text:
Last Updated: May 23, 2013 (Notes)
full report
Emerging oil and gas developments in East Africa
Although oil and natural gas exploration has been going on for decades in various East African countries, there has been limited success until recently. In the past there were doubts about the amount of recoverable resources in the region, along with regional and civil conflicts that presented challenges and risks to foreign companies. Consequently, exploration activities in East Africa have evolved at a much slower pace relative to other African regions. However, the pace of exploration activity has recently picked up after foreign oil and gas companies made a series of sizable discoveries in several East African countries.
This new regional analysis covers emerging developments in the oil and gas sectors in five East African countries: Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Madagascar. The larger area that EIA considers as East Africa (see Africa by region map) includes 21 countries. In this region, almost all of the oil production comes from Sudan and South Sudan, which are not covered in this report because they are mature oil producers.
Among the countries with emerging oil and gas developments, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Madagascar have shown the most progress toward commercial development of newly discovered resources in recent years. Uganda and Madagascar will most likely be the next new oil producers on the continent. Mozambique will probably be the first country in East Africa to develop the capability to export liquefied natural gas (LNG), possibly followed by Tanzania.
Although progress toward commercial development of hydrocarbon resources in Kenya has been modest, the country plays a vital role in the region as an oil transit hub, particularly for oil products coming into the region. Kenya is planning to expand its role by embarking on a multi-million dollar investment to increase its midstream and downstream capacity.
|Notable oil & gas discoveries
|Proposed infrastructure
|32-65 Tcf of recoverable gas resources in Area 1 (Anadarko) and 75 Tcf gas in place in Area 4 (Eni)
|LNG Plant and supporting infrastructure
|Anadarko and Eni
|More than 20 Tcf of recoverable gas resources in Blocks 1-4
|LNG Plant and supporting infrastructure
|BG Group, Statoil, Ophir Energy, ExxonMobil, Aminex
|18 commercially viable oil and gas fields from 2006 to 2011
|oil refinery in Uganda and export pipeline via Kenya
|Tullow, Total, CNOOC
|Ngamia-1 and Twiga South-1 oil wells in 2012
|new reversible product pipeline to Uganda; replace Mombasa to Nairobi product pipeline; increase capacity at Mombasa Port; LAPSSET project
|Heavy oil at the Tsimiroro field
|oil pipeline from Tsimiroro to the coast; oil export terminal; supporting infrastructure
|Madagascar Oil
|The information above is current as of April 2013.
The "Companies" category only includes those that made notable oil and gas discoveries or are currently leading activities. CNOOC is China National Offshore Oil Corporation.
Source: Tullow, Total, Madagascar Oil, Anadarko, Eni, BG Group, Statoil, Aminex, Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Pipeline Company, Rystad Energy,Global Insight, PFC Energy, Oil & Gas Journal, and Energy
Currently, oil and gas production and proved reserves are limited in East Africa. In comparison to other regions on the continent, East Africa produced the least amount of oil in 2012, was the second smallest gas producer in 2011, held the second lowest level of proved oil and gas reserves as of January 1, 2013, and had the second lowest crude oil refinery capacity in 2012, given the latest available estimates.
Almost all of East Africa's oil production derives from Sudan and South Sudan, which was substantially curtailed in 2012 because South Sudan shut in all of its production for almost the entire year. Although Sudan and South Sudan are important energy producers in the region, they are not covered in this report because they are mature oil producers, rather than emerging exploration and development areas.
In 2012, total oil production in East Africa, other than Sudan and South Sudan, was less than 1,000 barrels per day (bbl/d), all of which was biofuels production from various countries. Also, with the exception of Sudan and South Sudan, there are no crude oil producers in the region, and only two countries held proved oil reserves as of January 1, 2013: Uganda (2.5 billion barrels) and Ethiopia (430 million barrels). East Africa holds 8 percent of the continent's total crude oil refinery capacity, which is located in Sudan, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, and Eritrea. Mozambique and Tanzania are the only natural gas producers, with an output of 135 billion cubic feet (Bcf) and 30 Bcf of dry natural gas in 2011, respectively. Proved natural gas reserves are held in Mozambique, Sudan and South Sudan, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Somalia.
|Oil1 production 2012
(thousand bbl/d)
|Proved crude oil reserves2 2013
(billion barrels)
|Dry natural gas
production 2011 (Bcf)
|Proved natural gas
reserves2 2013 (Tcf)
|Crude oil refinery capacity 2012
(thousand bbl/d)
|East Africa3
|Southern Africa4
|West Africa
|Central Africa
|North Africa
|Total Africa
|1. "Oil" encompasses crude oil, lease condensate, natural gas plant liquids, biofuels, coal-to-liquids, gas-to-liquids, and refinery processing gain.
2. Crude oil and natural gas proved reserves are as of January 1, 2013.
3. Almost all of East Africa's oil production comes from Sudan and South Sudan. In previous years, East Africa's total oil production was higher, but South Sudan shut-in all of its production in 2012.
4. Proven crude oil reserves in Southern Africa are 0.015 billion barrels, all of which is held in South Africa.
Units are in thousand barrels per day (000 bbl/d), billion cubic feet (Bcf), and trillion cubic feet (Tcf).
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration and Oil & Gas Journal
Natural gas developments: Mozambique and Tanzania
Mozambique has large onshore and offshore sedimentary basins that contain hydrocarbon resources. International oil companies (IOCs) began hydrocarbon exploration in Mozambique in 1948. Currently, the country has four proved gas fields, all located onshore in the Mozambique basin: Pande, Buzi, Temane, and Inhassoro, according to the Petroleum Institute of Mozambique. Total proved natural gas reserves in Mozambique were 4.5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), as of January 1, 2013, according to the Oil & Gas Journal (OGJ). Mozambique does not have proved crude oil reserves.
In 2011, Mozambique produced 135 Bcf of dry natural gas from the Pande and Temane fields, which are both operated by Sasol, a South African energy and chemicals company. Most of the dry natural gas produced in Mozambique was exported (117 Bcf) to South Africa via the 535-mile Sasol Petroleum International Gas Pipeline, and the remainder was domestically consumed (18 Bcf).
The consulting firm ICF International was tasked by the World Bank and the Mozambican government to draft a gas master plan for Mozambique. In the draft, released August 2012, ICF provided its assessment of discovered and undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in seven regions believed to contain oil and gas deposits. According to the assessment, Mozambique contains almost 46.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or 279.9 Tcf equivalent, of discovered and undiscovered oil and gas resources. More than 70 percent of these resources are in the Rovuma offshore north region, which also contains the recent discoveries made by Anadarko and Eni.
|Region name
|Total assessed
|Total assessed
(3P) (Tcfe)
(3P) (Tcfe)
|Rovuma offshore north
|Rovuma offshore south
|Rovuma onshore
|Central offshore
|South offshore
|Maniamba basin onshore
|South and west onshore
|Units are in million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) and trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe).
Discovered plus undiscovered equals total assessed.
3P is defined as proven plus probable plus possible resources.
Mozambique's natural gas producing fields, Pande and Temane, are in the south and west onshore region.
Anadarko's Area 1 and Eni's Area 4 are in the Rovuma offshore north region.
Source: ICF International, Natural Gas Plan for Mozambique: Draft Final Executive Summary (August, 2012)
Recent offshore natural gas discoveries
Since 2010, there have been a series of natural gas discoveries in the offshore Rovuma basin that are large enough to support LNG projects. Anadarko and Eni have led exploration activities in their offshore license areas called Area 1 and Area 4. The U.S-based Anadarko operates and owns Area 1, with a 36.5 percent stake, in partnership with Mitsui E&P (20 percent), Mozambique's Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH, 15 percent), BPCL Ventures (10 percent), Videocon (10 percent), and PTT Exploration and Production (8.5 percent). Eni operates Area 4 and owns a 50 percent interest, in partnership with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) (20 percent), GalpEnergia (10 percent), Kogas (10 percent), and ENH (10 percent).
Area 1 contains the Prosperidade Complex, which also straddles across Area 4, and the Golfinho/Atum Complex, which lies entirely in Area 1. The first major discovery in the offshore Rovuma basin was the Windjammer exploration well, made by Anadarko in February 2010, which set the stage for the next dozen discoveries that followed. According to Anadarko, the Prosperidade and Golfinho/Atum Complexes hold about 17-30 Tcf and 15-35 Tcf of recoverable gas resources, respectively. Area 4 holds the Mamba Complex, which also straddles across Area 1, and the Coral finds, which lie wholly in Area 4. The Mamba Complex and the Coral finds contain roughly 62 Tcf and 13 Tcf of gas in place, respectively, according to Eni.
