Stakeholders’ Summit

Brief Background: Although the PTJ was originated from the Forum of Training Managers in the petroleum industry, which supposedly implies that there would be massive participation of stakeholders in the affairs of the journal, the level of participation at the moment is rather passive. The mandate of this Group Exchange therefore was to generate ideas on how best the petroleum industry can fully and actively participate in the running of the Journal as the journal is apparently owned by the industry. The intrinsic point being that if all stakeholders are actively mobilized and involved in the affairs of the Journal, the Journal will certainly make giant stride, and be sustained.

• Focus
• Composition and criteria for membership of the Editorial Board and Editorial Advisory Board.
• Long term subscription for copies not only for stakeholders’ corporate libraries but also, for all managers, who are responsible for day-today running of the organizations.

Group One – Proposal and Recommendations

1. Composition and criteria for membership of the Advisory and Editorial Boards

a) Definition of a PTJ Stakeholder

• Must be an active participant (i.e. corporate organization or individual person) in any of the activities of the oil and gas industry (i.e. upstream, midstream and downstream sectors).
• Preferably must be a senior industry professional or academic allied to activity in the industry
• Examples of stakeholders: Industry Regulators and Facilitators (e.g. DPR, PTDF); Industry Operators and Investors (e.g. international or national oil companies); Industry Professionals (e.g. technical and non technical); Academics; Journalists/ Editors; Legal Practitioners; Environmentalists

b) Stakeholder Effectiveness in PTJ

• Essential to have active industry participation in PTJ Advisory and Editorial Boards
• Draw up a list of potential journal contributors across the country and abroad and periodically engage their involvement
• Organize annual PTJ Stakeholders Forum and Exhibition sponsored by PTDF and other key corporate stakeholders
• Essential to establish a permanent PTJ Secretariat fully funded by PTDF with support from major corporate stakeholders

c) Composition of Advisory and Editorial Board

• Editorial Advisory Board: 9 – 11 members with representatives from
  • Academic (i.e. University Professor with research experience and publication in the industry)
  • Industry Regulator and Facilitator (e.g. DPR and PTDF)
  • Industry Practitioners (i.e. Industry practitioners active in SPE, NAPE, COREN, CIPM, ICAN/ANAN, NBA, etc)
  • Journalists (i.e. Experienced energy correspondents and journalists)
• Editorial Board: 10 – 15 members with representatives from
  • Industry Practitioners (.e.g. Training, Learning and Development Managers and Leaders, other industry practitioners active in SPE, NAPE, COREN, CIPM, ICAN/ANAN, NBA, etc
  • Academic (.e.g. University Professor or Associate Professor or senior lecturers)
  • Journalists and Legal Practitioners with experience in energy matters.

d) Membership Criteria

Advisory Board Members must have

• Knowledge and experience relevant to the industry with the ability to influence capability building.
  • A member should have a minimum of Bachelor’s degree with at least 10 years related industry experience.
  • Representative of the academia should hold the PhD degree in a relevant Oil and Gas industry discipline and have at least 5 years of research work experience.
• Reputation must demonstrate:
  • Personal and professional integrity
  • Honesty with and Respect for people
  • Awareness of diversity and need to take advantage of inclusiveness
• Global/ International Reach: it is desirable to have members who have and can leverage their global affiliation and credibility to the advantage of PTJ

Editorial Board Membership must have

• Knowledge and Experience
  • Every member must have a minimum of Bachelor’s degree with at least 10 years related industry experience.
  • Representative of the academia must have a minimum of PhD degree in the relevant Oil and Gas industry discipline with at least 5 years experience in research work.
  • Representative of the print journalism must have a minimum of bachelor degree and at least 10 years industry experience and editing skills
• Reputation must demonstrate:
  • Personal and professional integrity
  • Honesty with and Respect for people
  • Awareness of diversity and need to take advantage of inclusiveness
• Global affiliation Reach: it is desirable to have members who have and can leverage their global affiliation and credibility to the advantage of PTJ.

e). Tenure of the Boards: the Group recommends

• Advisory Board: 3 – 5 years tenure
• Editorial Board: 2 – 3 years tenure

2. Long Term Subscription to the Journal

a) Standards

• Editorial (Write-ups, articles, advertisement)
• Production: Paper printing and Electronic and CD (design, colour separation, paper).
• Distribution (credible and targeted outlets across the globe), including subscribers.

