UK Oil/Gas: Mineral Resources Essay Explored.

Research Aim

Describe about the Investigating the Effectiveness of Different Forms of Mineral Resources?

The oil and gas industry in the United Kingdom has immensely contributed to the economic prosperity of the country like no other industry. For the last few decades, UK government is pursuing a procedure for decarbonizing the society by making substantial development in the oil and gas industries. For the substantial development of society, various organizations in UK have released and follow various laws in oil and gas industry. The entire community of UK is largely dependent on the oil resources. There exist various risks and problems in Oil and gas industries that stretch from environmental influences to economic stagnation. In addition to that, the various international energy policies have a significant influence on the operation and economic factor of Oil and Gas Industry in the United Kingdom.

Since the Second World War, the oil and gas industry has dominated the world by providing approximately 70% of world's total oil consumption (Turnheim and Geels 2012). At present, the oil and gas industry accounts for about 40% of the global oil need (Yusuf et al. 2013). This is mainly due to the unique potential of oil in terms of versatility, low cost, accessibility, sufficiency, and applicability in the wide range of application. According to oil and gas industry forecast, the global oil reserve has been estimated about 1,100 billion barrels, is sufficient for meeting the global demand for oil for the next 45 years (Stern 2014). The production of oil will not stop at a sudden; rather it will undergo a gradual transition that may last for few decades.

The various international policies like “Oil maximizing policy by OPEC” and low carbon global world policy introduced by UN Climate Change Conference in Paris has a vital impact on the oil and gas industry threatening their sole existence in UK. Thus, the UK oil and gas industry need identify and reform the strategic management policies.

The particular research study on the topic “analysis the impact of environmental regulations on the achievement of competitive strategies in the UK” focuses on the analyzing and understanding the various international energy policies that affect the strategic and environmental management in oil and gas industries operation in the United Kingdom.

Formulating the research objectives according to the research aim allows the researcher to penetrate the research topic in details. Framing the objective of the particular research will allow classifying the research topic into the suitable module. The formulated objective for this particular study is:

To critically evaluate key environmental policies and regulations that UK Oil and Gas companies are subjected to and establish potential areas of conflict;

To critically analyze key differences between the compliance requirements of UK Oil and Gas companies and their international competitors on environmental issues;

To analyze and reflect on the conflict between BP's corporate strategy and the compliance requirements of environmental policies and regulations, including ways by which such conflicts can be addressed or mitigated;

In the research paper, formulating the research question helps the researcher for the better understanding of the research topic in a much detailed and easy manner. The formulated research question allows the researcher to gain detailed information about selected research topic. Thus, the following are the research questions developed for analyzing the research topic:

Research Objectives

How the international energy policies affect the environmental management on a global scale?

How Oil and Gas industries in the United Kingdom are affected by international energy policies?

What are the strategic problems faced by Oil and Gas Industries in the United Kingdom?

How different strategic methods used in British Petroleum has assisted in achieving market competitiveness in UK?

How much the environmental policies are undertaken by British Petroleum, contribute to sustainable development in the United Kingdom?

International Energy Policies are defined as scheme developed by Government or an organization that has a global impact on the economy and environment. Energy Policies significantly impacts the production and distribution of energy in the different sector of energy production industry (Alam and Al-Ghawas 2015). With the change in environment and economy of the market various new and reformed energy policies are being formed. In the recent days, various policies have been formed mainly aiming for developing a sustainable environment. The two main international energy policies that affect both the economy and strategy of Oil and Gas Industries are “OPEC’s Product Maximizing Policy” and “Low Carbon World Policy” (Stackhouse and Stewart 2016).

The oil and gas industries operating in the United Kingdom is largely affected by the various business processes and environmental policies. The most of the industries perform the offshore business operation in the United Kingdom. In the past consecutive four years, the oil and gas industries operating in the United Kingdom have faced a major cash crunch problem, where the capital investment has from by £2-4 every year from £14.8 (Dahl 2015).

In addition to the international energy policies, there exist various strategic problems in the Oil and Gas Industries operating in the United Kingdom mostly threatening the sole existence of the industries (Hancock and Vivoda 2014). One of the major parts of the industry is to analysis and overcome the strategic risks while increasing the economy of the business. In the Oil and Gas Industry, the significant risks comprise of the reduced demand of the Oil and economic inflation. Apart from that, the international energy policies also contribute to strategic risks in the industry.

Approximately 63% of the world’s energy demand is fulfilled by the entire Oil and Gas Industry (Colgan 2014). The operation of Oil extraction and production is distributed throughout the globe. The livelihood of the global community and foreseeable future is dependent on Oil and Gas Energy. The strategic problems and international energy policies have the potential to threaten the existence of the industry if not mitigated. The sole purpose for choosing the research topic as “analysis the impact of environmental regulations on the achievement of competitive strategies in the UK” is to identify and analyze the existing strategic problems encountered in the Oil and Gas Industry. In addition to that, the research also focuses on the impact of the international energy policies that affect the environmental management in an environment of UK including the oil and gas industry. For this particular research, the analyst has considered the major oil giant ‘British Petroleum’ operating in the United Kingdom. The study will assist the research to critically investigate the business strategies in British Petroleum and the impact of environmental policies.

Research Questions

The successful research study will assist the oil and gas industries all over the world to easy identify the problems and make business strategies to overcome the problem.

Hypothesis 1:

H₀: Different International Energy Policies have no significant effect on the environmental management of British Petroleum operating in UK;

H₁: Different International Energy Policies have significant effect on the environmental management of British Petroleum operating in UK;

Hypothesis 2:

H₀: The strategic problem faced in British Petroleum has no remarkable impact on the business operation and sustainable development in UK;

H₁: The strategic problem faced in British Petroleum has remarkable impact on the business operation and sustainable development in UK;

In this particular research topic, the researcher has developed the first hypothesis in order to establish the relationship between environmental management procedure followed in British Petroleum and the various International Energy Policies. In the first hypothesis, environmental management is considered as the dependent variable and different international policies are considered as the independent variable.

For considering the second hypothesis, the analyst tries to discover the relationship between the business operation followed by British Petroleum and the strategic problems encountered in the industry. While developing the second hypothesis, the research has considered business operations in British Petroleum as the dependent variable and various strategic problems and sustainable development as the independent variable for analyzing the hypothesis.

