Browsing by Subject "Petroleum"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Open Access
The common and uncommon political economies of water and oil ‘wars’
(Frank Cass Publishers, 2003) Williams, P. A.
This article compares the political economies of water and oil conflicts. It suggests that the ‘common pool resource’ (CPR) framework only partially explains the prototypically ‘upstream-downstream’ disputes over flowing water and oil ‘flows’, as CPR rivalry stems from users’ inability to exclude each other, while water and oil conflicts stem from certain users’ ability to exclude others. Yet, it also argues that key differences, related to the exclusivity of upstream sovereignty over resources, the ecological or economic nature of ‘downstream’ flow benefits, the practicality of ‘upstream’ flow control, and the size of the political benefits of gaining and exerting ‘upstream’control relative to its high economic costs, make ‘water war’ much less politically economic than oil conflict.
Open Access
Production and structural characterization of biosurfactant produced by newly isolated staphylococcus xylosus STF1 from petroleum contaminated soil
(Elsevier BV, 2015) Keskin, N. O. S.; Han, D.; Ozkan A.D.; Angun, P.; Umu, O. C. O.; Tekinay, T.
Petroleum-contaminated soil was used to isolate and characterize biosurfactant producing bacteria. The strain could produce higher amount of biosurfactant in medium supplemented with motor oil as sole source of carbon and energy. A new biosurfactant producing bacterium, designated as Staphylococcus xylosus STF1 based on morphological, physiological, biochemical tests and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The isolated bacterium was first screened for the ability to produce biosurfactant. Partial sequence of STF1 strain of 16S rDNA gene was highly similar to those of various members of the family Staphylococcaceae. Biochemical characterizations including FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy and Mass spectroscopy studies suggested the biosurfactant to be lipopeptide. Study also confirmed that the cell free supernatant exhibited high emulsifying activity against the different hydrocarbons. Moreover, the partially purified biosurfactant exhibited antimicrobial activity by inhibiting the growth of several bacterial species. The strain could be a potential candidate for the production of polypeptide biosurfactant which could be useful in a variety of biotechnological and industrial processes, particularly in the food and oil industry. © 2015 Elsevier B.V.
Open Access
The resource curse and child mortality, 1961–2011
(Elsevier Ltd, 2017) Wigley, S.
There is now an extensive literature on the adverse effect of petroleum wealth on the political, economic and social well-being of a country. In this study we examine whether the so-called resource curse extends to the health of children, as measured by under-five mortality. We argue that the type of revenue available to governments in petroleum-rich countries reduces their incentive to improve child health. Whereas the type of revenue available to governments in petroleum-poor countries encourages policies designed to improve child health. In order to test that line of argument we employ a panel of 167 countries (all countries with populations above 250,000) for the years 1961–2011. We find robust evidence that petroleum-poor countries outperform petroleum-rich countries when it comes to reducing under-five mortality. This suggests that governments in oil abundant countries often fail to effectively use the resource windfall at their disposal to improve child health.