American Transportation Awards recognize six regional projects

Six state departments of transportation projects have garnered regional America’s Transportation Awards accolades for stellar industry work.

The 11th annual competition, which is sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), Socrata, AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, recognized transportation projects in three categories: Quality of Life/Community Development, Best Use of Technology and Innovation, and Operations Excellence.

The Northeast region winners are the New Hampshire Department of Transportation’s NH Route 125 Reconstruction; Maryland Department of Transportation’s Upgrade of MD 404; Delaware Department of Transportation’s SR 1/SR 72 Diverging Diamond Interchange; Maryland Department of Transportation’s BaltimoreLink; Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Statewide Demand-Response Transit Scheduling Software Implementation; and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Hunter Station Bridge.

“State DOTs are committed to making America safer, better and stronger by improving connections between communities both large and small, urban and rural,” said John Schroer, Tennessee Department of Transportation commissioner and AASHTO president. “The transportation projects in this competition are part of a national multimodal network that is moving millions of people and tons of goods where they need to go every day.”

The three highest-scoring projects from each region will be included in the Top 12, officials said, noting winners of the top two awards will be announced Sept. 23, at the AASHTO Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.

https://transportationtodaynews.com/news/10061-american-transportation-awards-recognize-six-regional-projects/

Echo Energy’s MacAulay takes Independent Oil and Gas directorship

The development and production firm said Ms MacAulay brings a “wealth of operational and technical expertise”, after leading a number of oil and gas firms, including Mobil, BG, Amerada Hess and Rockhopper.

She currently also serves as a non-executive director of South East Asia focused Coro Energy Plc, while currently serving as European president of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Mark Routh, Chairman of IOG, said: “We are extremely pleased to welcome Fiona to the IOG Board of Directors. She brings a wealth of operational and technical expertise to our Board. Moreover, she is well versed in all aspects of directorship of listed energy companies, being both a current CEO and a non-executive director of other AIM listed oil & gas companies.

“We look forward to working closely with Fiona as the Company progresses to the operational phase of its dual hub gas project and further develops its Southern North Sea gas portfolio.”

https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/176406/echo-energys-macauley-takes-independent-oil-and-gas-directorship/

Drone Usage in Construction Increased 239 Percent, Year Over Year

When user-friendly hobby drones became technologically sophisticated enough for professionals to improve their businesses with, the modern unmanned aerial vehicle began drastically influencing a wide swath of industries. According to CNBC, the construction field has seen a stunning 239 percent increase in drone usage year over year. McCarthy Building Companies, which holds a spot on Forbes’ list of America’s Largest Private Companies with $3.5 billion in revenue, is certainly responsible for some of the shift in this particular landscape.

For Ryan Moret, who serves as field manager for the St. Louis-based construction company, the DJI Phantom 4 is just another part of the daily toolkit he packs before heading out to a new site. As the intuitive, camera-embedded drone is fairly easy to use and can provide inexpensive, high-definition aerial imagery of construction sites, the decision to use it as such is a pretty easy one for Moret.

“The cost of the tool is low enough [and] the quality of data we’re receiving is just intrinsically valuable when we see it,” he said. Moret was the first licensed drone pilot for McCarthy Building Companies, with his first assignment being to survey the Plano, Texas-based Children’s Health hospital as soon as he was certified to do so. In the early days, of course, the idea of relying on a UAV for surveying purposes was a little intimidating. “You’re a little nervous because you don’t know what to expect,” Moret said.

As UAVs become easier to use and more practical as the years go by, they’ve begun to replace helicopters for newsgathering services, and become an invaluable asset it monitoring, surveying, and mapping sites in industries such as agriculture and construction. With a variety of cameras ranging from high definition and ultra-high definition to night vision and thermal imaging, drones have simply become too functional and affordable not to implement in an ever-increasing list of use cases.

“The photos we’re used to getting were a lot further away,” said Moret about conventional airplane-based imaging, as planes “can’t fly slow, can’t hover in spot.” We’ve reported on construction companies changing their business models through drones before, such as Skycatch modifying 1,000 DJI drones with machine vision software for more efficient logistics and mapping purposes. “When trouble arises, something got covered up, or when conditions change and we have to look at where something was, [a] picture is worth a thousand words—and a thousand dollars,” Moret explained.

