of the remaining un-used reserves in Daqing Oilfield. The development mode is mainly vertical well large-scale fracturing or horizontal well volume fracturing, which is affected by low oil price and has poor economic benefits. In order to reduce the decision-making risk of Oilfield productivity capacity investment, a practical and effective economic evaluation method is needed. Through the analysis of development indexes of large-scale fracturing in vertical wells and volume fracturing in horizontal wells, the changing rules of development indexes are clarified, and the calculation methods of some economic parameters of development effect evaluation are optimized. The economic evaluation methods of productivity projects in tight reservoirs are formed, and the calculation program is compiled. The program is used to evaluate the production investment limits of compact oil blocks under different daily production of single well for large-scale vertical well fracturing and volume fracturing under multi-oil price conditions. Based on the evaluation results, the investment limits of single well and single well daily production under different oil prices are plotted, and the sensitivity of investment limits is analyzed. Under the condition of low oil price, the result of benefit evaluation can be improved by reducing investment, and under the condition of high oil price, the effect of increasing daily production of single well on improving economic benefit of block is greater. This method can effectively predict the risk of capacity investment decision-making, ensure the smooth implementation of tight oil production projects, and release more development potential. The research results can be applied in the submission of proven reserves, the evaluation of unused reserves and the planning and deployment of oilfields.

A clear understanding of the world's energy resources along with their economics and politics is necessary before selecting which CBM utilization best fits the project at hand. Global fossil fuel tables showing proven reserves are included for comparison. Fossil fuels thermal value table is also included along with their relationship and allows for easy comparability. US energy consumption and distribution are detailed in a graphic display. Also included is the “best use” for America's new-found source of abundant, over-produced natural gas (i.e., shale gas). Thermal dynamic efficiency is important and is critical to the decision making process of CBM utilization; keeping in mind that nothing beats direct heat for natural gas with thermal dynamic efficiencies of 90%–95%. A CBM utilization diagram is included to help guide decision making. In closing, a US energy source diagram is given with advice on its use based on science, not politics, as well as a look into the future.

Energy resources; natural resources including minerals and water; and population, the environment, and food are the issues attracting the common interest of the world. China is one of only a few countries with rich proven reserves and a good variety of minerals. Coal is distributed in every province except Shanghai city, but large-scale coal fields of national significance concentrate in the areas north of the Yangtze River and in western Guizhou, eastern Yunnan, and southern Sichuan. Beginning as an oil-poor country, China has become one of the main oil-producing nations in the world. Many metals used in China, they are iron, copper, lead and zinc, bauxite, tungsten, antimony, tin, molybdenum, mercury, gold, phosphate ore, sulphur, magnesite and flourite. Exploration will become more difficult in the future, and the investment of finances and skills required will continue to increase.

Russia feels confident in the group of leading countries in the production and export of natural gas (natural and associated) due to the largest proven reserves. The unique ecological properties of natural gas in comparison with other types of fossil fuels, according to analysts of the largest international energy companies and leading world energy agencies, will allow it to maintain an ever-increasing demand in the future until 2040, despite the massive introduction of renewable energy sources (RES) around the world. There is no consensus among the forecasters about the levels achieved at the end of the forecast period and the growth rates. According to forecasts, the main drivers of gas demand growth will be the third world countries, which will be led by India and China. According to forecasts, the European gas market will stagnate due to the widespread introduction of energy-saving technologies, global climate change and the massive construction of renewable energy sources in the large and small electric power industry, due to significant legislative and significant economic preferences. The COVID 19 pandemic has significantly reduced the demand for gas, which, together with low prices in all world markets, calls into question the implementation of not only the most capital-intensive projects, but also projects with medium capital intensity. In this regard, the creation of a simplified model of the gas industry in Russia is becoming more urgent.

