Current Projects
The Extractive Industries Source Book
The University of Dundee/CEPMLP received a US$1.5 million grant in 2010 for a unique study on good practice issues in the development of hydrocarbons and mining resources in capital importing countries. It has driven the creation of an internet-based database - the Extractive Industries Source Book - that is drawing together and analyse 'good practice' in key activities in the international oil, gas and mining industries, such as awarding contracts, monitoring operations, collecting taxes and royalties, managing and allocating revenues and implementing sustainable development projects.
The Aims
The EI Source Book project collates diverse experiences from disparate sources, drawing on a wide variety of stakeholders, and make the results readily available to senior users in government departments in developing countries as well as civil society groups and decentralised, informal networks. It supports capacity building and access to knowledge in these countries, especially in their relations with international investors. It is interactive too, through online submission of documents for inclusion, and via both Twitter and embedded comments boxes. A hard copy of the basic 'Source Book Narrative' will also be available, building upon the success of the website.
A Global Network
The project is being supported financially by the World Bank Group's Extractive Industries Technical Advisory Facility (EI-TAF). The lead role is being taken by Dundee's Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP) The partners of the project are as follows: the Univeristy of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia), the University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa), Pact (Washington DC, United States (US)), Global Witness (London, UK), Revenue Watch Institute (New York, US), the International Council of Mines and Minerals (ICMM) (London, UK), the University of Burgundy (Dijon, France), Adam Smith International (London, UK), and the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) (Accra, Ghana).
The EI Source Book website is accessible at www.eisourcebook.org. It is being launched in a series of events from October 2011 to January 2012, in Tunis, Jakarta, Washington DC, Mexico City and Davos, Switzerland. A hard copy edition of the EI Source Book will be available in the first half of 2012.
Our Opinion
"Poor choices are often made by governments through a lack of knowledge of experiences in countries with similar circumstances. The shortcomings in development outcomes in natural resources can result from secrecy, asymmetry of information, poor prioritisation and planning, weak institutional capacity and a lack of checks and balances", said Professor Peter Cameron, Director of CEPMLP, who is the leader of the project at Dundee.
Competition and collaboration in access to oil, gas and mineral resources
- University of Westminster (United Kingdom)
- Clingendael International Energy Programme (Netherlands)
- Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (Germany)
- Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (Italy)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France)
- ENERDATA (France)
- Raw Materials Group (Sweden)
- Gulf Research Center Foundation (Switzerland)
- The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (Netherlands)
- Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (Germany)
- Osrodek Studiow Wschodnich (Poland)
A project funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme focuses on energy and natural resources policy for Europe in the wider world context for the decades ahead. This is a large, multi-partner project which commenced in 2010 for a three year period. It has a total budget of nearly €2.7 million.
The Aims
The project (we call it ‘POLINARES’) intends to identify the main global challenges relating to competition for access to oil, gas and minerals resources both now and in the years ahead, and to propose new approaches to collaborative solutions for the various policy actors on the world stage, including the EU.
The drivers behind this study are easy to appreciate. Though the fear of depletion of critical energy and mineral resources is not a new phenomenon, the last decade of sustained economic growth across the world has reinforced this concern. High commodity prices and fears of future shortages tend to raise tensions and stimulate conflict. While resource-importing nations struggle to secure their supplies, resource-exporting nations seek to enhance their bargaining power. Importing countries compete with each other rather than cooperate in efforts to secure supplies, whilst within resource-rich countries conflicts may arise as different parties seek to gain the benefits of the additional revenues.
The Network
The University of Dundee/CEPMLP is the lead organisation for the project team which comprises eleven other partners drawn from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and Poland. The project is truly multi-disciplinary and draws on expertise in law, political science, engineering, new technologies and materials, economics, and international relations.
CEPMLP brings to the project a unique combination of disciplinary skills including law, economics, policy and politics relating to both energy and minerals, together with an international outlook. The Dundee part of the project is led by Dr Francesco Sindico and Peter Styles, a barrister, and EU policy expert, who is a member of our Global Faculty.
The other partner institutions in the project are as follows:
This is believed to be the first time the University of Dundee has won a major EU Framework project in the social sciences.
For further information, please visit the project website at www.polinares.eu
Off-grid Access Systems for South Asia
In October 2009 a five year project commenced that is focussed largely upon South Asia. Funded by a grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Department for International Development (DfID), this collaborative research project examines decentralised off-grid electricity generation in the developing countries, and is concerned with Business Models for off-grid electricity supply (Grant EP/G063826/1). The short title of the project is OASYS-South Asia. It has a value of just under £2 million.
The Aims
The project aims to identify solutions that are techno-economically viable, institutionally feasible, socio-politically acceptable and environmentally sound. It focuses on local solutions and their scaling-up issues for wider application. The project combines case studies, a demonstration component and applied academic research.
As a centre for post-graduate studies with an international focus, CEPMLP attracts a large number of students/ researchers from the developing world where electricity access is a major issue. Consequently, this project will directly feed into the research and teaching and could generate wider social impacts. The project is also intended to feed into the known public policy goals of transitioning to a low-carbon energy future.
The Partners
The team comprises three UK-based teams (CEPMLP, University of Manchester and Edinburgh Napier University) and two Indian teams (the Energy Resources Institute and TERI University). The project is led by Dr. Subhes Bhattacharyya, Senior Lecturer in Economics at CEPMLP.
Completed Projects
Security of International Oil and Gas
An advisory project for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
In February 2006 CEPMLP was selected to advise the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) on future potential research priorities in the field of security of international oil and gas supply and on the capacity of UK research institutes to undertake such research.
