bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Exploitation of Offshore Oilfields by Means of Tunnels and Underground Excavations
Authors: Walton Bernard 
Published: January 2017

A brief description is given of the present methods of exploiting offshore hydrocarbon discoveries by locating development drilling and production equipment on fixed platforms or on the seabed. At present, these methods are inadequate, or unsuitable for water depths greater than about 200 m. A novel underground method of development is described, and comparisons are made with the existing platform developments. The underground oilfield development system may be applied in locations where extreme weather, busy shipping lanes or very deep water prohibit existing methods. No new technology is required, as well-developed mining and civil engineering techniques would be used. There are many incidental advantages in using the underground method, including safety of oil operations located underground, security from sabotage, and environmental protection. In addition, capital and operating costs will be considerably less than with fixed platform developments.
Oil Imports
Authors: Fritz Markus 
Published: January 2017

While the Eastern bloc countries (in particular the USSR) are self-sufficient (i.e. non-vulnerable) in terms of energy (a basic prerequisite for state existence) at least up to the turn of the century, the Western democracies cannot survive on their own reserves of energy, on which their economies and infrastructures are primarily based. This is especially true for the USA. In case of an oil embargo (as happened almost a decade ago), if the US oil reserves are subsequently depleted, at least the US transportation system (based almost completely on oil) could break down, and with it micro- and macroeconomic supply of the country. This has never occurred in history before, but it may happen tomorrow, showing kore devastating consequences than any nuclear war. The only way out of this ‘vicious circle’ is the large-scale production of synfuels from domestic coal and oil shale reserves. This however, requires a political strategy which is excluded from daily politics and not dependent on free market forces only.
Structural Changes and Performance of the German Oil Industry
Authors: Schürmann Heinz Jürgen 
Published: January 2017

More than in many other countries, the oil market in West Germany is traditionally characterised by liberal trade patterns. This open market allowed a virtually free inflow of oil products. Hence, the pressure on prices at Rotterdam's spot market affected directly the product prices for German consumers. In all end-product markets, oligopoly and strong competition by outsiders prevail. If the cutthroat competition is intensified, this may lead to an alteration of the supply structure within the group of the quite heterogeneous market participants. The West German oil industry is passing through a period of painful economic adjustments. The shrinking of the market, changing demand patterns, and financial losses have led to the shedding of considerable over-capacity in refining and distribution. The process includes both a drastic reduction of simple (straight-run) distillation capacity and an increase in conversion potential, along with toll refining, reduction of marketing outlets, concentration of participants in processing and distribution, attempts at optimisation of downstream activities within the Common Market area, as well as the promotion of joint ventures with foreign state companies. The approach to the adaptation process varies from company to company according to upstream and downstream strength, financial position, access to sources of supply, international linkages, and special areas of interest. Of course, over-capacity of refining is a global phenomenon that cannot be eliminated without international co-operation. The problems may, after all, become even more complex after new export refineries in OPEC countries have been completed. This paper presents the results and features that reflect the reaction of the main companies affected. It describes the chances and challenges of a free oil market system. In recent years the petroleum industry in Germany has suffered heavy financial losses, and has embarked on a radical and seemingly successful adaptation process, but it remains vulnerable to developments on the world oil market. It would gain from better co-ordinated policies within the framework of the European Community—including a free play of market forces and a standardisation of environmental controls. Farther afield, the necessity for closer links to the government-controlled companies in producing countries is perceived to secure sources of supply on a basis of mutual advantage.
Energy Development in Canada — An Overview
Authors: Murphy Lawrence 
Published: January 2017

While Canada is likely to remain a net energy supplier in total over the next twenty years, the country will experience imbalances regionally and for particular types of energy that raise concerns about the security of Canadian energy supply. The options available to deal with these imbalances can be looked at from three perspectives: (i) economic criteria, including options for new sources of conventional oil and gas, synthetic oil supplies, substitution for oil, renewable energy, imports and new technologies; (ii) commercial criteria, encompassing various types of commercial risk (reserves estimates, scheduling, technology, market, fiscal, financial, and so on); and (iii) political criteria, including regional economic development objectives, energy development policies, environmental regulations, and security of energy supply. The pursuit of national economic priorities suggests that the least-cost alternatives be pursued first. Economic priorities may require an appropriate sharing of risks, if private risks associated with desired energy development are unacceptable to investors. Government objectives go well beyond concern of economic efficiency into areas of regional economic growth, diversification of supply sources and protection of the environment. An energy strategy will ultimately emerge from the balancing of all these considerations.
International Coal Supply and the Principal Countries Involved
Authors: Jamieson Eric 
Published: January 2017