The undertaken research topic will allow the researcher to understand and analyze the impact of various strategic problems and international energy policies over the oil and gas industry operating in the United Kingdom. The researcher aims at finding the business strategies and policies followed by British Petroleum while maintaining the competitive advantage in UK. Apart from that, the researcher tries to understand and identify the solutions for overcoming the strategic problems in Oil and Gas Industries.

For this particular research study, the analyst has divided the entire topic into the small manageable division for the detailed observation and understanding of the research topic. Thus, the analyst has divided the research paper into five chapters mentioned below:

Chapter 1: Introduction

In the introduction chapter of the research study, the researcher has defined the basic information of the undertaken research topic including the background and purpose of the research study. In this particular study, the researcher has briefly described the various policies affecting the oil and gas industries. Furthermore, the researcher has developed the research aims, objectives and hypothesis for detailed analysis of the research topic.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

In the Literature review chapter, the analyst has shown the theoretical concept and background of the topic for understanding the strategic problems encountered by the Oil and Gas Industries. Apart from that, the researcher has also tried to analyze the effect of different international policies on the environmental management throughout the world.

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

The researcher has the concern about the data collection and various processes and tools utilizes while conduction the research. In research methodology, the researcher has described and provided justification for the research philosophy, design approach, data sources, data analysis techniques used while conducting the research.

Background of the Topic

Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Discussion

The data collected from the primary and secondary sources is analyzed using the quantitative method and regression analysis model. The researcher has described and illustrated the various effects of the strategic problem and international energy policies in Oil and Gas Industries. The data analysis of the collected data helps the research in understanding the depth of research topic and to conclude to the research procedure.

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations

The researcher has linked the objective of the research with the findings from the data analysis procedure. Furthermore, the researcher has tried to conclude to the research questions and determine the success of the conducted study.

The strategic problem faced in the Oil and Gas Industry operating in UK has an impact on the operation and business. The researcher has briefly described the different international energy policies impacting the oil and gas industries throughout the world. The researcher has identified the aims, objective and research question in this particular chapter. Depending on the research objective and question, the researcher has developed the hypothesis. Based on the developed concept of the research, the researcher has provided the details of the conducted literature review in the next chapter of the research study.

Introduction

The international policies of energy are driving the all the industries all over the world. The oil and gas industries are no exceptions to that. The world is moving towards sustainable living. Moran (2015) defined the fact that, the sustainable development in Oil and Gas Industry means proceeding with the business procedures while keeping the resources for the future generations to come. The various organizations throughout the world have developed and following policies to maintain a sustainable environment.

The risk in oil and gas industry is a significant aspect of conducting the business. Heubaum and Biermann (2015) identified the various risks in oil and gas industry extending from environmental influence to economic impact. In the recent time, the significant risk encountered by the industry is reducing the demand for oil that ultimately resulted in the cash crunch and economic stagnation. In addition to that, the OPEC’s product maximizing policy and low carbon world policy has significantly impacted Oil and Gas Industry.

The researcher has conducted the literature review to establish the connection between strategic problem faced by oil and gas industry and the international energy policies (Bohringer, Einar Rosendahl and Schneider 2014). Apart from that, the researcher has tried to understand the impact of the energy policies on managing the environment throughout the world. In the literature review, the researcher has shown various concepts and theories providing a detailed view of the research topic.

The conceptual framework developed in the literature review allows the researcher to categorize the vital concept and theories of the research topic. The conceptual framework provides the better view and in-depth understanding of the research topic.

Conceptual Framework of the Research Topic

Figure: Conceptual Framework of the Research Topic

(Source: Created by the Researcher)

In the above figure the researcher shows that the various ‘international energy polices’ impacts the compliance requirements of the Oil and Gas Industries operating in UK. This in turn impacts the environmental issues and international competitors all over the world. In this particular literature review, the researcher has tried to analyze the existing relationship between the above stated modules.

Rationale of the Study

Cheadle (2016) stated that a larger contribution is made by the oil and gas industries operating in United Kingdom for the sustainable contribution towards the country’s economy. The maximum amount of contribution is made through the various policies and legislation towards United Kingdom’s economy and security within the oil and gas industries. In the year 2012, the UKCS (United Kingdom Continental Shelf) has been accounted for the providing 53% of gas demand and67% of the overall oil demand of UK (Oilandgasuk.co.uk. 2016). The UK government has establishes various policies on the upstream and downstream processes of the oil extraction for the specific protection of the environment in UK.

According to Bowen and Rydge (2012) the DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change) in United Kingdom has passed some specific function to the recently established one of the executive agency of DECC, the OGA (Oil and Gas Authority). DECC was initially responsible for the publishing and development of the various production and exploration data. In addition to that, DECC also ensures the fact that the licensees oblige according to their data. After the transfer of right to OGA, on 1^st April 2015, the licensing system of United Kingdom is being administered by OGA (Publications.parliament.uk. 2016). The various environmental policies have been described below that affects the business of oil and gas industries in the United Kingdom.

Lorenzoni and Benson (2014) cited that the UK has published the Climate Change Act in order to develop a low carbon economy. According to Lockwood (2013), the initiation of building a sustainable lifestyle has evolved with this particular policy. This policy aims at reducing the green house emission of United Kingdom by 80% by the end of 2050. Marsden et al (2014) also showed that the act has published the carbon budget plan till 2050 and focuses in reducing the emission of carbon by 34% by the end of 2020. On the other hand, Massey and Huitema (2013) have also showed that the UK government has already invested in the various low carbon technologies for providing the efficient infrastructure of the green future economy. The impact of the Climate Change Act also includes the reduction of emission in the Oil and Gas Industries.

Boyes and Elliott (2015) cited that the existing polices and legal framework of the United Kingdom has significant impact on the storage of the offshore CO₂. The marine and Coastal access act 2009 has been developed for consolidating the planning and regulation of the marine activates (The Guardian. 2012). Appleby and Jones (2012) stated that the significant provision of the act is to designate the maritime activates within zones, publishing licenses. The formation of the marine and coastal access act enforced the UK government including various government bodies to contribute for achieving the sustainable development in the marine area. According to Burek et al. (2013), the act comprises of different photographs that prudently showcases the significant of storing the offshore CO_2.

