درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Currently, distribution of various types of petroleum products is performed exclusively by the government. The high price of land in metropolitan cities, lack of incentive for the private sector to invest in construction of filling station due to the low-income, have caused filling stations to be insufficiently available. One of the solutions to overcome this obstacle is to use the ability of the private sector for distribution of petroleum products. To reduce the government's ownership, the market structure for petroleum products distribution in the country needs to be changed. This change should be firstly done gradually and step by step, and secondly, the government has to monitor this issue at various stages. In this study, three stages are proposed for the market restructuring of the petroleum products distribution in the country, and the conditions and requirements for each stage are separately identified. For the private fuel distributing companies, the most important problem is the economic issue and having profit. On the other hand, since the product price is still subsidized in the country, therefore, it is indispensable that the amount of commission fee should be determined in such a way that the activity for private companies is economically justified. In this study, the amount of products commision fee is calculated concerning capital and operatational expenditures, using the engineering economics method in different situations by COMFAR version 3 software.

Internationalization of businesses is considered as a key factor in economic development and growth of the economic entities. On the other hand, the ability of the system for endurance and reliability is inevitably dependent on the success that the system gains in communicating with the external environment; in other words, the sustainability of the system is entirely dependent on system capability for adaptation, change and responsiveness to the environment. Furthermore, Technology-based businesses are highly dynamic and use different internationalization patterns. A literature review shows that comprehensive studies have not been conducted despite the necessity of today's businesses to move toward sustainable internationalization. Therefore, this research examines existing patterns by presenting a model for sustainable internationalization in technology-based businesses. In the present study, 6 technology-based businesses in oil and gas industry have been investigated using a multi-case interview method. The validity and reliability of data collection tools have been confirmed. The results of the interviews performed during the two coding stages revealed that economic, environmental, social and technological factors are among the factors influencing the adoption of sustainable business internationalization strategies along with a focus on a sustainable business model. This study also presents different types of sustainable internationalization strategies and classifies the internationalization’s sustainability index into two categories of profitability and sustainability of relationships in the network.

International oil and gas investment disputes constitute an important part of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system. Investment arbitration which considers as a prevalent dispute settlement mechanism in this area is under serious criticisms, since it endures huge costs, causes length of process and devastates the parties’ long-term investment relationship. In the recent years, possibility of applying Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and hybrid dispute settlement mechanisms have largely discussed. Mediation-Arbitration (“ Med-arb”) ; is one of the hybrid and integrated dispute settlement mechanisms which embodies flexibility, non-judicial and negotiate-oriented benefits of mediation and finality advantage of arbitration simultaneously and in a single process ( not in separate processes). In this method, mediation is first attempted by the parties before arbitration could be started, If no settlement is reached during mediation phase, then the appointed neutral or mediator, will act as independent arbitrator(s) and proceed the case under the arbitration process and will render a binding arbitration award. In this method, if parties reach an agreement during the first phase (mediation process), they will not incur huge costs of lengthy investment arbitration. In this method, even If the first stage (mediation process) fails, since mediation process made the disputes more clarified and narrower, then the arbitration process is less lengthy and arbitration will be proceeded more efficiently. Moreover, both investors and host- states in oil and gas investment area, do have strong ambitions to maintain the investment relationships. These goals are achieved better via adopting med-arb proceedings.

Technical and environmental challenges resulted from an off-design running condition of processes on a platform is an important issue. The weakness of strategies to stop or decrease the amount of the greenhouse gas emission production rate in the Persian Gulf is another important matter of concern which is intensively increasing. Recently, modern methods of energy generation from available renewable potentials near offshore platforms are suggested in the literature. Integration of renewable energy converters with offshore oil and gas platforms can solve both problems with machinery and environment to an acceptable extent. In this study, the economics of an offshore complex installed in the Persian Gulf is subjected to two different power generation systems. The first case defines the present condition in which the total power demand of the complex is supplied by burning the associated extracted natural gas on board the platform in its thermal power plant. The second case considers a wind farm located near Bardekhun in Bushehr province to be connected to the complex power network and shares its renewable source generated power with the platform. The economics and relative emission production of both cases are compared. Wind speed average and wind turbine power generation are considered having uncertainties. Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) method is used to consider those uncertainties in outcomes. The second case is found obviously more beneficial however there are some conservative assumptions included due to a shortage of data and limitations which makes it more attractive.