Ultimately, while drones in construction aren’t new, the continuous increase and growing adoption on behalf of companies who’ve traditionally relied on conventional methods is certainly an exciting shift. With new technologies come newer potential approaches and methods to age-old problems, and standard construction procedures are definitely in the middle of changing substantially. With drones already altering some of the day to day decision-making here, it’ll be exciting to see just how far they’ll go in transforming the industry as a whole.

http://www.thedrive.com/tech/22031/drone-usage-in-construction-increased-239-percent-year-over-year

‘RGGI for transportation’ could be in the works in Massachusetts

Massachusetts might be on the verge of becoming the second state to introduce a carbon pricing program aimed at the transportation sector – if lawmakers can agree on how to do it.

Last month, the state Senate unanimously passed an omnibus clean energy bill that includes a provision to create a market-based mechanism to reduce emissions from transportation sources. Meanwhile, Rep. Jennifer Benson is gathering support in the House for a more narrowly focused bill that would implement a carbon fee on petroleum, as well as natural gas and coal.

It remains to be seen whether either will clear both chambers before the legislative session ends in a few weeks.

“The likelihood of any of the bills in the legislature passing by July 31 diminishes by the day,” Benson said. “But there’s definitely momentum – we’ve been building momentum all this session.”

The only state thus far to implement a carbon pricing system that affects transportation emissions is California, which has operated a cap-and-trade program for fuel distributors since 2015. Ontario and Quebec also have similar systems.

In Massachusetts, a 2008 law known as the Global Warming Solutions Act calls for the state to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Currently, transportation is responsible for 40 percent of carbon emissions, making the sector the largest polluter in the state and the clear target for efforts to hit the mandated reduction goals.

The Senate bill would call for the executive branch to develop a program by the end of 2020, but leaves it to the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker to decide whether to pursue a carbon fee, a cap-and-invest system, or another option entirely.

This requirement could dovetail with efforts the state is already making. Massachusetts is part of a group, including seven northeastern states and Washington, D.C., that has started discussions about developing a cooperative system to reduce transportation emissions, a collaboration that would likely meet the requirement laid out in the Senate bill.

Though the potential partnership is still in the early stages, participants point to the example of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI — a market-based program that caps carbon emissions from power plants and requires generators to pay for their share of the allowed pollution. The revenue is used by individual states to fund efforts including energy efficiency programs, renewable energy projects, and greenhouse gas abatement.

Sen. Marc Pacheco, one of the leading advocates for the Senate bill, sees promise in this model.

“It would be very easy and simple for everybody to look at a RGGI for transportation,” he said. “That certainly will be up to the governor to decide what way we should be going.”

Taking a different approach, Benson’s bill would charge a fee – initially $20 – for every metric ton of pollution created by the burning of fossil fuels. In the case of gasoline, this charge would add about 16 cents per gallon at the pump, Benson estimated.

The fee would go up $5 per year until it reached $40.

Of the revenue generated, 80 percent would be returned to consumers and businesses as cash rebates and the remaining 20 percent would fund further climate change mitigation projects. The rebates would be weighted by income, giving more to those in lower income brackets; they would also be higher in rural areas without access to public transit. Furthermore, at least one third of the money invested in green projects would go to underserved communities.

Even with the uncertainties surrounding the pending legislation, clean energy advocates said they are encouraged by the bills and the appetite for change they signal.

Jordan Stutt, director of the carbon program at the Acadia Center, a Boston nonprofit that promotes clean energy solutions, is glad to see the discussion focusing on ways to invest carbon pricing revenue to needed projects. Even a charge of $10 per ton on transportation-related carbon emissions would generate close to $300 million, much of which could be used for much-needed improvements in the state’s transit system, he said.

“It’s not enough to completely replace the need for other funding, but it’s enough to make some real progress,” he said.

For policy analyst Daniel Gatti of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Mass., the fact that the Senate bill could help usher in a cap-and-invest program is particularly heartening. The success of RGGI, he said, demonstrates the feasibility of a regional system.

“We really see expanding that model into transportation as an important step for the region,” Gatti said. “There’s a certain logic to working with this program model that’s worked before.”

With the end of the legislative session looming, the future of the two bills is unclear, but lawmakers and advocates alike are optimistic that a carbon pricing solution will emerge.

If her bill does not succeed this session, Benson plans to refile as soon as the new session convenes in January 2019; she said she is close to achieving majority support from her fellow House members. Pacheco expressed confidence that the clear need to reduce emissions will inspire action from legislators. And with the combination of legislative efforts and the regional discussions the state is already undertaking, a successful plan seems very possible, Gatti said.