The petroleum act has been published for reforming the regulation comprising of the pipelines especially in the Oil and Gas Industries operating in the United Kingdom. Whish and Bailey (2015) showed that the significant provision of the act relate to the exploitation and exploration of the petroleum in the oil and gas industries. According to Burns, Reid and Bremen (2016), the law also regulates the criminal, civil and various activities related to the installation of the offshore oil and gas operations. In addition to that, the Petroleum act also includes the installation of the submarine pipelines and offshore installation of the associated with the CO₂ storage.

Hypothesis of the Research

According to Ross (2012), this particular license the DECC has gained the authority to regularize the licenses in the continental shelf and territorial sea of the United Kingdom. In support to that, Abdo (2014) stated DECC has been concerned with regulating the various fees, requirements and procedures required in petroleum license including the size and area of operation where to grant the permission. In addition to that, Finlay, Selby and Osborne (2012) showed that developed model for the petroleum act has specifically included the offshore construction, safety and health precaution, environmental area that are not exploited, commercial terms and petroleum deposits unitization that the oil and gas industries operating in United Kingdom needs to undertake (Gov.uk. 2015). The initial act although lacks the inclusion of the provisioning CO2 storage. In the year 2011, the government has revised the marine policy in order to maximizing the economic development of the country’s oil and gas reserve (Furmston, Cheshire and Fifoot 2012).

The Climate change conference held in UN, Paris where all the major oil and gas industries have been signing the petition and submitting to completely restrain the emission of Carbon Dioxide by the year 2020 (Geels 2014). Bridge et al. (2013) stated that, while improving the future demand of the country, the Oil and Gas Industries operating in UK needs to rethink about the environmental condition. Approximately 150 countries have joined in the Paris climate change conference for reducing the carbon footprint. Through this policy, the world is aimed at reducing the earth’s temperature by 2^oC (Faunce et al. 2013). The government of UK plays an important role in maintaining the environment and cost-efficient policies for the oil and gas industries. According to Heede (2014), various technological innovations can be introduced in the oil and gas industries for reducing the carbon emission by 75-90% in the production of oil and gas (Chapman 2014).

Cotton, Rattle and Van Alstine (2014) showed there exits various conflicts over the different energy and environmental policies within the government of United Kingdom. Furthermore, Bridge et al. (2013) declared that the conflict does not exists only because of the gas industries but due to the significant approach followed in climate and energy change. On a contrary, Qin et al. (2013) showed that the DECC is exploring the deployment of the wind energy generation and to make it a profitable area of business. On the other hand, Geels (2014) showed that there are still various area remains unanswered for example; whether the replacement of the natural gas with the coal in generation of power will be able to reduce the carbon emission of the wind power. Dannreuther and Ostrowski (2013) also mentioned that the UK strategies to decarbonising the entire energy sector by cutting the carbon emission by the minimum of 80% by the year 2050. The main flaws in the energy policy is that the Climate change act does not incorporated the strategic problems faced due o the long term recession in the Oil and gas industries (Johansson 2013). Furthermore, the laws have completely ignored the various uncertainties faced by the industry due to the economic risks faced by the British economy (Pollitt 2012).

According to Mitchell and Mitchell (2014), the energy bills have risen rapidly on chiefly because of the rise in the commodity prices not for the Climate change Act. Apart from that, the change in the petroleum act has included various sensitive areas related to offshore generation of the wind energy. According to Fidler and Noble (2012), the revised petroleum act comprises the activities regarding the renewable energy zones, that includes the idea of storing and importing gas in the Energy Act 2008, and storage of CO₂ mentioned in the Climate Change Act.. In support to that act, Fidler and Noble (2012) cited that the revised act has made various provision for minimizing the potential conflict between the several established industries and operating oil and gas industries. Demski, Poortinga and Pidgeon (2014) motioned that the current model of the act prevents the oil and gas industries for undertaking the unauthorized activities that interferes with the living resources in the licensed area.

According to Dryzek (2013), the Low Carbon Global world, various companies think of it as the political blunder. In contrary to that, Liu et al. (2012) stated that the Paris agreement is the initiation of the swift transition for decarbonising the world at a global rate. Knox-Hayes et al. (2013) has also stated that policies have provided the opportunities to various oil and gas industries and their shareholder about replaceable alternatives.

The oil and gas industry operating in both the offshore and onshore of the United Kingdom involves the procedure of extraction, exploration, transportation of gas and oil, refining, production and various petrochemical products. Alazzani and Wan-Hussin (2013) cited that the entire production cycle comprises form the development, operational management, decommissioning until the closure of the every step. According to Moran (2013), the production part every business procedure in the Oil and Gas industry plays a significant role in the sustainability problem faced in the United Kingdom. The government of the United Kingdom has developed various laws and regulations for controlling the carbon content of the business procedure to develop a sustainable living. Lorenzoni and Benson (2014) stated that, in spite of the various legal rules and regulations, every individual oil and gas company need to follow some safety procedures and standards for maintaining the operational excellence of the companies.

According to Johansson (2013), the requirement of the compliance is necessary for the operation various procedure in the oil and gas industries. In support to that, Hancock and Vivoda (2014) cited that the most significant factor for maintaining a sustainable development in the industry begins with the operational excellence. The two vital pillar of the operational excellence in UK oil and gas industries are integrity of the asset management and the quality control. Geels (2014) stated that both the small and big Oil and Gas Companies are competing with the same aim of providing quality. On the other hand, Heubaum and Biermann (2015) cited that the quality of the oil and gas industries ranges from the quality of the production procedure to the quality of the finished products delivered to the customer. The brand equity and better technological equipments assist in having a competitive advantage in the global market.

Apart from that, Fidler and Noble (2012) stated that in order to integrate the asset management in the oil and gas industries various measures need to be taken that helps in reliable and safe operations of the procedures. The compliance required for maintaining the assets requires measurement and inspection of the operating procedure and conditions in both the onshore and offshore oil and gas operations. The vital aim of the oil and gas industry is minimize the overall cost for maintenance while delivering quality services to the customers.