It is unclear what portion of Anadarko and Eni's resource estimates are economically viable because the two companies report estimates as recoverable resources and gas in place, respectively. Both companies have not yet publically stated reserve estimates for their discoveries and have not indicated the amount that is commercially viable. Thus, resource estimates will likely change as appraisal drilling continues and reserve certification is completed.
|Discovery date
|Recoverable gas resources
|Gas in place
|Prosperidade Complex operated by Anadarko
|Area 1
|Feb. 2010
|17-30 Tcf in total
|Area 1
|Oct. 2010
|Area 1
|Nov. 2010
|Area 1
|Feb. 2011
|Area 1
|Aug. 2011
|Area 1
|Oct. 2011
|Area 1
|Nov. 2011
|Area 1
|Jan. 2012
|Area 1
|Feb. 2012
|Area 1
|Apr. 2012
|Golfinho/Atum Complex operated by Anadarko
|Area 1
|May 2012
|15-35 Tcf in total
|Area 1
|June 2012
|Area 1
|July 2012
|Mamba Complex operated by Eni
|Area 4
|Mamba South-1
|Oct. 2011
|62 Tcf in total
|Area 4
|Mamba North
|Feb. 2012
|Area 4
|Mamba Northeast-1
|Mar. 2012
|Area 4
|Mamba Northeast-2
|Aug. 2012
|Area 4
|Mamba South-2
|Dec. 2012
|Coral finds operated by Eni
|Area 4
|May 2012
|13 Tcf in total
|Area 4
|Dec. 2012
|Area 4
|Feb. 2013
|The resource estimates will likely change as appraisal drilling continues and reserve certification is completed.
Gas in place is the volume of gas in a reservoir and includes both recoverable and non-recoverable gas.
The Prosperidade complex extends into license Area 4, while the Mamba Complex extends into license Area
Source: Anadarko, Eni, PFC Energy, and Oil & Gas Journal
Because the Prosperidade and Mamba Complexes straddle the boundaries of Area 1 and 4, unitization (joint development of reserves that are under separate licenses) between the overlapping areas of the complexes is required under Mozambican law. In December 2012, the Anadarko and Eni signed a Heads of Agreement in which the companies agreed to conduct a separate but coordinated exploration program in the license areas. They also agreed to jointly construct an onshore LNG facility at Afungi Park in the Cabo Delgado province of northern Mozambique, which could cost a total of $50 billion, according to IHS Global Insight.
Anadarko and its partners awarded front-end engineering and design (FEED) contracts for the development of four 5 million tons per annum (MMtpa) LNG trains, including 10 million MMtpa for Area 1 and 10 MMtpa for Area 4, according to Anadarko's 2012 annual report. Anadarko expects to start selling LNG in 2018, and anticipates that production will reach full operational capacity by 2030-32.
Some industry analysts are skeptical that Mozambique can deliver its first cargo in 2018 and estimate that first LNG will be produced closer to 2020. The onshore LNG site will require a tanker loading facility and substantial onshore infrastructure, according to PFC Energy, which may delay the anticipated start date.
Anadarko and Eni may also build separate LNG facilities that use natural gas produced in the Golfinho/Atum and Coral areas, which do not require unitization. Eni recently submitted development plans to build a floating LNG facility (FLNG) in Area 4, but it did not specify which discoveries would feed the facility, according to IHS Global Insight.
Eni divested 20 percent of its 70-percent stake in Area 4 to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in March 2013. CNPC also gained a 28.57-percent stake in Eni's subsidiary Eni East Africa. Anadarko and its India-based partner Videocon are also seeking to sell a combined 20-percent stake of Area 1. The main companies that are rumored to be in the running are: Shell, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) of India, ExxonMobil, and PetroChina, a unit of CNPC. Shell had placed a bid for an 8.5-percent stake in Area 1 in 2012 but then withdrew and it was awarded to Thailand-based PTTEP. The chairman of Mozambique's National Petroleum Institute has expressed that Shell would be a strong contender given its LNG experience.
Sector regulation
The National Petroleum Institute (INP) is Mozambique's regulatory authority for oil and gas exploration and production. The Petroleum Law is the legislation that governs oil and gas activities in Mozambique. The country is in the midst of revising the Petroleum Law, which will encompass fiscal and legislative changes. The country will delay the next licensing round until the changes to the law are adopted. According to IHS Global Insight, there are rumors that the fiscal regime may be relaxed, but local content requirements and state participation are expected to be increased.
Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) is Mozambique's national oil company and is 100 percent owned by the state. ENH owns a 15-percent stake in Area 1 and 10-percent stake in Area 4.
Oil and gas exploration has been intermittently conducted in Tanzania for the last 60 years. Natural gas discoveries were made at Songo Songo Island and Mnazi Bay in 1974 and 1982, respectively, by Eni's subsidiary AGIP (Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli). However, it took three decades to achieve the first gas production in Tanzania. Currently, the Songo Songo gas field is the only fully producing gas field in Tanzania, but this may change in the near future if full-scale production at the Mnazi Bay Concession begins as expected. Tanzania had 230 million cubic feet of proved natural gas reserves as of January 1, 2013, according to OGJ. Tanzania does not have proved crude oil reserves.
Natural gas production
The Songo Songo gas field is located on and offshore of Songo Songo Island, located off the coast of Tanzania. Orca Exploration, the field's current operator, acquired the field in 1991. Commercial production commenced in 2004 and the first gas was delivered to Tanzania's capitol city, Dar es Salaam, via pipeline that same year. In 2011, the Songo Songo field produced 30.7 Bcf of gross natural gas, all of which was domestically consumed. The gas produced at the Songo Songo field fueled more than 70 percent of Tanzania's electricity generation, according to Orca Exploration's 2011 annual report. The company plans to expand gas processing infrastructure and production at the field this year to meet growing domestic power demand.
Orca Exploration believes that natural gas production can be substantially expanded at Songo Songo Island in the future. The company recently discovered sizable gas resources in the northern part of the Songo Songo field, which has not yet been exploited. Orca estimates that combined total recoverable resources at the Songo Songo producing field and the Songo Songo North discovery exceed 1 Tcf of recoverable natural gas resources, as of December 31, 2011. However, the resource estimates have not been proven to be commercially or economically viable. The company is exploring the west section of the field as well.
The Mnazi Bay Concession is located in coastal, south-eastern Tanzania in the Rovuma basin and contains two gas fields, Mnazi Bay and Msimbati. One of the five wells in the concession, MB-1, is already producing gas at a rate of 1.7-2.0 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). This gas is transported via a 17-mile pipeline to the Mtwara Power Plant where it generates electricity for local communities, according to one of the concession's partners Wentworth Resources. The concession is operated by Maurel & Prom (48.06 percent), and production interest is held by Wentworth Resources (31.94 percent) and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (20 percent).
Full-scale gas production at the Mnazi Bay Concession is expected to start once the planned 331-mile Mnazi Bay to Dar es Salaam Gas Pipeline is constructed. Wentworth Resources announced in November 2012 that construction had begun and completion is anticipated in 18 months. China's Export-Import Bank is funding the project. The concession partners plan to pump 80 MMcf/d of dry natural gas through the pipeline, which would later increase to 200 MMcf/d. However, the pipeline's construction has received backlash from local communities, and its feasibility was recently questioned by Wentworth Resources.
Recent offshore natural gas discoveries
Over the last three years, a string of natural gas discoveries have boosted Tanzania's potential to become a natural gas exporter. Like Mozambique, Tanzania lacks export infrastructure for gas transportation and processing, so much will have to be done if companies follow through with LNG development. It also is unclear how much natural gas will be earmarked for domestic consumption once commercial production begins. Tanzanian offshore discoveries are sizably smaller than Mozambique. Commercial development of the new offshore discoveries will likely start years after its neighboring country.
The BG Group (United Kingdom), in partnership with Ophir Energy (United Kingdom), and Statoil (Norway), in partnership with ExxonMobil (United States), are leading exploration activities in offshore Tanzania. BG and Ophir have made seven discoveries in Blocks 1, 3, and 4, while Statoil and ExxonMobil have made four discoveries in Block 2. United Kingdom-based Aminex, in partnership with Solo Oil, discovered a natural gas and condensate field in 2012 at the onshore Rovuma license. Aminex is currently accepting bids to sell a portion of its license.
|Discovery date
|Recoverable gas resources
|Gas in place
|Blocks 1, 3, 4 owned by BG Group (60%) and Ophir Energy (40%)
|Block 1
|Apr. 2011
|10+ Tcf in total
|Block 1
|Jodari field
|Mar. 2010
|Block 1
|May 2012
|Block 1
|Feb. 2013
|Block 3
|Aug. 2012
|Block 4
|Oct. 2010
|Block 4
|Dec. 2010
|Block 2 owned by Statoil (65%) and ExxonMobil (35%)
|Block 2
|Feb. 2012
|10-13 Tcf in total
|15-17 Tcf in total
|Block 2
|June 2012
|Block 2
|Dec. 2012
|Block 2
|Mar. 2013
|Ntorya field owned by Aminex (75%) and Solo Oil (25%)
|Ruvuma PSA
|Feb. 2012
|1.2 Tcf
|The resource estimates will likely change as appraisal drilling continues and reserve certification is completed.
Gas in place is the volume of gas in a reservoir and includes both recoverable and non-recoverable gas.
Source: BG Group, Ophir Energy, Statoil, Aminex, and Global Insight
The BG Group and Statoil have had the most success in offshore Tanzania thus far, each finding more than 10 Tcf of recoverable gas resources. News reports indicate that Statoil and BG plan to jointly develop an LNG plant.
Similar to Anadarko and Eni in Mozambique, the BG Group and Statoil have not publically released a reserve estimate for their discoveries, so it is unclear what portion of the discovered resources are economically viable to extract from the ground. Resource estimates will likely change as appraisal drilling continues and reserve certification is completed.
Sector regulation
The Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) is a state corporation, under the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, that implements petroleum exploration and development policies. TPDC's objectives are to explore and produce petroleum and participate in oil and gas production with IOCs. It acts as the country's national oil and gas company and currently has an equity stake in the Mnazi Bay gas development projects.