b) Stakeholder Commitment

• Engage stakeholders to create awareness, involvement and sponsorship for the Journal
• Encourage corporate stakeholders to make annual subscriptions for their companies and for donation to selected tertiary institutions.

c) Focus on Industry needs

• The Editorial Board should commission research in to practical industry issues and publish findings that include recommendations that are useful to industry practitioners.

d) Cost and Price Effectiveness

• Journal should be produced and distributed cost effectively
• Should be affordable to targeted indigent readership (e.g. university students and industry ‘blue’ collar workers)

e) Special Promotion

• Promote the journal in book fairs, special fora and exhibitions.
• Organize an annual PTJ Essay Competition for University Undergraduates and publish the best essay (subject to editorial review) in the Journal
• Ensure corporate advertisement per issue

f) Distribution Network

• Appoint full time Distribution Manager and regional distribution Managers (part time). The Distribution Manager should play the role of marketing manager.

The Editorial Board should appoint a team to review and advise a new Advisory and Editorial Board structure for PTJ with reference to proposal from the PTJ Stakeholders Summit. Report should include clear roles, responsibilities and deliverables and requisite resources. This should be accomplished by end of November 2006

The Editorial Board should pursue a mutually beneficial partnership arrangement (i.e. MOU) with Getenergy UK with a view to improving the quality of PTJ and increasing, long term, its international recognition This should be accomplished by end of October 2006

Brief Background: One of the primary aspirations of the PTJ was how to break in to the international arena in respect of not only circulation and subscription, but also, contribution of authoritative articles towards the accomplishment of its vision: to be a global, authoritative journal on human capital development in the petroleum sector . This Group was therefore tasked to explore ways and means of expanding the frontiers of the Journal in to the international orbit.

Focus:

• The Editorial Board should develop the PTJ to be an authoritative journal in learning and development in the petroleum industry.
• The Editorial Board should develop a global network for circulation as well as sourcing of materials for publication.

Highlights of the Recommendations are as follows:

• Examples of authoritative international journals: The Chemical Engineer; Journal of Petroleum Technology (JPT); Oil + Gas Journal; The Petroleum Economist.
• There should be confidence in content.
• Articles should prove to be a powerful mastery of subject
• Articles should be based on practical experience.
• Articles should be influential and demonstrate innovation

Branding:

The branding of the journal should reflect the following characteristics:

• Global network
• Logo: Catchy – attractive and attention-getting.
• • Stakeholder organizations
  • Professional bodies should be engaged and encouraged to subscribe to the journal on behalf of their members
  • Articles should be uploaded on the website in order to ingite the interest of potential subscribers and contributors of articles
  • The Editorial Board should engage the services of major national and international distributors
  • PTJ should participate in professional Exhibitions and Trade Fairs
  • PTJ should be advertised on-line and in the print mediarand + message + vision must be ONE.

Brief Background: As a professional and technical journal, the focus of the PTJ is distinctively defined. Therefore, the Journal does not command the kind of mass appeal as newspapers, news magazines, and general interest magazines. Its audience is limited to the narrow confines of professional, academic and technical circles, with emphasis on the petroleum industry. In this context, the Journal cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be expected to be self-sustaining solely from sales, subscription, and advertisement returns alone. As at now, the secretariat as well as the remuneration of its staff is wholly sponsored (in kind) by Chevron Nigeria Limited to the tune of about N3,000,000:00 yearly while the printing is solely sponsored by PTDF. We cannot assume that the status quo shall remain forever. Besides, the journal requires sustainable funding in order to establish a permanent secretariat, which shall be a pride of the petroleum industry. The need to have diversified sources of increased funding therefore becomes imperative. This Group was asked to propose concepts and ideas on strategies for sourcing for supplementary funding to sustain the journal and make it enduring. The major areas requiring serious and urgent additional funding are: the Secretariat and its complement of staff; printing; circulation, publicity and advertisement.Focus:

• Annual subvention by stakeholder organizations.
• Regular advertisement patronage by stakeholder organization

Highlights of the Recommendations are as follows:

• There should be intensive drive for long term subscription by professional associations for their members.
• A comprehensive stakeholders’ database should be developed and updated periodically.
• International Foundations & NGO’s should be contacted with a view to sourcing sustainable funding of the journal.
• The Advisory Board should be composed of representatives from ALL stakeholder organizations.
• Efforts should be made to seek the assistance of the DPR to write to stakeholder organizations to request a minimum annual subvention to the journal.
• The Editorial Board should also source for adverts from the energy industry.
• There should be recognition of donors and major subscribers periodically through the award of plaques.
• There should be active involvement by educational bodies (e.g. NUC, NBTC, NCCE, etc) in the affairs of the journal.