The main objectives of this research are to estimate the oil reserves and set a development plan for Hakim Field in Libya, using three methods for calculating OOIP which are Volumetric (Monte Carlo), Decline curve analysis (DCA), Material Balance Equation, and establish the optimum development plan for Hakim field. Results showed that the OOIP of Hakim Field, calculated by volumetric method done through Monte Carlo tool given 90.2 MM STBO for Proven Reserves (1P) , 115.5 MM STBO for Probable reserves (2P) and 147.0 MM STBO for Possible reserves (3P). While OOIP estimated by Decline curve analysis given 82.4MM STBO for Proven Reserves (1P) , 102.8MM STBO for Probable reserves (2P) and 114.9MM STBO for Possible reserves (3P), and 112.18 MM STBO for Probable reserves (2P) by Material Balance. In addition, 14 prediction scenarios have been applied on the Material Balance Model to establish the optimum Field development Plan, results showed that from simulation model the optimal scenario is 8 Producing Wells, 4 Water Injector Wells and 8000 BWPD.

The investment problem of oilfield development is to trade off the investment exploration investment and development investment. With low return on investment got by using the existing method to solve this problem, we construct an optimal model to improve it based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method and the relations about investment and proven reserves, investment and output as well as production cost. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method is used to present a method to determine the optimal scale of productivity construction investment in unit production. The relation between total cumulated proven reserves and cumulative exploration investment is denoted as an exponential model. The relation among productions and remaining recoverable reserves as well as production cost may be described as an exponential operational cost function. Based on above two relation models and investment effectiveness coefficients of every block, we establish an optimal model whose objective function is net present value (NPV) profit maximum, whose constrain conditions include investment, reserve/production ratio, production and some equality constraints under the mode of sustainable development. It can be solved by genetic algorithms. The result of case study shows that this optimal investment of oilfield development has multi-stage investment structure under given conditions; the model can provide scientific basic theory for oil companies to make a long-term strategic program and investment plan in oil exploration and development, may decrease the subjective blindness in the investment and bring about a reasonable and orderly exploration and development of oil resources.

With the increasing demand for energy around the globe, hydrocarbon explorations move towards the Arctic region that holds a majority of unexploited oil reserves. The harsh environmental conditions with sub-zero ambient temperatures and high winds demand winterization techniques for pipes, instruments and equipment to carry out uninterrupted plant operations. The natural phenomenon: hydrate formation, is considered to be a major flow assurance problem starting from the wellhead through the final point in the delivery system which could be addressed through winterization. Developing winterization strategies for arctic conditions is a challenging task demanding rigorous and robust approaches. Risk-based winterization is a novel approach, adapted for vessels operating in arctic environments. In this paper a new model is proposed to calculate the probability of hydrate formation and its associated risk for a given loading scenario. The winterization requirement is determined based on the estimated risk. Two case studies presented here demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model and compare several winterization methods to find an optimal solution.

Formation water can in principal be used to identify hydrocarbon reserves. One such potential reserves are the gas reservoirs in the Ordos basin in China. However, there is limited data for this basin; we thus investigated the geochemical properties of a large range of formation water acquired from the Ordovician in the Ordos basin (42 brine samples obtained from different wells at M5 member) and analyzed their chemical characteristics. The results showed that this formation water is associated with a sealed reservoir, which is good for hydrocarbon storage. This is also related to the demonstrated strong diagenetic transformations. We also proposed statistical relationships between these geochemical properties and hydrocarbon storage based on a machine learning method (Decision tree). The results suggest that the salinity, Na+/Cl− ratio, (Cl−-Na+)/Mg2+ ratio, (HCO3−-CO32-)/Ca2+ ratio and Mg2+/Ca2+ ratio highly correlate with the gas preservation. The results thus provide drastically more accurate predictions in terms of where to find gas reservoirs in the Ordos basin, and can thus lead to significantly better exploitation of these resources.