Tanzania is working to finalize gas policies and regulations, which will be encompassed in a new Gas Master Plan and the downstream-focused Natural Gas Act. The government issued a draft natural gas policy for stakeholders to review on November 1, 2012, according to Orca Exploration. The draft suggests a possible restructuring of TPDC and an expansion of its role across the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors. The draft also promotes the expansion of the midstream and downstream sectors by developing facilities for natural gas processing, liquefaction, transportation, storage, and distribution. The draft gas master plan may also emphasize a preference for the domestic market over exports, according to an article by the Financial Times.
TPDC expects the Gas Master Plan and the Natural Gas Act to be finalized this year, which may be followed by a licensing round. Bidding terms and block details for the licensing round will most likely be released after the new Exploration and Production Bill, replacing the current laws and regulations, is passed.
Meanwhile, TPDC is continuing its review of terms held in oil and gas exploration contracts. The review began in the second half of 2012 and was part of the government's broader goal of replacing antiquated regulations. According to IHS Global Insight, the new contract terms will include higher oil and gas production royalties and a larger state participation requirement, which is a trend in other East African countries seeking to benefit from new commercial discoveries and growing reserve estimates. The changes to contract terms, coupled with the revisions to regulations and laws, adds to the uncertainty that companies currently doing business or planning to enter Tanzania are facing.
Mozambique and Tanzania: Additional considerations
One of the biggest uncertainties that Mozambique and Tanzania face is the global LNG market up to and beyond 2020. Previous estimates from the energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie showed an oversupply of LNG by 2020, as global LNG supply surpassed demand by about 100 MMtpa. Similarly, IHS Cera's long-term global LNG outlook forecasts that global liquefaction capacity will continue to exceed demand, with the gap widening in 2017 and onwards. On the other hand, Chevron projects that global LNG demand will outstrip supply by about 120 MMtpa by 2025, resulting in a supply shortfall.
The growth of global liquefaction capacity and demand will depend on many factors, some of which are still uncertain and will most likely become clearer toward the end of this decade. Some of these factors include: shale gas supply growth in North America and China, growth in liquefaction capacity in various regions (particularly in North America, Australia, the Middle East, and East Africa), regional LNG demand growth (particularly in Asia), the expansion of LNG in transportation sectors in various countries, fuel price differentials, the expansion of technologies and infrastructure, and several others.
Given these uncertainties, some analysts believe that project start-dates will be crucial for new LNG producers such as Mozambique and Tanzania because various LNG projects in different parts of the world are expected to come online over the next decade. Market analysts have also warned that Mozambique and Tanzania should focus on securing long-term LNG contracts and/or sell stakes in their LNG projects to Asian investors that are big LNG buyers, which could support Eni's reason for divesting a stake in its Mozambique license to CNPC.
Some Asian companies have been in talks with Anadarko and its partners over future LNG sales such as Japan's Osaka Gas and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), Japan's largest gas consumer. But securing contracts now will depend on the production start-up dates and pricing. TEPCO, in cooperation with Tokyo Gas, is seeking a price that is indexed to the U.S. Henry Hub price, because long-term LNG off-take agreements are traditionally linked to crude oil prices, making the price for LNG more expensive.
Mozambican LNG is lean (predominantly methane with small quantities of ethane with a low heating value). According to IHS Global Insight, Asian buyers have traditionally favored rich LNG with a high heating value from Australia, but TEPCO's long-term contracts for rich-LNG will expire in 2018-2019. TEPCO is looking to replace some contracts with future purchases of lean LNG and is planning to build new storage facilities for lean LNG at some LNG terminals at Tokyo Bay, according to news reports.
Alternative markets
Amid uncertainties surrounding global LNG demand, Mozambique and Tanzania are looking at different ways to monetize their natural gas alongside LNG development. Eni has said it is considering domestic and regional markets to sell a portion of its gas supply, either in the form of compressed natural gas (CNG) for transportation or natural gas for power generation. In Tanzania, there is already a modest CNG market in Dar es Salaam. CNG fuels industries and hotels and is available for trucks and buses. Tanzania also has expressed plans to expand gas-fired plants to decrease its reliance on hydropower, which has been affected by droughts in the past. In Mozambique's draft gas master plan, ICF International identified potential domestic industries that could use natural gas, outside of LNG and power generation, which would offer Mozambique opportunities to start domestic value-added industries. One possibility is methanol plants, as methanol is a feedstock to several industrial chemicals and is a major market in China. Another industry is fertilizer production, which ICF international suggests could be sold locally and regionally. European demand for gas-to-liquids (GTL) is also strong, where it can substitute for higher-cost diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel, according to ICF. Mozambique has already hinted at building a GTL facility that may be backed by Sasol, one of the world's largest GTL operators. Nonetheless, similar to LNG, risks still exist in all of these industries, mainly related to global over-supply, energy prices, and large capital investments.
South Africa is also looking to decrease its reliance on coal, and it hopes to increase its purchases of natural gas from Mozambique once offshore production commences.
Oil developments: Uganda, Kenya, and Madagascar
Oil exploration in Uganda dates back to the early 1920s after oil seeps were reported along the shores of Lake Albert, according to the country's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. Exploration activities slowed for most of the century, mainly because of political instability but restarted in the 1980s. In 2006, the first commercial oil discovery was made in the Lake Albert Rift basin at the Mputa-1 well, and discoveries soon followed at the Waraga-1 and Nzizi wells. Since then, over 50 wells were drilled at the Lake Albert Rift basin, and the vast majority encountered oil. Successful well appraisals have boosted Uganda's proved crude oil reserves from zero in 2010 to 2.5 billion barrels as of January 1, 2013, according to OGJ. In addition, the country contains 500 Bcf of proved natural gas reserves, which are also located in the Lake Albert area.
The oil companies currently leading exploration and development in Uganda are the UK-based Tullow, Paris-based Total, and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). In 2011, Tullow sold part of its stakes in its four blocks (1, 1A, 2, and 3A), which are all located in the Lake Albert Rift basin. Tullow, Total, and CNOOC now each own a third of each block. Total is the operator of Block 1 and 1A, Tullow of Block 2, and CNOOC of Block 3A. The companies are currently embarking on extensive drilling and appraisal programs to confirm commercial viability at well discoveries, which could ultimately boost the country's proven oil reserves (Tullow's Exploration and Appraisal Program 2013).
|Field status
|Mputa 1
|Awaiting development approval
|Block 2
|Nzizi 1
|Awaiting development approval
|Block 2
|Waraga 1
|Awaiting development approval
|Block 2
|Block 1/1A
|Awaiting development approval
|Block 3
|Gunya 1
|Block 1/1A
|Jobi East 1
|Block 1/1A
|Ngiri 1
|Block 1/1A
|Kasamene 1
|Block 2
|Kigogole 1
|Block 2
|Ngassa 2ST
|Block 2
|Nsoga 1
|Block 2
|Ngege 1
|Block 2
|Taitai 1
|Block 2
|Wahrindi 1
|Block 2
|Mpyo 1
|Block 1/1A
|Karuka 1
|Block 2
|Ngara 1
|Block 2
|Source: Tullow, Total, Rystad Energy, and IHS Edin
Oil production outlook
The start of oil production in Uganda will largely depend on when infrastructure to process and transport the crude oil is completed. Initial output will most likely be used to power local electricity plants, according to Tullow. Small-scale oil production is expected to first come from the Mputa and Waraga fields and small-scale gas production from the Nzizi field. Full-scale oil production is expected to start in 2017, a year later than previously anticipated, according to Total.
The Ugandan government and Total and CNOOC recently reached an agreement to build a 30,000-bbl/d oil refinery, instead of the 180,000-bbl/d refinery that the government wanted. The agreement marks the end of a lengthy dispute that delayed the start of oil production. Nonetheless, the government and the consortium (Total, Tullow, and CNOOC) still have to decide on daily production levels and the export pipeline route. The government prefers a gradual ramp-up and lower peak output to slow the depletion of reserves, while the consortium favors production ramping up quickly and peaking at 200,000 bbl/d or more by 2020, according to reports from the Eurasia Group and IHS Global Insight. The consortium has studied three export pipeline routes: via Kenya's Mombasa terminal, via Kenya's Lamu terminal, and via Tanzania's Dar es Salaam port. The routes through Kenya are seen as more viable than the route through Tanzania. But the viability of the route through Lamu will depend on whether the Kenyan government follows through on its plans to develop the port and terminal at Lamu.
Sector regulation and development
Uganda's National Oil and Gas Policy was enacted in 2008, and the Parliament recently passed two bills to operationalize the policy: the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Bill and the Petroleum, Refining, Conversion, Transmission, and Midstream Storage Bill. The purpose of the bills is to establish the framework and institutions to regulate upstream, midstream, and downstream petroleum activities. The Petroleum Bill established a Petroleum Authority and a National Oil Company (NOC) and outlined the functions of the Ministry of Energy. The Petroleum Bill had sparked debate in Uganda's Parliament over whether the bill granted too much authority to the Ministry of Energy, particularly regarding the discretion to grant and revoke licenses. Despite the debate, the Ministry of Energy was granted those discretionary powers, among several others.
