Identification, evaluation, and selection of petroleum exploration and development, and reserve acquisition investments: United States petroleum companies.

摘要

The study focuses on identification, evaluation and selection of petroleum exploration and development (E&D), and reserve acquisition investments in U.S. petroleum companies. The objectives are to investigate the decision-making processes of identification, evaluation and selection of investment alternatives by oil companies as well as to identify the relationships between such processes and the performance of the company when such relationships exist.; The information was gathered through a combination of literature survey, input from an expert panel and responses from a survey sent to decision-makers in U.S. petroleum companies who are directly involved in the E&D and/or reserve acquisition investments. The study identifies important investment decision-making components, which include the objectives of the investments, the information sources used to identify the investments, the influencing variables, the methodologies used, and the sources of information used for the evaluation and selection (E&S). Each decision-making component is comprised of several items. These items are identified in the study. The survey collects empirical data from decision-makers in the petroleum companies on the relative importance of each objective, the extent of usage of each information source for project identification, the extent of usage of each methodology, the extent of usage of each information source for E&S, and the level of consideration of each influencing variable in E&S.; The hypotheses tested in the study revealed the relative importance of the extent of usage of items within each decision-making component. Items that have statistically significant differences within each decision-making component were summarized. Factor analysis was then utilized to summarize information at items level within each decision-making component. A further analysis established differences in decision-making processes with regards to different characteristics of companies by looking at each factor within each decision-making component. From the Kruskal-Willis analysis and box plots, it is found that there are significant differences in decision-making processes between companies that have different characteristics. In relation to the second objective of the study, it is found that there is a statistically significant relationship between decision processes and performance of the company.