In response to a directive from member countries in 1983, IEA Coal Research initiated a series of techno-economic studies designed to assess the future cost and availability of steam coal supplies for export from major existing and potential producing countries. As a means of setting this assessment work in a world context and to help explain why certain countries were selected for study and the order in which those studies have been carried out, the paper provides background information on world coal supply (4,400 Mt) and hard coal trade (330 Mt) for 1986. Since 1983 reports have been published on Colombia, United States, South Africa, Canada and the People's Republic of China; reports are currently in draft form for the Soviet Bloc and Australia; and studies are in progress for the Asia/Pacific Region and for Western Europe. The paper goes on to review the evolution of the study work, study methodology and typical report format. Generalised conclusions are drawn on coal supply categories, the economies of scale required to produce and deliver low value coal products, and the principal factors affecting coal pricing. More specific conclusions are then drawn for each country and finally the programme of future work in this field is indicated. The overall objective of this assessment work has now been geared towards producing integrated projections of world supply of all the principal coal products that are expected to be traded 15–20 years ahead and for those projections to be kept current and issued as annual reports.
Air Pollution Control and its Impacts on Coal Use
Authors: Vernon Jan 
Published: January 2017

Over the last decade, environmental concerns have played an increasing role in energy decision making, from siting of new energy facilities to national policy changes, such as Sweden's decision to phase out nuclear power. Concern about atmospheric pollution from fossil fuel combustion, reflected in increasingly strict emission limits, has imposed additional costs and technical demands on coal-fired plants. Estimates from the Federal Republic of Germany, the USA and the OECD indicate that air pollution control can account for a third of the capital costs for a new coal-fired power plant. This article outlines the current status of regulations on air pollutant emissions from coal-fired plants, describes action being taken to meet regulations and its potential impacts on coal utilisation. The article focuses on sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which have seen major recent developments in regulations and control methods.
Thermal History and Hydrocarbon Maturity Study in the Norton Basin, Alaska
Authors: Yu Z. , Li Y. , Lerche I. 
Published: January 2017

Two COST wells in the Norton Basin of Alaska were examined using a one-dimensional quantitative dynamic model (1-D). By inversion of vitrinite reflectance data with the present day thermal gradient in the basin, the paleothermal history of the basin was reconstructed and showed two high thermal peaks, one during the initial stage of basin development (60–50 MaBP) and the other at late Miocene (15–5 MaBP). The early thermal peak corresponded to thinning of the lithosphere and subsidence with upwelling of the hot asthenosphere, and the more recent thermal high was caused by the subsidence and volcanic activity during late Miocene. The Norton Basin is thermally mature with hydrocarbon generation occurring in 15–2 MaBP. Modeling the fluid flow and geopressure development using a two-dimensional fluid flow/compaction model in the basin shows that the directions of fluid movement are both vertical and towards the Yukon Horst, a main horst structure in the basin, suggesting that the hydrocarbons might accumulate in structures around the Yukon Horst and in stratigraphic traps within the basin, which are expected to be common because of the depositional variation of the various facies.
Economic Reserves Now Equivalent to Only Two Years UK Energy Consumption
Authors: Jenkins Gilbert 
Published: January 2017

British Coal had a policy of keeping its coal reserves confidential. With the threat of privatisation and coincidentally, substantial loss of markets, British Coal provided reserves estimates to the John T. Boyd Company and the UK DTI published the figures in the Boyd report. The total reserves in British Coal's pits were 620.5 million tonnes at the end of 1992 which is equivalent to two years UK energy consumption. There are large quantities of coal in place (resources) in the UK. Pits are being closed because the coal in those pits cannot be produced economically. When a pit is closed, any remaining reserves would be reclassified as resources because of the unacceptably high capital cost of reopening the pit or opening a new one.
The Puertollano IGCC Project, a 335 MW Demonstration Power Plant for the Main Electricity Companies in Europe
Authors: Sendin Ulpiano 
Published: January 2017

