Business

Understanding the decommissioning landscape

Topic overview: The oil and gas industry is engaged in complex relationships with a range of actors and stakeholders throughout the life of its infrastructure. We are entering a new phase of the industry with the decommissioning of a large number of exploited sites in one of the major producing regions. Decommissioning on this scale in a complex socio—economic and ecological environment raises new challenges. Particularly, we need to better understand risks (perceived and actual) and uncertainties during this phase of operation in interactions between all actors.

This research aims to examine and develop frameworks that enable the wider context of decommissioning to be modelled. In particular this will involve a detailed and systemic analysis of the risk environment through active engagement of stakeholder landscape recognising the dynamic nature of the arena, culminating in conceptual system model(s), and an understanding of their stability, transient dynamics, and resilience, extending extant knowledge as well as a form of guideline practice to assist organisations.

Aberdeen supervisor: Professor John Paterson
Curtin supervisor: Professor Fran Ackerman 

Analysis of micro level property data at Curtin University

In recent decades government jurisdictions have developed detailed micro level property databases to which Curtin University and The University of Aberdeen both have access. This provides significant potential for a joint PhD project based on analysing the data.
Micro level data involves managing property records and activity at individual property parcel level, reporting transactions, physical characteristics and geographical location. The data is meaningful in empirical applications of hedonic pricing theory in housing markets and real-option pricing theory in financial markets.
Integrating micro level transaction data with Geographical Information Systems (GIS) also enables significant advances in spatial econometric methodology.

Aberdeen supervisor: Associate Professor Greg Costello

Curtin supervisor: Dr Rainer Schulz

Empirical modelling of crude oil prices under consideration of the relationship with other financial markets and the role of financialisation

Aberdeen supervisor: Dr Marc Gronwald
Curtin supervisor: Dr Hiroaki Suenaga