“We think we’ve got a pretty good chance of putting something together,” he said.

https://energynews.us/2018/07/05/northeast/rggi-for-transportation-could-be-in-the-works-in-massachusetts/

The secret to safer oil & gas pipelines: graphene

Incorporating graphene into a polymer liner used in pipes that transport crude oil and gas from the sea floor makes them stronger, researchers say.

According to a team of scientists from the University of Manchester and The Welding Institute, laminating a thin layer of graphene nanoplatelets to polyamide 11 (PA11) – a plastic often used in the aforementioned liners – helps produce structures that behave as exceptionally good barriers, avoid the escape of gasses and, therefore, stop corrosion.

In a study published in Advanced Materials Interfaces, the experts explain that pipes are generally made of internal layers of polymer or composite and external strengthening steel. Within these pipes, fluids may be at very high pressure and elevated temperature.

Occasionally, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and water permeate through the protective barrier layer of the pipe and this makes the steel corrode causing the pipe to lose strength over time. Such weakness could cause a catastrophic failure.

However, the researchers tested their multi-layered laminate structures at 60oC and at pressures up to 400 times atmospheric pressure and noticed that CO2 permeation was reduced by over 90 per cent compared to PA11 alone, while permeation of hydrogen sulfide can be reduced to undetectable levels.

In a media statement, the researchers said that corrosion costs the oil and gas industry in the US alone $1.4 billion every year but, in their view, this graphene technology has the potential to significantly extend the life of the underwater pipework and therefore reduce the time between repairs.

Beyond the oil & gas sector, the scientists say graphene membranes like the ones they used, have the potential to revolutionise industrial processes, such as food packaging, water filtration and gas separation.

http://www.mining.com/secret-safer-oil-gas-pipelines-graphene/

How ride-hailing could improve public transportation instead of undercutting it

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Daniel Sperling, University of California, Davis; Austin Brown, University of California, Davis, and Mollie D’Agostino, University of California, Davis

(THE CONVERSATION) Over the last half-decade, public transit ridership declined nationwide. The number of vehicle miles traveled in cars is rising, and traffic congestion is getting worse in many U.S. cities. At the same time, the century-old taxi industry is struggling, with many taxi companies going bankrupt.

Are ride-hailing companies such as Lyft and Uber to blame? What has been their impact and what should be done?

While ride-hailing threatens public transit, it is also key to its future success – but only with smart policies and the right price signals. As researchers working at the intersection of energy, the environment and public policy, we have been analyzing transportation trends for decades – and seeing remarkably little innovation. Now we are on the cusp of major transformations. We see ride-hailing through the framework laid out in Daniel Sperling’s new book, “Three Revolutions: Steering Automated, Shared, and Electric Vehicles to a Better Future.”

Let’s start with the data. Public transit ridership dropped in 31 of 35 U.S. major metropolitan areas in 2017. It has declined by 3 percent since 2014, and 2017 was the lowest year of overall transit ridership since 2005.

Meanwhile, total U.S. vehicle miles traveled, or VMT, has increased steadily since 2011. Most dramatically, Lyft, Uber and other ride-hailing companies have soared, from near zero trips in 2012 to about 2.6 billion in 2017. As of 2016, 250 million people globally used ride-hailing apps, including 15 percent of the U.S. public.

As ride-hailing has grown, so too has the number of researchers working to understand its impacts. Experts at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, the University of Colorado, the University of Michigan and Texas A&M University have all found that a significant fraction of ride-hailing customers would have traveled by transit, or opted against traveling at all, had ride-hailing been unavailable. This indicates that ride-hailing is displacing transit ridership and increasing vehicle miles traveled by cars.

Why is this happening? People are choosing ride-hailing because transit does not match the comfort and convenience offered by private vehicles, and taxis cannot offer the affordability and transparency of app-based ride-hailing. VMT is increasing as growing numbers of for-hire cars log “deadhead” miles driving to pick up passengers or returning from destinations. In New York City, unoccupied taxi and ride-hailing hours grew by 81 percent from 2013 to 2017.

But the net effects are highly region-dependent. Dense urban markets are responding differently than suburbs. In San Francisco, fully one-third of Lyft and Uber riders use ride-hailing in lieu of public transit. A survey in Denver found that 22 percent of respondents would have used transit had ride-hailing been unavailable. In contrast, researchers found that only 3 percent of Lyft and Uber riders in Austin switched to transit during a suspension of ride-hailing services.

