Petroleum Business Review

Abstract Delay is an event that increases the completion time of a part of the project, which is one of the main problems in the executive projects of the country and causes an increase in project costs as well as damages. Project delays pose significant risks to the project that are dangerous for the project to continue. These risks are of particular importance in oil and gas projects. The purpose of this study is to identify and rank the risks related with delays in oil and gas projects. The present study is applied in terms of orientation and quantitative in terms of methodology. The statistical population of the study is managers and experts of risk and delay in oil and gas projects in the country. Among these people,15 people were selected as the sample by judgmental sampling method. For data collection, two questionnaires of expertise and prioritization were used, both of which had validity and reliability. In the first step, the risks associated with project delays were extracted by reviewing project risk and delay articles. In the next step, these risks were screened using the Binominal test.11 risks had a significance coefficient higher than 5% and were excluded from the calculations. The remaining 8 risks were prioritized using the Codas distance technique. According to the data of the relative evaluation matrix and the scores of each risk, the risks of sanctions, inflation, and lawsuits and complaints had the highest priority, respectively. Finally, research proposals were developed based on significant risks.

Abstract The oil and gas industry, as one of the most complex industries with unique characteristics, plays a vital role in the world's energy supply. In order to be present in this field, gain and maintain a competitive advantage, the actors of this industry are condemned to create, develop or acquire innovative technologies. With the change in the approach of companies active in the oil and gas industry compared to the past, intellectual achievements have been considered as a valuable asset and their support has become inevitable. Companies active in the field of oil and gas are well aware of the fact that obtaining maximum profits requires managing and supporting intellectual achievements and defining an intellectual property strategy aligned with the company's business goals. Therefore, each company defines its intellectual property strategy according to its role in the energy supply chain and operates based on it. Investigating the cost and profit of intellectual assets are two important criteria in determining the appropriate strategy of an oil company.

Abstract Having a strong and capable crew is one of the primary desires of any organization. The organization’s prosperity depends on such individuals, and according to the resource-based approach, organizations with talented human resources have a competitive advantage because the possibility of imitating and copying such forces is zero for a competitor. Today the demand for talent is increasing. Organizations compete to obtain such resources and spend much money attracting and hiring them. A successful organization can identify and maintain talent using appropriate human resources systems. Value-based organization models are effective systems of talent management that have entered the talent management literature. This paper aims to review the literature related to the model of value-based organization with an emphasis on talent management in the National Iranian Gas Company. This is descriptive cross-sectional research that is practical in purpose and has a quantitative nature. The data analysis showed that organizational, group, spiritual, psychological, and social ethics should be prioritized to achieve improved talent management, individual values, and professionals. Paying attention to the values of talent and institutionalizing essential values, such as challenging work, continuous learning, maintaining self-esteem, and giving them independence and freedom, should be among the priorities of the National Iranian Gas Company

Abstract As one of the mother industries, the petrochemical industry is one of the essential pillars of development and the driving engine of various sectors of the country’s economy. This industry will achieve several important goals, such as increasing export income, expanding downstream sectors, creating jobs, and increasing GDP. This importance has been emphasized in the country’s upstream documents, such as the general policies of the resistance economy, focusing on developing petroleum refineries to prevent the vulnerability of oil and gas revenues by extending the value chain and increasing the export of these products. The current work aims to investigate the value chain of the petrochemical industry with the new approach of petrochemical refineries, as well as the pathology and evaluation of the current state of the chains mentioned above in the country with the descriptive research method and the library method using policy research. The research results show that the chain of petrochemical products with the approach of creating petrochemical refineries has relatively high advantages compared to focusing on chains with the traditional method.

Abstract This study aims to map the knowledge structure and elucidate the research trends related to the “sustainable supply chain” in the petrochemical industry. To this end, a total of 906 documents indexed in the Scopus database from 2000 to 2025 were collected and subjected to bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny tools. The results indicate that the scientific output in this field has experienced significant growth since 2010 and reached a maturity stage after 2019. Collaboration network analysis highlights the prominent role of the United States, the United Kingdom, and China in shaping the literature of this domain, alongside the gradually increasing contributions of countries such as Iran, Malaysia, and Brazil. Co-occurrence analysis of keywords reveals several established thematic clusters and interdisciplinary linkages among engineering, management, and environmental studies. By providing a comprehensive overview of the intellectual, conceptual, and social structure of the field, the findings of this study can serve as a foundation for guiding future research and supporting practical decision-making aimed at enhancing sustainability in the petrochemical supply chain.

