A real choice exists today on a number of discoveries between platform-based or subsea development solutions. Statistics from the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) show that fields developed with fixed platforms have a substantially higher recovery factor. The potential for a later commitment to...

The decline in oil prices, combined with high costs which are slow to deflate, has brought forward the date when some fields on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) will cease production. Measures are therefore urgently required to extend the producing life of these fields and to improve their...

Drilling expenses has increased sharply in recent years. The productivity of drilling operations - in terms of meters drilled per day - significantly influences exploration costs. This study analyzes the effect of different types of learning on offshore drilling productivity. The econometric...

This article analyses commercial decision criteria for climate projects. The latter willnormally be executed by private players, for whom decision criteria developed from acommercial perspective are important. But such criteria are also important for the governmentin calculating the size of...

The article presents a commercial investment analysis of the carbon capture project at theKårstø gas processing plant in south-western Norway. We update an earlier analysis andcritically review the methods used including those applied for cost estimating. Ourconclusion is that carbon capture...

Recently, we have seen falling oil prices combined with sticky costs at a high level in thepetroleum industry. This causes project postponements, thus challenging reserve replacement ofoil companies and security of supply for consumers. Costs are particularly high for drilling. Highrig rates are...

Lower barriers to entry and developments in world capital markets have increasedthe actual and potential mobility of multinational enterprises. This poses challengesfor host countries' tax policies. The paper examines implications for such policies, formultinantionals' investment decisions and...

Because of a long time frame, irreversible and specific investments, incomplete contracts andpolitical constraints, it is generally difficult for governments to commit themselves in a credibleway to a fixed petroleum tax regime. Many controversial renegotiations and tightenings of suchsystems...

Financial leasing is prevalent in LNG projects. Actually, in many LNG infrastructure projects,leasing is the only option for oil companies. A common approach in such settings is to treatfinancial leasing costs as operating cost and discount with the firm s weighted average cost ofcapital (WACC)....

Theories of irreversible investment suggest a negative relation between investment and uncertainty,and non-linear adjustment costs open for asymmetries in the adjustment of fixed capital. We proposean econometric modelling approach to estimate and test the key predictions of modern...