Oil& Gas Journal，August 7，1989
Original as appeared in Oil & Gas Jounal can be viewed below , posted 2010-1-16
The first onshore production-sharing contract awarded by the Chinese has been concluded, demonstrating that a Chinese and western partner can work side by side and achieve major goals within budget.
The Australian operator, CSR Orient Oil Pet Ltd., completed 1,200 km of seismic and drilled six wells in their lease on northern Hainan Island. Results on northern Hainan Island resulted were not commercial for the foreign consortium ,primarily due to relatively small finds of no existing industry infrastructure, but certainly it was shown that in a country where there has been a lot of disillusionment, operations can be successfully conducted if management is adapted to the unique local conditions.
CSR knew they were on a winning management system after the first few days of seismic production. At first, local oil industry officials claimed that the seismic production rate would be the same as previous domestic operations – until it was realized that the new operation could attain 100km/month, not per year the operator’s administration manager John Coulter, who managed three previous oil projects in China, and speaks Chinese，summarized the adaptive style as follows:
- All local employees were paid directly and in effect, managed by the operator. This was a sensitive issue but, based on the experience of other projects, was critical to success. Local employees only receive about $30 out of the several hundred dollars paid as monthly fees to the labor unit. Negotiations with labor supply organizations took several months resulting in a carefully designed system of cash food allowances, production bonuses, and responsibility awards which worked very well. In essence, on a monthly expenditure commitment of about $400,000, an extra $15,000 turned the normal disinterest in productivity and maintenance into an operation where foreign equipment and technicians were almost never held up by local personnel.
- Seismic land operations through intensive cultivation proved to be a challenge. Initially the Chinese partner intended to organize permitting of farmland and damage compensation. But the first seismic lines were in an area where even the Chinese partners were treated as foreigners, unable to speak the dialect. CSR recruited individuals to represent their operations who were able to talk directly to farmers, and thus quickly resolve impasses. A complicated but cheap system of compensation and equipment protection was evolved Antagonism on previous domestic seismic operations had been so bad that cables had to be gathered each night and laid out next day (5 hr of each work day). The main problems had been poor communications between city oil industry bureaucrats and the farmers, and misappropriation of compensation payments.
- Within a month of setting up office in China, the operator had indentified a organizations and key personnel with capacity to influence the project, an with capacity to influence the project, and compiled a chart showing this information. This chart showing this information. This chart proved invaluable in locating the project’s position within a large and complicated bureaucracy at the national, provincial. And county levels, and pinpointing which linkages and personnel were to be pursued to tackle each problem. As one field manager expressed it, without an understanding of the network, a lot of time could be of the network, a lot of time could be wasted dealing with the wrong officials.
4. The operator politely but firmly resisted attempts made at the establishment stage by the Chinese partner to override the contract and take over control of operations.
Specific examples of attempts made were:
- Coersion to sign operational procedure documents which effectively handed over control;
- Designation of local officials to set out and enforce production targets;
- Use of Chinese language business cards and publications indicating Chinese control..
The standard contract text gives the operator reasonable rights, and it simply requires resilience to not relinquish any aspect of those rights. There were occasions when intercession from the partner’s superiors was sought out to defend those rights.
5. The operator took a pragmatic view of assurances that local power, fuel, transport, sites, buildings, food, and peripheral services such as heath would be provided at the right standards and on time. In some cases the local inputs were excellent, in other cases unacceptable, requiring alternative planning.
6. Foreign staff were screened for temperament, on the proven axiom that patience and tolerance are prerequisites for working in China. Staff and spouses were well briefed before setting in, and went through basic language training.
by John Coulter, China Trade Report, February, 1983
Original as published can be viewed below at 2009-9-23
THE joint venture between Geosource of the United States, a seismic oil exploration company, and the Chinese oil industry has ended its first year of operation with both sides much the wiser. The three-year project is designed to introduce modern seismic techniques in the Qaidam Basin of northwest China.
In view of China’s urgent need for oil to fulfill development goal, and the proven record of the US-based multinational, both partners had high hopes of success. The Chinese side hoped for about 10,000kms of geophysical across-section maps of possible oilfields, plus a massive transfer of operating, maintenance and repair technology, while Geosource anticipated close to a third profit on this investment and an edge have been serious shortfalls on all counts.
As was later revealed, the QPC was not unanimously convinced of a need for much of the imported equipment nor the foreign specialists. The QPC seismic exploration unit, hoping to avoid “contamination” from the foreigners, set up a special group in a distant town to handle them.
The QPC seismic exploration unit has four field crews, each of several hundred workers, using mainly domestically manufactured equipment (though the vital field electronics are made by a Geosource subsidiary).These local crews each log an average 20-50 kms a month except during winter when they close down.
