Question
A research proposal titled; To evaluate the supply chain in oil and gas in Iraq
Solution
1.0 Background of the Study
1.1 Introduction
Currently, Iraq is progressively redeveloping on is oil and natural gas reserves owing to the consistent years of sanctions and wars. The current statistics reveals that the Iraq’s production of oil and natural gas has increased to approximately 1.5 million barrels daily (Hulbert, 2012). This is an increase in 2011 2.6 million to the 5.3 million in 2016. In regard to the supply chain, it is evident that the production rates of the country have increased at a slow pace based on the estimations by the government. This has been as a result of the bottlenecks in the South, the supply disruptions in the North and the subsequent delays in contracts administration. Nevertheless, the Iraq’s production supply chain has been in a stage of the boom in 2016 in approximately 700,000 b/d as opposed to the 2014 level. This is a representative of the largest yearly improvement of the production recovery in Iraq since its recovery in 2014 as a result of the start of the Iraq war. The critical issue that has affected the Iraqi supply chain is the current oil slump in the country market and globally. My understanding of this phenomenon has been an attribute of working in procurement function in oil and gas for the past 12 years and in Iraq for the past 4 years. In light of this, this study focuses on evaluating the role of the Iraq gas and oil supply chain to the operations and dynamics of the market. In this study, I will argue that the impact of gas and oil supply chain is not limited to only the countries individual level but equally on the global economies. This is necessitated by the company’s focus on their struggles in the value of the currency and the purchasing powers.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In Iraq gas and oil supply chain, the majority of the companies have been forced to decrease in their budgets used in their oil and gas supply, the projects implemented and in events of making exit decisions from their markets and countries. In particular, in Iraq the signed deals with shell, Exxon. BP and the other international and local partner in the form of ventures like SOC and Mitsubishi were in order to develop the industry that is the primary income to the country. The foreign oil companies had to share the risk and development responsibilities to supply the gas to the energy local businesses and to train and develop the local human assets as a central part of the deal. (Shell and Mitsubishi’s Iraq gas venture approved 2011). Hence, the uncertainties of the market and the current business environment currently experienced in oil and gas industry have increased the need for the deep, detailed supply chain risk assessment. This has been adopted as a mitigation plan particularly with the risk that the foreign companies face in their operation ventures. The problem has consistently become more related to the identification of different sources of the supply chain risk In particular with the massive flow of information as shown below.
Based on the above analysis, it’s important to highlight that my study will take into consideration of a very critical factor that is the risk associated with the fiscal regime.
Iraq has fascinating applicable rates where the cost recovery shouldn’t exceed 50% of the petroleum revenue while the royalty is 15% and 10% applied to the daily quantity produced and saved of the contracts area. The general CIT rate applicable to all companies (except upstream oil and gas activities) is a unified flat rate of 15% of taxable income. These also include the activities of oil and gas production with the rate of 35% of taxable income. Although the CIT rate of 35% has not yet been adopted in the KRI and withholding tax is 7% for oil and gas (Yacoub, 2015).
2.0 Aim, objectives, and feasibility of the dissertation
2.1 Aims
The key study aim in this research is to establish the extent to which effective supply chain management can assess and overcome the oil economic challenges in the Majnoon project in Iraq. The aim of this study will also be to explore on the government and market key players / Partner (Shell) corrective and preventive actions and plans through SCM. In this case, the outcome of this research is gaining an understanding of the actual role of the supply chain efficiency. Additionally, the effects of the supply chain integration will be assessed through risk assessment and performance in the oil and gas industry in south gas Iraq in the context of Majnoon Field.
2.2 Objectives
- To establish a baseline measure of the impact of the economic slump on the project operations and how the issue is caused and presented
- To evaluate whether the implementation of effective supply chain management is a key strategy and the variations in the choice of different supply chain strategies
- ‘To investigate the impact of the fiscal regime and taxation system, including whether: Government fiscal regime and law tools change the supply chain network and contracts within the project with Shell and the crisis impact on the fiscal regime
- To Explore the ways in which Shell leadership teams use the supply chain for cost reduction and sharing information tasks
- To evaluate the impact and the changes it causes on the supply chain format and the investment decisions for Shell in south of Iraq
2.3 Research questions
- How can we meet the low government budget and oil low price challenges through effective SCM?
- How does supply chain integration affect the project performance and the Iraqi monetary regime?
- To what extent has the Iraqi government used the supply chain management as a solution for the required domestic demand during the crisis in the project?
- To what extent does key Shell invest in its supply chain as a corrective and preventive tool to maintain cost and budget in Majnoon project?
3.0 Literature review
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