Some 5,800 compounds were isolated and analyzed from 224 sediment and air/water interface samples taken during the Offshore Ecology Investigation. The objective was to characterize the nature and distribution of hydrocarbons and reIated organic substances and to distinguish them from pollution-derived hydrocarbons resulting from petroleum activity in the area. The results of these investigation...

Rates of degradation of radiolabeled hydrocarbons and incidence of bacterial plasmid DNA were investigated in sediment samples collected from the Campeche Bank, Gulf of Mexico, site of an offshore oil field containing several petroleum platforms. Overall rates of mineralization of [C]hexadecane and [C]phenanthrene measured for sediments were negligible; <1% of the substrate was converted to CO(...

HAZOP studies are widely accepted in chemical and petroleum industries as the method for conducting process hazard analysis related to design, maintenance and operation of the systems. In this paper, a HAZOP reasoning method based on function-oriented modelling, multilevel flow modelling (MFM) is extended with function roles to complete HAZOP studies in principle. A graphical MFM editor, which ...

—We investigated territoriality, prospecting, and dispersal behavior in cooperatively breeding Pohnpei Micronesian Kingfi shers (Todiramphus cinnamominus reichenbachii) throughout the annual cycle using radiotelemetry and color-band resights. Mean home-range size was 6.3 ha and territories were 8.1 ha. Within territories, Micronesian Kingfi shers shared 63% of their home-range space with coterr...

Why sexually mature individuals stay in groups as nonreproductive subordinates is central to the evolution of sociality and cooperative breeding. To understand such delayed dispersal, its costs and benefits need to be compared with those of permanently leaving to float through the population. However, comprehensive comparisons, especially regarding differences in future breeding opportunities, ...

Integrated operations in the petroleum industry adopt information technology, improve access to real-time data, integrate people and organizations, change work processes, and by doing so, enable better and faster decisions. Consequently, a set of associated business benefits is envisioned. However, the challenge is how to measure them. In this paper, we propose a pragmatic decision analytic met...

Intelligent control and asset management for the petroleum industry is crucial for profitable oil and gas facilities operation and maintenance. A research program was initiated to study the feasibility of an intelligent asset management system for the offshore oil and gas industry in Atlantic Canada. The research program has achieved several milestones. The conceptual model of an automated asse...

An important decision in the development of a mixed oil and natural gas field is whether to produce or re-inject the natural gas. There is a trade-off between the income from the sale of natural gas and the higher oil production obtained from re-injection. We consider the optimal timing problem of when to stop natural gas injection for a set of offshore petroleum fields using a real options app...

A large number of facilities and parts of the infrastructure of offshore oil and gas reservoirs worldwide are approaching or have exceeded their original design life. The petroleum fields are still producing substantial levels of hydrocarbons which are recoverable and profitable if the field’s lifetime is extended. Thus, parts of this infrastructure are being considered for use beyond their pla...