Gas condensate reservoirs constitute a significant portion of global hydrocarbon reserves. In these reservoirs, liquids develop in the pore space once bottomhole pressure falls below dew point. This results in the formation of a liquid bank near the wellbore region which decreases gas mobility, which then reduces gas inflow. In such complex reservoirs, it is important to correctly describe PVT impacts, adjustments to well test analysis and inflow performance, and then combine all effects in the reservoir analysis. The literature contains many references to individual adjustments of PVT analysis, well testing, or inflow performance for gas condensate reservoirs, but few studies demonstrate the complete workflow for reservoir evaluation and production forecasting in gas condensate fields. This research uses a field case study to demonstrate an integrated workflow for forecasting well deliverability in a gas condensate field in North Africa.The workflow incorporates a description of the retrograde behavior that impact the well deliverability. The workflow begins with the interpretation of open-hole log data to identify the production interval net pay and to estimate petrophysical properties. A compositional model is developed and matched to actual reservoir fluids. Several gas condensate correlations are used to obtain the gas deviation factor and gas viscosity in order to count the change in gas properties with respect to pressure. Transient pressure analysis is described and used to identify reservoir properties. Inflow performance relationships (IPRs) are analyzed using three types of back pressure equations. The workflow integrates all data in a numerical simulation model, which includes the effect of bottom water drive.Results show that in this field case study, reservoir behavior is composite radial flow with three regions of infinite acting radial flow (IARF). Using compositional simulation, it is found that the fluid sample for this field is a lean gas condensate since the liquid drop-out represented 1% of the maximum liquid drop-out. In addition, liquid drop-out increases by 0.1% for every 340 psi drop in reservoir pressure, which reduces the AOF by 3.4%.The results provided in this case study demonstrate the importance of an integrated workflow in predicting future well performance in gas condensate fields. The study demonstrates how to implement the workflow in managing or developing these types of reservoirs.

Marine shale gas in South China is widely distributed and demonstrates an enriched resource. Compared with the North American commercial shale gas field, the shale formation in South China is featured by old age, multiple stages tectonic movements, and high thermal evolution degree and complex reservoir forming conditions. As a result, the existing theories and technical methods of exploration in North America cannot be simply applied to South China. Since 2007, based on the in-depth study on a large quantity of analytical test data, we have conducted the theory and technology research for the southern marine shale gas, found Wufeng-Longmaxi Group deep water shelf high-quality shale gas critical parameters coupling laws, proposed the “Binary Enrichment” theory for highly evolved marine shale gas in southern complex tectonic zone, and established a zone selection and evaluation criteria, which are based on the quality of shale, for the key of preservation condition, and for the purpose of economy. Taking this as a guide, we selected Longmaxi formation Lower Silurian of Fuling area in southeastern Sichuan Province as the preferred breakthrough field for the shale gas exploration. The Jiaoye 1 well has the daily gas production of 20.3 × 104 m3, which embarked the found of China’s first large-scale business development gas field, the Fuling shale gas field. And we submit the first domestic shale gas proven reserves of 1067.5 × 108 m3. The Fuling shale gas reservoirs are deep water shelf marine high-quality shale, with favorable thickness and even distribution, without dissection in the middle. They are typical self-generation and self-storage shale gas reservoirs. The gas fields have high production gas well; high pressure gas reservoir, good gas components and good exploit results, and there for the Fuling shale gas field is characterized by mid-depth, high pressure, high reservoir pressure, and high quality gas accumulation. Up to March 24, 2014, all of the 101 fracture-gas testing wells have obtained middle and upper shale airflow, with the average single well test production of 32.6 × 104 m3/d. In the exploration and development process, technology series in geological evaluation, horizontal well, drilling, well completion, piecewise fracturing techniques have been gradually formed. It is of great importance to commercially develop the domestic shale gas and promote the restructuring of China’s energy structure.

As the largest producer of gold in the world, China's gold reserves are spread across a number of orogenic belts that were constructed around ancient craton margins during various subduction–collision cycles, as well as within the cratonic interior along reactivated paleo-sutures. Among the major gold deposits in China is the unique class of world's richest gold mines in the Jiaodong Peninsula in the eastern part of the North China Craton with an overall endowment of > 3000 tons. Following the dawn of metal in the third millennium BC in western China, placer gold mining was soon in practice, particularly during the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. During 1096 AD, mining techniques were developed to dig underground tunnels and the earliest mineral processing technology was in place to pan gold from crushed rock ores. However, ancient China did not witness any major breakthrough in gold exploitation and production, and the growth in the gold ownership was partly due to the ‘Silk Road’ that enabled the sale of silk products and exquisite artifacts to the west in exchange of gold products. In the modern times, the proven reserves of gold resources in China have steadily increased from 4614.7 tons in 2005 up to 6864.79 tons in 2010, with a growth rate of 48.76%. In the past ten years, the rate of production increased by 70%, launching China as the top producer of gold in the world in 2008 when the production reached 300 tons per year. The gross industrial output of gold industry in China increased sharply from 20.82 billion Yuan up to 229.29 billion Yuan between 2000 and 2010, registering 9 times growth, and breaking the world record. A simultaneous hike in the proportion of gross value in GDP from 0.21% in 2003 up to 0.58% in 2010 is also recorded.

