Degrees of involvement

Ecologist

Volumn 29, Issue 5, 1999, Pages 326-329

  Muttitt, Greg ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

OIL INDUSTRY; RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT;

EID: 0032737150     PISSN: 02613131     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Knott, T., 'A marginal system no more' in Financial Times Survey - 'The European Oil Industry, p.III, 10/9/97.
2. Centre for Marine and Petroleum Technology (CMPT), International Petroleum Research Directory (IPRD) (5th edition), 1997, ed. Sanderson, C., (pub. CMPT, Aberdeen). The IPRD was compiled using a combination of voluntary questionnaires to researchers, listings from the major funders such as EPSRC, NERC, DTI and CEC JOULE/THERMIE, and monitoring of academic literature in relevant journals. The IPRD is produced for the industry, so it will tend to be more in researchers' interests to actually respond to questionnaires, for 'advertising' reasons. The directory includes recently completed, as well as current, projects. Around 75 per cent of the projects were (or were expected to be) completed in 1994, 1995 or 1996, and about another 15 per cent in 1997; the average duration of a project was 3.4 years; thus around 80 per cent of projects were completed within a period which corresponds to the duration of a research project, so our figures overestimate the number of projects occurring at any one time by around 20 per cent. However, this overestimate may be counter-balanced by any omissions from the directory. For the purposes of this report we treat the IPRD as representing the amount of research being carried out. The reason most projects are 'old' ones is probably that work is confidential while still being carried out; Colin Sanderson is confident that it is not due to a decrease in the amount of R&D actually being carried out.
3. Ibid. We counted as geological the projects listed in IPRD under the categories:exploration + basin modelling, paleontology, sedimentology, stratigraphy + structure, fluid characterisation, geochemistry, production geosciences, and reservoir characterisation + engineering. Oil and gas industry operations are becoming increasingly integrated, so the CMPT's classification is fairly arbitrary. Because of the overlaps between categories, CMPT lists many projects in more than once. We have counted each project only once, generally in the first of CMPT's categories in which it appears.
4. Ibid. From CMPT categories safety and environment. CMPT includes under 'environment' both impact of operations on the environment and impact of the environment on operations (such as impact of waves or seabed structure on offshore structures). We have counted here only the former of these.
5. Ibid.
6. W Palz, W., Caratti, G. and Zervos, A., 'Renewable energy development in Europe', in Eurosolar, Yearbook of renewable energies, 1994, ed. Scheer, H., Ghandi, M., Aitken, D., Hamakawa , Y., & Palz, W., p.111, James & James Scientific Publishers, London.
7. There is no comprehensive listing of renewable energy R&D projects comparable with the IPRD. See 'Degrees of Involvement' (full report) for detailed calculation and estimations. We took lists of projects funded by the two biggest funders - the Commission of the European Communities (listed on Cordis [the website of the CEC's RD&D programmes], on http://www.cordis.lu/, database searched 11/7/98); and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (listed under 'Current EPSRC support in research area ELECTRICITY GENERATION - RENEWABLE AND CLEAN', on EPSRC worldwide website http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/epsrcgrants/ ELECTRICITY_GENERATION_RENEWABLE_AND_CLEAN/ENQUIR.htm, viewed 13/10/98). To these we added surveys of other departments, found by searching the worldwide web and by interviewing research staff to ask where they knew research on renewables was being carried out. The numbers of projects were then taken from the department/research group worldwide website; and by interview of departmental staff. This is thus an underestimate, although we hope to have achieved at least 80 per cent coverage by these methods. Total value of funding is calculated by adding: (i) JOULE / THERMIE provided ECU 14m to UK participants (not all of which are HEIs). Taking a conversion rate of ECU 1 - £0.67, this amounts to £9.4m, over the four years 1994-1998, or £2.3m per year; (ii) DTI's New & Renewable Energy Programme provided £11.1m in the year 1997/98 [source: Dr Catherine Mitchell (Science Policy Research Unit. University of Sussex), 'Renewable energy deployment in the UK - key questions to be addressed', lecture to the Fabian Society conference 'The future of renewable and sustainable energy', 24/3/98. table 6]. Of this, if we assume that 50 per cent of the wind and biofuels budgets, plus all of the ETSU management and technology transfer budgets went to private sector HEIs (advice of Dr Catherine Mitchell, in telephone interview, 10/7/98 - she suggested this assumption, based on the nearness to market of these technologies), we are left with an estimated £3.1m of funding for HEIs; (iii) EPSRC, op.cit. - £5.4m of projects listed, average duration 2 years, so £2.7m / year; (iv) DTI indicates £12m of renewables R&D funding from other (non-DTI) sources in 1994/95. Subtract est. EPSRC and CEC contributions, and assume half of remainder is carried out in industry rather than universities - leaving a further contribution of £3.5m. 2.3 +3.1 +2.7m + 3.5m =11.6m
8. The Foresight LINK, '"Joined-up thinking" for "blue skies research"' in issue 1, August 1997, p.2 (pub. Office of Science & Technology, DTI).
9. Commission of the European Communities. Directorate General XVII (CEC-DGXVII), 'Energy for the future: renewable sources of energy - White Paper for a Community strategy and action plan', COM (97) 599 final (26/11/97), available on worldwide website http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg17/599fi_en.htm