Heubaum and Biermann (2015) stated that in the year 2014, the United Kingdom Government implied a regulation that ensures payment on a yearly basis for the oil and gas industries operating in UK. Lorenzoni and Benson (2014) showed that the main objective of implementing such policy is to overcome corruption and allows the citizen of UK in holding accounts to the government. United Kingdom is the first country to implement such a policy on the listed oil and gas industries. Both the small and large companies operating in UK is immensely affected by it. Mitchell and Mitchell (2014) cited that the impact of the regulation can be defined in two categories namely “Public Interest Entities” and “Large Undertakings”. Furthermore, the public interest entities in the oil industries define the trading market and securities that are transferable including insurances. Ross (2012) showed the large undertakings of the company defines he balance sheet turnover exceeding 36million.

According to the newly formed regulations, all the oil and gas industries required to pay to the government for all the activities. Stern (2014) showed that if any company delivers 1000 barrels of oil to its customer, then payment need to be made to the government for identifying the monetary value and also for the amount of oil delivered. In addition to that, the government has also allotted penalties to the companies that have failed to pay the amount within financial year. The implementation of the policy has affected various large companies operating in UK including the British Petroleum. According to Whittaker and Corns (2015), the oil and gas industries must consider adaptation of the policies if not exists for processing audit and tracking records of the payments.

Conclusion

The research methodology is considered as the one of the most vital chapter that defines the suitable path that the researcher needs to follow for successfully completing the research study. According to Robson and McCartan (2016), the research methodology allows the researcher to have better and in-depth analysis and understanding of the research topic. With the application of the various procedures in research methodology, the researcher has significant opportunity to analyze the conflict between the British petroleum’s corporate strategies and compliance requirements of the environmental policies and regulations in United Kingdom. Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault (2015) cited that the detailed process followed in the research methodology allows the researcher to minimize the human errors while conducting the research paper. In addition to that, in this methodology chapter, the analyst has tried to analysis the in-depth of the research topic with the application of appropriate methodology procedure.

For the analysis of the impact of the environmental regulations on the achievement of the competitive strategies in the United Kingdom, the analyst needs to evaluate the major environmental regulation and policies and the compliance requirements of the oil and gas companies operating in the United Kingdom. For the analysis of the research topic, the researcher has chosen positivism philosophy for gaining in-depth information about the various environmental regulations operating in the oil and gas industries. Moreover, the selection of the deductive approach has allowed the analyst in driving the research study into driving the research study from the initial information gained from the secondary sources about the various environmental polices enacted in United Kingdom and the compliance requirement needed in oil and gas industries. Furthermore, the descriptive design chosen for the study allowed the analyst in defining the various concepts for conducting the research study in details. Apart from that, the secondary and primary data sources provided better analysis of the research topic including the conflict between British Petroleum’s corporate strategy and compliance requirement of the environmental regulations and policies.

Application of the appropriate research philosophy in the research study assists the analyst to determine the suitable method of gaining information about the research topics in details. According to Kitchin and Tate (2013), the research philosophy allows in defining the assumptions taken in the research study. Gioia, Corley and Hamilton (2013) stated, the research philosophy can be broadly divided into three categories mainly realism, interpretivism and positivism.

Types of Research philosophy

Figure: Types of Research philosophy

(Source: Flick 2015, pp- 451)

Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2013) have defined positivism philosophy as the branch of research philosophy that deals with the implementation of logic while analyzing the information and hidden facts of the research topic. According to Panneerselvam (2014), the positivism philosophy is dominated by the scientific process where the metaphysics is being rejected. Thus, the positivism philosophy allows the data collection and analysis of the research topic in detailed manner. Jensen (2013) described the interpretivism philosophy as the concept that includes the complex structure. Moreover, in the interpretivism philosophy, the researcher participated in the every research activities for collecting and interpreting the data required for the research study. Neuman and Robson (2012) define realism philosophy as the combined approach of both interpretative and positivism philosophy. With the application of the realism philosophy, the researcher studies the human beliefs along with the interaction of the humans in the research process.

Justification of selecting the research philosophy

For the analysis of the impact of the environmental policies and regulations on the competitiveness of UK Oil and Gas Companies, the researcher has applied positivism philosophy. The application of the selected philosophy allowed the researcher in analyzing the underlying information and facts about the various environmental policies along with the potential area of conflict. In addition to that, due to the time imitation of the research study the scope of applying realism or interpretivism has been rejected form consideration. Apart from that, the application of the positivism philosophy allows the researcher to limit his role in data collection and evaluation thus minimizing the human errors during the research study.

According to Kingsman (2014), the application of research approach reveals the appropriate format for conducting the research study. In academic research, research approach can be subdivided into two ways, inductive and deductive approach. According to Katz (2015), inductive research approach is chosen when sufficient data is not available for the research study. During the initial phase of the research study, the inductive approach allows the researcher in collecting relevant information about the detailed research topic. Elo et al. (2014) stated that inductive approach is useful for developing new theories in the research paper. On the other hand, Gale et al. (2013) described the deductive research approach as the method for describing the practical application of the different theories and practical knowledge. The deductive approach allows the researcher to focus on the data analysis concept.

Types of Research Approach

Figure: Types of Research Approach

(Source: Maxwell 2012, pp-58)

Justification of choosing the research approach

In this particular research study, the researcher tries to analyze the impact of various environmental policies and laws on the competitive strategies of the oil and gas companies operating in United Kingdom with the assistance of the various theories and relevant data. Furthermore, the compliance requirement on the environmental polices allowed the researcher in selecting the appropriate approach for the research study. Since, no new concept or theories are being developed in this research study, inductive approach has been rejected. Thus, the selection of the deductive approach for the analysis of the research topic in a detailed manner is proved to be appropriate.

The research design in the methodology chapter allows the researcher in developing the appropriate framework that needs to be followed for revealing the data collection and analysis pattern. For the data collection process, the selection of the appropriate research design allows the analysis of the collated data. Lather and St. Pierre (2013) have stated the three major kinds of research design namely Exploratory, Explanatory and Descriptive Research Design.