According to the Petroleum Bill, the Ministry of Energy is responsible for granting and revoking licenses (and may also open new areas for licensing), developing and implementing oil and gas policy, issuing regulation, approving field development plans, and negotiating petroleum agreements. The Petroleum Authority is in charge of monitoring and regulating petroleum activities, and it oversees the review and approval process for exploration plans and budgets submitted by a licensee. The Petroleum Authority is also expected to advise the Ministry during negotiations of petroleum agreements and provide them with recommendations during the approval process for field development plans submitted by investors. Regarding the midstream and downstream sectors, the Petroleum Authority is responsible for monitoring and regulating petroleum refining, gas processing and conversion, transportation, and storage. The Petroleum Bill also established the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to oversee environmental regulations in oil and gas activities.
Under the Petroleum Bill, the NOC is authorized to manage the state's commercial interests and participation in petroleum activities and administer joint venture contracts. The bill also authorizes the NOC to pursue upstream, midstream, and downstream ventures locally, and later internationally. The bill imposes some local content requirements. Companies are expected to give preferences to Ugandan goods and services, unless imported goods or services provide the company with better quality and timeliness in availability. Entities must submit plans for the recruitment and training of Ugandans in all phases of petroleum activities.
Kenya has a history of oil exploration dating back to the 1950s. However, most of the wells that were drilled in the past came up dry. After decades of disappointing results, investments in Kenyan hydrocarbon exploration waned until 2010 when offshore gas finds in Mozambique and Tanzania and onshore oil finds in Uganda attracted investors back to Kenya. Exploration is currently being conducted in Kenya's four sedimentary basins: Lamu (both onshore and offshore), Lokichar (Mandera), Anza, and Tertiary Rift.
In 2012, Tullow, in partnership with Africa Oil and Marathon, discovered oil at Ngamia-1 in Block 10BB and Twiga South-1 in Block 13T in the onshore Lokichar basin. According to Tullow, the Ngamia-1 find exceeded expectations and decreased the risk of pursuing other prospects in the southern part of the Lokichar basin. Tullow will test flow rates at the two wells and continue exploration activities in the area to determine whether the finds will be commercially viable. Apache also discovered gas at the offshore Mbawa-1 well; however, Apache has since plugged the well after failing to find commercial quantities of natural gas or crude oil.
Oil production outlook
With just two recent notable oil finds, it is still highly uncertain when Kenya will begin commercial production. Local officials have projected that oil production could start in another six years, but this is very optimistic because the country is still unsure of the size of proved reserves and the commercial viability of finds. As of January 1, 2013, Kenya does not have any proved crude oil or natural gas reserves, according to OGJ.
Sector regulation
Kenya's Ministry of Energy is in charge of oil and gas exploration and upstream regulation. The ministry oversees the service delivery of state companies, such as the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK), Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) Limited, and Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL). The Minister is also the licensing authority and has the power to make licensing regulations, although in practice NOCK acts as the licensing authority and negotiates with foreign companies, according to IHS Global Insight.
Foreign companies exploring in Kenya operate under a production-sharing contract (PSC), in which the government can participate through NOCK. Companies are contractually obligated to give 25 percent of their block back to the government after two years if it is located onshore, and after three years if it is offshore. The rule is meant to encourage exploration in block areas that are not being explored. PSCs also contain an obligation for domestic supply of oil and gas.
Midstream and downstream oil infrastructure
The Mombasa Port, which is managed and operated by the Kenya Ports Authority, serves international trade to and from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and South Sudan. The port comprises the Kilindini Harbour, Port Reitz, and the Old Port and is the country's largest seaport.
Crude oil is one of Mombasa Port's main imports, and the port has two oil terminals and one refinery to receive and process the crude. The Kipevu Oil Terminal is located in the Port Reitz area and can accommodate crude oil tankers up to 100,000 deadweight tons (dwt) while the Shimanzi Oil Terminal can hold vessels up to 30,000 dwt. The Mombasa refinery is one of the largest petroleum refineries in East Africa and has a nameplate capacity of 90,000 bbl/d, with a throughput of almost 35,000 bbl/d in 2011. The refinery processes heavy crude from Abu Dhabi and other heavy Middle-Eastern crude grades. In 2011, Kenya imported around 35,000 bbl/d of crude oil entirely from the United Arab Emirates, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), as reported by Global Trade Atlas (GTA). About 75 percent is processed into fuel oil, light diesel (gas oil), kerosene, and jet/turbo fuel.
Kenya also imports refined oil products, mainly from the Middle East and Asia. The country imported around 56,000 bbl/d of refined oil products in 2011, according to KNBS, as reported by GTA. Most of the products are sold in Kenya's major cities, and the remainder is exported to nearby countries. Kenya has a product pipeline system that transports petroleum products inland. Kenya's first product pipeline, the Mombasa to Nairobi pipeline, came online in 1978 and began supplying petroleum products to western Kenya. To enhance the supply to other parts of Kenya and nearby countries, KPC constructed the Western Kenya Pipeline Extension (WKPE), which runs from Nairobi to Nakuru, Eldoret, and Kisumu.
In 2012, KPC announced that it planned to replace the aging 280-mile Mombasa to Nairobi pipeline, which is estimated to cost $300 million. The pipeline is in poor condition and requires maintenance work. The growth of petroleum product demand in Kenya and nearby countries has placed pressure on the pipeline system, and the throughput has greatly surpassed its initial flow. In 2009, total throughput for the Mombasa to Nairobi and WKPE system increased to its highest level of 75,000 bbl/d, according to data from KPC. More than half of the petroleum products are destined for Nairobi and consumed by the city's major centers, such as the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Proposed oil infrastructure projects
In addition to replacing the Mombasa to Nairobi pipeline, Kenya is also embarking on a host of new infrastructure projects that extend out to nearby countries. Kenya hopes that these planned projects will strengthen its role as a regional oil transit hub.
KPA is embarking on a multi-million dollar investment to improve the productivity and throughput capacity at the Mombasa Port. The country anticipates that increased demand for goods in Kenya and nearby countries, coupled with new oil transit pipelines from Uganda and possibly South Sudan, will increase port activity in the coming years. Currently, the port handles about 19.6 tons of cargo, of which 14 million tons was imported by Kenya and about 5 million tons was in transit from nearby countries, according to KPA. Uganda accounts for most of the regional transit, making up 80 percent of the 5 million tons.
Kenya is also working with Uganda to extend the Nairobi-to-Eldoret pipeline to Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The current 218-mile Nairobi to Eldoret product pipeline terminates at Eldoret in western Kenya. The plan is to connect the pipeline to a new reversible 220-mile pipeline that travels to Kampala, which will have the ability to change the direction of its flow to transport products to Eldoret from Kampala as well. The contract to construct the pipeline was originally awarded to Libya's Tamoil, but the company was not able to fulfill its contract, and it was cancelled by the Kenyan and Ugandan government. Both governments are currently reviewing new bids from interested investors. The pipeline may be extended to Rwanda in the future.
The country also launched the Lamu Port and South Sudan and Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) project in 2012 and has begun preliminary construction of some of its components. The LAPSSET project includes the construction of: a new deepwater port in Lamu, a 120,000-bbl/d oil refinery at the port, pipelines from Lamu to Ethiopia and South Sudan to Lamu, a LAPSSET highway, and a railway line. According to the project's progress report, most of the components have not been implemented yet, and some are behind schedule. For example, the target date to complete the oil refinery is 2015; however, construction has not yet started.
Other proposed pipeline projects are the Nairobi-to-Arusha (Tanzania) pipeline and the Lake Albert (Uganda)-to-Kenyan Coast pipeline. The Nairobi-to-Arusha proposed pipeline would supply oil from Kenya's Turkana County, once commercial production began, to Tanzania. The Lake Albert-to-Kenyan Coast proposed export pipeline would monetize oil production from the Lake Albert Rift basin.
Oil and gas exploration in Madagascar has been going on for over 100 years, mainly in the Morondava basin. The country's most promising asset, the Tsimiroro oil field, was discovered almost a century ago, but prior to 2008 it was believed to contain only 300 million barrels of heavy crude oil, so it was deemed not commercially viable. However, an extensive drilling campaign, coupled with a method to heat the heavy crude known as cyclic steam stimulation (CSS), has boosted Tsimiroro's current estimate to 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil resources, according to the field's operator Madagascar Oil.
Madagascar also holds large oil sands deposits (petroleum deposits of bitumen also known as tar sands). The Bemolanga Project, also situated in the Morondava basin, contains 2 billion barrels of bitumen deposits in place. In 2009, Total and Madagascar Oil were exploring plans to embark on a capital-intensive mining project to extract the oil, but the companies decided that it would not be economically viable because a low recovery rate of 12 percent was expected.
The Manambolo, Morondava, and Manandaza licenses, which are located onshore to the south of Tsimiroro and Bemolanga, are also believed to hold oil and gas resources ranging from 240 to 500 million barrels, according to Madagascar Oil, the owner of the three licenses. Out of the three licenses, the Manandaza is believed to be the most promising because light oil was once discovered; however, the well was considered non-commercial after only 10 barrels of oil flowed from a very poor reservoir. Madagascar Oil continues to conduct geologic studies on the area to assess its potential.
The offshore Morondava basin is also believed to contain large untapped deposits of hydrocarbons, according to an assessment by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). USGS estimates that the mean technically recoverable resources that are undiscovered in the offshore Morondava basin are: 10.8 billion barrels of oil, 167 Tcf of natural gas, and 5 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.