The Chinese government has introduced numerous policies and development plans to boost its shale gas industry in recent years. However, China’s shale gas exploration and development is still in the initial stage and has been confronted with many challenges. This paper systematically analyzes the current status of China’s shale gas industry from five aspects for the first time—resource situation, exploration and development status, policy and planning situation, technology status and international cooperation—then respectively elaborates on the different obstacles of shale gas development in the short run and the medium and long term. We argue that short-term barriers to the Chinese shale gas industry mainly include objective factors, such as geological and surface conditions, shale gas proven reserves, technology innovation and environmental concerns, while some man-made obstacles (except for water scarcity) may restrict shale gas development in the medium and long term. In order to better tackle the short-term challenges, this paper proposes policy recommendations from five perspectives: strengthening the investigation and evaluation of China’s shale gas resources; perfecting shale gas industry policy; establishing a national shale gas comprehensive experimental zone; enhancing scientific and technological research; and establishing a shale gas regulatory system with an emphasis on environmental protection and supervision.

Main source of energy fuel in Bangladesh is natural gas and day by day it is trimming the proven reserves. There are provisions of potential renewable energy resources like the solar, wind, tidal etc.; but the initiatives are very slow. Coal reserves and their prospects could not assure the nation as there are proven coal reserves of about 4,750 Mt (equivalent to 975 GM 3 of gas, which is around 3 times greater than the present gas reserve in Bangladesh). Those coal reserves are discovered in the North-Western part of Bangladesh at the depth ranging 200-1100 m. The special feature of the coal seams are found in the same geological formation and thickness is high (on average 38-64 m).One of the major issues, is the minable amount of the resources in conventional mining method. Barapukuria coal mine is under operation since 2005 and running a 250 MW coal fired power plant. But the mining method is not yet proven as suitable one, due to jointed layer thick coal seam (51 m) with faulty overburden and wider aquifer zone. The underground mining environment is hazardous including high temperature, suffocative humidity and releasing of unpredictable carboneus gases from the coal faces which make the life expectancy of this mine questionable. The geographical position and climatic conditions of Bangladesh, especially the monsoon rain extends several weeks to months which are major setback for economic viability of the open striping mining. The policy makers still could not finalize the national coal policy. In this stage the government is stepping up for construction of coal fired power stations run by imported coal. A group of skilled and dedicated entrepreneur is seeking the pathways for exploiting unminable coals within a safe engineering framework and bringing the global Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) projects under the same umbrella. India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Japan even the Vietnam has already joined the cohort. But why not Bangladesh, though they have huge amount of coal reserves which are not minable in conventional methods. This paper presents a review on development of this technology, investigates the geology and formation of the deposits and seeks suitability of the gasification methods as a sustainable engineering model considering social, environmental & economic issues, which may be helpful for fore stepping towards unconventional coal extraction activity for combating energy crisis.

This paper investigates the conditions leading to the indefinite termination of production in four critical primary panels at an underground coal mining operation, the observed shortcomings in the mining approach, and the proposed strategy to mine through the affected panels. Initial assessment of the abandoned panel conditions indicated time-dependent strata failure, (i.e. bolted roof failure overrunning intersections), which occurred from mere minutes to up to four weeks post-production, with and without prior warning of failure. This prompted the constant re-supporting of back areas, which raised safety and productivity concerns. Investigation of the initial mining conditions revealed that the failures were due to a critical combination of factors, the chief of which was isolated horizontal stress. Other factors that were initially overlooked by the mine (i.e. influence of hydraulic stress, misinterpretation of borehole data), resulted in the conditions being described as abnormal. Remedial actions were determined, and in so doing, a new strategic approach was formulated to thoroughly address all failure concerns. The four panels were explicitly planned to serve as the main intake and return airways for the recently commissioned secondary ventilation shaft, as well as providing access to millions of tons in proven coal reserves. It is thus imperative to mine the panels. A feasibility study showed that the proposed strategy set for implementation would be financially viable.