Types of Research Design

Figure : Types of Research Design

(Source: Vaismoradi, Turunen and Bondas 2013, pp- 401)

() stated that application of the exploratory design allows the analyst in defining the different theoretical ideas for conducting the research study. On the other hand, the explanatory research design acknowledges the various events according to their occurrence relevant to the research topic. The in-depth penetration of the research study is limited with the application of the explanatory research deign. The descriptive research design allows the researcher in gaining detailed information of the research topic along with their time and occurrence and sufficient information.

Justification of selecting the Research Design

For analyzing the impact of various environmental policies and regulations on the Oil and Gas Industries operating in the United Kingdom, the researcher has developed the cross-sectional study for the time limitation constrain of the research. Thus, the application of the explanatory design was avoided. On the other hand, since the researcher was able to define the various environmental laws and policies that has the potential areas of conflict. Thus the selection of the descriptive design is found to be appropriate for conducting the research study.

While conducting the research study, the data are considered as the most useful tool for gathering the resourceful information about the research topic. According to Tong et al. (2012), the data used in research study allows the researcher to derive accurate research study.

For the penetration of the research topic, data sources are considered as the most useful area for the extraction useful information. Robson and McCartan (2016) described two types of data source used in research study, for retrieving useful information, namely primary data source and secondary data source. Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault (2015) pointed out that the primary data sources are used for gathering raw information relevant to the research. Although, the primary data sources required clarification of the validity and reliability, they are useful in exploring the research topic. On the other hand, Gioia, Corley and Hamilton (2013) described secondary data source that involves the description of the research topic while broadening the concept.

In this particular research study on ‘critically analyzing the impact of the environmental policies for achieving competitive strategies of UK oil and gas companies’, the researcher has only collected data from the secondary sources due to the limitation of the time of the research. Thus, the utilization of the primary data in the research study was not used in the analysis. On the other hand, the detailed literature review conducted is considered as the secondary data sources. The secondary data is obtained through various journals and open sources like internet.

Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2013) have mentioned two data techniques used in academic research. The Qualitative data are utilized for collecting the relevant data in narrative form that provides a detailed in-sight of the research study. Moreover, the qualitative data provides a theoretical background to the research topic that allows in having a practical concept of the topic. On the other hand, the application of the quantitative data in the research study allows in providing statistical representation of the collected data while concluding the study. For this particular research study, the researcher has utilized the qualitative technique while collecting relevant information about the impact of the environmental policies in strategic environment of the British Petroleum operating in the United Kingdom.

In an academic research, the total number of persons who are either directly or indirectly involved with the research is defined as the population of the research study. () also defines population in the academic research as the every people who are affected by research work and analysis. For this, particular research study, the entire oil and gas industries operating in the United Kingdom is defines as the population.

For conducting the research study on analyzing the impact of the environmental policies in the oil and gas industries, operating in the United Kingdom, the researcher must follow some ethical procedures and code of conduct. The ethical measures taken by the researcher allows him in the identification of the right and wrong set of behavior that are necessary for conducting the research study (Panneerselvam 2014). In terms of analyzing the impact of the environmental policies on the oil and gas industries operating in the United Kingdom, with specific focus on the British Petroleum, the researcher has taken the following ethical consideration:

Data Application: For the detailed analysis of the research topic, the data and information collected for the understanding the impact of the environmental policies is taken into account. The data collected form strategic reports, journals, books and other open sources, are used only for the research study only. While conducting the research study, the analyst has ensured that the sensitive information collected is been limited strictly to the research purpose. Furthermore, the commercial application of the relevant data is strictly avoided.

Research Team Involvement: The research has been conducted with the formation of the research team. While forming the research team, the analysts has ensured that no external influence has been exerted on the team members for participating in the research procedure. Apart from that, while forming the team and conducting the research methodology, no mental and physical pressure were given to the team members for participating in the study.

Respondents’ Anonymity: The data has been collected from the British Petroleum like the strategic reports and other journals for the better analysis of the data. During the research procedure, the researcher has ensured that no physical and mental harassment has been put upon for the collection of the data (Jensen 2013). Only the voluntary involvement of the participants for the collection of data is taken into consideration.

These are the few ethical consideration followed by the researcher while conducting the research study. During the entire period f the research study, the analyst has tried to maintain the basic ethical procedure for providing standard analysis o the research study.

The conducted research study allows the researcher in gaining sensitive information about the research topic and in-depth analysis of the research study. The detailed research study to allows in gaining sensitive information but in cannot be oversee that the concerned restriction that are both non-avoidable and avoidable in the research. The various limitations and restrictions encountered during the conduction of the research study define the restriction in the abilities and scope of the study. For analyzing the impact of the environmental policies on the UK oil and gas industries, the researcher has faced various limitations some of them are enlisted below:

Time Constraint: The researcher had the time period of one month for conducting the entire research study on “Analyzing the impact of the environmental policies over the oil and gas industries operating in the United Kingdom”. Thus for the time limitation of the research, the analyst has considered the cross-sectional study of the research topic. Various details of the study were not included in the research study including primary data collection and quantitative data analysis method (Neuman and Robson 2012). Furthermore if more time was allotted in the research, the researcher could have gathered raw data from through online survey or face-to-face interviews with the managers of British Petroleum for in-depth analysis of the research topic.

Reliability: The data collection and analysis of the research topic depends on the understating and work of the researcher in terms of dealing only with the secondary data. The data accessed from the oil and gas industries that comprises of the various journals and annual report can be biased on the company. Thus, the findings and in-depth analysis of the research topic is more difficult while conductive only qualitative research.

Budget Constraint: The research study conducted on a low budget that led to various limitations for in-depth analyzing of the research study (Lather and St. Pierre 2013). The lack of budget has limited he researcher for only conducting qualitative data analysis and collecting only the secondary data relevant to the study.

The research study is either conducted with a cross-sectional or longitudinal in nature. The time allocated or required in conducting the study determines the characteristic of the research study. For conducting this particular research for analyzing the impact of the environmental policies on the oil and gas industries, the researcher has conducted cross-sectional study. The utilization of the Gantt chart allows in integrating the various task and procedure followed in the research study. Apart from that, the Gant Chart helps in completing the research study within given time. The required Gantt chart for this particular research is provided below:

Key Activities in the Research Study	Day 1 to Day 5	Day 6 to Day 10	Day 11 to Day 15	Day 16 to Day 20	Day 21 to Day 25	Day 26 to Day 30
Selecting the topic for the research
Data collection relevant to the research from secondary sources
Creating the research layout
Conducting the detailed literature review
Selecting the appropriate technique for the research
Analysing the collected data
Data findings
Concluding the research study
Formatting the rough draft
submitting the final work

Table 1: Gantt chart

(Source: Created by the researcher)

The methodology chapter in the research study allows the researcher in better and appropriate selection of the research processes. The application of the detailed process of the research study helps the researcher in having a in-depth understanding of the impact of the environmental policies. This particular charter assists in framing the suitable procedure and techniques for conducting the research.