Oil production outlook
Madagascar Oil expects to start small-scale production at the Tsimiroro field sometime in 2013 as part of a steam flood pilot project. Heavy crude oil production from the pilot project is anticipated to peak at the end of 2013 or early 2014 at 1,200 bbl/d. The purpose of the 25-well pilot project is to test the commerciality of the field under a steam-flood recovery method in which steam will be used to heat the oil underground and change its viscosity before it is extracted. The steam-flood method is expected to deliver a recovery factor of about 70 percent, which is much higher than the CSS recovery factor of around 16 percent, according to Madagascar Oil.
Assuming that the pilot program is successful, Madagascar Oil anticipates commercial oil production at Tsimiroro will commence in 2019 and eventually ramp up to its peak production of 150,000-160,000 bbl/d. The company estimates that the cost of fully developing the field will be $1.5 billion, most of which will go towards building an export terminal on site, a pipeline to transport the oil to the coast, a marine terminal, and an offshore mooring facility. Tsimiroro's production profile and development costs will most likely be revised once the steam-flood pilot project is completed and Madagascar Oil has a clearer picture of the field's potential.
Sector regulation
The Office of National Mines and Strategic Industries (OMNIS) is in charge of the upstream hydrocarbon sector. OMNIS is a state-owned entity under the authority of the Prime Minister and supervision of the Ministry of Energy and Mines. The Petroleum Code outlines the regulations for exploration, production, and transportation of liquid, as well as solid and gaseous hydrocarbons in Madagascar. OMNIS grants exploration, production, and transportation permits to foreign oil companies, which are subject to a royalty tax that could range from 8 to 20 percent, a direct hydrocarbon income tax, and other taxes.
In 2011, Madagascar Oil concluded a dispute with the Malagasy government over the validity of the Tsimiroro field and the Manambolo, Morondava, and Manandaza exploration licenses. The dispute began in December 2010 when the government indicated interest in acquiring Madagascar Oil's assets, excluding the Bemolanga field, which the company considered to be the government's attempt to expropriate its oil assets. A few months later, Madagascar Oil declared force majeure under the four PSCs in order to safeguard its rights under those agreements during arbitration with the government. In June 2011, the dispute over the Tsimiroro field was resolved once the government approved a work program for the field, hence acknowledging the validity of the company's PSC. Almost a year later, all outstanding issues were resolved, and the company resumed work at the exploration blocks in April 2012.
- Data presented in the text are the most recent available as of May 23, 2013.
- Data are EIA estimates unless otherwise noted.
Afroil: Africa Oil and Gas Monitor (Newsbase)
BG Group
Energy Intelligence Group
Eurasia Group
Global Trade Atlas
ICF International
IHS Cera
IHS Edin
IHS Global Insight
Kenya Ministry of Energy
Kenya Pipeline Company
Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited
Kenya Ports Authority
Madagascar Oil
Mirabaud Securities
National Oil Corporation of Kenya
National Petroleum Institute (Tanzania)
Oil & Gas Journal
Orca Exploration
PFC Energy
Rystad Energy
Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation
Uganda Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development
U.S. Energy Information Administration
U.S. Geological Survey
Wentworth Resources
Wood Mackenzie


text:
The IOC is looking into the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's case against Lance Armstrong to see if there is enough evidence to open an investigation that could result in the stripping of Olympic medals.
IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau tells The Associated Press that the Olympic body is reviewing the USADA report "together will all related documentation."
Armstrong won the bronze medal in the time trial at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
U.S. & World
Moreau says it is "premature" to say whether the IOC is considering measures but "should we come across any evidence that would justify opening a disciplinary procedure, we would of course act accordingly."
USADA issued a 200-page report Wednesday explaining its reasons for stripping Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles. The report accused Armstrong of being at the center of a sophisticated doping scheme.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
This Foundation was established in October 1995 by the generous benefaction of Mr George Hermon Slade AM. Its primary object is to "...advance and enhance the progress and harmony of mankind with the Earth through the study and application of Natural Sciences".
Believing that if there is a way better than another, it is the way of nature, Mr Hermon Slade has sought to encourage the pursuit of excellence in scientific research, particularly on topics which are designed to improve the ways in which individuals and communities interact with their natural environments.
In seeking to achieve this ideal, the Foundation provides support, on a competitive basis, for three types of activity.
The Foundation seeks to complement, rather than compete with, other funding bodies. Experience has shown that modest support can be particularly effective if used as seed money to initiate projects, which may subsequently expand and attract major funding from other sources. Foundation grants have also supported specific components of large projects financed primarily by other agencies.
The Foundation is managed by a Board of Trustees which has appointed a Research Committee to recommend to it the manner in which the income of the Trust fund might appropriately be applied in accordance with the aims of the Foundation.
Privately published by the Hermon Slade Raiatea Foundation in November 2007, this is a personal story of the family enterprise developed by the brothers Hermon and Russell Slade.
Australian industry has traditionally looked overseas for technology. The Polymer Story describes one family's determination to break that dependent mould. In building a company grounded in fundamental scientific understanding and original internal research, brothers Hermon and Russell Slade created an exception to the rule. The trading enterprise begun by their father in 1900 had, by mid century, become an innovative chemical manufacturer with diverse products: emulsifiers for food, cosmetics and textiles; plasticisers for lacquers and plastics; and synthetic resins for myriad applications - from paints to paper, from fishing lines to boats, from adhesives to keg linings. Called Polymer Corporation to denote the polymeric nature of its products, this company drew from the well of global science to create unique technological solutions to Australian industrial needs.
The book opens a window on a sector of the Australian chemical industry and reveals its participation in a major world-wide technological transformation.
Copies of this book may be purchased from the Foundation at a cost of AU$30.00 plus postage and handling. Click HERE to download order form.
Orchid images are taken from Flora Malesiana: Orchids of New Guinea Vols I & II'. World Biodiversity Database CD-ROM Series.


text:
Randy Bernard Interview – Part II
The stance I've always taken with this site is that I'm not a journalist – I'm a fan. If I were a journalist, I could have come up with my own questions for a meeting with INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard. Fortunately, the readers of this site were able to come up with some great ones last week when I posted that I needed some help. I needed questions in case I got another chance meeting with Randy Bernard at Barber Motorsports Park. Unbeknownst to me, Randy Bernard saw the article himself and had his staff contact me to set up a meeting for this past Sunday at Barber.
Susan Scruggs and I sat down with Randy before the race and presented questions from fans and readers of this site. The following is Part II of our conversation:
Given that you've created separate oval and non-oval championships, I imagine the intention is to keep the number of oval and non-oval races (roughly) equal. We've lost ovals and Japan is going away – if not this year, certainly next. Where will we find replacement ovals?
It's essential that we have more ovals. Bruton Smith still has more tracks and you know that Bruton and us, we have a great relationship. But ISC has more tracks too. They are a for-profit corporation, a publicly held corporation, and it is their obligation to their shareholders to try to work with us. If we can make a deal with one of their tracks – Phoenix is the one I want the most. If Phoenix isn't in the mix, I don't know if I'm interested in ISC tracks.
That ties into the next question: ISC tracks Michigan, Chicago & Phoenix are popular ovals mentioned. Have INDYCAR and ISC parted ways for good, or just temporarily. Selfishly, I want Nashville back on the schedule. What are the chances that any of these might find their way back on the schedule?
First of all, ISC and us have a good relationship. I've always been friends with Lisa Kennedy and I'm good friends with John Saunders, their Chief Operating Officer. Because of schedules and some of the presidents at some of their facilities, I didn't feel that there were some tracks that we wanted to play. That's not to say we won't play something in the near future, next year or the year after – I believe that we will. Because we all want the best for our sport, but we need to do it under our rules and how we want to see events promoted, marketed and sold.
Do you envision a time where the series will get back to more ovals than road/street courses; say a 60/40 split?
I never want to rule anything out. If we could get 50/50, that would be the ideal solution because then an oval racer doesn't have an advantage over a non-oval racer, but doing that might take two, three or four years. We have some ideas on how we can do this too. A balanced series has to be our ultimate goal. Not to say that we might not end up with two more non-ovals than ovals on a year, because we have to do what is in the best interest of the series, but it's our goal to keep it very balanced.
How many races will be on the 2012 schedule? And down the road, how many races maximum do you think INDYCAR should eventually race in a year?
I'm optimistic that we'll have eighteen races next year. I think that realistically, we'll have eight to ten new events wanting in our series. Now we'll have to sit down with their promoters and find out which ones will do the most for us, and which ones are the best for the series.
What are the plans to schedule some road courses that can actually offer passing – perhaps a slam against Barber – and are suited to a top-level open-wheel racing series (Road America, please!).
Well, first of all, I think that passing has to be important. Barber had fantastic crowds last year, but Barber was right in the middle of the pack of our events on passing last year. It wasn't the least place that had passing – it was right in the middle. So, with that – we think that as long as it's not the bottom event…if it were, if George Barber were sitting here today, I'd ask him to please give us some passing lanes, because I think it's essential…people don't want to come to boring races. You know, this isn't about a parade of cars and sometimes that's what it can turn into. So I think we'll be watching this pretty closely here.