While ride-hailing is pulling riders away from public transit in some places, it can also enhance transit ridership. The UC Berkeley survey found that 4 percent of Uber and Lyft customers ended their rides at transit stations, which suggests that they were using ride-hailing to connect to transit. Our colleague Caroline Rodier has observed that multiple surveys show about 5 percent of respondents relying on ride-hailing to access transit, although Rodier concluded that the increased transit trips are offset by diversion of trips away from transit.

Local governments and agencies can work with ride-hailing services to enhance public transit instead of undermining it. For instance, ride-hailing can help smooth transportation demand shocks caused by temporary transit disruptions, such as closures of subway stations for maintenance.

What’s more, while ride-hailing may increase car-based travel, this is not necessarily a bad thing. More mobility increases access to jobs, health care and education. And a significant percentage of ride-hailing trips occur late at night when congestion is not a big concern and transit options are not always available.

Indeed, its late-night popularity suggests that ride-hailing is removing some of the most dangerous type of vehicle miles. According to a UT Austin study of all 273 U.S. cities with a population of more than 100,000, ride-hailing services reduced fatal drunk driving crashes by 10 to 11 percent.

Ride-hailing also offers greater independence for elderly and disabled populations. The Center for American Progress observes that ride-hailing can help disadvantaged populations overcome geographic isolation and access jobs, education and health care services.

For transit agencies, ride-hailing services can be an attractive alternative to serving sparsely populated, low density areas with fixed routes and schedules. Private mobility companies and public transit agencies have launched nearly 50 pilot projects and partnerships to explore these opportunities. Many agencies are subsidizing travel in ride-hailing vehicles to meet the needs of certain rider groups.

In San Clemente and Dublin, California, officials canceled fixed-route buses with the lowest ridership and provided discounts for people to travel in Lyft and Uber. Phoenix is discounting the price of ride-hailing trips to and from 500 city bus stops. Denver is offering free rides to suburban light rail stations.

The number of innovative transit partnerships is growing rapidly, but the jury is still out on what types of partnerships can yield win-wins for communities, companies and transit agencies. An overarching goal should be to increase mobility – that is, passenger miles traveled – while reducing vehicle miles traveled.

This will only happen if ride-hailing services continue to shift toward multi-passenger services, such as Lyft Line and UberPool. Such a change will require policy frameworks that encourage shared rides and discourage single-passenger rides – starting with ride-hailing services, and eventually including travelers using their own vehicles.

Road pricing practices, in which drivers pay fees to travel in high-use areas, have reduced traffic and increased pooled rides and transit trips in London, Stockholm and Singapore. Importantly, Uber and Lyft embrace these strategies to expand pooling services and gain relief from stifling traffic congestion, just like the rest of us.

Pooling and road pricing will be especially critical with the coming vehicle automation revolution. If automated vehicles are individually owned, they will likely generate massive new vehicle use, since travel will no longer be seen as onerous. Occupants can sleep, eat, text, read and watch videos while their cars do the navigating. But if those automated vehicles are pooled, then vehicle use would be pushed in the opposite direction, toward fewer vehicle miles traveled.

U.S. cities and transit operators have done little innovating in the past 50 years, and are ill-prepared for the changes ahead. They need to decipher what is happening, build partnerships and support price signals that encourage pooling. Acting to maximize the societal benefits of ride-hailing and other transportation revolutions will provide benefits now and into the future.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/how-ride-hailing-could-improve-public-transportation-instead-of-undercutting-it-96453.

https://wtop.com/living/2018/07/how-ride-hailing-could-improve-public-transportation-instead-of-undercutting-it/

Halal Market owner worries about access amid construction

Aweys Osman said it’s hard to know where to turn.

As construction fences extend into Broadway Avenue south of his business, Rochester Halal Market, he spoke through an interpreter to express concern about three months of lost revenue.

“He’s losing a lot of clients,” said Hussein Haaji, who was speaking for his friend at the small grocery store that has been on the site since 2013 and provides food that adheres to Islamic law.

The construction next door started in late March, with plans to build a six-story mixed-use apartment and retail building, known as Urban on First.

The $38 million development is being built by Minneapolis-based Opus and Rochester’s Titan Development companies, with plans to complete construction next summer.