Introduction

The research method for conducting this particular study is mainly based on utilizing only secondary resources. Therefore, the data collection process has included a variety of secondary sources, which includes the annual reports by UK oil and gas, published reports online, journals and blogs, performance reports and published news articles based on the competitiveness and productivity strategy of UK industry that reflects the impacts of environmental regulations (Massey and Huitema 2013). Finally, adequate data and information has been gathered from all these secondary resources, thereby extracting the useful, relevant and valuable information for performing the next stage of the research study, i.e. data analysis.

In section evaluates and analyzes the collected data in order to find out the degree of impact of environmental regulations on the achievement of competitive strategies in the UK. The collected data through secondary data sources are mainly targeted to reveal the aspects of major environmental policies and regulations in the UK Oil and Gas industries (Whittaker and Corns 2015). Furthermore, the researcher also tried to further asses and analyze the gathered data for the purpose of identifying the key differences between the requirements regarding compliance in the UK Oil and Gas companies along with their international competitors on various environmental issues (Alam and Al-Ghawas 2015). In order to obtain a deeper understanding, the researcher has involved in the study, a detailed exploration and reflection on the conflict between BP’s corporate strategies and the compliance requirements of environmental policies and principles as well as suggested ways following which it is possible to address the conflicts and issues in a successful manner.

The collected data is extracted that provides effective information on the impact of environmental regulations affecting the overall production costs and competitiveness in the UK Oil and Gas firms. Many studies previously carried out have found that environmental regulations hold significant impact on productivity (Oilandgasuk.co.uk. 2016). A number of studies have shown evidences where environmental regulation can either affect or improve the overall productivity.

Studies have shown that the competitiveness of UK companies has been hugely relying on innovation and therefore, extensive studies and research are being undertaken for adequately discovering the link between technological change and environmental regulations. Alazzani and Wan-Hussin, (2013) ascertains that, appropriate environmental regulation triggers proper innovation, which in turn can effectively reduce the cost of compliance. Innovations that are induced by environmental regulations are capable of improving competitiveness. Whittaker and Corns (2015) studied that, there is an prevailing case for maximizing the recovery of UK’s oil and gas with 70 % of Britain’s energy requirements, which are still expected to be fulfilled into the 2040s by oil and gas (Lorenzoni and Benson 2014). United Kingdom and its world class oil and gas industry comprises of both production and relevant support services. The strategy followed for this purpose is useful for facilitating a source of employment for around 400,000 people across UK (Vaismoradi, Turunen and Bondas 2013). The researcher has essentially conducted a strategy overview for distinguishing the effect of environmental regulations on the objectives set and adopted action plan for future. In 2006, UK oil and gas production rate had failed by 9 % and the production went down to 250,000 boepd lower (on an average) compared to the forecasts previously made.

The British Petroleum (BP) maintains its sustainability by following a specific set of rules and strategies that adequately considers environmental management, the future energy sustainable management. BP aims to achieve excellent management skills for handling the environment impacts as well as addressing the relevant effects and impacts on the local and global community (Cohen, Manion and Morrison 2013). The strategy considers emission of greenhouse gases, water, protected and sensitive areas as well as oil spill response. BP’s sustainability report in the year 2014 properly focused on the amount of oil spills. The chart demonstrated below gives a clear pictorial representation:

BP sustainability on oil spills

Figure: BP sustainability on oil spills

(Source: Wickman 2014, pp. 18)

The environmental policy adopted by BP has been able to generate an economic value of $403.3 billion, including revenue and interest, disposal proceeds and dividend recipients (Moran 2015). On the other hand, the sustainability report of BP for 2013 suggests that the organization has retained $34.4 billion, majority of which is invested in acquisitions and capital expenditures. UK Oil and Gas industry made a capital investment of £ 5.6 billion in 2015 (Stackhouse and Stewart 2016). The same year also witnessed a successful oil and gas exploration activity.

BP’s Energy Outlook

Figure: BP’s Energy Outlook

(Source: Massey and Huitema 2013, pp.34)

BP concentrates on giving adequate effort to avoid, mitigate and minimize the environmental impacts by establishing proper regulations and principles (Finlay, Selby and Osborne 2012). The performance of BP over the years with respect to the competitive strategies implementation has been demonstrated in the table below:

Performance	2011	2012	2013
Reserves replacement ratio	103	77	129
Replacement cost profit	23,412	11,428	23,681
Contribution to communities	103.7	90.6	78.8
Dividend paid to shareholders	4,072	5,294	5,441
Total petrochemicals production	14,866	14,727	13,943
Total refinery throughputs	2,352	2,354	1,791
Taxes to governments (production and income taxes)	16,339	15,033	13,904
Total hydrocarbons produced	3,454	3,331	3,230

Table: BP’s Performance from 2011 – 2014

(Source: Dryzek 2013, pp. 12)

The environmental management strategies adopted by British Petroleum (BP) are suitably aligned with their goal to meet the world’s energy needs by means on developing a long term value for the shareholder and the economies in which the Oil and Gas company operate (Dannreuther and Ostrowski 2013).

