The Sea of Lost Opportunity

North Sea Oil and Gas, British Industry and the Offshore Supplies Office
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-0-444-53645-7
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Technology

Buch, Englisch, 320 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 660 g

This book is a contribution to the history of a vital stage of UK technical and economic development, perhaps the most important since the Second World War. It shows, from an industrial viewpoint, how the British handled the exploitation of their most significant natural resource gain of the 20th century. Notwithstanding the nearly 30 years of government support through the Offshore Supplies Office, the UK has not reaped the full benefit of the North Sea discoveries; this book attempts to explain why. It will assist governments and industries faced with future instances of unforeseen, specialist and large-scale new demand to manage their reactions more effectively. It also throws light on how governments can pursue strategic industrial objectives while leaving market mechanisms to function with minimal interference, something some administrations - perhaps even the British - may wish to do now or in the future.

Zielgruppe

Public sector policy makers, business strategists, offshore industry veterans, academics in fields of economics/industrial history, energy economics and business, this market is international in scope, with a concentration in OECD countries.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Smith, Norman J.

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Umweltökonomie
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftssektoren & Branchen Energie- & Versorgungswirtschaft Öl- und Gasindustrie
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Umweltmanagement, Umweltökonomie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. In Europe's Sick Bay - Britain Before North Sea Oil2. The Genesis of the North Sea Oil and Gas Industry3. Motivations and Constraints in Early North Sea Activity4. Before OSO: Offshore Supplies 1963-19725. OSO's Formative Years 1973-19806. OSO's Long March into History7. Assessing OSO8. Case Studies and Expert Testimony9. Looking Back on a Thirty Year Journey10. Postscript

Über Autor(innen)

Smith, Norman J.
Norman Smith holds degrees from Oxford University (M.A.), the City University (M. Phil.) and Aberdeen University (Ph.D.). He has also participated in development programmes at Harvard and INSEAD/CEDEP. He is a Fellow of the Energy Institute and of the Society of Business Economists. His career began in engineering manufacture where he first became involved with the offshore oil and gas industry. After a spell in merchant banking, he was seconded to the Department of Energy. On his return to the private sector, he co-founded and managed an energy consulting company, Smith Rea Energy Associates Ltd (SREA), and served as director of eight private companies in the oil and gas industry, becoming chairman of three. After retirement, he researched and authored this extensive study of the British supply chain supporting exploration and production activities in the North Sea: The Sea of Lost Opportunity: North Sea Oil and Gas, British Industry and the Offshore Supplies Office. He felt it was important that the story of this extraordinary episode in British economic and technological history should be chronicled by somebody who had been closely involved in it and that he was well qualified to undertake the task.
Though now formally retired, he continues to write and would always consider a speaking engagement or even a tantalisingly interesting piece of advisory work. His website is http://normanjsmith.wordpress.com/