On Road America – EVERYONE loves Road America. If everyone would buy a ticket that has told me about Road America, we'd sell more tickets than the Indy 500. But I don't know where they all go after we put something on sale [laughing]. So what we want to do right now is make the Milwaukee Mile successful. If that can be successful this year, you know maybe we rotate – we go one year at Road America, then one year at Milwaukee. Road America, George – they've been very aggressive. Everybody wants it. It would be a key race for us if we could figure out how to make it financially successful.
What are your plans for getting INDYCAR drivers back into the main media (i.e. commercials on ESPN, articles on websites like CBS Sports or Yahoo!, etc.) so that people other than hardcore INDYCAR fans know who Simona and Will Power are?
Will Power and Simona are two great examples of…you have to be a winner before America will embrace you and want to learn about you. If you look at any sport in the world, Americans especially want to see success and want to learn more about their success. The only one I can think of that probably became very famous with non-success would probably be the Jamaican bobsled team. So, I mean, if you look at any other instance – you can't make fictitious stars, they have to earn it. Once they start earning it, it makes it easier on us to get them accepted as stars. But if you're running twenty-fifth out there on the grid, don't expect to become a star because it's not going to happen, unless it's a controversy or something that's negative or a positive story. You know, there are some positive stories, but you're not going to become mainstream America without having significant success. If it's controversy – it's not going to last, typically. It's a fad.
Ahem…or Paul Tracy.
But you know, he's a winner. He has thirty-one wins. It's going to be fun to see if Dario can overtake Paul's thirty-one wins this year.
I think Paul Tracy is a great driver, or was in his day. I've been accused of being too hard on him on my site because I think his act has gotten a little old. But you don't have to comment on that.
All right, it's probably best [laughing].
Is anything in the works for people who cannot attend practice sessions to view online? Also what about the lack of coverage for international viewers?
Live streaming, unfortunately…INDYCAR has known for the last two years that they could pull live streaming at any point because it was always in the contract. I want to be the first one to say that when I was with PBR, we had the same contract. So I can't blame that on past management, because we had the same thing. I know how hard we fought for it at PBR and they're not giving in. It was something that – because of Comcast being such a big cable provider, the different cable affiliates out there demanded that they weren't going to be competing with on-line if they were going to be paying for the cable channel. The average Versus gets per home, is something like twenty-eight cents per home per month. You can't have your cake and eat it too on one of these things. If we wanted to be on a network and have prime-time live time, this is how these cable companies operate today.
You know, it really irritates me when I hear someone say that "content is king" and if you have content, you're going to be in great shape. That's B.S. GREAT content is king. The thing that these networks have understood is, as long as we control the great content, internet will never be able to take over, until they start spending hundreds of millions of dollars to compete with it. So I think that's what it boils down to – that this is one way that television can continue to be relevant in networks.
How can we solve long-term viewership issues due to scheduling? Case in point, this year the Barber Race is a 3PM EDT start on Versus, which already will be less exposure, plus it conflicts with the final round of The Masters.
If we can't stand on our own two feet, we're not considered a mainstream sport, in my opinion. We're always going to have competition whether it's Sundays and the NFL or whether it's The Masters or whether it's NASCAR. If we're going to look a sponsor in the eye and say "we're becoming a mainstream sport", then we need to say "Hey, we can stand on our own". So saying that, of course we'd like to try to make sure we can reach the biggest audience, but Versus is in seventy-five million homes. They've proven with NHL that they can do 3.5 or 3.9 ratings with NHL playoffs. So those people found the network, so we just have to do a better job of creating new fans. I would hope our fan base continues to promote our sport and help us grow it.
One reader wants me to please ask Randy Bernard if he realizes most IndyCar fans are fed up with ABC's coverage of the series and if he intends to re-up with them in the next television contract, or if he is leaning toward shopping the 500 and the series around.
It's interesting to hear the reaction of our fans on ABC. I think they did a pretty good job at St. Pete. I loved their opening. Their pre-race was fantastic. I also thought that they missed a couple of storylines. I thought they didn't give Simona the respect that she deserved, that she earned on that race. I felt that, possibly, they were trying to push Danica for no storyline. But for the most part, I gave it a B, as in boy, rating. I think that – can they do better? Yes. But I think that they've been a great partner for forty-six years covering the Indy 500, and out of respect for them – at least it's network coverage.
Now, am I going to shop it? I was brought into INDYCAR to do one thing; to do what's in the best interest of INDYCAR. Of course, we want to see what other opportunities are out there, and that we need to make sure that we take everything into account before we make a decision with one network or another. And that's not just financial. That's also how much are they going to market us, how many events they want. There's a lot of questions that go into it and we want to make sure that we reach out to everyone and give everyone a fair shot. We know that there is sincere interest from other networks, which is exciting – and they know that.
What has been the most frustrating thing about your job over the past year and what has been the most rewarding thing about it?
The frustrating thing is that every time you take two steps forward, there's always a major step backwards. There's always controversy from the standpoint that people demand answers now, and they don't want you to think it out and really come up with a solution – and that's not how I operate. I'll take as much time as I need and then make decisions. Because of that, I have to hear two to three weeks worth of complaining and griping and ripping me. A lot of it is behind closed doors, but I'm not the type of person that can be bought or persuaded – well, persuaded yes, if it's in the best interest of the sport. When I finish, whether it's five years from now, two years from now or ten years – I want to be the same way I was with the PBR – I want to be able to look in the mirror and say every decision I made was in the best interest of the sport. I didn't protect the top drivers in the series, I looked out for ALL the drivers in the series. I didn't protect the top owners in the series, I looked out for all of them. If I can do that at the end of this career, regardless how much I make, or anything, or how the series has done – I'll know I've done my job and I believe I can grow this sport by doing it that way. So, that is probably the biggest frustration – how everybody is so impulsive and wants a decision [snaps fingers] now.
I think that the other part of that, the most rewarding part is – I think – the ICONIC advisory committee was very rewarding. To see these seven gentlemen determine what the next step of our sport would be, and to shape the sport and to be a part of that. It was like getting thrown into the Harvard of motorsports. It was really fun and an educational process. When we started the process, I thought to myself and I told my wife "why couldn't I have come in after they decided what the next car was" [laughing]. But looking back on it, it was such a learning experience. I'm by no means an expert on engines or cars, and never will be. But one thing I did learn is that there are so many people that are. And there are so many people that have the best interest of the sport going for them – one of the biggest parts of my job is weeding through who has ulterior motives and who actually wants what's in the best interest of the sport.
I want to thank Randy Bernard for following through on his initial promise of thirteen months ago; to listen to the fans. I realize that I was very fortunate to be tabbed as one of several bloggers he has chosen to have conversations with during his tenure. Thanks to all that submitted questions. I'm sorry I couldn't include every single one. As always, thank you for reading Oilpressure.com.
George Phillips
20 Responses to "Randy Bernard Interview – Part II"
Very nicely done interview George…. Thanks….
George – You rock, my friend. This was so interesting! I LOVE that Mr. Bernard found out about your call-out for questions and then had someone seek you out. Does this sort of thing happen in any other sport?! Indycar is a unique fan-friendly family that I'm so happy follow!
Well done George! Thanks to you and whoever asked the question I never got around to asking. "Phoenix is the one I want the most. If Phoenix isn't in the mix, I don't know if I'm interested in ISC tracks." Sign me up now for 4 tickets in the Petty grandstand exiting turn 4! (Or maybe turn 1 in the shade)
Killer stuff, George. Seriously. Fab questions, well delivered, great answers.
Kinda felt you coulda pressured him more regarding practice sessions/qualification online (the sessions that aren't on tv!!), its hard to claim ABC/VS wants ppl to watch it on tv, when they don't air it…
I wondered about the non-televised portions, like practice sessions or qualifying when on ABC. Oh well, I'd imagine we're not the only who have complained!
Happy that a couple of my questions got tabbed, although I did try to go for broad questions that many of us wonder rather than being silly.
Wow, I really was shocked how he approached the Danica having no storyline deal, I am amazed that he would feel that way, maybe it is just the TV crew who has the Danica lovefest……
Thank you, sir. Excellent interview!
Wonderful interview George. Major kudos to you for conducting it and Randy for taking the time to meet with you.
Excellent interview, George. Great qustions from the fans. I know you had a blast doing it. Thanks for this insightful piece.
You, sir, are a rock star. We are not worthy!
Thanks George and thanks Randy for both the time and effort. A lot more postive responses than I had imagined.
Can you imagine Tony George ever contacting a blogger and inviting him into his private motor coach for an interview? I really appreciate Randy Benard's openess and willingness to talk. Good job George!
Do you just wear those blindingly white shoes once and then throw them away or are you incredibly fastidious about the cleanliness of your footwear?
(Just kidding, George–great job.)
great job!!! RB and George will help grow the sport…that is what we need: committed individuals who put the sport before any self interest!!!
Thank you George and Randy.
What an awesome job, George. Thanks so much for this–one of the best Q&As with RB I've seen.
Great job, George. Thanks to you and to Randy Bernard for doing this interview.
[…] Randy Bernard Interview Part 1 and Part 2 – Even if you are not a fan of IndyCar racing you should still read this interview. Randy […]
I was a bit confused with his take (or non-take) on your Nashville question. However while addressing ISC and stating that "without Phoenix" there is not a dea,l I can see that RB is on top of the series as well as very protective of it. I agree, too. Without Phoenix then it doesn't work. Regardless of ISC, though, I think he should take another look at Nashville. Maybe the Nashville GM will do a better job of grinding the track to accomodate side-by-side racing and more passing.