BP’s competitive strategy and sustainability: According to a number of surveys conducted, BP has sufficient potential to achieve a successful and sustainable in maintaining the long term interests of the shareholders, society and partners. The main objective of BP is to create proper value for supplies of energy in a responsible way (Bohringer, Einar Rosendahl and Schneider 2014). The Oil and Gas Survey conducted by BP forecasts that, in 2035 the energy sources will represent about 54 % of the total consumption of energy. BP provides fixed representation of the environmental policy issues with respect to BP’s sustainability performance. BP’s prospects capital use of $17-19 billion every year in 2016 and 2017 as a consequence of lessening expenses and action, with 2016 spend towards the lower end of this extent (Bridge, Bouzarovski, Bradshaw and Eyre 2013). BP complies with the environmental regulations in performing operations in around 80 countries around the world. Obviously, operating with 80 different countries around the world requires BP to face the challenges associated with diversity and complexity in maintaining the individual environmental laws and regulations. For this purpose, BP manages applicable regulatory as well as legal health and safety, security and environmental requirements through the firm’s fundamental operating management system (Chapman 2014). The future business plans of BP has adequately included the considerations focused on the potential impact of GHG (Green House Gas) regulation, along with the possible impacts on strategic planning and operating costs. However, the GHG (Green House Gas) regulation is also expected to facilitate new opportunities for BP for focusing more on developing lower or zero carbon technologies and business (Appleby and Jones 2012). From April 2010 to the end of 2013, British Petroleum had finished 91 individual projects including the screening procedure and utilized yields from the procedure to actualize measures to lessen negative effects (Cotton, Rattle and Van Alstine 2014). The general expanded power in our upstream operations in the course of recent years reflects diminishing generation in our less GHG escalated zones and expanding power in new ranges as we create assets that are additionally testing and commission new resources (Boyes and Elliott 2015). However, UK government has taken strong measures regarding strengthening the environmental regulations and policies to smartly deal with the environmental energy challenges and cut down the negative impacts such as green house emissions, thereby maintaining the energy supplies (Valvi and Fragkos 2013). In spite of the fact that there might be yearly variances, it is likely that as we work in all the more actually difficult and possibly more vitality serious zones, the carbon power of our upstream operations will keep on increasing, while declining generation in our full grown resources, which requires more vitality, additionally pushes force incrementally higher.

For being able to compete at a global scale, UK oil and gas industries need to maintain long-term supply of quality personnel that are capable to upkeep the competitive strategies (Chen and Chen 2014). The Petroleum Act (1998) states that, ‘Secretary of State’ needs to issue the terms of license or the production and exploration of petroleum in the UK. It is the responsibility of DECC (the Department of Energy and Climate Change) for setting climate and energy change and mitigation policies, as well as establishing an appropriate framework to achieve the policy goals. BP (British Petroleum) follows three primary types of licenses (Dannreuther and Ostrowski 2013). These are discussed below:

Seaward Production Licenses: These types of licenses are granted with respect to offshore fields that cover the full life starting from exploration ending in production. The sub categories are Seaward Exploration Licenses and Petroleum Exploration and Development Licenses (PEDLs) (Finlay, Selby and Osborne 2012). In addition to that, the environmental regulations significantly vary depending upon whether it is based on an onshore or an offshore oil or gas pipeline.

Previous researches in this topic have revealed that UK has access to sufficiently strong financial services in the oil and gas sectors (Fidler and Noble 2012). Therefore, it is quite feasible for the two to work closely together for creating growth and improved competitiveness. Besides, it is very likely that in future UKCS will see a greater number of smaller upstream energy processing companies, smaller opportunities, an improved focus on the maintaining the integrity of assets, tougher economics and smaller opportunities (Geels 2014). DCR essentially makes sure that the duty holder looks after proper installation at all times. UK has adequate potential to grow its competitiveness in the market as IEA (International Energy Agency) forecasts that oil will necessarily continue playing an indispensible role to meet the overall energy requirements across the world.

Competitive advantage is one of the most important and crucial factors for a company’s performance in the competitive market. The large petroleum exploration issues most commonly catch the interest of academics and consultants for publishing work based on competitive strategy adopted by the oil and gas industries (Lorenzoni and Benson 2014). The research carried out based on Porter’s value chain framework for analyzing the strategic positioning as well as the competitive advantage in petroleum exploration. The value configuration theory enables to assess the impacts of competitiveness of environmental regulations among the oil and sectors.

IEA’s forecast to global demand for energy is expected to increase by approximately 50 % by the year 2030. However, according to a number of economists in the UK, environmental regulations are responsible for adding costs to the oil and gas firms as well as slow down the productivity (Mitchell and Mitchell 2014). The response provided by different oil and gas firms to the individual levels of regulation along with the impact on employment influence in the supply chain and cost associated with compliance (Stackhouse and Stewart 2016). Enforcing environmental regulations and the way globalization affects environmental regulations is a significantly important research area (Heubaum and Biermann 2015). It is expected that in future, the global community will particularly depend on the oil and gas supplies. Therefore, it is obvious that environmental management is a crucial aspect for oil and gas exploration and production (Pollitt 2012). The potential environmental impacts are to be appropriately controlled by imposing adequate environmental regulations.

In March 2016, Oil and Gas UK properly acknowledges the issues and challenges that they are facing in the industry (Turnheim and Geels 2013). However, a new report prepared by UK Oil and Gas based on offshore exploration, production as well as investment states that it is evident that UK Oil and Gas industry’s international competitiveness is getting potentially affected by the rising costs and taxes, along with inadequate environmental regulation (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). According the oil and gas firms of UK, the 2015 Activity Survey demonstrates the growing urgency for establishing adequate measures for the purpose of properly securing the new investments as well as address the issues exploration and production of oil and gas in the UK, which in turn maximizes the economic recovery of the specific resources that is significantly untapped (Neuman and Robson 2012).

According to the Chief Executive of UK Oil and Gas industry Mr. Malcolm Webb, the Activity Survey conducted in the year 2016 distinguishes UK’s overall potential. It emphasizes on the significance of government along with the industry. For this reason, the Oil and Gas industry is putting adequate effort for putting the appropriate measures in place for securing its long term future (Alam, and Al-Ghawas 2015). The survey conducted this year recognizes the production and exploration activity of 2014. The study further discovers that since 2000, this particular year (i.e. year 2014) has been the best year for the UK industry in terms of overall year-on-year performance. Furthermore, the study also detected it has fallen about 1 % since the year 2013 to 1.42m boe per day (boepd) (Vaismoradi, Turunen and Bondas 2013). Researchers have concluded that this outcome has been largely determined by the investments that have been made in the areas of starting up new projects. It enables targeted tax allowances as well as a proper focus across the entire UK industry, which in turn significantly improved production efficiency and performance in the existing fields. It further helped avoiding any major unplanned shutdown of ongoing projects.

