Legal and Contractual Conditions: Implications on contructors' solvency

Often legal and contractual conditions stipulate payment terms for contracts which could impact on constructors’ solvency. Evidence from different countries suggests that legal and contractual conditions have evolved or are evolving to cater for cash flow problems that could lead to insolvencies. However the review shows that in most countries payment terms specified in legislation are applicable only where contractual conditions have not been specified, while in some countries contract conditions become void if they violate legislative provisions. The UK Act requires fair payment regimes and adjudication to be in the contracts. Similarly, NSW and other Acts voids contract provisions that exclude payment rights. Some of the legislation provides distinct features which could be considered upon contracting. For example the Queensland Act provides different payment due time for head contractors (within 25 business days of claim served) and subcontractors (within 15 business days of claim served). The Act of Western Australia and Northern Territory prohibits existing contract provisions of payment within 50 days of a served claim. Similarly, the latest Tasmanian Act prohibits the right to suspend the work if the party fails to make the adjudication within the stipulated time. The paper suggests that appropriate provisions of legislation need to be incorporated into contractual conditions since legislative provisions stand secondary to contract and available by default

Comparative life-cycle cost (LCC) study of green and traditional industrial buildings in Sri Lanka

Publishe

Analysis of contractors' head office overhead on compensable delay events

Contractors’ claims for extension of time and/or cost reimbursements could result in disagreements that may not be amicably resolved by the parties concerned. Consequently significant additional costs are incurred in construction projects due to disagreements over these claims. A major criticism of the Sri Lankan construction industry is persistent delays in project delivery. A contributory factor to those delays is disagreements over certain percentage of business’ overhead expenses that are unrecoverable by the contractor. This unrecovered head office overheads (HOOH) is an actual loss to the contractor and the contractor could make a claim for the actual costs incurred during the delay. The selection and application of the most suitable recovery or calculation method is critical for both clients and contractors. As an aspect of a larger study which develops a HOOH claim process model, the current study focuses on the review of the methods currently being practiced to recover HOOH claims internationally as well as within the Sri Lankan construction industry. The preferred methods used within Sri Lankan construction industry to evaluate contractors’ claims are the formula approach and actual method by contractors and clients respectively. This study shows that salaries and wages of head office human resources and transporting and travelling costs contribute significantly to the contractors’ HOOH. There are a number of issues with the quantification approaches used during the HOOH claim stages that result in conflicts. The research therefore suggests that there needs to be pre-established claim-tracking processes for claim initiation, quantification and evaluation. The pre-established process would provide a clear understanding of HOOH claims and positively direct claimants to agreed claim records, HOOH cost data and quantification approaches

Fracture, VUG and Intercrystalline Porosity and Permeability Analysis from Well Logs of LIRTIM Oil Field, Iraq

Carbonate reservoir unarguably contributes over 50% of presently produced crude oil in the world today especially from the middle-eastern part of the world with appreciable amount of reserve estimate yet unexplored. Deposition, sedimentation, diagenesis and other geological features of carbonate rocks has been studied leading their classification into: mudstone, wackestone, packstone, grainstone, boundstone and crystalline carbonate rocks. These are all characterised by various features such as fractures and vugs which influences its petro-physical behaviour. The study of the main features of carbonate reservoir using Archie’s cementation exponent “m” is an acceptable method of verifying the geological features in the reservoir which actually contribute to rock fluid properties and other production attributes of the reservoir. This was verified for some reservoir using well log values for Lirtim oil field in Iraq. The dominating geological features of the field were verified from a graphical representation of the different data from field reservoir. The reservoirs used as case studies in the research were also classified into different carbonate rocks using a graphical plot of their permeability against porosity values. This result gives a clue of the textural and grain size characteristics as well as the effective pore sizes of the reservoir. This method of analysis makes it easier to evaluate the post diagenetic strength of the reservoir rocks and fluid hosting capability in view of recovering hydrocarbon in the are

Well Placement Optimization Using a Basic Genetic Search Heuristics Algorithm and a Black Oil Simulator