In just the first three months, Osman estimates he’s lost more than $60,000 due to customers who were intimidated by construction barriers or blocked by various trucks parked in front of his business as they waited to enter the construction site from Broadway,

“Sand and gravel trucks are coming all the time,” Haaji said, noting customers have called the business to say they are going to other stores due to the inconvenience.

Additionally, construction barriers are also blocking access to the store’s rear parking, requiring access from Fourth Street, which isn’t obvious from Broadway.

But it wasn’t just the customers who didn’t know where to turn amid the construction concerns.

“We didn’t even know how to go to the government,” Haaji said Tuesday, the day after he spoke to the Rochester City Council about Osman’s mounting concerns.

Regina Mustafa, one of seven candidates for Rochester mayor, ended up pointing the way when she stopped by the store during a campaign tour of downtown businesses.

“They really had no clue about how to go about it,” she said, noting she initially took her concerns to city council members but then decided to take Osman and Haaji to a city council meeting, where she brought up the issue during the public-comment period.

By noon the next day, Rochester City Engineer Dillon Dombrovski said he’s contacted the project’s contractor and explained the city won’t tolerate trucks blocking the business.

“He’s already looking into some video footage they have to determine which subcontractors are causing the problems and will respond to us in writing with a plan of action,” he said.

Sheila Thoma, spokeswoman for Titan Development, confirmed the company is working to resolve the situation.

Osman, who has operated businesses in Rochester for 10 years, said developers need to learn to work with their small-business neighbors.

While he’s hoping the new neighbors will help cover his $60,000 loss, Haaji said Osman could find agreement with them if an apology is offered and lines of communication are opened.

Mustafa said that’s something she’s been hearing from other businesses, as well.

“I think all small businesses along the corridor are struggling,” she said, noting they are seeking to maintain their place amid growth in the city.

In recent years, the city council has taken steps to seek improved communication between developers and neighboring property owners or occupants. However, Haaji acknowledged some language and cultural barriers may have gotten in the way regarding the Urban on First project.

Council members asked Monday to be kept updated as public works and city administration continue to look at ways to alleviate concerns for the halal market.

“I think we need to come up with a better process where these trucks should or should not be,” said Council Member Mark Bilderback, who represents the ward that includes the business. “I don’t want to see this delayed too long, because it does have an adverse effect on the business at this point.”

http://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/halal-market-owner-worries-about-access-amid-construction/article_77d8b7c2-7f03-11e8-867a-93482b7f98e8.html

Kushner Cos. Fined For Falsifying Construction Permits

Kushner Cos. has been hit with $210,000 in fines by New York City regulators for filing false real estate paperwork over several years.

President Trump's son-in-law — and current adviser — Jared Kushner was still at the helm of the real estate company as CEO when, the New York City Department of Buildings says, the company routinely falsified construction applications at 17 sites.

The city's Building Department found the company frequently under-reported — and in some cases didn't report any — rent-regulated tenants living in its buildings, despite renting to hundreds of them.

Developers are required to report the number of rent-controlled tenants they inherit when they buy properties and renovate them. The requirement is a safeguard to protect tenants from steep rental increases or from being driven out to make way for higher-paying tenants.

On Monday, the city fined the Kushner family business for 42 violations at 12 addresses between January 2013 and September 2016.

"Protecting tenants is a key part of our mission to make construction safe for all New Yorkers, and we are determined to hold landlords accountable for the accuracy of their applications – no matter who they are," the department said in a statement emailed to NPR.

But Christine Taylor, a spokeswoman for Kushner Cos., contradicted what the city's Building Department told NPR.

"No fines were assessed against the company today," Taylor said in an email to NPR.

She acknowledged that "there were some violations issued for paperwork errors" but said "the company relied on third party consultants for the preparation of these forms and if in error they have been corrected or will be."

Despite denying the fines, she says that Kushner Cos. plans to present "the facts before an administrative law judge and until then no amount is due, if any."

Also under scrutiny is an investment group led by Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen. The New York Times reported that Cohen's business allegedly submitted false construction permits for three Manhattan properties. In each instance, according to a report by the Housing Rights Initiative, the Cohen group reported buildings "were vacant or without rent-regulated tenants, when they were occupied and many of the tenants had rental protections."

