Emerging Innovations in the Oil Industry: An Analysis of the Development of the Monodiameter Technology

This paper discusses the development of the MonoDiameter Technology which is a form of technological innovation within the upstream sector of the petroleum industry. The upstream sector of the petroleum industry is concerned with geological prospects, drilling or oil extraction and production. In trying to improve our understanding of how technological innovation might occur in this sector of the industry, the model of organisational knowledge creation by Nonaka and Takeuchi is used in explaining the innovation processes. Based on this model, the article found out that technological innovation occurs by the interaction of both tacit and explicit knowledge under certain conditions (e.g. requisite variety, redundancy, creative chaos, autonomy and organisational intent). The paper also confirmed the existing literature on the role of collaborative arrangements as well as the presence of different drivers of technological innovation within the upstream sector (e.g. fluctuation of oil prices, fall in declared reserves, and rising cost of drilling due to exploitation of off-shore reserves).