However, the findings and results discussed above are potentially crucial for the environmental energy security provided y domestic oil and gas production. In addition, it also ensures a large number of highly skilled jobs coupled with advanced and efficient technology n the already existing fields (Cohen, Manion and Morrison 2013). Moreover, it enabled the industry in underpinning billions of pounds of exports. However, amongst most organizations, the UK Oil and Gas industry is significantly calling on the UK government so as to receive adequate support for improving the competitiveness of UK oil and gas exploration and production (Lather and St. Pierre 2013). It additionally lightens the overall burden of special taxes that the sector has to pay for attracting international investments and thereby sustain the level of activity for the future years ahead (Jensen 2013). Specifically in the exploration area, the continued funding of seismic is sufficiently appreciated as well as the change in tax rates is expected to be effective side-by-side with the steps taken by OGA (Oil and Gas Authority) targeted to promote he exploration activity.

Conclusion

Enforcing environmental regulations and the way globalization affects environmental regulations is a significantly important research area. It is expected that in future, the global community will particularly depend on the oil and gas supplies. Therefore, it is obvious that environmental management is a crucial aspect for oil and gas exploration and production. The potential environmental impacts are to be appropriately controlled by imposing adequate environmental regulations. The DECC is exploring the deployment of the wind energy generation and to make it a profitable area of business. On the other hand, there are still various area remains unanswered for example; whether the replacement of the natural gas with the coal in generation of power will be able to reduce the carbon emission of the wind power. The UK strategies to decarbonising the entire energy sector by cutting the carbon emission by the minimum of 80% by the year 2050. The main flaws in the energy policy is that the Climate change act does not incorporated the strategic problems faced due o the long term recession in the Oil and gas industries. Furthermore, the laws have completely ignored the various uncertainties faced by the industry due to the economic risks faced by the British economy. However, it is obvious that, BP has sufficient potential to achieve a successful and sustainable in maintaining the long term interests of the shareholders, society and partners. The main objective of BP is to create proper value for supplies of energy in a responsible way. The Oil and Gas Survey conducted by BP forecasts that, in 2035 the energy sources will represent about 54 % of the total consumption of energy. BP provides fixed representation of the environmental policy issues with respect to BP’s sustainability performance. BP’s prospects capital use of $17-19 billion every year in 2016 and 2017 as a consequence of lessening expenses and action, with 2016 spend towards the lower end of this extent.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Conclusion

It can be concluded that UK Oil and Gas companies are effectively planning and concentrating more on the environmental management and policy. The capability development programs undertaken by BP strive to achieve operational excellence and successful competitive advantage. The strategic problem faced in the Oil and Gas Industry operating in UK has an impact on the operation and business. The researcher has briefly described the different international energy policies influencing the oil and gas industries throughout the world. The researcher has identified the aims, objective and research question in this particular chapter. Depending on the research objective and question, the researcher has developed the hypothesis. Based on the developed concept of the research, the researcher has provided the details of the conducted literature review in the next chapter of the research study.

In the literature review chapter, the researcher has studied various policies and their impact in the oil and gas industry operating in the United Kingdom. The researcher was able to gather efficient knowledge about the various environmental laws and legislations followed in United Kingdom that has significant impact in the operation of oil and gas industries operating both onshore and offshore in the United Kingdom. The government of the United Kingdom has developed various laws and regulations for controlling the carbon content of the business procedure to develop a sustainable living. In spite of the various legal rules and regulations, every individual oil and gas company need to follow some safety procedures and standards for maintaining the operational excellence of the companies. The analyst has evaluated the key environmental policies and the reason for the potential conflict subject to oil and gas industries. Apart from that, the key differences between the UK’s and international oil and gas industries have impact on the environmental issues. Thus, the literature review conducted by the researcher has provided in-depth insight of the research topic.

Goal setting approach: UK should adopt a goal setting approach towards the environmental regulations that needs the operators to make sure as well as demonstrate to the regulators that the associated risks and threats related to the operations of oil and gas industries (Johansson 2013).

Distinctive capabilities: The industry should incorporate the capability to deliver against the specific priorities and develop the appropriate portfolio depending on the individual capabilities (Lockwood 2013). Furthermore, it is recommended to focus more on building strong relationship with the government, civil society, partners and others so as to enable operating in the countries across the world.

Clear priorities: The industry should focus more on running a reliable, safe as well as compliant operational strategy, which leads to better and improved operational efficiency as well as performance adequacy (Milligan 2014). The firms should shift their targets towards executing the competitive projects and adopt efficient methods to deliver projects. Besides, making disciplined financial choices focusing on capital and cost aspects would help UK industry to maximize free flow of cash as well as enhance the resilience of changing portfolio price environments.

One of the main limitations of the research was the limited amount of allocated time. Due to the time constraint associated with this study, it was not possible to continue taking the study into deeper roots and broaden the horizon in order to explore more into the major areas of concern. To be more precise, the researcher was allocated only one month to carry out the systematic process involved in the research method (Gioia, Corley and Hamilton 2013). Furthermore, the researcher methodology only followed a secondary approach towards the data collection and data analysis process. Most importantly, it was possible to extend the dimensions of the study if more time was given to conduct deeper and further study involving more areas associated and relevant to the topic of achieving the competitiveness by UK Oil and Gas industry and the environmental regulations impacts. Besides British Petroleum (BP), the research could further explore the major strategies adopted by other different oil and gas companies, compare and contrast their individual environmental policies and competitive strategies.

The study can further be extended to incorporate a detailed evaluation and review of the other Oil and Gas companies in the UK, in order to properly understand the overall achievement of success in implementing the competitive strategies; along with an adequate assessment of the environmental laws and regulations and its impacts on achieving desired performance and efficiency in energy production as well as energy exploration activities. For this purpose, the study can be given additional time in order to research more in depth into the crucial matters of environmental regulations affecting the competitiveness of BP as well as other oil and gas companies (Robson and McCartan 2016). Therefore, the research can be made stronger by including primary data collection process and incorporating a questionnaire survey to the company operators of UK to know in detail the problem areas of implementing environmental strategies keeping adequately alignment and compliance with the laws and regulations.

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