The paper describes the status of the 335 Mwe gross (ISO conditions) IGCC project of ELCOGAS in Puertollano/Spain based on the PRENFLO coal gasification process, at the beginning of its third year of engineering and construction. The project is funded within the Thermie programme of the Commission of the European Communities, being its first targeted project. The status of the IGCC project is presented. Coal gasification is based on the PRENFLO entrained-flow principle with dry fuel dust feeding. An almost complete raw gas desulphurization leads to very low SO2 contents in the flue gas. Sulphur from the coal will be available as elemental sulphur. By saturation of the desulphurized gas and the mixing with the nitrogen from the air separation unit the integrated power plant concept also achieves very low NOx contents in the flue gas. Commissioning tests for the combined cycle plant fed with natural gas will start during mid-1995. and will be followed by one year plant operation, before commissioning of the IGCC power plant.
On the Predictability of Kibbutz Financial Distress: A Principal Component Analysis with Bootstrap Confidence Intervals
Authors: Avishur Arieh , Tsoref Yigal 
Published: January 2017

This paper proposes an econometric model for conditional forecasting of kibbutz financial distress for a range of one to three years. The primary interest in examining the economic performance of the kibbutz is that its driving characteristic is collective rather than individual profit-maximizing. Thus, this study contributes to bridging the gap between literature on labor-managed firms and the theoretical and empirical models aimed at predicting financial distress. This study is also motivated by the kibbutz debt crisis of the mid-1980s. The annual change in productive equity, scaled by either productive assets or annual sales, is assumed to represent kibbutz financial confidence. The attribute vector contains 26 explanatory variables defined over eight different dimensions: liquidity, profitability, cash flow, operating efficiency and growth, capital structure, saving rate, demography, and size. The model as a whole exhibits high statistical significance, efficiency of forecast, and a good fit. It outperforms the naive forecast model in all calculated measures of dispersion. This outcome is reaffirmed by the bootstrap simulation. The findings of this paper suggest that financially distressed kibbutzim are less profitable, tend to be highly leveraged, are characterized by low and even negative saving rates, and have a higher social burden. The paper provides empirical support for the emergency cash reserve, the optimal capital structure, and the heterogeneity hypotheses. The results are also consistent with predictions of organization theory derived from nontransferability of member rights.
Insider Holding Requirements, Stock Options, and Stock Appreciation Rights
Authors: Balsam Steven , Paek Wonsun 
Published: January 2017

This study examines how a Securities and Exchange Commission rule change affected the design of executive compensation contracts. It shows that a change in insider holding requirements for employee stock options led to a widespread decrease in the use of stock appreciation rights. Further, we find firms that decrease their use of stock appreciation rights compensate employees by increasing their use of employee stock options. The Securities and Exchange Commission rule change provides a unique opportunity to examine the use of compensation methods as it caused firms to examine their policies and make an active decision to modify their practices. Cross-sectionally, we find the likelihood a firm decreases its use of stock appreciation rights positively associated with the magnitude of expense associated with stock appreciation rights, the firm's use of income-increasing accounting methods, leverage, and the ratio of market to book value of assets. We also find a significant interaction effect for the magnitude of expense when interacted with profitability.
Securities Price Effects of Napster-Related Events
Authors: Navissi Farshid , Naiker Vic , Upson Stewart 
Published: January 2017

Napster released its controversial peer-to-peer music file sharing software to the public in June 1999, and after approximately two years of intense debates and legal battles it was eventually ordered to shut down in February 2001. The opponents of Napster (e.g., the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA, and Metallica Lars Ulrich) suggested that Napster had collapsed the business structure of the U.S. multibillion-dollar music industry. Napster, on the other hand, argued that its service had increased the music sales. We use Napster as a proxy for diffuse piracy through the Internet since it was the conduit for individual file sharing on a large scale. We examine the effects of 11 prominent Napster-related events on the equity value of firms in the U.S. music industry. If Napster's service stimulated (harmed) music sales, then events that increased (decreased) the effectiveness of Napster would improve (reduce) the stock prices of the music firms. Our evidence suggests that events that increased the effectiveness of Napster as a distribution mechanism improved the stock prices of the music firms. Additionally, the evidence indicates that events that threatened Napster's survival resulted in decreases in the stock prices of the music firms. Music firms in the sample experienced negative excess returns ranging from minus;1.76 percent to minus;10.69 percent in response to anti-Napster events. On the other hand, retreats from anti-Napster events were accompanied by positive excess returns ranging from +0.56 percent to +5.05 percent. The seven anti-Napster events resulted in a total capital loss in excess of $18 billion and the four pro-Napster events created wealth in excess of $9 billion, compared to the total market capitalization of $101 billion for the sample firms.
Discussion of “The Value-Relevance of Changes in Financial Leverage Beyond Growth in Assets and GAAP Earnings”
Authors: Gu Feng 
Published: January 2017