text:
Accepts gift cards
Accepts gift cards
{{item.start_date | date:'dd-MMM-yyyy'}} - {{item.end_date | date:'dd-MMM-yyyy'}}
Try a less specific search term, browse our website or call our centre on 0737258888 .
Browse all of our stores in alphabetical order or by category.
Mt Ommaney Centre is open seven days a week with extended trading on Thursday nights.
Mt Ommaney Centre located at 171 Dandenong Road, Mt Ommaney, QLD 4074.
Store opening times are subject to change. Please call the store before visiting.
By clicking "Sign up" below, I acknowledge that I've read and agreed to the Privacy Policy.


text:
SGI swings to a profit on sales jump
Fiscal Q2 beats expectations
Surprise, surprise. Supercomputer maker Silicon Graphics did more business than expected in its second quarter of fiscal 2011, which ended on December 24, 2010. And in an even bigger and more pleasant surprise, the company turned an honest-to-goodness profit.
In Q2, SGI had $177.5m in revenues, up 88.6 per cent. With research and development costs flat and with only modest increases in sales and marketing expenses, SGI shifted from an operating loss of $26.3m in the year-ago quarter to an operating profit of just under $9m.
After other expenses and paying taxes, SGI brought $3.7m to the bottom line, a big shift from the $23m loss it had in the second quarter of fiscal 2010. The company added a bit to its cash pile in the quarter, and ended December with $100.9m in the bank.
SGI likes to talk about its business on a non-GAAP basis to include some services and software revenues that are booked over time when it does deals. In the second quarter, SGI's non-GAAP revenues were $185.9m, up 22.7 per cent from the year-ago quarter. Hardware and software products accounted for $148.7m of that non-GAAP revenues from Q2, while services accounted for $37.2m.
In a conference call with Wall Street analysts, SGI president and CEO Mark Barrenechea said that storage represented about $26m of revenues in the quarter, which means that compute products - clusters of rack servers bearing the Rackable or ICE brands, and the Altix UV line of shared memory supers - accounted for around $111.5m. Barrenechea did not provide growth rates for its product sales or revenue figures by product line, but he did say that all product lines - Rackable, Altix ICE, Altix UV, and InfiniteStorage - all contributed to the revenue boost.
During the quarter, the US Postal Service, which has a cluster of Itanium-based Altix 4700s to do fraud detection on 170 billion pieces of mail each year, would be upgrading to the new Xeon 7500-based Altix UV servers to support the Oracle database behind the system. The US Army and the US Air Force also bought unspecified gear in big numbers, as did Microsoft and Amazon. (Amazon was SGI's one customer that accounted for more than 10 per cent of non-GAAP revenues, as it often is each quarter.) Carmaker Chrysler (in the process of being eaten by Fiat) has tapped SGI to build its next-generation of auto-design systems as well, Barrenechea said.
While SGI has diversified a bit, thanks in large part to being acquired by Rackable Systems 18 months ago, the public sector (mostly federal governments) accounted for 62 per cent of non-GAAP revenues, compared to 15 per cent for cloud/hyperscale datacenter operators, 6 per cent for manufacturers, and 5 per cent for telecom companies.
About 53 per cent of SGI's non-GAAP sales were in the United States, with the remaining near-half being for products and services pushed outside of America. About 29 per cent of SGI's non-GAAP revenues came from its partner channel, which includes 180 downstream partners as well as system integrators like Lockheed Martin that put SGI systems inside of the weapons and control systems it builds. The remaining sales were done by SGI's own direct sales force.
SGI now has 1,361 employees, up 62 people from a year ago, and certainly nothing like the revenue growth the company has had. Jim Wheat, SGI's chief financial officer, said that SGI had reduced its inventories, expanded the company, boosted sales, and remained debt-free while keeping a lid on headcount - something about which he was quite proud.
Looking ahead, SGI is raising its revenue guidance for fiscal 2011. Business was so good in the second quarter that the company now thinks it can do between $570m to $595m in non-GAAP revenues in fiscal 2011, up from the previous guidance of $550m to $575m. That works out to a sales bump of between $5m and $30m at the low and high point of guidance and indicates that SGI sees business slowing a bit after a bumper Q2.
That said, Wall Street will no doubt be pleased with SGI because the new guidance also is for SGI to be profitable for the 2011 fiscal year, not just at breakeven as it had been projecting a few months back.
Wheat said that SGI's forecast for fiscal 2012 and 2013 remained unchanged. The plan is for non-GAAP revenues to grow between 5 and 10 per cent on an annual basis, with operating expenses growing only 2 to 4 per cent – and for the company to be profitable.
It is not clear how much revenue SGI is hoping to get from its just-announced support for Microsoft's Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Hyper-V software on its Altix UV 100 and 1000 parallel, shared-memory boxes. ®
Sponsored: Beyond the Data Frontier


text:
Many are trying not to jump to too many conclusions too soon, but we could possibly see significant developments in curing babies of AIDS soon. That should be a first step towards finding cures for adult patients.
By RON WINSLOW (Wall Street Journal)
The report that a 2½-year- old Mississippi baby appears to be cured of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has provoked intense interest, excitement and some skepticism among AIDS researchers and the community at large.
The toddler's case, if confirmed in further research, could have important implications for treatment of more than 300,000 babies born with the virus each year—mostly in the developing world.
The baby is the second person ever documented to be cured of the virus during the 32-year global AIDS epidemic. The first, a man named Timothy Brown and known as the Berlin patient, was cured as an adult as a result of a bone-marrow transplant he received to treat his leukemia.
Here are answers to some questions raised by the report, which was disclosed Sunday and formally presented Monday at the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta.
Q. Beyond the report of the cure itself, what stands out about this case?
A. Two important details are these: The baby was started on a more aggressive regimen than normal—and within 31 hours of birth—well before test results that confirmed the HIV infection were available. Generally, doctors start with a lower dose and wait for confirmation of infection before starting such an intense regimen, something that can take four to six weeks. Researchers believe the rapid, aggressive treatment likely led to curing the child of the virus.
Second, the mother decided to take the baby off therapy, something a doctor would almost never do. When the baby was brought back for care after a hiatus of at least five months, standard tests were unable to detect any virus. "I fully expected to see that the child's viral load had gone up quite high," said Hannah Gay, the doctor at University of Mississippi Medical Center who started the baby on the intense regimen.
Q. This is just one case. Will this treatment strategy cure more babies?
A. Much more research is required to validate the finding before it could become part of standard treatment. Deborah Persaud, the researcher at Johns Hopkins Children's Center who is the lead author of the cure report, said further studies are now being planned to test the intense, very early treatment regimen in more infants. In addition, the baby will continue to be monitored for her HIV status.
If the findings hold up, the approach could significantly alter developing-world treatment of babies born with HIV, perhaps playing a major role in the global health community's goal of halting HIV infection of newborns. "This news gives us great hope that a cure for HIV in children is possible and could bring us one step closer to an AIDS-free generation," UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé said in a statement.
Q. What are the implications for people already diagnosed with HIV or who have progressed to developing AIDS?
A. It isn't clear how the new case applies to people with established infections. Such infections are characterized by "viral reservoirs" where HIV lurks in immune-system cells, hidden from treatment and ready to roar back when treatment stops. The latent reservoirs persist for years and are the major barrier to an overall cure of HIV and AIDS.
In the case of the baby, researchers believe the early treatment likely prevented the establishment of the reservoirs, which typically can form very quickly after exposure to HIV.
Q. So was the baby infected or was the infection prevented by the treatment?
A. Some researchers question whether the baby was truly infected. Cells in the baby "may have been infected—there was virus around," said Steven Deeks, an AIDS researcher at University of California at San Francisco. "But the cells being infected weren't the type that become long-lived reservoirs."
The key issue in prevention is reversing the effect of the latent reservoirs, Dr. Deeks said. "What is probably happening [in the Mississippi case] is that latency is being prevented, not reversed."
Q. Why do researchers think the baby was infected with HIV?
A. The baby tested positive for the virus based on five separate tests, including two taken within 31 hours after birth. After treatment began, levels of the virus gradually declined. At one month, the virus couldn't be detected by commonly used tests, an expected result based on the therapy she was given.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said, "They did the right things in their study." The findings are a "proof of concept" that very early treatment—before the viral reservoirs are established and before the immune system is damaged—could cure babies of the infection.
In any event, if the strategy is proven effective in additional studies, it likely wouldn't matter whether the infections were being prevented or just rooted out before they became established in the reservoirs, researchers said. Babies would still become free of infection.
Q. How would the strategy fit into current efforts to prevent infections among newborns?
A. The well-established approach is to treat infected pregnant women with antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy and during birth. That reduces the rate of mother-to-child transmission to under 2% from a range of 15% to 45%, according to the World Health Organization.
That's why WHO, UNAIDS and other public-health organizations have made providing pregnant mothers in the developing world with access to antiretroviral drugs the primary strategy in preventing mother-to-child transmission.
"We still need to focus on prevention," said University of Mississippi's Dr. Gay. "Prevention works and prevention is the best form of cure."


text:
How to Use
Map 1: General Sherman's march.