In July, a group of current and former rent-stabilized tenants in one of the Kushner Cos.' Williamsburg, Brooklyn, developments, filed a lawsuit claiming they were deliberately exposed to toxic smoke and other unsafe conditions. They argue it was to get them to move out so the apartments could be sold as high-price condos.

Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, NPR reported New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched an investigation into the business practices of the Kushner Cos. That investigation is ongoing.

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/28/642451782/kushner-companies-fined-for-falsifying-permits-michael-cohen-also-accused

Digital disruption sweeping through Australia’s oil & gas industry

The Australian Oil & Gas (O&G) market has witnessed a strong overall decline in its value in the historic period thanks largely to falling crude oil prices. GlobalData estimates total revenues of $21.4bn in 2017, representing a compound annual rate of change (CARC) of -14.8% from 2013. Approx. 80% of the market is crude, 20% natural gas. It contributes 3.5% of the share in the APJ region. Volatility is the new normal in the O&G industry. There are many factors influencing global energy prices such as geopolitics, changes in energy consumption, substitution, increasing regulation and current OPEC policies. The market is determined by many factors outside the control of individual companies. As such, the long-term competitiveness of O&G in Australia will be in the pervasive use of technology to reduce costs, increase productivity and streamline business processes across a supply chain with hundreds of touchpoints. One of the key technologies is Artificial Intelligence (AI).

While only in its infancy, the key applications of AI today have been in exploration in areas such as natural seep detection which can detect hydrocarbons deep in the ground like the ocean floor. AI is making an entrance in drilling operations to improve site planning and extraction optimisation for upstream suppliers especially when mapping the digital oilfield. It is also being used in Australia to improve monitoring and compliance for health and safety. In fact, there are many interesting use cases across the supply chain, such as asset, personnel and fleet management. These areas help in storage, manufacturing, production, transport and distribution of O&G. In the not too distant future, even more innovative technologies will disrupt the industry. Intelligent robots, virtual assistants, augmented, virtual reality and drones will offer sweeping improvements across the supply chain from site exploration in the digital oilfield to last mile distribution.

The digital transformation train, once it picks up in the O&G industry, has no plan to stop. Business strategies in this sector will be inextricably linked to technology. Companies will have to overhaul their IT in order to drive growth and create value. As more and more sensors are being added through the world, there will be an unprecedented amount of data collected, stored, processed and analysed. Up to 90% of the world’s data was created in the last two to three years. While data through the use of AI will be invaluable for the future of many industries, including O&G, businesses will also need to have a company-wide strategy in place for data collection, management and security. Only 10% of businesses have such a system in place. Data is not shared and currently owned by multiple departments and stakeholders. A digital strategy needs to have data ownership.

Whether or not ‘data is the new oil,’ it will only be valuable when refined and put to good use. Therefore having a strategy for data is the best starting place. Once a company has established ownership, it then can determine the value of the data, how well it should be secured, where data needs to be stored, and who should have access. Other factors to consider include where data should be processed and how often transmitted.

The O&G industry will be among the first movers in adopting AI (and by association IoT) to change their business. This will be driven by data. This, in turn will drive newer ICT requirements. While GlobalData research shows the O&G sector to be big users of SDN and wireless technology today, there will be a shift in cloud from dedicated private to IaaS in Australia. We are also seeing the sector embracing a myriad of LP-WAN technologies for IoT and security.

Beyond the use of technology, will be people. The industry should consider new approaches to managing extreme uncertainty, such as Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and others, when the end-state is uncertain. While technology is not exactly seamless, people and culture are often the biggest obstacles to a successful transformation.

https://www.offshore-technology.com/comment/digital-disruption-sweeping-australias-oil-gas-industry/

Russia’s Oil Companies Thrive Amid Sanctions

Four years have passed since the European Union and the United States imposed economic sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Crimea and its military involvement in Ukraine. Although the economy has suffered with the ruble falling by 50 percent against the greenback, the oil industry, as strange as it may seem, has benefited from these developments.

The latest piece of evidence is that in the first half of this year, as the United States added more sanctions to its list, Russia’s five biggest oil companies booked a combined profit increase of 50 percent to US$18 billion (1.25 trillion rubles), Bloomberg has calculated.

The thing is that the cheaper the ruble, the lower the production costs of local oil companies. At the same time, the oil they pump becomes more expensive in dollar terms, which is how they sell it abroad. In other words, Russia’s top oil producers actually have reason to hope that the sanctions will stay in place forever.

