Premium Essay

Oil Company Crisis

In:

Submitted By atifsaeed1
Words 28798
Pages 116
OIL COMPANY CRISIS
Managing Structure, Profitability, and Growth

Nick Antill and Robert Arnott

Oil Company Crisis
Managing structure, profitability and growth

NICK ANTILL and ROBERT ARNOTT

SP 15 Oxford Institute for Energy Studies 2002

The contents of this paper are the authors’ sole responsibility. They do not necessarily represent the views of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies or any of its Members.

Copyright © 2003 Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (Registered Charity, No. 286084) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. This publication is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar conditions including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. ISBN 1-901795-27-6 Cover designed by Clare Hofmann Typeset by Philip Armstrong, Sheffield Printed by Biddles, Guildford

CONTENTS

List of Figures Acknowledgements 1 2 INTRODUCTION INDUSTRY STRUCTURE 2.1 An Examination of Corporate Structure 2.2 The Urge to Integrate 2.3 A Question of Balance 2.4 Just how Operationally Integrated? 2.5 Are there Tangible Benefits to Operational Integration? 2.6 Important Transition to Financial Vertical Integration 2.7 Integration or Atomisation? 2.8 Market Inefficiencies that Favour Integration 2.9 Firm Specific Arguments in Favour of Integration 2.10 Should Companies or Equity Markets Diversify? 2.11 Business Segment Response to Market and Firm Specific Risks and Challenges 2.12 Core capabilities A

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Oil Crisis in the 1970s

...Daniel Sebagh Dr. Armiger Response paper #2 4/26/12 Oil Crisis in the 1970’s The Oil Crisis of the 1970’s was a major period in American history, when a number of political, global and social events came together to create a ‘perfect storm’. The Seventies was an era filled with people seeking self-fulfillment (The ‘Me’ Decade), where the nation was growing at a fast pace. People, during this time, concentrated on their own leisure and happiness. Behind the narcissism and selfishness of many people’s attitudes, an oil crisis struck America which largely impacted the automobile industry and led to a rise in gas prices. The combination of stagnant growth and price inflation during this era raises many issues, while many attempts to end the crisis, such as Jimmy Carter’s Energy plan, substantially made it worse. These problems caused Americans to focus more on economic issues versus social issues. The “Me Decade,” a term coined by novelist Tom Wolfe, was a concept of the Seventies- “an era of narcissism, selfishness, personal rather than political awareness… The ‘70’s was the decade in which people put emphasis on the skin, on the surface, rather than on the roof of things… It was the decade in which image became preeminent because nothing deeper was going on (Schulman, 145).” It described the new American self-awareness and the collective retreat from history, community and human reciprocity. Compared to the 1960’s, Americans in the 1970’s were self-absorbed and passive;...

Words: 2143 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Modern Business

...The 1973 Oil Crisis By Sarah Horton In October of 1973 Middle-eastern OPEC nations stopped exports to the US and other western nations. They meant to punish the western nations that supported Israel, their foe, in the Yom Kippur War, but they also realized the strong influence that they had on the world through oil. One of the many results of the embargo was higher oil prices all throughout the western world, particularly in America. The embargo forced America to consider many things about energy, such as the cost and supply, which up to 1973 no one had worried about (Spiegelman). In order to understand the main cause of the oil crisis one must first know the history of the region and the ArabIsraeli conflict. World War II a Zionist state, known as Israel, was created on 56% of the land that was formerly known as Palestine. This state served as a homeland for Jews. The local Arabs were enraged by the fact that the Palestinian land had been taken to create this state. They refused to acknowledge Israel as an independent state. The Arabs began to launch efforts to recapture the land that they felt was rightfully theirs. This created the Suez-Sinai War. The British and the French sided with the Israelis in order to punish Nasser for nationalizing the Suez Canal. The strong Israeli military forces quickly defeated the Arabs. The Arabs responded to this defeat by uniting. In 1967 Israel launched the Six-Day War, claiming much land. In 1973 Arab forces retaliated. On Yom...

