The Oil Supply and Demand Context for Security of Oil Supply to the EU from the GCC Countries

In examining the prospects for oil and gas supply from the GCC countries, we draw on the evidence that the supply of oil and gas from the region has been relatively reliable, notwithstanding the region’s perceived political instability. The approach taken here starts from this empirical observation; namely, that supply from the region will be available when called upon, as it has in the past. Oil and gas are of central importance to the economies of most GCC countries. Hydrocarbons provide the basis on which to gradually diversify GCC economies. Continued hydrocarbon-based economic growth provides the platform for economic diversification which can in turn underpin internal social and political cohesion and stability of these countries. Broadly speaking, Russia and the rest of the FSU will increasingly dominate the world’s oil supply outside OPEC and the Middle East, while China, India and North America will continue to determine oil demand. The political evolution of the FSU and the economic evolution, and macroeconomic policy making in particular, of the big Asian countries and the United States will be the determinants of the prospects for the call of GCC oil. Two scenarios of oil supply and demand; namely, Russia’s oil supply falters while China’s demand soars, versus Russia’s oil supply soars while China’s demand collapses, present two totally different outcomes for the economies of the GCC, and specifically affecting their ability to invest in their comparative advantages and diversify their economies. Paradoxically then, the internal prospects of the Middle East depend on external developments. Thus, this analysis looks outside for a basis to develop propositions for the inside with respect to, for example, ‘How much of the global oil and gas markets can GCC countries count on supplying?’Oil, Demand, Supply, Security, GCC

Activation of Long Descending Propriospinal Neurons in Cat Spinal Cord

Isolated mammalian spinal cord has been shown capable of generating locomotor activity. Propriospinal systems assumed to coordinate fore- and hindlimb activity are poorly understood. This study characterizes the long descending propriospinal (LDP) neurons in terms of the location of the somas and their peripheral inputs by direct neuronal recording. Anatomical studies using axonal retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase from the lumbar to the cervical spinal cord as a tracer first described these neurons. Two hundred and thirty-one LDP neurons were identified in electrophysiological experiments. Of these, 123 responded to natural stimulation, and about 50% of the others were activated only by electrical stimulation. The majority of cells were located in laminae VII and VIII in agreement with anatomical data. The most effective stimuli were mechanical stimulation of skin, deep pressure to subcutaneous tissues, and paw joint movement. Bot excitatory and inhibitory responses were observed

An Evaluation of Proposed Mechanisms of Slab Flattening in Central Mexico

Central Mexico is the site of an enigmatic zone of flat subduction. The general geometry of the subducting slab has been known for some time and is characterized by a horizontal zone bounded on either side by two moderately dipping sections. We systematically evaluate proposed hypotheses for shallow subduction in Mexico based on the spatial and temporal evidence, and we find no simple or obvious explanation for the shallow subduction in Mexico. We are unable to locate an oceanic lithosphere impactor, or the conjugate of an impactor, that is most often called upon to explain shallow subduction zones as in South America, Japan, and Laramide deformation in the US. The only bathymetric feature that is of the right age and in the correct position on the conjugate plate is a set of unnamed seamounts that are too small to have a significant effect on the buoyancy of the slab. The only candidate that we cannot dismiss is a change in the dynamics of subduction through a change in wedge viscosity, possibly caused by water brought in by the slab

DIVERSIFICATION OF REGIONAL MARKETING COOPERATIVES

Agribusiness, Marketing,

A Comparative Anatomy of Oil Price Routs: A Review of Four Price Routs between 1985 and 2014

With layoffs and cutbacks in the oilpatch and the ripple effects spreading out through Canada’s economy, it may seem as though the latest drop in oil prices could stall the economic engine in Alberta for a long time. This paper argues, however, that the current rout is unlike the other three major ones (when the price of oil dropped 60 per cent or more) experienced in the last 30 years. The factors affecting the oil price drop and its potential for rebound differ significantly. The routs of 2008 and 1997 were mostly demand-driven, triggered by credit crises in key markets. Both 2014 and 1985 started as demand-driven, too, but significantly, they changed to supply-driven crashes. There, however, the similarities end between today and 30 years ago. Fears that we may be in for a long-term rout, similar to that of 1985, which lasted more than a decade, may be allayed by examining the very different circumstances surrounding the contemporary situation. Given an uninspiring macroeconomic outlook, a supply-side solution will be imperative. A critical difference lies in the security of spare productive capacity. In 1985, OPEC’s spare capacity approached twenty per cent of world demand. Today, it is closer to two per cent. Moreover, today’s producer of the disruptive non-OPEC barrels in the shale oil industry in particular is far more reliant on external financing than were companies developing, for example, the North Sea 30 years ago.  Then, with much higher prime rates, firms largely self-generated their financing. In addition, there was considerable room for cost-cutting, enabling increased production and therefore prolongation of the crash. If any silver lining can be found in the roiling storm clouds of the current rout, it is that the pendulum could swing sharply back by decade’s end. Natural production declines in old fields and investment cutbacks and cancellations around the world will eventually register in market balances once record inventories are drawn down. However we are likely to see a bumpy rise in prices rather than a steady recovery such as after 2009. The effects in Canada of the current rout are not Alberta’s alone to suffer, largely owing to the dominance of the resource, labour and technology-intensive oil sands business. Unlike 30 years ago, the oil sands industry is far more enmeshed with a broad spectrum of ancillary industries and activities across the country. Back then, the oil sands made up just 17 per cent of Canada’s total production of crude oil; today, that figure is over 62 per cent. The impacts of the oil sands industry thus are pan-Canadian. The lesson for Alberta and Canada is to rely less on oil-price projections from the seers in the U.S. financial business, who are transfixed by the shale oil industry. Shale oil’s already weak financial viability is even more precarious as the U.S. Federal Reserve ponders a rate hike. This crash was triggered by the over-supply from U.S. shale and Canadian oil sands and the response by Saudi Arabia to hold its market share and to not cut its production. It behoves Canada and Alberta to be more pro-active and pay closer and critical attention to OPEC and in particular to signals from the Gulf producers

Connections of the Mesencephalic Locomotor Region (MLR) in the Cat

The cat entopeduncular nucleus (EN), which is the main output of the basal ganglia, is known to project to the mesencephalic tegmentum. We have been able to elicit antidromic responses in single EN neurons from the region of the mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR), then transect (precollicular-postmamillary) the brainstem and elicit rhythmic movements of the limbs by stimulation of the same site in the same animal. Injections of the fluorescent dye 2,4 diamidino phenylindole 2 HCL (DAPI) into this area induces retrograde labeling of cell bodies in EN and motor cortex. Injections of a tritiated amino acid (leucine) into the motor cortex induce terminal labeling in the area of the MLR. These studies describe convergent projections from EN and motor cortex to the MLR. These connections may be involved in the sequencing and ordering of voluntary movements in which locomotion is necessary

Pressures for Tax Conformity, AICPA Spring Council Meeting, Boca Raton, Florida, May 3, 1972

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_assoc/2084/thumbnail.jp

Contracts--Parol Evidence Rule--Admissibility of Agency Not Appearing in Written Contract

How does the parol evidence rule apply to a written contract which on its face appears to have only two parties, but in which one of the parties wants to introduce extrinsic evidence that one of the signatories is an agent for another person? Part one of this note will discuss present case law and part two will show how that law compares with modem theories of the parol evidence rule

Report to Council of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Denver, Colorado, September 30, 1972

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_assoc/1963/thumbnail.jp