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Technology is named as the most important element of creating the competitive edge in today’s turbulent environment and a key factor of survival in technology-intensive industries. Oil and gas industry is one of the most important, complex, and technology-driven amongst the global industries. “The purpose of this study is to highlight the role of the technology in the the global oil game and argue that in order to survive and maintain the competitive advantage, players need to follow technological advancements closely and consider technology as the critical factor in their business models.” Thus, the aim is to answer the question: does technology have an impact on the business model innovation in the oil and gas industry?

In this paper, the authors conduct an in-depth review of previous studies of oil and gas industry, main players, the role and evolution of technology in each player’s business model and present future challenges and trends of the industry.

Theoretically, the results of shows that the relation between the technology and business model in oil and gas industry is defined as a two way interaction which is in line with the theory presented by Baden–Fuller and Haefliger (2013); thus it helps the robustness of the theory as well. We argue that technology gained a “game changer” status in the oil and gas industry, beside all the fundamental premises on which business model is built on, having technology seems to be the key element of survival and the ability to develop in-house or have access to the latest ones in the right time can help the market share, revenue and leadership status. this key element can reinforce other pillars of powers in the oil and gas industry.

Most of the research in the oil and gas industry are practical, focusing on a specific technology, clean energy issues, regulations, and policies, etc. There exist few studies that present the theoretical issues in the industry or test the theories to see if this important industry falls within them or not. As follows, this study is about to address this gap and observe the dynamics in the oil and gas industry with an academic lens.

This study aims to identify factors influencing corporate social responsibility reporting (CSRR) practices of international oil companies (IOCs) in Nigeria. It aims at distinguishing CSRR levels by examining both the quantity and quality of reporting.

The paper analyses annual reports through content analysis. CSRR extent and type are measured by the number of sentences. CSRR are further classified into three subcategories according to whether they are negative, neutral or positive reports and then their proportions compared through descriptive analysis.

For the extent and quality of CSRR, community was the most reported category. The majority of the total CSRR in the IOCs is positive with little evidence of negative news. None of the IOCs in the sample reported on the environment in their annual reports.

The measurement of CSRR focuses only on annual reports, without consideration of other reporting media such as standalone reports and corporate websites. CSRR are assumed to be voluntary for the companies and they may choose not to report any information in annual reports, as there are no regulations or reporting guidelines in Nigeria to be followed.

The results reveal the absence of environmental reporting in the CSRR of IOCs in Nigeria suggests that they are less concerned with meeting local demands for accountability. The study recommends the need for regulatory intervention on the part of the Nigerian Government.

The findings of study indicate that predominant existence of positive CSRR news among all the IOCs suggests there’s an attempt to encourage stakeholders and the public to believe that they are conscious of society and the environment.

The main contribution of this study lies in identifying the factors that have led to diversity and uniqueness in CSRR in IOCs. As such, this study seeks to contribute to the development of understanding multiple factors that could give rise to changing patterns of CSRR.

The paper aims to identify and analyze the actors and their interrelationships in realizing local content objectives in African oil- and gas-producing nations.

The paper includes content analysis of relevant research papers and reports within the oil and gas industry, local content and industrial networks published between 2000 and 2014.

The study developed a framework that integrates the literature on local content with the industrial network theory. The framework classifies the various critical actors for achieving local content, proposing that achieving local content requires the development of business network links and a resource alignment among local companies and institutions and foreign companies and institutions, in addition to multinational oil companies.

The framework of this study contributes to an emerging theory on local content by integrating the industrial network theory, which provides specific frameworks for analyzing embedded business environments, along with the previous economic and legal-based studies of local content achievement.

The way the relevant actors organize their resources and business networks provides potential for local content in an emerging oil and gas industry in Africa.

The paper is one of the few to integrate studies of local content with the industrial network theory. The literature review provides a summary window of the research on the subject over a 14-year period.

In countries with large or potentially large oil and gas deposits, the resource and its extraction tend to become vital cornerstones of the economy. However, uncertainties involved in finding commercial quantities of oil and gas and the intensive capital required for undertaking exploration and production result in significant business risks. The petroleum fiscal systems in many developing countries are now opting for production‐sharing contracts (PSC) as a new model of agreement for the exploration and production of oil and gas resources. This paper extends the principal‐agent theory to foster understanding of partnership between the host government and its foreign contractor in the realm of PSC. The theory highlights the importance of moral hazard and adverse‐selection problems. To avoid these uncertainties and asymmetric information, the principal (national oil company) needs to design an incentive contract that induces the agent (international oil company (IOC)) to undertake actions that will maximise the principal's welfare. Under a PSC, the state has to offer contract terms that are attractive enough for the IOC to enter into an agreement. At the same time, the terms must allow the state to receive maximum economic returns from the venture.