Geosource undertook to provide three field crews, each consisting of about nine foreign experts and several-million US dollars-worth of high-technology equipment and machinery to be matched with about 100 local workers. Each crew guarantees to produce more than 100 kms a month, with provisions for adjustments for abnormalities such as bad weather and strikes.
The targets are generally being met, but with excessive depreciation of equipment and a parallel impact on the morale and health of project staff.
Soon after 40 foreign technicians, mechanics and administrators assembled in Lenghu, west Qinghai, with their US$12 million-worth of vehicles, instruments and equipment, problems became apparent.
Helicopter service was one of the earliest problems. After being told years ago by Geosource that helicopter support would be needed to explore the oil-rich Huatugou sedimentary range, the Chinese insisted on buying and operating their own aircraft.
When the time came to put the field crew to work, the CAAC pilots and service personnel turned out to be completely outside the control of foreign and Chinese crew managers. They disobeyed reasonable instructions, took hours meals and on one occasion left Geosource and QPC personnel in the mountains overnight in below-freezing conditions because the pilot flew to a nearby town without permission.
The Chinese Government lost several monthly US$250.000 free payments because of the helicopter snafu. Fortunately for the project, in October last year, after standing by for several months, the helicopter unit returned with a new leader and a new attitude – and has worked well since.
Problems also arose as a result of false images the two sides have of one another. The Chinese expected a foreign expert to be a man of propriety consonant with his formal qualifications. They were not prepared to deal with a western seismic oilman and his penchant for nose-thumbing at bureaucracy and officials.
The foreigners were equally ill-prepared for dealing with the Chinese. From the “rednecks” to the managerial types, they all expected labour on relations to be excellent, based on their experience with industrious Overseas Chinese and their image of the communist system as disciplined and honest.
In fact much of the labour on the project was unskilled and unwilling. Qinghai desert workers seem to be rejects from other places, and possibly the worst of these were assigned to work with the “foreign devils.”
In a typical labour incident, a young and inexperienced but over-confident Chinese driver might climb into a new, expensive and complex drill vehicle and start doing something obviously wrong – say, bog it in sand then over-rev it and crash the gears.
Theoretically, the leaders on both sides have now agreed, the Geosource mechanical supervisor should call on an interpreter to instruct the driver to operate the vehicle correctly. In practice, interpreters are often unavailable. What is likely of occur is a shouting and key-snatching match, and at worst, some manhandling, followed by a shutdown, reports and “criticism.”
The Geosource man, with his professional provide, with explain his side – “when I hear that noise, I know something is going to give within seconds – last month 11 differentials on this kind of vehicle were damaged because of ignorant abuse.” The Chinese boss, defending his driver, is likely to reply: “But the foreigner swore at him. In China after Liberation, workers are masters of their own destiny!”
As yet there is no bonus system, nor any way to promote or fire workers. Labourers in the field receive about RMB 160 a month. This seems high compared with east coast wages, but in fact it is the same as salary received by colleagues working in the parent unit not involved with foreigners who work eight hours a day rather than 10, six days a week rather than seven, and rest for most of the winter months.
Workers sent to work with Geosource are further from home, in rougher terrain and have a higher productivity. Team and crew leaders get the same as workers so there is little enthusiasm for responsibility.
One progressive-minded QPC area manager agreed to a wage system structured on responsibility and productivity. Workers heard of the system and became excited. Two deadlines for starting the new system passed by. Finally the director of QPC, who is politically important enough to have attended the 12th party congress, came to the field and denounced the scheme as anti-socialist. Relations with the workers after that worsened.
Geosource agreed to underwrite the resupply of spare parts which resulted in enormous costs, especially last winter when workers may have sabotaged equipment in order to stay indoors. Houston headquarters responded by sending in tougher managers to meet the Chinese head-on.
The new rationale behind day-to-day operations is that there is no point in worrying about the next contract if money cannot be made on this one.
In retrospect there was no easy way to find out the major problems without putting men and machines on the ground and getting fingers burnt. There are many clauses and operating procedures Geosource would now like to see in the contracts but they just did not occur to anyone until incidents actually occurred, ranging from a knifing and a handgun confrontation, to strikes, theft of foreigners’ belongings, equipment abuse, reckless use of dynamite, detonators and helicopters and drunkenness on the job.
Ironically, the hardnosed Texas oilmen and their rednecks were taken in. Said one, with his jaw set and lips tightened: “If we get another shot at a contract, we’ll be ready for ‘em.”
Until recently, the author worked as crew manager for Geosource’s Qinghai Project.