In petroleum reservoir management, the essence of well placement is to develop and maintain reservoir pressure in order to achieve maximum production for economic benefits. Large production can be achieved with the placement of multiple wells but this approach is capital intensive and inefficient for the development of a reservoir. A preferable option is the optimal placement of production and injection wells so as to fully capitalize on the imbedded hydrocarbons at a relatively decreased capital investment. The aim of this study is to use developed algorithm and a black oil simulator to place wells in the zones for optimal recovery in the reservoir. Optimal production was determined out of eight scenarios created from well placement in a hypothetical reservoir (finch reservoir) using a black oil simulator, alongside an algorithm developed with java for determining the best possible locations for well placement, taking into consideration the reservoir permeability, fluid saturation, and pay zone thickness. The results of this study reveal that well placement using the engineering judgment coupled with the application of the algorithm using a black oil simulator results in better production compared to other scenarios which consider the combined effect of algorithm and black oil simulator alone

Groundwater Contaminats’ Investigation at Aarada Waste Disposal Site Using Geophysical and Hydro-Physicochemical Approach.

A research on the impact of waste disposal site on groundwater resources was conducted around Aarada area, Ogbomosho, Oyo State, Nigeria using electrical resistivity (vertical electrical sounding) and hydro-physicochemical methods. This study was carried out to map the contamination patches at the subsurface and investigate the contamination level of the various hand dug wells situated in the area. A total of seven VES were carried out with length ranging between 80 to 130m. The hydro-physicochemical analysis was conducted at the peak of the wet season on nine water samples taken from nine different hand-dug wells in the research area. The result obtained from the interpreted VES data revealed leachate plumes at the subsurface in the study area. The outcome of the hydro-physicochemical method revealed hazardously high values of Fe2+, Pb2+, Zn2+, Cu2+ and NO3 - to further support the findings from the VES surve

Interpretation of groundmagnetic data in Oke-Ogba Area, Akure, Southwestern Nigeria

Groundmagnetic method was used to delineate into the subsurface in Oke-Ogba area, Akure, which falls within latitude 070 14′ to 070 19′ North and longitude 0050 06′ to 0050 12′ East Southwestern Nigeria, with a view to determining the competent areas for engineering purposes and the promising areas for hydrogeologic prospects. A total of four traverses were established for the purpose of the groundmagnetic study, and the results were presented as groundmagnetic profiles of varying magnetic intensities. The result of investigation revealed that the intensities and characteristics nature of the magnetic anomalies as expressed by all profiles are indicative of the different rock types producing them. Qualitative and quantitative interpretation of individual magnetic anomaly and geological knowledge of the survey area yielded information on the depth of geological features (e.g. rock contact, faults or fractures), structures and magnetic properties of rock units. From the preliminary interpretation, the existence of some structural features such as a likely fault, fracture and contacts between rocks as well as relatively mineralized zones that might contain magnetic minerals of essential magnetite origin is revealed. It was also revealed that Oke- Ogba area, Akure, Southwestern Nigeria is averagely competent for both engineering purposes and hydrogeologic purposes

GROUNDMAGNETIC INVESTIGATION INTO THE CAUSE OF THE SUBSIDENCE IN THE ABANDONED LOCAL GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT, OGBOMOSO, NIGERIA

Groundmagnetic was used to investigate the cause of the subsidence at an Abandoned Local Government Secretariat, Ogbomoso, Southwestern Nigeria with a view to determining whether the sinking and cracks in the plasterworks experienced at the Eastern side of the study area is due to subsurface features or insufficient use of building materials. The study took place at an Abandoned Local Government Secretariat Ogbomoso, Southwestern Nigeria which falls within latitude 080 09′ 50.6″ - 080 09′ 55.9″ and longitude 0040 15′ 36.1″ - 0040 15′ 42.3″. Proton Precision Magnetometer model GSM-19T was used to carry out the geophysical survey along four traverses in East-West and North- South directions. The traverses length ranges from 70m to 150m with inter station spacing of 10m. The results were presented as groundmagnetic profiles of varying magnetic intensities, groundmagnetic contoured map and groundmagnetic surface map. The basement topography was obtained from the profiles using half-width of the amplitude method. Areas with high magnetic values are the competent zones for construction while areas with low magnetic values are the weak zones. The quantitative interpretation gave the overburden thickness to the top of the magnetic basement rock as varied between 7.0m to 13.0m. Interpretation of groundmagnetic data revealed that the weak zones present at the Southeastern, Eastern and Northeastern part of the study area are the cause for the subsidence that occurred towards the Eastern side of the building. Contrary to the opinion of people that the building contractor used inferior building materials for the construction, we found out that half of the building is constructed on either collapse tunnel, fault or fracture which resulted into the sinking and new cracks in plasterworks experienced at the Eastern part of the abandoned Local Government secretariat