Brief Background: The first issue of PTJ (Vol. 1 No. 1 ) was published in 2001. The next issue Vol. 2 No.1 was published three years later in March 2004. Even when the Journal had gone bi-annual, it has been a titanic struggle to publish, as and when due, principally as result of paucity of publishable articles. The mission of the Journal is to advance the understanding of learning and development, disseminate information to enhance knowledge and to propel the quest for excellence in the petroleum sector. For this mission to be accomplished through the publication of the Journal consistently, twice yearly, there ought to be a regular flow and a reservoir of well researched and informative articles. This will make it possible for the journal to be published regularly and on time, January and July every year. This Group was charged with the responsibility of mapping out strategies for generating a constant flow of authoritative articles.

Focus:

• Regular flow of articles, case studies, and book reviews relevant to the petroleum industry.
• Ensuring widespread circulation in the Nigerian petroleum industry and the academia.

Highlights of the Recommendations are as follows:

The scope of the editorial coverage should be segmentation as follows:

• Upstream
• Downstream
• Midstream

The Topics should be streamlined as follows:

• Discoveries
• New Technologies
• Best Practices
• Nigerian Content
• Safety (HSE)
• Legal aspects
• Economics
• Capacity Building

The Recommended Sources of Articles are:

• Practitioners
• Academics
• Professional Bodies – SPE, NSE, NSchE
• Government companies and parastatals
• Sponsored individuals
• Workshops and seminars
• PTJ Surveys of standards and Best Practices
• Development of incentive schemes.

Standardization for Validating Articles

• Identifying and constituting a group of experts
• Vetting (Peer review) by the experts
• Standardizing the format for presentation
• Assessment process & feedback.

The Scope of Circulation of the journal should be as follows:

• Stakeholder organizations
• Professional bodies should be engaged and encouraged to subscribe to the journal on behalf of their members
• Articles should be uploaded on the website in order to ingite the interest of potential subscribers and contributors of articles
• The Editorial Board should engage the services of major national and international distributors
• PTJ should participate in professional Exhibitions and Trade Fairs
• PTJ should be advertised on-line and in the print media

Brief Background: Principal among prominent issues raging in the petroleum industry today is the actualization of Nigerian Content Development Agenda and Acquisition of Technology. A particularly useful and timely vehicle for the analysis and articulation of matters pertaining to Nigerian Content Agenda is the Petroleum Training Journal (PTJ). It is all agreed that the PTJ has a crucial role to play in the promotion of Nigerian Content. How best can the journal be used to facilitate and accelerate this vision? That was the task this Group was asked to tackle.

Focus:

• To serve as the engine room for driving the actualization of the Nigerian Content Agenda
• Articulating issues and case studies in the NCD
• PTJ as a vehicle for promoting technological acquisition.

Highlights of the Recommendations are as follows:

• The concept of Nigerian content is all about adding value
• Articles written on the local content policy should be in such a way that all will be able to appreciate the true benefits of the concept to the Nigerian economy
• Curriculum development
• The Editorial Board should encourage bodies to send their training programmes to the journal which could be published in its regular issues and on its website
• Efforts should be made to seek the assistance of the DPR to write to stakeholder organizations to request a minimum annual subvention to the journal.
• The journal should also be taking part in the Nigerian Content Development Consultative Forum Meeting and should report the proceedings appropriately
• There is need to have a special edition that is focused on the Nigerian Content Development activities
• The PTJ should act as a directory for WHO IS WHO in service provision
• To benchmark on what is attainable elsewhere and serve as a reference point for standards
• The journal should feature such cutting-edge technological areas in the deep offshore development
• The journal can also highlight the achievements of those who have taken part in the achievement of the NCD training programmes
• The PTJ should report on projects updates & trainings
• The journal should earn performance indicators and actual progress report so that we can move forward.