If you ask analysts, however, the sanctions are dampening their share price. Rosneft, for example—the leader of the pack—is trading at seven times its estimated 12-month earnings, which compares to 11 times that for Shell, more than 12 times that for BP, and 15 times that for Exxon. Still, Rosneft’s first-half results have been a lot more robust than the supermajors’, which provides some food for thought.

On the other hand, Rosneft’s stock is up 44 percent since the start of 2018 and up 55 percent over the last 12 months, according to TheStreet, so even the negative effect of sanctions on the stock performance of Russia’s Big Oil is not as bad as might have been expected when the sanctions were imposed.

More sanctions, specifically targeting Russia’s oil industry, are being considered in Congress following accusations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections. They would likely hurt Russian oil, but at the same time they would hurt Russian oil’s partners from the West. There is already active lobbying against the DETER bill from the U.S. energy sector. According to a Reuters report from July, the new sanctions would hurt U.S. oil companies, providing European rivals with an advantage over them.

Yet given that the European supermajors are also global companies, further sanctions targeting the domestic and international operations of Russian companies, some of which involve partnerships with Western Big Oil, would hurt pretty much everyone.

So for now, the effect of further sanctions is negative but hypothetical, while the effect of existing sanctions has turned out to be positive. A lot has been said about the lack of access to international funding and production technology as per EU and U.S. sanctions from 2014, but the financial data from Russia’s producers suggests that they are somehow making do without these and are increasing their production.

In August, Russia pumped 11.21 million barrels of crude daily, almost the same as the July daily production rate and close to the highest since the disintegration of the Soviet Union: 11.25 million bpd from October 2016. Between June and July Russia added 250,000 bpd to its crude production, and remained the world’s top producer as Saudi Arabia stalled on its pledged production boost.

Rosneft is buying back stock to the tune of US$2 billion, and is cutting capex by 20 percent while raising working capital by US$3.15 billion by the end of the year. Gazprom, which like Rosneft is under sanctions, has the biggest spending plans in the global oil and gas industry, ahead of Sinopec and Shell. Lukoil, Russia’s number-two oil producer, has been cutting its exposure to high-cost projects, and this strategy is paying off. All in all, Russian oil is doing well despite the sanctions or even because of them.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Russias-Oil-Companies-Thrive-Amid-Sanctions.html

Lyft adds bikes to its transportation services with Motivate acquisition

Lyft today announced it has acquired Motivate, one of the largest bike share companies in the United States. A portion of Motivate’s operations will change its name to Lyft Bikes. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but is estimated to be worth $250 million.

Motivate operates some of the most recognizable bike operations in the U.S., working with cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, New York City, Washington D.C., and Portland to launch, manage, and maintain bike share operations. In each of these places, bikes are adorned with the logos of sponsors like Ford, Citi, and Nike.

Lyft’s acquisition of Motivate comes amid the speedy adoption of electric scooters like Bird and Lime in cities across the country and follows Uber’s acquisition of bike share company Jump in April for about $200 million.

As both Lyft and Uber applied for electric scooter permits in San Francisco last month, both appear ready to incorporate options for things like bikes and electric scooters into their smartphone apps.

“As part of this agreement, Lyft is acquiring Motivate’s technology and corporate functions, including its city contracts,” Lyft said in a statement shared with VentureBeat. “Motivate’s bike maintenance and servicing operations will remain a standalone business, retaining the Motivate name, and will continue to support bike share systems across North America.”

Adding bike share and electric scooters to the mix introduces auxiliary transportation options that go beyond core ridesharing businesses for Lyft and Uber. It also means private businesses that provide non-traditional transportation services are likely to become an even bigger part of the public transportation infrastructure.

A number of public transportation authorities in major cities have begun to work with Uber and Lyft and share data in order to address what’s often referred to as the last-mile problem — the distance a person needs to travel in order to consider taking the bus, a Lyft shuttle, or some combination of options that do not require owning or leasing a car. Bike sharing and electric scooter activity should supply a fair amount of data that helps address this problem.

Two of the biggest complaints about electric scooter startups heard from cities and their residents since electric scooters began to emerge in recent months is that the startups don’t have a place to park electric scooters and they don’t wait for permission from city officials to deploy them.

That stands in contrast to companies like Motivate, who by choice or by necessity has forged relationships with city governments and corporate sponsors across the country to meet varying financial or regulatory obligations for each jurisdiction.