Dimitrov and Jain examine whether changes in leverage are associated with firm performance after controlling for growth in assets and accounting earnings. They find that firms with increases (decreases) in leverage have negative (positive) current and future stock returns and negative (positive) accounting performance in future periods. By providing new evidence on the relation between debt financing and firm performance, the study extends prior research on the economic implications of firms' financing choices. I examine potential measurement problems associated with the authors' empirical construct for changes in leverage. These problems stem from the use of accounting book values of assets and liabilities in the measurement of leverage and the endogeneity of firms' decisions to change leverage levels. I comment on the unusual characteristics of firms with extreme changes in leverage and their possible effect on the authors' results and inferences. I also discuss issues involved in interpreting the authors' results, particularly the plausibility of alternative explanations suggested by prior research. Lastly, I identify several questions raised by this study that can be examined in future research.
The Association of Stock Distribution Announcements and Earnings Performance
Authors: Doran David T. , Nachtmann Robert 
Published: January 2017

This paper analyzes the association of unexpected earnings with stock dividend and stock split announcements. Unexpected earnings are modeled as the percentage deviation of actual earnings from expected. Value Line's earnings forecasts are used as a surrogate for the market's timely expectation of future earnings. The primary findings are: (1) postdistribution earnings realizations are greater than expected; and (2) deviations of realized earnings from expected are (a) directly related to the size of the stock distribution and (b) inversely related to the level of market anticipation of the event. Further, distribution size may be a proxy for market anticipation in that small distributions (stock dividends) are dominated by anticipated events and large distributions (stock splits) by unanticipated events. These findings are robust across samples that control for large measurement error due to small levels of forecasted earnings, and event contamination due to the simultaneous announcement of firm-related events. Examination of analysts' forecasts immediately following the event indicates a significant upward revision in earnings expectations. This finding, coupled with an analysis of a control sample of Value Line earnings forecasts, indicates that the observed unexpected earnings are not the result of systematic Value Line forecast error. Therefore, the paper provides support for the notion that stock distribution announcements convey future earnings information.
Error Cost and Auditors' Termination Decisions
Authors: Menon Krishnagopal , Williams David D. 
Published: January 2017

Recent studies have shown that auditor changes are frequently initiated by the auditor rather than the client. In this study, we argue that auditors' decisions to resign or decline engagements can be explained predominantly by audit error cost, the cost of undiscovered audit errors. This cost reflects both the auditor's assessment of the likelihood of client misrepresentations and the expected losses if these misrepresentations are subsequently revealed. We provide empirical evidence to support our theory. We make a distinction in our study between resignations and declinations and treat these two types of events separately in both our modeling and empirical tests. Additionally, we examine the role of auditor expertise in an auditor's decision to continue an engagement. We argue that expertise reduces expected audit error costs and consequently limits the likelihood that an auditor will resign or decline an engagement. Finally, some evidence is provided concerning the assertion made by Big Six auditing firms that they are staying away from litigation-prone sections of the economy.
Multi-Lagged Specification of the Ohlson Model
Authors: Morel Mindy 
Published: January 2017

This paper extends the study by Bar-Yosef, Callen, and Livnat (BCL) (1996), in which they test the single lagged formulation of the Ohlson (1995) linear valuation model by assuming that book values, earnings, and dividends are the underlying primitives in a multi-lagged Garman-Ohlson (1980) framework. Unlike BCL who focus solely on the information dynamic, this paper estimates both the information dynamic and the valuation equation. Also, since Akaike's (1969a, 1969b) final prediction error (FPE) and Akaike's (1973, 1974) information criterion (AIC) are known to overfit in small samples, the lag structure specification in this study is estimated by the AICe criterion suggested by Hurvich and Tsai (1989, 1991, 1994) rather than by the FPE criterion of BCL. Furthermore, to bias the case against a multi-lagged structure, the maximum lag structure is limited to three lags per variable rather than the five lags of BCL. Utilizing the result that the lag structure of the information dynamic determines the lag structure of the valuation equation, the internal consistency of the model is evaluated from the estimated lag structures. The median lag structure for the valuation equation implied by the lag structure of the estimated information dynamic is found to be somewhat inconsistent with the median lag structure estimated directly from the valuation equation. Further testing on a stationary subsample suggests that the inconsistency may be induced by nonstationarities. Overall, the results indicate strongly that the modeling of earnings and book values in a linear valuation framework necessarily requires a multi-lagged formulation rather than the single lag formulation common to the empirical accounting literature.