Transcript Wildcat Drilling in Democratic Countries

Wildcat Drilling in Stable
Democracies
Brief for the British Petroleum Board Members
Caroline Zier
BP Political Risk Consultant Team
Bottom Line Up Front
• Recommendation: Pursue wildcat drilling
licenses with countries meeting two criteria:
– Currently a democracy
– Per capita income greater than $10,500 USD
Wildcat Drilling
• Explorations to find oil without knowing
beforehand that an oil field exists in the area
• High risk, potential for high reward
Mitigate risks and protect public image by
partnering with democracies with high per
capita income
Methodology
• Survival of democracy is strongly correlated
with the level of per capita income
(Przeworski et al.)
– Freedom House list of Free countries in 2008
• For our purposes, we equate Free to Democracy
– Cross-referenced list with per capita income in
2008
• GDP per capita (PPP)
Top Recommendations
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Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Norway
United States
Andorra
Ireland
Iceland
Switzerland
The Netherlands
Austria
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Australia
Canada
Sweden
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
United Kingdom
Germany
Spain
Japan
Questions?