Words: 1638 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Oil Politics

...brief history of oil politics 3. Oil Politics and U.S. Militarism in the Middle East 4. Wars and disputes for oil 5. Oil and the Iraq War 6. Conclusion  Introduction: The modern era of oil production began on August 27, 1859, when Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful oil well 69 feet deep near Titusville in northwestern Pennsylvania. Just five years earlier, the invention of the kerosene lamp had ignited intense demand for oil. By drilling an oil well, Drake had hoped to meet the growing demand for oil for lighting and industrial lubrication. Drake's success inspired hundreds of small companies to explore for oil. In 1860, world oil production reached 500,000 barrels; by the 1870s production soared to 20 million barrels annually. In 1879, the first oil well was drilled in California; and in 1887, in Texas. But as production boomed, prices fell and oil industry profits declined.    The energy source, which made the Industrial Revolution possible in England in the 18th century, was coal. Coal powered the steam engines which drove machinery in the factories, and the steamboats and railroads of the early industrial age. It has continued to power electric generation plants throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the fossil fuels, coal is the most abundant in the earth, but it is also the most polluting. High sulphur and carbon content, and soot, cause coal to be the least desirable of the fossil fuels. A brief history of oil politics: Oil or petroleum...

Words: 3564 - Pages: 15

Free Essay

1970

...1970s From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "Seventies" redirects here. For decades comprising years 70–79 of other centuries, see List of decades. From left, clockwise: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil crisis put the nation of America in gridlock and caused economic damage throughout the developed world; Both the leaders of Israel and Egypt shake hands after the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978; The 1970 Bhola cyclone kills an estimated 500,000 people in the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (which would become independent as Bangladesh in 1971) in November 1970; The Iranian Revolution of 1979 ousted Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi who was later replaced by an Islamic theocracy led by Ayatollah Khomeini; The popularity of the disco music genre peaked during the middle to late 1970s. Millennium: | 2nd millennium | Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century | Decades: | 1940s 1950s 1960s – 1970s – 1980s 1990s 2000s | Years: | 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 | Categories: | Births – Deaths – ArchitectureEstablishments – Disestablishments | The 1970s, pronounced "the Nineteen Seventies", refers to a decade within the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1970, and...

Words: 11872 - Pages: 48

Premium Essay

Fi561 – Mergers & Acquisitions – Week 5

...investment program in new and capital-intensive oil and gas projects; - facilitate future partnerships, combinations and other arrangements between Conoco and other entities in the oil and gas business; - allow each company to offer incentives to its employees that are more closely linked to its performance; - permit each company to focus its managerial and financial resources on the growth of its business (2) And we also believe that by controlling Conoco, DuPont will: - benefit from the cost of control, promote competitive in other market which need to use crude oil as its raw material. - gain from the increasing price in crude oil in future cause the resources is nonrenewal. Thus, based on financial and economics perspectives, DuPont need to divest 40% of Conoco and keep control the rest of it.  Analysis Ladies and gentlemen shareholders, Chairman, Director and Managers, It is a great pleasure to greet you all once again on behalf of the managers of DuPont, and welcome you to our shareholders’ meeting. Today, I have a big decision to announce about Conoco divestiture after management discussion and analysis. Conoco has been very successful but I plan to divest part of Conoco and keep 51%-60% of control of Conoco. This decision based on Macro and Micro economics and DuPont financial analysis in the last three to four years.. As the Chief Financial Officer of DuPont, please allow me to introduce our company briefly at first....