Abstract This article examines public liability and administrative accountability for environmental and climate risks and harms in Iran’s oil and gas sector. It explains how recurrent harms, including oil pollution, industrial accidents, and chronic air-quality crises, are intensified by regulatory omissions and fragmented institutional mandates. The study clarifies when governmental bodies and state-owned operators may bear responsibility not only for polluting conduct, but also for failures of prevention, supervision, and timely response. Using doctrinal legal analysis combined with institutional governance analysis, it maps the interaction between constitutional and statutory environmental duties, civil and criminal liability tools, and administrative-law mechanisms for challenging unlawful inaction. The findings suggest that Iran’s framework contains significant formal safeguards, yet accountability is often weakened by overlapping competences, under-enforcement, and evidentiary barriers in proving omission-based causation and attribution. Judicial review of administrative inaction provides an important corrective, but it rarely suffices to internalize environmental costs or deter systematic negligence. Drawing brief comparative insights, the article argues that effective governance requires clearer allocation of duties, enforceable standards of diligence for public authorities, and credible oversight capable of triggering corrective action before harm becomes irreversible. It proposes targeted reforms, notably codifying a “public duty of care,” strengthening coordination and transparency, widening access to remedies against manifest non-performance, and establishing an independent oversight function to reduce blame-shifting and improve compliance. To avoid conceptual overbreadth, the article distinguishes direct oil-and-gas environmental incidents from air-pollution and climate-related harms, using the latter only where they illuminate the common problem of omission-based public accountability.

Abstract : Organizational performance is an important factor of the success of companies, organizations and businesses. Adapting an organizational model which fits appropriately with the context of an organization further increases the performance and in turn increases the success rate of that firm. Though there have been propositions for the adaption of certain universal frameworks, they aren't generally applicable to all organizations; the oil and gas industry, displaying unique organizational features requires a specific model to tend to its extreme conditions. This paper proposes customizing Weisbord's Six-Box Model (WSBM) in the context of the oil and gas industry, reviewing the unique organizational conditions of the oil and gas industry and the proper components required for an organizational model to measure the compatibility of the WSBM with the oil and gas industry. The findings depict a contextualized WSBM, the potential benefits of the WSBM and the challenges facing the adaption of the model into the oil and gas industry.

Abstract In the context of the energy transition and increasingly stringent climate policies, understanding oil demand requires a product-specific perspective that goes beyond aggregate indicators. This study examines naphtha, a key feedstock linking the refining and petrochemical sectors, and analyzes the factors associated with its demand across ten major oil-consuming countries during 2000–2024. Using long-term panel data, naphtha prices are first modeled as a function of crude oil prices through an ARMA specification, after which a naphtha demand equation is estimated with cross-section fixed effects and a lagged dependent variable. The results indicate that naphtha demand is significantly associated with economic growth and downstream petrochemical product prices, especially olefins and aromatics. The positive and statistically significant lagged demand term suggests persistence and gradual adjustment in consumption, consistent with structural inertia in petrochemical feedstock use. Overall, the findings suggest that the energy transition may reshape the composition of oil demand rather than lead to a uniform decline across all petroleum products. The results provide policy-relevant insights for product-specific energy-transition strategies, refinery reconfiguration, and refinery–petrochemical integration, while underscoring that the estimated relationships should be interpreted as conditional associations rather than causal effects.

Abstract The Strait of Hormuz, as one of the world’s most strategic energy chokepoints, plays a vital role in the maritime trade of crude oil and natural gas, and many Asian economies are heavily dependent on it. Following the onset of the 2026 tensions and conflicts, vessel traffic in the strait has sharply declined, with more than 95% of shipping flows disrupted. Daily vessel crossings have dropped from several per day to nearly zero, with only a few limited transits permitted under special authorization. The absence of effective alternative routes—especially for countries reliant on energy exports through this passage—has placed significant pressure on global markets and heightened concerns about the stability of supply. Under such circumstances, Asian markets, the primary destination for oil and gas passing through Hormuz, face the greatest vulnerability. If this situation persists, rising transportation costs and escalating geopolitical risks could seriously challenge the stability of the global energy market. The geopolitical importance of the strait means that any disruption extends far beyond the region, producing immediate consequences for energy and financial markets as well as national economies. For energy exporters, this results in reduced foreign‑exchange revenues, while energy importers face higher costs, inflationary pressures, and slower economic growth. Utilizing an analytical–descriptive approach and a multilayer scenario‑building framework

Abstract Iran’s oil refining industry, which serves as the backbone of the national economy and supplies over 95% of domestic transportation fuel requirements, is situated at the intersection of geopolitical challenges, global energy transition dynamics, and increasing environmental pressures. Adopting a foresight studies approach, this research identifies and analyzes the strategic drivers and uncertainties that will influence the design and development of Iran’s petroleum refineries through 2050. Utilizing a mixed-methods methodology encompassing a systematic literature review, analysis of international reports (OPEC, Shell, IEA), macro-level (PESTEL) and micro-level (Porter’s Five Forces) analyses, semi-structured expert interviews, and MICMAC (Matrix of Cross-Impact Multiplications Applied to a Classification) structural analysis, 34 key factors were extracted and ranked. The findings indicate that foreign policy, domestic governance, demographic trends, global energy transition, emerging technologies in the oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors, environmental policies and regulations, and domestic consumption patterns are the eight principal drivers steering the system. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the confluence of environmental pressures (decarbonization, stringent environmental regulations), shifting demand patterns toward petrochemical products, and restricted access to advanced technologies owing to sanctions reinforces the strategic imperative to transform conventional refineries into integrated “petro-refinery” complexes. This study provides a dynamic roadmap for policymakers and industry leaders to enhance sectoral resilience, decarbonization, and global competitiveness through integrated petro-refineries, novel technologies, and smart governance while capitalizing on opportunities arising from the eastward shift of global energy gravity.