Petroleum Business Review (PBR)

The present study aimed to identify and prioritize the factors affecting the marketing of knowledge-based products of basic chemicals. This research is applied in terms of objectives and a data-based cross-sectional survey concerning its method. Initially, the factors affecting the marketing of products in this sector were identified based on library and field studies and by purposive sampling of 15 senior managers of knowledge-based chemical companies (research experts) utilizing a semi-structured interview and in the form of a questionnaire. Cochran’s formula was then employed, and 400 experts and staff working in this department were selected as the study’s statistical population through simple random sampling. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis was used to analyze the data and check the final model’s fitting. In the end, each factor’s relative importance was determined by the fuzzy DNAP method. The results led to the identification of 16 sub-criteria under seven main criteria, including technical and managerial, information and knowledge, economic, infrastructural, legal, and support issues, besides supply capabilities. The results revealed that the information and knowledge criterion and the innovation sub-criterion had the highest score, while the supply capability criterion and the knowledge management sub-criterion were ranked last.

Several studies in the field of capital markets indicate that changes in macroeconomic parameters, including crude oil price changes in many cases, have significant effects on capital market indexes. The present study seeks to investigate the effect of crude oil price changes on the indexes of Tehran Stock Exchange and Saudi Stock Exchange also known as The Tadawul Exchange using the two-factor capital asset pricing model with samples gathered from years 2016-2022 from both markets. The results of the study show that, both markets are relatively sensitive to the oil price index and despite severe economic sanctions imposed on Iran, Its capital market, having more significantly oil-related indexes, is still more oil-dependent than that of Saudi Arabia. The results also suggest the asymmetric relation with oil price movements in both countries due to their oil-exporting nature where both markets are more sensitive to negative oil price movements rather than its positive ones. Also, it is concluded that due to the diversity of industries in Tehran Stock Exchange, the economic sanctions imposed on Iran have a more directed impact on its capital market rather than affecting it through a mediator parameter such as oil price movements.

The Iranian economy is intensely affected by the size of the government and oil income. Oil incomes might influence the relationship between inflation and government size since financing the budget in Iran is based to a significant degree on oil revenues. Due to the significance of government size and oil income on the price level, the oil revenue-government size-inflation nexus in Iran during the period 1991-2021 is considered. Estimation results of a Markov switching model recommend that government size incorporates a significant positive affect on inflation. Moreover, the growth of oil income is found to have a significant negative affect on the inflation. Based on the findings, it appears that there are two regimes being considered: Regime 1, which represents a high inflation regime, and Regime 2, which represents a low inflation regime. Our findings suggest that once in the low inflation regime (Regime 2), there is a moderate chance of remaining in that state. However, if initially in the high inflation regime (Regime 1), there is a higher probability of staying in that state and a lower probability of transitioning to the low inflation regime.

According to the form-out agreement the investor of the international petroleum agreement “farmor”, during the implementation of the project and due to various reasons such as lack of finance resources and/or incapability of contract performance, assigns provision of required investments for the purpose of performing an upstream oil project and/or certain operations (well drilling) under the upstream contract to other entities “farmee”, and generally in case of fulfillment of the aforementioned affairs by the farmee, the farmor transfers to the farmee a percentage of its participating interest in the international petroleum agreement upon permission from the host country. In line with this, through evaluating the upstream contracts in Iran, as well as the necessities for attracting investments for the purpose of performing such contracts, it is possible to find out the importance of clause concerning the assignment of contract in order for creating required legal instruments for entering into the farm-out agreement in accordance with the rules and regulations. So that through concluding farm-out agreement between the present and the potential investors, prevent emerging difficulties arising out of mere assignment of the contract to the potential investors during the implementation of upstream contracts.

This research aims to identify the effective factors on sustainable supply chain in the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC). The method of data collection was mixed methods. In the qualitative section, data were collected through reviewing 32 previous studies as well as in-depth interviews with 10 faculty members and experts in the field of sustainable supply chain of crude oil and oil products of the NISOC using a Non-Probability Judgmental Sampling. The main dimensions were identified from interviews, and the dimensions were grouped in 13 main categories and 78 sub-categories. 13 main components included organizational factors, production products, sustainable supply chain, industry supply chain, macro policies, technology, customer, economic factors, deficits of supply chain, social factors, political factors, organizational performance, and organizational productivity. Second, through reviewing literature and previous studies, 72 open codes in 9 categories were identified, including strategies, blockchain technology, improving the economic environment, improving the social and environmental policies and laws, internal organizational solutions, external organizational solutions, environmental management, market and capital factors. In the quantitative part, the researcher-made questionnaire was applied in a preliminary study on 10 experts in the field of management, and its relative content validity is examined. Then the final and modified version was provided to 384 employees of the NISOC. SmartPLS software were used for quantitative evaluation of the model. The presented model helps industry managers and decision makers to significantly improve the performance of the supply chain by re-designing the supply chain and taking appropriate measures.

Host countries invite international oil companies (IOCs) to conduct petroleum operations because the industry is naturally high cost, high risk and long term. Most governments don’t wish to risk its own capital and are better off avoiding the significant costs, risks and uncertainties associated with petroleum operations. In business relationships in the oil industry, IOCs enjoy high degree of technologies, skills and enough capitals often not available to the host countries and they are better poisoned to implement operations and take the risks if their policies are great achieved. IOCs follow their own policies and seek to obtain the most commercial and legal advantages such as reserve booking, high percentage of rate of return, assignment of their contractual rights and obligations, independent governing laws and dispute settlement and good governance on the project structure. The main objective of this article is to enumerate the key golden rules which IOCs are looking for in their business with the host countries or the NOCs and we are going to figure out to what extent IOC’s rules are satisfied in Iran's service contracts (buy-back and IPC). According to our findings, although new Iran’s Petroleum Contract so-called IPC improves the buy-back’s terms and structure, for example, the remuneration for production is now on a per barrel basis, there are numerous weaknesses and other features that put IPC and buy-backs, as the risk service contracts, into the last IOC’s preference among other contractual regimes in the world.