Words: 2653 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Effect of Deregulation of Pol Products

...INTRODUCTION The recent moves of the government to gradually deregulate the Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants(POL) sector in India as part of the agenda of ‘neo-liberal reform’ has generated discontent among the people. In the run-up to complete deregulation, there are instances of increase in the domestic price of POL products that are proportionately more than the rise in their international prices. In the most recent instance (of 13th September, 2012), the diesel price was raised by Rs.5 per litre at one go, even without any rise in international prices. These steps are being taken to eliminate the government subsidy on these products in a step-by-step manner. Deregulation of the POL sector is bound to eliminate the direct or indirect subsidies completely. And reduction in subsidy, according to the government, is the need of the hour in order to reduce the fiscal deficit as proportion to GDP. Deregulation is also necessitated in the current neo-liberal environment because if the government keeps subsidizing the public sector owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) like Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, then the private companies like Reliance and others would not get a ‘level playing field’ and they would not be able to compete in price. In this way, the present subsidy regime indirectly restricts the private players from entering the oil marketing sector. Hence, if the priorities of the government in power are the reduction of subsidies and ensuring...

Words: 3693 - Pages: 15

Free Essay

The Chronicles of Generation X: the History, Influential Events, and My Personal Experience

...history began. In the early 1960's the birth control pill became widely available, and in 1973, abortion was legalized (Coupland 1991). These are two factors that are said to have contributed to the generation small numbers. Compared to Baby Boomer numbers at 76 million and Millennial at 80 million according to Jeff Gordinier in his book, How Generation X Got the Shaft, But Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking (Gordinier 2009). Robert Capa, a photographer for Mangum magazine, was the first person to use the phrase "Generation X". Using it to describe the people who grew up after World War II. Capa used it as the title of a photo essay published in 1953. A decade later, a writer by the name of Jane Deveson for Women Own Magazine. A magazine company established from the United Kingdom back in 1932 did a study on British teenagers that were misbehaving by sleeping around, rejecting religion and disobeying their parent. Upon completing her studies, Deveson brought her...

Words: 1679 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Sri Lankan Oil Market

...Sri Lankan Oil Market Introduction Crude oil was naturally occurred a period of millions years ago. It has found in certain rock formations in the earth. It is not appearing all the area in the earth. Only few of countries are drilling crude oil in the world. This substance is a dark, sticky liquid known scientifically known as a hydrocarbon. That is a compound of carbon and hydrogen, with or without metallic elements such as oxygen and sulfur. Combination of these elements make the oil burned in case of excitation. Process does not stop after absorption of crude oil. There are lots of steps such as extraction the crude oil into category such as petrol and etc. Let’s look at measurement of crude oil. Not like other substances crude oil is measured in barrels. In the 19 century, it was stored in the wooden barrel in developed countries. In present, one barrel equals 42 US gallons, or 159 liters. Also, it is measured in ton scale. We clearly know that number of barrels contained in each ton varies depending on the type and density of each crude (average-7.33 barrels per each ton). Extraction procedure of petrol Petroleum is extracted crude oil which was absorbed from oil wells found in oil field. There some technologies to extract the petroleum but few of them are improved technologies such as fisher-Tropsch process. With higher demand for hydrocarbons miscellaneous method are used in petroleum exploration and development to optimize the recovery of oil and gas known as...

Words: 3070 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

Gas Prices in California

...Why Gas Prices are higher in California than in other Parts of US English 123 James L Hicks Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Abstract The rising gasoline and oil prices have become a global concern since petroleum has many uses around the world and yet its prices have continued rising for the last sixty years. This paper sought to find out why gas prices are higher in California than in other parts of America. The literature reviewed showed that West gasoline market dominated by California is defined by tight balance between supply and demand. Other factors found to be contributing the escalating gas price in California include isolation of the state from other refining centers, market conditions including international demand, Wall Street speculation, poor policies leading to uncontrolled oil cartels, decline of oil production during technical failure, political interferences, and increasing prices of crude oil due to demand forces. Despite there being no quick solution to the challenge, temporary measures such as efficient use of the available resource while looking for alternative cheaper source of energy could alleviate the challenge. Why Gas Prices are Higher in California than in Other Parts of US The Rising gasoline and oil prices have today become a world concern (Garrington, 2012). More concerns are raised considering that petroleum is an important product whose price continues escalating for the last sixty years...