Summary Located in the sea area of the Bohai Bay Basin, offshore China, Chengbei Sag is a NW-trending Cenozoic half graben, with faulting in the northeast direction and overlapping in the southwest direction. The differential evolution of the NW-trending sag-controlling fault in the northeastern part results in two sub-sags in the northern and southern parts, with respective proven reserves of 10 million tons and 300 million tons. Comprehensive analysis combining the seismic and well data reveals that the two sub-sags share similar fault system characteristics, major fault properties, formation development, and unconformity distribution. Meanwhile, there are also differences in formation thickness and source rock burial depth though source rocks in both sub-sags have reached the hydrocarbon generation threshold and thus can provide sufficient oil and gas. The northern sub-sag is of great exploration prospect, and the exploration and development of it can refer to that of the southern sub-sag. To be specific, we should highlight the areas under the unconformity in the gentle slope belt, in the shallow faulting zone in the steep slope belt, and inside the uplifted buried hill.

This paper explores some basic economics of the climate change issue and how government response may impact the petroleum industry. Possible economic aspects are addressed by examining past and projected fossil fuel production numbers, calculating their resulting emissions, and then projecting how regulations or taxes might affect energy prices and production. Nine medium to major petroleum companies, which do business in the USA, are currently factoring in some kind of carbon emission restrictions into their long-range business plans. A driver for these plans is that the vast majority of countries, including the world’s largest emitters, have formally agreed to limit their emissions to avoid a 2°C (3.6°F) rise in global temperatures. Because there is no agreement yet on a set number of allowable emissions, this paper utilizes estimated carbon budgets from one paper, Meinshausen et al. (2009). Some pertinent results derived herein are the following: 1) oil and natural gas only comprise 33.3% of potential emissions from fossil fuels; 2) under a probability scenario of exceeding 2°C (3.6°F), all proven reserves of oil and natural gas (as of 2012) could be consumed, whereas only 56% could be utilized with continued coal consumption. To demonstrate how a market approach might limit carbon emissions, a simple model shows how an annually increasing carbon tax affects the relative price of fossil fuels and alternative energy. The objective of this paper is to present arguments that there are economic reasons for American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) to address the issue of climate change.

We propose reforming the Brazilian regulatory safety framework (BRSF) for offshore oil and gas production and drilling operations. Brazil has emerged as a leading offshore producer with extensive proven reserves yet to be exploited. However, the BRSF has not been updated since 2007, and there are now major concerns about the industry׳s safety, particularly after the BP Deepwater Horizon accident, along with the technical challenges due to extreme conditions under which Brazil׳s resources are located. Drawing on experiences from three leading offshore oil and gas producers (Norway, the UK, and the US), we recommend the adoption of three best practices: the UK׳s ‘safety case’ approach (where operators are expected to provide convincing and valid arguments that a system is sufficiently safe for a given application in a specific environment), Norway׳s ‘barrier management’ (evidence that there are at least two tested and independent barriers to avoid accidents) and greater investment in safety research and development, as suggested by the US׳s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. We discuss implications for policy reform and how best practices can be applied within the Brazilian context.

Peru׳s Camisea gas fields hold nearly 90% of the country׳s natural gas reserves. In the 1990s, the government had a policy to prioritize Camisea gas for domestic consumption. The revocation of this policy in the 2000s allowed private developers to export 40% of Camisea׳s proven reserves, equivalent to one third of Peru׳s total. This USD 3.9 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project boasts the largest single foreign direct investment in Peru׳s history. A major component of the financing was granted by international financial institutions on economic grounds. While the project was expected to yield a substantial return to private investors, the export of one third of Peru׳s total proven natural gas reserves is not in line with its long-term interests. We undertake cost–benefit analyses for a series of scenarios, starting with the project׳s formative stage in the mid-2000s, and then in 2012, two years after it began its commercial operation. In all cases, Peru does not have sufficient reserves to warrant export, and the economic costs far exceed the benefits. This policy of LNG exports should not have been approved by the government, nor should the loans have been granted by international financial institutions to make it possible.