VentureBeat has reached out to Lyft for additional comment on how plans to deploy electric scooters will benefit from the Motivate acquisition, but with existing relationships and real estate already being taken up by bike share racks in major cities across the country, it isn’t hard to imagine the way people get around in cities to continue to change fast.

https://venturebeat.com/2018/07/02/lyft-adds-bikes-to-its-transportation-services-with-motivate-acquisition/

Texas Oil Producers: Trade War Puts U.S. Oil & Gas Sector At Risk

The U.S.-China trade tensions—which continue to escalate despite last week’s talks—risk backfiring on the American oil and gas sector, slowing down investments in long-term projects, a Texas energy group says in yet another warning that escalation of the trade war would ultimately hurt the U.S. energy industry and related services and goods.

The Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO)—a trade association representing the interests of nearly 3,000 independent oil and natural gas producers and royalty owners throughout Texas—issued last week a new warning about the potential fallout of additional tariffs, if the tit-for-tat continues and China were to slap tariffs on imports of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG), although crude oil appears safe from tariffs for now. China slapped tariffs last week on imports of U.S. oil products and coal.

While U.S. oil and gas production rises and continues to rise, with the Permian in West Texas contributing the most to this increase, production in Texas continues to face takeaway capacity constraints, and pipeline construction could be jeopardized by the steel and aluminum tariffs the U.S. Administration imposed earlier this year, TIPRO president Ed Longanecker said in an op-ed last week.

“The escalating trade disputes between the United States and China are putting the success of the American oil and gas sector at risk, and stand to deter investments of longterm energy projects, amongst other negative implications, if tensions continue,” Longanecker wrote.

TIPRO sees Texas crude oil production rising to nearly 1.5 billion barrels of oil by the end of 2018, up by almost 200 million barrels compared to the total Texas production in 2017.

EIA estimates show that the Permian is expected to account for more than half of the growth in U.S. crude oil production through 2019. Permian production is seen averaging 3.3 million bpd this year and 3.9 million bpd next year. Yet, recent pipeline capacity constraints have dampened wellhead prices for the oil producers. “Lower wellhead prices in the region are contributing to slower growth in Permian crude oil production in 2019 compared with 2018,” the EIA said last week.

According to TIPRO, “as the West Texas region continues to face output capacity challenges, the ability to move product will be dependent on having additional infrastructure in place, something that is threatened by the Trump Administration’s current tariffs on steel and aluminum.”

Prices for Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) jumped by almost 30 percent in some cases after the steel and aluminum tariffs were put in place in March 2018, while Line Pipe (LP) expenditures increased by 10-20 percent, the Texas association has estimated.

“These tariffs on imported steel and aluminum have been described by many as effectively a tax against U.S.- based producers, large and small, adding significant cost on a per-well basis and a punitive tax of tens of millions of dollars to some critical infrastructure projects,” Longanecker writes.

“While President Trump’s commitment to fulfill all campaign promises is admirable, tariffs and trade disputes conflict with his energy dominance agenda, which could have a lasting impact on the U.S. oil and gas industry,” TIPRO’s president concluded.

This was not the first time that TIPRO has warned that tariffs threaten to slow down the rising Texas oil and gas production and employment. Last month, Longanecker said in a press release that steel and aluminum tariffs would have a significant impact on the Texas oil and gas industry and the U.S. economy as a whole if left in place.

“While well-intended, ultimately the tariffs will result in a slowdown in exploration and production activity and infrastructure projects, job loss and decreased tax revenue, which will reverberate throughout the state and national economy. The Texas oil and gas sector once again joins Governor Abbott in calling for the removal of tariffs on steel and aluminum for the benefit of our state and industry,” Longanecker said.

API also warned last week about the potentially damaging impact of additional tariffs on the U.S. oil and gas industry, and on U.S. LNG exports.

“Additional tariffs by the Chinese on U.S. LNG will hurt the US more than it hurts China and naturally incentivize other LNG suppliers to fill this market,” API Director for Tax Policy Stephen Comstock said.

While it’s far from certain that China will follow through its threat to slap tariffs on U.S. LNG, energy groups in America continue to warn that more tariffs on top of the steel and aluminum tariffs could slow down oil and gas production growth and cloud the outlook on which the industry bases its longer-term investment decisions.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Texas-Oil-Producers-Trade-War-Puts-US-Oil-Gas-Sector-At-Risk.html