Words: 2919 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Management

...in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . Economic and Political Weekly is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Economic and Political Weekly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 103.4.92.53 on Fri, 28 Nov 2014 09:41:36 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions COMMENTARY Power OPECs Price-Making ^= BANDYOPADHYAY KAUSHIK RANJAN of The Organisation Petroleum is Countries a Exporting of dominant cartel consisting withlargereserves producers its and ithas alwaysexercised inthecrude power price-making in oil market. However, thepast opec has been few years, that claiming ithas lostitspower The crudeoil prices. to alter whether opec's article explores claimis correct. is at (kaushik.banerjee@gmail.com) the AsianInstitute Transport of Development, NewDelhi. l8 Kaushik Ranjan Bandyopadhyay opec was In the early1980s,however, likea "clumsy ofbehaving accused often cartel"3with a clear presenceof nonbehaviour amongsomeofits cooperative with relativelylower crude members and Indonesia reserves (likeQatar, Algeria, of On account lower reserves, ofthedeveloped,...

Words: 3570 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

Effect of Oil Prices on Inflation in Kenya

...impact on GDP and on the masses. Why are these problems visible in a country like Kenya? Because so many other problem are putting multiplier times negative impact on GDP and other macro economic variables such as inflation. Oil and other petroleum products are scarce commodities in the world. Like prices of other commodities the price of crude oil experiences wide price swings in times of shortage or oversupply. The crude oil price cycle may extend over several years responding to changes in demand as well as OPEC and non-OPEC supply. Throughout much of the twentieth century, the price of U.S. petroleum was heavily regulated through production or price controls. In the post World War II era, U.S. oil prices at the wellhead averaged $28.52 per barrel adjusted for inflation to 2010 dollars. In the absence of price controls, the U.S. price would have tracked the world price averaging near $30.54. Over the same post war period, the median for the domestic and the adjusted world price of crude oil was $20.53 in 2010 prices. Adjusted for inflation, from 1947 to 2010 oil prices only exceeded $20.53 per barrel 50 percent of the time. (See note in the box on right.) Until March 28, 2000 when OPEC adopted the $22-$28 price band for the OPEC basket of crude, real oil prices...

Words: 11224 - Pages: 45

Free Essay

Richard Nixon's Energy Policy

...rally behind the tion spokesmen and press conduits are claiming that Car­ ter's program is really "a more developed version" of Nixon's energy policies. The key difference now, goes the Carter Administration's anti-energy policy, Administra­ Nixon officially ended the method of market demand pro­ rating of the federal off-shore leases, which immediately opened up the offshore areas for massive exploration and production. The independents had publicly been demand­ ing this action; Atlantic Richfield and Phillips Petroleum had just testified to the Senate Interior Committee on the dependents with new oil reserves. Nixon backed up his action with an Interior Department report which estima. ted potential offshore reserves of oil at 200 billion barrels and 850 trillion cubic feet of gas. Such a large amount of oil in the hands of the indepen­ dents threatened Rockefeller control over oil supplies, as immediately after Nixon's action, well as threatening to bring down world prices. Almost environmentalist necessity of expanding offshore drilling to provide the in­ I line, is that Carter, an able strong leader, will be able to implement the program that the incompetent, crooked Nixion could not. James Schlesinger's assistants are leaking to reporters that "President Carter's energy pro­ gram is the product of intense secretive work by a tight circle of officials who drew heavily on ideas and statisti­ strations," according to the April 23 Washington Post. cal models inherited from...