In recent years, the proven reserves of lithological reservoirs account for a little more than two-thirds of the total proven reserves in SL Oilfield. The seismic predication technique as the key exploration method of lithological reservoirs focuses on identifying and describing reservoirs, especially on sand bodies. For the lacustrine faulted basin with various complex lithological reservoirs, based on the different geological characteristics of the reservoirs, a series of techniques suitable for channel sand, sandy conglomerate, turbidite and beach bar reservoirs have been developed and applied in the lithological reservoir identification and description and have made great progress in the actual exploration.PrefaceSince 1990s, the exploration in SL Oilfield has already developed to that of subtle reservoirs. The proven reserves of lithological reservoirs account for nearly 70% of the total reserves. The seismic predication technique as the key exploration method of lithological reservoirs focuses on identifying and describing reservoirs, especially on sand bodies. For lithological reservoir exploration in complex geologic conditions, lots of studies have been completed in order to obtain great success in many areas [1-7]. With the increasing degree of exploration, lithological reservoirs will become the key role in the future. It is very important to apply geophysical data for identification and description of lithological reservoirs. It has significant effect to improve exploration benefit and the production.

In 2007, Ghana joined the club of Gulf of Guinea oil-rich countries when transnational corporations discovered proven reserves in the Jubilee Field, off of the Cape Three Points along its Western coast. This has generated debate on whether Ghana would escape the resource curse. The orthodox resource curse approach (ORCA), dominant in most discussions on the issue to date, offers some valuable theoretical and policy insights but is also highly problematic: it is uncritical, ahistorical and reductionist. Fixated on internal political and economic factors, the ORCA ignores the longue duree of capitalist exploitation and its negative structural effects on the economy. This article formulates a critical political economy approach (PEA) which brings a fresh perspective on the oil-curse debate, focusing specifically on the case of Ghana. Using theoretical argumentation and empirical evidence, the paper explains why, in the context of ORCA, many would argue that a liberal democratic context, relatively good governance and long history of gold mining will help Ghana minimise the probability of a resource curse. But when analysed using a more dynamic PEA, it becomes clear that the danger of a resource curse ‘epidemic’ surfacing in Ghana is very real: the continuous exploitation by global capital, which has perpetuated the existence of enclave extractive industries and a dependence on the export of low-value commodities. A PEA brings into sharper focus the global political economy underpinnings of the resource curse in Sub-Saharan Africa by highlighting the way in which the dynamics of ‘uneven and combined’ capitalist development have conditioned the region, both resource-rich and poor, to become dependent on the production and export of raw commodities.

We present two examples of describing low permeability Neogene clastic lithofacies to outline unconventional hydrocarbon lithofacies. Both examples were selected from the Drava Depression, the largest macrostructure of the Pannonian Basin System located in Croatia. The first example is the Beničanci Field, the largest Croatian hydrocarbon reservoir discovered in Badenian coarse-grained clastics that consists mostly of breccia. The definition of low permeability lithofacies is related to the margins of the existing reservoir, where the reservoir lithology changed into a transitional one, which is mainly depicted by the marlitic sandstones. However, calculation of the POS (probability of success of new hydrocarbons) shows critical geological categories where probabilities are lower than those in the viable reservoir with proven reserves. Potential new hydrocarbon volumes are located in the structural margins, along the oil-water contact, with a POS of 9.375%. These potential reserves in those areas can be classified as probable. A second example was the Cremušina Structure, where a hydrocarbon reservoir was not proven, but where the entire structure has been transferred onto regional migration pathways. The Lower Pontian lithology is described from well logs as fine-grained sandstones with large sections of silty or marly clastics. As a result, the average porosity is low for conventional reservoir classification (10.57%). However, it is still an interesting case for consideration as a potentially unconventional reservoir, such as the ”tight” sandstones.

