Abstract

The petroleum sector contributes substantially to the Nigerian economy; however, the potential benefits are diminished because of the existence of significant subsidies on imports of petroleum products. Subsidies on imported petroleum products are considered to be an important instrument for keeping fuel prices, and hence the cost of living, low. The costs of these subsidies, however, have risen dramatically in recent years along with increased volatility in world petroleum and petroleum product prices and increased illegal exportation of subsidized petroleum products into neighboring countries. Removing the subsidy on fuel is one of the most contentious socioeconomic policy issues in Nigeria today. In this paper, an economy-wide framework is used to identify the impact of removing the fuel subsidy on the Nigerian economy and investigate how alternative policies might be used to meet socioeconomic objectives related to fuel subsidies. The results show that although a reduction in the subsidy generally results in an increase in Nigeria’s gross domestic product, it can have a detrimental impact on household income, and in particular on poor households. Accompanying the subsidy reduction with income transfers aimed at poor households or domestic production of petroleum products can alleviate the negative impacts on household income. Document type: Book

Abstract

In countries with transition economies a common serious challenge relating to vehicle transport is the increasing shortage of high octane gasoline and its inherent low quality. The aim of this work is to develop a low cost, rapidimplementation method aimed at reducing a vehicle engine's dependency on a gasoline octane rating, the consumption of fuel and the emission of toxic substances in the exhaust gases. The influence of the removal of carbon formation in engines on the improvement of the efficiency of vehicles and the subsequent reduction of their environmental impact was discussed and scientifically substantiated. The technology of coating an engine's working surfaces with ultrafine metal having catalytic activity in redox reactions was developed. A single application of the developed method will provide long-term elimination of carbon deposits on working surfaces. This will reduce the need for high gasoline octane ratings, significantly improve fuel efficiency and also reduce the environmental impact of gasoline engines. © 2013 WIT Press.

Abstract

The realization of WUSNs (Wireless Underground Sensor Networks) will lead to many emerging applications, such as intelligent agriculture, underground pipelines, oil reservoir monitoring, concealed border patrol, earthquake and landslide forecasting, underground mine disaster prevention and rescue etc. The hostile underground environments prevent the direct use of most, if not all, existing wireless communication and networking solutions, due to the extremely high path loss, small communication range, and high dynamics of electromagnetic (EM) waves when penetrating the soil, sand, rock, water, crude oil medium in the underground environment and in pipelines. The objective of the paper is to address these unique and important challenges for the realization of wireless sensor networks in Oil Pipeline Systems. Research also focuses on developing a general framework using wireless sensor networks to provide continuous monitoring. © 2015 Chamber of Electrical Engineers of Turkey.