Words: 2233 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Oil Pricing

...ricing Analysis of the Impact of High Oil Prices on the Global Economy International Energy Agency May 2004 IEA/(2004) SUMMARY Oil prices still matter to the health of the world economy. Higher oil prices since 1999 – partly the result of OPEC supply-management policies – contributed to the global economic downturn in 2000-2001 and are dampening the current cyclical upturn: world GDP growth may have been at least half a percentage point higher in the last two or three years had prices remained at mid-2001 levels. Fears of OPEC supply cuts, political tensions in Venezuela and tight stocks have driven up international crude oil and product prices even further in recent weeks. By March 2004, crude prices were well over $10 per barrel higher than three years before. Current market conditions are more unstable than normal, in part because of geopolitical uncertainties and because tight product markets – notably for gasoline in the United States – are reinforcing upward pressures on crude prices. Higher prices are contributing to stubbornly high levels of unemployment and exacerbating budget-deficit problems in many OECD and other oil-importing countries. The vulnerability of oil-importing countries to higher oil prices varies markedly depending on the degree to which they are net importers and the oil intensity of their economies. According to the results of a quantitative exercise carried out by the IEA in collaboration with the OECD Economics Department...

Words: 6052 - Pages: 25

Free Essay

Gcc Petrochemicals

...sakhtar@globalinv.com.sa Tel: (966) 1 299-4105 Global Investment HouseSaudia www.globalinv.com.sa     OPEC crude oil average prices inched up to USD83.7/barrel in 4Q10 Steady QoQ growth; where profitability registered a growth of 15.3% in 4Q10 Commencement of new capacities in 1Q11 & price appreciation expected ‘Neutral’ stance on the sector Positive price rally in 4Q10 The average prices of WTI crude oil remained on higher levels and recorded USD85.1/barrel, indicating QoQ gain of 11.9% in 4Q10. The positive movement in the prices, during 4Q10, was mainly based on increase in demand of refined oil products in winter season. However, the average prices of OPEC crude oil were recorded at USD83.7/barrel in 4Q10 as compared to our estimated range of USD78.0-USD83.0/barrel for the quarter. Quarterly performance The regional sector has registered balanced performance, during the quarter under review, which was mainly based on the growth in crude oil prices and volumetric growth. Based on our coverage, the regional sales revenue witnessed QoQ growth of 10.6% to reach at USD12.7bn in 4Q10, while gross margin inched up to 35.6% from 33.5% in 3Q10 and 34.1% in 4Q09. In addition, the regional profitability was recorded at USD2.4bn as compared to USD2.1bn in 3Q10 and USD1.6bn in 4Q09. MENA unrest leads prices to remain on higher levels Global Research believes average prices of crude oil will continue to show upward movement on the back of political unrest in North African region, where the key...

Words: 7101 - Pages: 29

Premium Essay

Shell Oil Spill

...A Study of Shell Oil and its Stakeholders in Nigeria Part 2 (Week 9) A review of basic issues regarding the Background and Interests of Stakeholders of Shell Oil Company in Nigeria Somaya Rhoda 16069635 Chapter 1 Introduction In a major oil spill that occurred in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria in 2008, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) stated that this was caused by a fault in a pipeline. In the town of Bodo, tens of thousands of oil barrels caused pollution to the land and creek. Shell’s official investigation report claims that 1,640 barrels of oil were spilt in total. Nigerian regulators have confirmed that the spill lasted for 72 days and estimate that between 103,000 and 311,000 barrels were spilt in this time. Besides the under-recording of this incident, Shell has repeatedly claimed to its investors, media and customers that the majority of the spill was caused by sabotage. Amnesty International has now confirmed that more than 50% of the oil spill was a result of operational failures. After more than 3 years since this oil spill, Shell has failed to perform a proper clean-up to the affected area, or to pay any form of official compensation to the affected communities. Thousands of activists in more than 14 countries have undertaken protests against the major oil giant, and the people of Bodo have now taken their claim of a leak of 500,000 barrels to the UK courts. Observing this particular situation involving Shell in Nigeria, an...

Words: 3480 - Pages: 14