Questions for Map 1
1. Through which states did Sherman's army march? Which major cities did they capture?
2. Now concentrate on North Carolina. Locate Wilmington and Morehead City, both of which the Union had captured earlier in the war, and Goldsboro, which remained in Confederate hands.
3. Why would Sherman consider Goldsboro his primary objective in the state?
4. Why would the control of Wilmington and Morehead City have made the Union want to take Goldsboro even more?
* The map on this screen have a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi), and therefore will print poorly. You can obtain a high quality version of Map 1, but be aware that the file may take as much as two minutes to load with a 28.8K modem.


text:
Apparently this Microsoft patent has something to do with using mobile devices with the Kinect system or using mobile devices with kinect built-in or creating a Holopac with your Kinect phone? I really don't know. If Microsoft made a tablet with Kinect controls, that would be really awesome for mobile gaming, but I'm pretty sure that's not what's happening here. Let's theorize and/or clarify here so that I feel like less of an idiot. Thanks and God bless. [Engadget]
What In the Hell Is Microsoft Trying to Do With Kinect?


text:
Newly released development plans of Apple's proposed corporate campus, which will look like a galactic portal and will be bigger than the Pentagon, hint at the company's peculiar indifference to cars.
It may be somewhat pointless to analyze in painstaking detail architectural renderings which will undoubtedly morph and evolve by the time they are made into buildings in 2015. But Apple's proposal documents are rendered in painstaking detail, down to the last California wildflower, lens flare and sea-green linen blouse, so it may be interesting to see how they picture the cars their employees will be driving to work in four years from now, when the 2.8 million square foot campus is set to open for its proposed 13,000 inhabitants.
The complex will have underground parking and a free-standing four-story parking garage next to I–280, recessed one to three floors underground. For a company which has a tendency to destroy and recreate entire industries in its own image, the carscape is strangely bland and conservative. There are a number of pastel-colored Miatas—sensible for California—what looks like a Nissan 370Z and what I desperately hope is not a Chrysler Crossfire, a few Audi estates, BMW 5-Series, a smattering of generic black and maroon sedans. Tesla Roadsters are conspicuous by their complete absence. That's all. You get a sense that these are not car people.
High resolution PDF's of the plans may be downloaded from the City of Cupertino's website. If you manage to spot the parking space for Steve Jobs's black BMW R60/2 motorcycle, do post it in the comments.
Image Credit: Apple


text:
Oxford, United Kingdom
Devils in the Detail (Ltd) was formed in early 2012 by two former employees of a well-known UK Bookseller. We help sell company overstocks for a variety of clients from our warehouse in Oxford. We specialise in books predominantly but also have expertise in other retail areas, and our main objective is describing a product in the best possible detail to ensure the customer has a great shopping experience as well as offering great customer service. As they say The Devil is in the Detail!
Your satisfaction is very important to us and nobody likes bad feedback but we
are only human and sometimes things can go wrong. Any defects, damages, or
material differences with your item, must be reported to us within 7 days of
receipt of the item or 30 days from date of shipment. The returned merchandise
must be postmarked within 30 days of the shipment notification. Non-deliveries
must be reported within 30 days of Shipment Notification. Any items no longer
required may be returned at the b...
Orders usually ship within 2 business days. Shipping costs are based on books
weighing 2.2 LB, or 1 KG. If your book order is heavy or oversized, we may contact
you to let you know extra shipping is required.


text:
Caribe Camel
The Caribe Camel is handcrafted by artisans in Spain. Chic and elegant sandals from the beach to the work, this essential will give versatility to your looks.
- ◄Product Details
- Product Type: Espadrille
- Platform Height: 3.0 cm
- Material: Leather
- Color: Camel
- Best Selling
- Made in Spain
- ◄Sizing & Fit
Our shoes fit true to size but we know that getting the perfect fit can be difficult, especially online. Check out the following size chart to make sure.
We also offer FREE & EASY RETURNS in Europe, USA, Canada and Australia
Still unsure? CONTACT US
- ◄Returns
- FREE RETURNS are offered in Europe, United States, Canada, and Australia. Return requests must be made within 30 days of the date you make your order. For more details, see the full returns page.
- ◄Shipping Information
- We ship to all over the world from our warehouse located in SPAIN.
- Spain:
- Express: 24 hours
- Standard: 24-48 hours
- Rest of Europe:
- Express: 2-3 Business Days
- Standard: 3-4 Business Days
- Rest of the World:
- Express: 2-4 days business days


text:
- (Sp)-1-Diphenylphosphanyl-2-{(S)-[2-(diphenylphosphanyl)phenyl]hydroxymethyl}ferrocene (2008)
- The absolute configuration of the title compound, [Fe(C5H5)(C36H29OP2)], is Sp at the ferrocene group and S at the asymmetric C atom. Both P atoms have a trigonal-pyramidal conformation. There is a short intramolecular C-H...P contact with an H...P distance of 2.56 Å. The hydroxy group is involved in an intramolecular O-H...[pi]phenyl interaction. The crystal packing shows five very weak intermolecular C-H...[pi] contacts, with H...Cg distances between 3.26 and 3.39 Å (Cg is the centroid of a phenyl or cyclopentadienyl ring). Key indicators: single-crystal X-ray study; T = 162 K; mean σ(C–C) = 0.004 Å; R factor = 0.038; wR factor = 0.083; data-to-parameter ratio = 22.3.
- (Rp)-1-{(R)-(Dimethylamino)[2-(diphenylphosphanyl)phenyl]methyl}-2-(diphenylphosphanyl)ferrocene chloroform solvate (2008)
- The absolute configuration of the title molecule, [Fe(C5H5)(C38H34NP2)]·CHCl3, is R,Rp. The molecular structure is similar to the structure of the solvent-free compound [Fukuzawa, Yamamoto & Kikuchi (2007). J. Org. Chem. 72, 1514-1517], but some torsion angles about the P-Cphenyl bonds differ by up to 25°. The P atoms and the N atom have a distorted trigonal-pyramidal geometry. The chloroform solvate group donates a C-H...[pi] bond to the central benzene ring and is also involved in six intermolecular C-H...Cl contacts with H...Cl distances between 2.96 and 3.13 Å. Key indicators: single-crystal X-ray study; T = 163 K; mean σ(C–C) = 0.003 Å; R factor = 0.039; wR factor = 0.088; data-to-parameter ratio = 24.2.


text:
Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) fosters women's leadership to address climate change. The initiative carries out activities such as planting trees to sequester carbon and raises public awareness about climate change. Its programmes also enhance food security, alleviate poverty, teach women skills and create a healthier and more sustainable environment.
Fast facts:
- 4.2 million trees planted, with more than 1.5 million tonnes of carbon sequestered;
- 100 permaculture food gardening projects established;
- Thousands of women benefiting from FTFA's programmes every year.
Fostering women's leadership
FTFA implements six programmes that benefit thousands of women across South Africa each year: Trees for All, Trees for Homes, EduPlant, Food Gardens for Africa, Bamboo for All and FEED.
The six programmes enhance food security, respond to climate change, alleviate poverty, teach women skills and create a healthier and more sustainable environment. FTFA continues to innovate, adding new creative approaches to greening, sustainable natural resource management, behavioral change, and climate change mitigation, adaptation and awareness. Women's leadership is at the heart of FTFA's programmes. For example, the Trees for Homes, Trees for All, EduPlant and Food Gardens for Africa programmes are led by female programme managers, supported by female entrepreneurs and have a positive impact on women from South Africa's poorest communities.
Helping the planet
Since FTFA pioneered its work, there are now more carbon calculators, carbon assessors and climate change responders across South Africa. There are increasing numbers of organizations that are planting trees to mitigate climate change based on the FTFA model and developing permaculture training, educational material and gardens.
FTFA's pioneering work includes planting more than 4.2 million trees that have sequestered more than 1.5 million tonnes of carbon. In addition, FTFA's Bamboo for All and Trees for Homes programmes were the first in the world to be internationally recognized through the Verified Carbon Standard.
Helping people
FTFA delivers social, environmental and economic benefits to disadvantaged women across South Africa through community projects. These communities include thousands of schools, women's groups and other community organizations that planted millions of trees and created thousands of organic food gardens.
Spillover effect
FTFAs activities have increased every year since 1990. Various government departments have modelled their community work on FTFAs initiatives, illustrating the replicability of these activities. For example, a group of schools in Mexico area are already using a translated version of a FTFA booklet to raise awareness about climate change and mobilize for action by implementing FTFA's programmes.
Images owned by the activity partners, all rights reserved.


text:
This past summer, McGill Library staff members got together to participate in an exercise introduced at the 2014 E-Science Institute capstone event. Everyone was asked to come up with examples of services supporting the stages of the research lifecycle. Two brainstorming sessions were held and staff members were divided into groups on both occasions to facilitate discussions.
Although we took note of traditional and current services, the emphasis was on possible future library services supporting the research lifecycle stages: idea development, funding, proposal planning and writing, conducting and disseminating research.
Examples from the brainstorming sessions have been compiled and made available in a Google document. One of the themes throughout is the formation of partnerships with researchers and with other groups on campus, with services that aim to bring people and ideas together. There is also a focus on data management, from data collection, description, and archiving, to access and discovery, and the possibility of data management plan advising.
Please join in the discussion by sharing your ideas and comments with us.