What's Wrong with Climate Politics, and How to Fix It. By Paul G. Harris. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013. 296 pp., $21.80 paperback (ISBN-13: 978-0-745-65251-1). Institutionalizing Unsustainability: The Paradox of Global Climate Governance. By Hayley Stevenson. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2012. 308 pp., $29.67 paperback (ISBN-13: 978-1-938-16902-1). Influenced by an obsession with economics and technology, most energy and climate analysts frequently ask the wrong questions. They will ponder how large proven reserves of oil and gas are being extracted rather than challenging the need to utilize oil and gas in the first place, or asking whether oil and gas infrastructures are fair to their workers or the communities that live near them. They will assess and model energy prices and technological learning curves, rather than ask how existing energy infrastructures benefit some people to the exclusion of others. They will map energy and climate scenarios, track atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, and discuss the pros or pitfalls of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, but refrain from interrogating the underlying logic behind an international economic system that continues to emit dangerous amounts of greenhouse gases. The standard dogma of climate change discourse—that it is a technical problem best left to experts and scientists to resolve—is so entrenched that it is incredibly refreshing when knowledgeable people offer an alternative view. It is even more rewarding when their analysis is penetrating, well written, and well argued, as is the case with both Paul G. Harris's (2013) What's Wrong with Climate Politics and Hayley Stevenson's (2012) Institutionalizing Unsustainability . Harris begins by arguing that there are three fundamental reasons we have failed to develop adequate political responses to climate change. The “cancer of Westphalia” refers to an international system which encourages countries to fight for narrow, short-term interests. The “malignancy of great polluters” refers to the inability of the United States and China to do anything about it. The “addictions of modernity” refer to growing levels of pollution that accompany our modern lifestyles. This tripartite framing of challenges then leads us to Harris's three solutions. We should seek …

The Brazilian energy sector has undergone significant changes in recent decades. In particular, consumption and production of natural gas have intensified, and more infrastructures for its transport and importation have been built. In addition, recent discoveries (such as the huge natural gas volumes located in offshore fields) and new research into unconventional deposits indicate a rise in Brazil's proven natural gas reserves in the near future. However, Brazil lacks the geological or underground storage facilities to support its rapidly expanding gas industry, as well as important tools for meeting fluctuating demand and production and improving supply security. To assess the required storage capacity for Brazil, it is useful to analyze the international experience, clarifying the development of several aspects of the gas industry in gas storing nations. To this end, we investigated the relationships between storage and various characteristics of the gas sector by linear regression analysis. The research, conducted on all 38 countries with operational underground natural gas storage, evaluated the extent to which storage capacity is affected by proven reserves, production, consumption, infrastructure, total gas imports and exports, and the use of natural gas as a percentage of total national energy consumption. A very strong relationship emerged between underground natural gas working storage capacity and gas consumption (R2 = 0.8825) and gas infrastructure (R2 = 0.9130). Another important relationship was identified between storage and gas production volume (R2 = 0.8239). The remaining aspects did not significantly affect the development of gas storage activity. We estimated the deviations between the values calculated by the linear regression equations and those reported in the technical literature. The errors varied from 89.1%, when all 38 countries were involved, to 31.4%, considering the 13 nations with the highest working gas storage capacities. The average deviation was significantly higher for the 12 nations with little storage capacity (as high as 288%); excluding these 12 countries, the average error reduced to 37.4%. Thus, the equations obtained by the correlations more accurately predicted the outcome in countries with higher storage capacity. The large deviations for countries such as Argentina, China, and Sweden are discussed. Finally, the required storage for the Brazilian gas sector was determined at two intervals: (i) 0.34–9.22 billion m3, based on the error of 89.1%, and (ii) 1.98–6.70 billion m3, based on the deviation of 37.4%. It is important to mention that high errors were expected, since gas storage depends on factors such as geology and demand seasonality, which were not considered in this work, but which could be analyzed in future researches.

Oil is a much sought after resource in the modern world economy. Until the previous decade, Middle East was thought to hold the maximum proven reserves of oil. This provided an incentive for western nations to maintain peace and stability in the region. However, discovery of new oil reserves in Brazil, Venezuela, Canada, Alaska and Russia, have challenged the status quo. Emerging Asian economies, namely India and China, will have to deal with an unstable supplier for one of the most important components in their energy portfolio.Given the situation, India is especially at risk as it imports almost 70% of its oil requirement, up to 65% of which originates from the Middle East. In a disruptive scenario of disturbance in the Middle East, India would find it difficult to meet its oil needs, jeopardizing its energy future. This paper analyzes India's energy consumption pattern, consumption of oil and oil products over the past four decades and the composition of India's oil import sources over the past five years. Finally, a model is proposed to secure India's energy future.