The purpose of this paper is to offer an appreciation of the role of national oil companies (NOCs) which control roughly 90 percent of the global hydrocarbon reserves, and whose operating and investment decisions affect prices, demand adjustments as well as their countries' policy options. Given that the role of NOCs is poorly understood largely due to prevailing economic and political clichés that substitute for analysis, this paper takes an institutional economics perspective to analyse the issue of NOC governance and related issues.

The paper adopts an integrative approach. First, it introduces the language of institutional economics to broadly structure a review of NOC governance. It then links the theoretical discussion to an assessment of the macro‐economic imperatives to which the NOC and its governance may need to respond. Finally, an audit trail is used for assessing cases in their particular institutional, cultural and physical conditions. Any simple comparisons — across highly variable contexts – would not only be contentious but also run counter to institutionalist methodology.

The paper shows that NOCs need not be treated as black boxes. They constitute an institutional response to failing market coordination with international oil companies and a means for producer countries to align political and economic interests. Yet, overriding the market and creating powerful stand‐alone, state‐owned, state‐run enterprises raise efficiency and broader regulatory concerns. The paper shows how institutional economics offers a conceptual apparatus to identify options for regulating NOCs at interrelated levels of control and suggests the need for case‐by‐case assessment.

Applying the conceptual apparatus outlined in the paper may allow future research to systematically discuss particular features of NOC governance, generate more general pattern models, and thereby improve the base for decisions on NOC's strategies and regulation.

The originality of the paper lies in its integrated approach of analysis and employing the institutional economics approach to the case studies to reveal the role of NOCs in the energy scene.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the interactions of the different actors – the state, multinational oil and gas companies, environmental advocacy groups and local people – in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

The paper draws on interviews, observations and focus group discussions, as well as on archival materials relating to the development of the oil and gas industry during the colonial period (i.e. pre-1960 Nigeria).

A cultural theory-based analysis of the environmental risk perceptions of the different actors reveals a profoundly unconstructive institutional configuration, in which the collusion of two “solidarities – the oil companies (individualism) and the state (hierarchy) – has led to the exclusion of the local communities (egalitarianism) who have found themselves impoverished and marginalised (fatalism). With these two “elephants” – individualism/hierarchy and egalitarianism/fatalism – pitted against each other, it has been the “grass” – the natural environment that has suffered.

Giving the local communities a stake in the wealth-creating process, from which they are at present excluded, would shift the pattern of inter-solidarity engagement from one in which two “active” (i.e. non-fatalist) voices silence the third to one in which each voice is able to make itself heard and is then responsive to the others.

Innovative and current on under-researched topic and geography. The main fieldwork was conducted between 2007 and 2008, with further field visits and updates between 2009 and 2013.

The uncertainty that surrounds oil and gas exploration environments call for an examination at different angles. In terms of robustness, the purpose of this paper is to focus on three performance measurements: the amount of exploration investments, the growth rate of exploration investments, and the value at risk (VaR) of exploration investments.

The study utilizes the properties of discriminant analysis for deriving Z-score models that can be used for monitoring firms’ performance. A cointegration analysis is utilized as well in order to examine the level of cointegration between predictors of each performance measure. The sample includes annual data for 41 firms (local and multinational) working in the oil and gas industry in Egypt for the period 2009-2014.

The results show that amount and growth of exploration investment are quite robust performance measures in the oil and gas industry; VaR of exploration investment is sporadic as it firm-specific; and GDP, capital expenditure and operating expenditure are quite relevant for managing and monitoring growth of exploration investments.

The study offers robust evidence that amount and growth of exploration investment are quiet relevant for measuring firm performance in the oil and gas industry.

While much of the debate and discourse on sustainability and environmentally friendly practices have focused on privately owned and operated organizations, enterprises owned by the state have escaped scrutiny. This study focuses specifically on the oil and gas sector to explore the drivers that propel state-owned oil and gas producers, the national oil companies, to embrace sustainability practices. We find that the proportion of independent directors, international exposure, and international involvement influence sustainability practices.