Petroleum Business Review (PBR)

The present article aims to argue indirect expropriation in international petroleum agreements and to analyse the response of international arbitrations. In particular, international arbitral awards by the Iran-US Claims Tribunal, the Yukos case as an Energy Charter Treaty Arbitration and certain North American Free Trade Agreement cases have been examined. The recent trend shows that taking of foreign investors’ property may take place not only through legislation or nationalisation but also by indirect methods that can have the same effect as direct expropriation. Indirect expropriation does not necessarily require transfer of legal title from the international oil company to the host state. Hence, it is difficult to make a distinction between legitimate regulation and measures, which are tantamount to expropriation with the payment of compensation. The identification of an indirect expropriation is complex and depends upon the examination of the legitimate expectations of the investor concerning enjoyment of its investment. Host governments may employ different methods to achieve what amounts to direct taking, but without acknowledging it as such, to avoid legal consequences of expropriation and then payment of compensation.

Iran, as the fifth country in the field of crude oil production and the second largest gas producer in the world, is apt to the growth and development of the petrochemical industry, as the largest exporter of non-oil products, has a significant role in economic prosperity. In this respect, considering the sanctions of recent years on the export of crude oil and the situations of selling crude oil, it is important to pay attention to this industry as an effective factor in circumventing the sanctions as well as currency appreciation. In this study, the factors affecting the supply of urea exports to the export destinations of the UAE, Turkey, China and India in the period 2001-2009 are examined and analyzed. According to the studies, the factors that have affected the supply of Iranian urea exports can be referred to as GDP of target countries, real exchange rate, exchange rate fluctuations, trade liberalization, price exchange relationship, refinery raw materials prices and sanctions as livestock variables. . In this study, the real exchange rate volatility index was estimated using the GARCH model and then the supply model of Iranian urea exports was estimated by ARDL pattern. According to studies, the variables of GDP and trade liberalization have a significant positive effect on the supply of Iran exports in the short and long term, but other variables have a significant negative effect on the supply of Iran exports in the short and long term.

With the increasing competitiveness of the capital market, one of the topics that has attracted the attention of many financial researchers in recent years is the reasons for the formation of abnormal stock returns as a stimulus for restructuring companies due to the difference between real returns and Expected (normal) returns can motivate investment in the capital market. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the reasons for the formation of abnormal stock returns on the content of the autopoietic restructuring theory of companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the capital market. In this study, in order to identify the components (reasons for the formation of abnormal stock returns) and research propositions (content themes of corporate autopoietic restructuring theory), a combined analysis was used with the participation of 15 accounting experts at the university level. In the quantitative part, the components and propositions identified in the form of matrix questionnaires were evaluated by interpretive ranking process (IRP) by 20 financial managers of capital market petrochemical companies. The results showed that the most effective reason for the formation of abnormal stock returns is the institutional and regulatory causes of the stock market, which has the greatest impact on the dimension of autopoietic restructuring strategy of petrochemical companies. In other words, institutional and regulatory changes in the stock market by upstream institutions will be able to influence the restructuring process with the aim of matching the content with the structural process (the autopoietic approach).

Various hazards exist in the upstream oil and gas industry. Therefore, the contracting parties of any petroleum contract always try to reduce the inevitable economic burdens of occurring adverse events arising out of risks in the course of petroleum operation by applying legal approaches such as contractual risk allocation provisions, which can be realized by drafting efficient insurance and indemnity clauses as the subset of risk allocation provisions. Hence, this study addressed the main research question of “What are the necessary parameters for drafting the insurance and indemnity clauses in the main types of upstream petroleum contracts?” To achieve this end, the mentioned clauses stipulated in the main types of upstream petroleum contracts, have been examined; including concessions, production sharing, and service contracts of 15 different countries around the world besides the comparative analysis with the new model of Iranian Petroleum Contract (IPC). Eventually, the hypothesis of this study stating “There should be several parameters such as liability towards risks, limitation of liability, exclusions/exemptions, etc. for drafting the insurance and indemnity clauses in these contracts” verified. That is the result and the answer to the research question. Moreover, the comparative analysis of the extracted set of parameters needed to draft these clauses legally, with the related ones in IPC has been done. Therefore, it led to the detection of the existing contractual shortcomings. Thereafter, the necessary suggestions to resolve them are offered, which can enhance the effectiveness of the upstream petroleum contracts and avoids potential litigation in this regard.

Purpose and necessity of research: The main issue of this research emerged when we looked a huge amount of strategy formulation in various petroleum companies in Iran, in which, those documents followed the classical patterns (such as David model) of strategy formulation, on the prescriptive-consecutive paradigm, with no face of the environmental approaches to conduct the planning process of strategy formulation. In this article, we suggest the pattern of Reeves, Hannes and Sinha (2015), in order to choose and execute the right approach for National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)’s strategy formulation. Research Methodology: This research is developmental, explanatory and quantifiable research. The research strategy was survey and by its application, the information needed to determine the degree of NIOC environmental strategic dimensions and prioritization of different patterns of strategy formulation in NIOC, were achieved. Research Findings: The shared value strategy, shaped NIOC as the leader of oil and gas industry in the various domestic industry and above all into the international market as the OPEC joint partner. It seems that NIOC organizational culture adapt with the shared value strategy according to creation, lead, and membership in the share of crude export with OPEC and non-OPEC collaboration during the ages. Therefore, NIOC should craft the shared value strategy for the niches of oil and gas markets.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the rough analysis process to select the most effective functions of supply chain flexibility based on the propositions of integration of competitive values in the petrochemical industry. The methodology of this research is hybrid and to perform it from meta-synthesis analysis; Delphi and Rough collection used. The target population in the qualitative sector was similar research and academic experts in the field of industrial management. However, the target population was a small number of 23 managers with experience in petrochemical companies, which is acceptable from the statistical population due to the need to analyze the Rough process. In this study, based on the combined analysis of selected researches, 5 propositions of competitive value integration and 5 components of supply chain flexibility were determined, which entered the Rough collection analysis phase according to the confirmation of theoretical adequacy based on Delphi analysis. The results in this section identify the most effective propositions of integration of competitive values of companies operating in the petrochemical industry, three propositions of demand-based management propositions (P2); creating innovative values (P3) and reducing operating time (P5), which affects the flexibility of the supply chain and causes the flexibility of financing as the most effective component of the flexibility functions in the supply chain in the petrochemical industry.