本文由壮歌德发表于《世界环境》2009年第一期
预测政治变革的难度远高于对气候变化的预测。一年前，谁将认为美国能源部部长将是诺贝尔物理学奖的得主——一位微生物学家和可更新能源的大力倡导者。直到一个月前，这个多才多艺的白宫首席科学家在华盛顿似乎一直都是被置若罔闻，不被关注。此时，美国即将为12月在哥本哈根举行的缔约国会议带来全新的科学的对《京都议定书》的政治授权，这将推动多数国家已经同意的《联合国气候变化框架公约》（UN Framework Convention on Climate Change)的合法化进程。这一举措的回报将是对能源效率，清洁发展，教育责任等多方面经济进程的推动。
令人难以置信的是，这种变化的推动力——什么扭转了局面——是已经发生的金融危机。事后觉悟——谁将在6个月前预见到金融危机——金融危机是一场市场盘整，告诉我们什么是重新回到现实所需要的。
布什是一个主张自由市场经济的囚徒。但对于自由市场经济有一点需要反思。这个理论是由亚当斯密在1776年完成的《国富论》（The Wealth of Nations）中提出的，阐述了利己主义在社会经济发展中的影响。屠夫和面包师工作的目的是为了他们自己的利益，这并没有政府的规划，市场便自动生产符合消费者需求的产品。精彩吗！正确吗！这是布什理解的自由市场经济。
但是，对亚当斯密自由市场经济的理解有必要考虑到其提出的背景。亚当斯密在他对经济学的贡献之前，就已经因其著作《道德情操论》（The Theory of Moral Sentiments）而众所周知。事实上，道德情操论是其经济理论的先驱。首先，它只是一种理论。其次，假定道德。第三，它假定情感。难道亚当斯密可以接受只是让他人的500亿美元凭空消失的伯纳德·马多夫（Bernie Madoff）？史密斯是一个假定道德的苏格兰绅士。在《道德情操论》中他假设他的理论的堕落者将离开监狱，很少知道那晚了两个世纪的那些将篡夺他的宗教信条的自身权益。
从理论上说，最初，这笔钱被期望作为商品和服务使用以方便易货贸易。但是，纵观历史，尤其是21世纪，它不仅本末倒置，而且已经被建造成隐藏其真正经济价值的拥有数十亿美元金字塔的海市蜃楼，然当这不可避免的终将消失。
奥巴马已经将科学精神和科学的重要性带回到了最能影响世界的经济体制管理中，美国在过去已经催生出许多杰出的科学家，但却不让他们参与政治。第一张地球的照片是在阿波罗飞船准备登月前拍摄的，它促使肯尼斯.鲍尔丁在宇宙飞船上写下一篇诗歌散文，感谢这里没有60亿人的指挥，而是在这的人已经意识到什么资源可被利用，之后又应丢弃在何处。从太空俯瞰地球，我们已经做的的确还是非常有限的。
奥巴马并不知道他已陷入何种局面，但是有一个每个化学家都知道的却被政治家，经济学家，金融专家每天宣传反对的事实。事实的真相就存在于守恒定律之中。在全球范围内，增长是不存在的。英格兰在财富，钻石，黄金，金属方面的增长是以殖民地的牺牲为代价的。此外，在任何工业生产的进程中，化学所定义的产出包括经济学家所谓的浪费。这种化学家的视角被经济学家和政治家所忽视。他们鼓吹生产进程的“零排放”，这是不可能的，还有则广告确实向一辆排出废气的汽车索赔来提高空气质量。如今，全球累计有数以十亿吨的排放物——有害气体和被排放到河流及土壤中的工业废弃物。我们正在伤害我们共同的家园——这是200个国家和民族需要共同面对和解的问题。
英语中有一个德文词汇， weltansauung 。它是用来解释人们所理解的东西——人们的观点。字面含义是“世界观”。最糟糕的一类人是认为他们的财富同样是他们的权力，他们的世界应该拥有一所大房子，一辆双排的汽车和大量的玩具。在早期的历史中，weltansauung意味着一个人所看到和所经历的“世界”，而一个狭隘的世界观可能只代表一个社区的观点。经过鲍尔丁的散文，现在我们必须培养地球上的居民有一个整体的世界观，地球就是一个整体——让脆弱的宇宙飞船飞行在真空中，沐浴在阳光下。
于12月7日在哥本哈根举办的缔约方会议由美国新兴推动力占主导地位。经过长时间的忽视后，他们将在全球变暖问题上走在前面。制止肆无忌惮的消费被提上议程——我们不需要沙漠中的喷泉——拉斯维加斯。但是，再好的消息仍有待技术的探索和开发来帮助我们过上没有年燃烧180亿吨矿物燃料的体面生活。
具有讽刺意味的是，白宫科学家荷登（Holdren）刚刚与清华大学签署了一份为期三年的合同。我们不能指望现在经常见到他，但是在他的视野中肯定将中国看作美国京都议定书谈判的后续。荷登（Holdren）已经明白，最近的一次在华盛顿的演讲中，他总结到：
“没有能源，就没有经济。没有气候，就不存在环境。没有经济和环境事实上也就没有物质福利，没有民主社会，更没有个人，国家或整个国际安全。问题是一直以来我们得到经济所需的能源的方式正在摧毁我们赖以生存的环境气候.这是问题的根本。