10. Ibid., Table 1, Annex III.
11. CMPT. op.cit. 2 Estimated total expenditure on university oil and gas R&D=£67m. 52 per cent funded by public sector. 26 per cent funded jointly by public and private sectors. We assume (approximately) that the public purse provides on average 35 per cent funding of the joint public/privately funded projects. We further assume that publicly funded projects cost the same, on average, as privately funded ones. Thus we get an estimated proportion of public subsidy: (0.35 × 0.23 + 0.52) × £67m = £36m.
12. Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) - 'Understanding the Micro-to-Macro behaviour of Rock-Fluid systems - m2M', on worldwide website, Earth Science and Technology section - wysiwyg://10/http://www.nerc.ac.uk./es/m2m/htm viewed 9/10/98, site last updated 16/2/98.
13. EPSRC - 'New programme in oil and gas extraction - First call for research proposals' on EPSRCwebsite, http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/documents/support_for _researchers/calls_for_proposals/ enginf/athog1.htm viewed 8/10/98.
14. Times Higher Education Supplement (THES), 'Millions are lost on contract research', in issue 1201, 10/11/95, p.2 (pub. Times Supplements Ltd, London).
15. CMPT, op.cit.2, and Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) - HESA Individualised Student Record 1995/96, reference July 1996 ; HESA First Destinations Supplement 1995/96, reference December 1996.
16. CMPT, op.cit.2, and Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) - HESA Individualised Student Record 1995/96, reference July 1996 ; HESA First Destinations Supplement 1995/96, reference December 1996.
17. The Independent, 21/3/96, cited in Industry and Higher Education, Vol.10, No.2, June 1996.
18. Heriot-Watt University, 'Petroleum Engineering Master courses', on website http://www/hw.ac.uk/postgrad/science/petmaster.htm viewed 2/6/99.
19. University of Aberdeen, Dept. of Geology & Petroleum Geology, 'Industry interaction', on website http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~gmi265/msc/industry.htm viewed 2/6/99.
20. Targett, S., 'Super-deals put Cambridge on the corporate funding map', Financial Times 28/4/98.
21. Lloyds List Energy Day - Recruitment & Training - 'Strategies for major change', 23/3/98, p.10.
22. Press & Journal (Aberdeen), 'Enterprise donation', 4/12/91, p.13; Targett, op. cit.; University of Aberdeen, Department of Geology & Petroleum Geology, 'Staff directory', on website http://www.abdn.uc.uk/geology/staff/staffdir.htm viewed 8/10/98; Imperial College, Department of Earth Resources Engineering, website http://www.mr.ic.ac.uk/general/staff.html viewed 8/10/98; and Lynne Williams, 'Honorary degrees / noticeboard', in THES no.1241, 16/8/96, p.27.
23. Press & Journal (Aberdeen), 'Enterprise donation', 4/12/91, p.13; Targett, op. cit.; University of Aberdeen, Department of Geology & Petroleum Geology, 'Staff directory', on website http://www.abdn.uc.uk/geology/staff/staffdir.htm viewed 8/10/98; Imperial College, Department of Earth Resources Engineering, website http://www.mr.ic.ac.uk/general/staff.html viewed 8/10/98; and Lynne Williams, 'Honorary degrees / noticeboard', in THES no.1241, 16/8/96, p.27.
24. Press & Journal (Aberdeen), 'Enterprise donation', 4/12/91, p.13; Targett, op. cit.; University of Aberdeen, Department of Geology & Petroleum Geology, 'Staff directory', on website http://www.abdn.uc.uk/geology/staff/staffdir.htm viewed 8/10/98; Imperial College, Department of Earth Resources Engineering, website http://www.mr.ic.ac.uk/general/staff.html viewed 8/10/98; and Lynne Williams, 'Honorary degrees / noticeboard', in THES no.1241, 16/8/96, p.27.
25. Press & Journal (Aberdeen), 'Enterprise donation', 4/12/91, p.13; Targett, op. cit.; University of Aberdeen, Department of Geology & Petroleum Geology, 'Staff directory', on website http://www.abdn.uc.uk/geology/staff/staffdir.htm viewed 8/10/98; Imperial College, Department of Earth Resources Engineering, website http://www.mr.ic.ac.uk/general/staff.html viewed 8/10/98; and Lynne Williams, 'Honorary degrees / noticeboard', in THES no.1241, 16/8/96, p.27.
26. University of Aberdeen, 'the industry invests . . . the return . . . through innovation and research', on website http://www.abdn.ac.uk/oilgas/geology/invest.hti viewed 8/10/98.
27. The Shell Transport & Trading Company plc, Annual Report, 1997, p.5; and 1996, p.4.
28. The Shell Transport & Trading Company plc, Annual Report, 1997, p.5; and 1996, p.4.
29. NERC website http://www.nerc.ac.uk/ and EPSRC website http://www.epsrc.ac.uk See full report for more details.
30. Energy Foresight Panel, Marine Foresight Panel, Natural Resources and Environment Foresight Panel. Sources: Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), 'Energy', foresight panels section of website http://www.foresight.gov.uk/panels/ member5.html; 'Foresight Marine Panel - energies from the sea', on http://www. foresight.gov.uk/marine/energies/members-1.html; 'Natural Resources and Environment Foresight: panel membership', on http://www.foresight.gov.uk/nre/ fore3.htm, all viewed 9/10/98. See full report for more details.
31. Ibid.
32. Financial Times, 'Oiling Wheels of Research', 19/11/93 p.25.
33. British Petroleum Company plc, Annual Report, 1997, p.63.
34. Managing HE, Issue 1, Winter 1995 (pub. Hobsons).
35. Swain, H., 'Checkland aims to open access"'in THES no.1301, 10/10/97, p.4.
36. Financial Times, op.cit. 27; Buttle, E., (Acting Chief Executive, NERC), 'A year of change,' in NERC News, January 1994, p.3 (pub. NERC, Swindon); and NERC
37. Financial Times, op.cit. 27; Buttle, E., (Acting Chief Executive, NERC), 'A year of change,' in NERC News, January 1994, p.3 (pub. NERC, Swindon); and NERC