Broncho Blogs

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The Money Coach Blog will be bring you weekly content to help current and potential UCO students better understand how their money works, how to make it work for them, and a lot of cost saving tips and tricks!

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By William (Blake) Sutton and Zhen Zhu, Ph.D.

Exploration and Production (E&P) companies face a tremendous amount of financial risks nowadays with oil prices experiencing historical lows and large volatilities. Just like any business in the competitive market, maximizing expected future cash flows is the way for E&P companies to meet investors’ return expectations and sometimes it may be the way to survive the harsh business environment. Oil and gas firms will not only consider the expected revenues to be successful but also expected costs when making strategic investment decisions. With the advent of deep horizontal wells, the costs associated with exploration and production have gone through the roof. Simply drilling and completing the average one-mile lateral well has an average cost of approximately 4.5 million dollars in Grady or McClain county Oklahoma (SCOOP), two-mile lateral wells will double that cost. However, this exorbitant figure is not the only thing exploration and production (E&P) companies need to take into consideration. In these areas where high production levels are typical, but not guaranteed, oil and gas companies can have millions of dollars tied up before the bit even hits the ground. This article discusses the often overlooked but ever-important costs associated with the land management process. Each play not only has its own geological characteristics but also the wells within it typically have similar associated costs and ownership (USGS, 2017). To illustrate the idea, the land management costs in two main plays will be compared and contrasted in the present work: the heavily explored and proven “SCOOP” in Oklahoma and the comparatively new and “unproven” Powder River Basin (PRB) in solitary Wyoming.

“Dynamic Carbon DioxideTaxation with Revenue Recycling” – Journal of Cleaner Production

By Travis Roach, Ph.D.

The accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has global impacts via changing weather patterns and increasing average temperatures. These emissions, while globally important, are largely the result of decisions made at a more microeconomic level – the result of individual consumption preferences and production technologies used to make the goods we consume. Using a micro-founded DSGE framework that is calibrated with data from the United States, I model the accumulation of carbon dioxide emissions while accounting for market imperfections and frictions in the form of monopolistic competition, labor income taxation, and price-stickiness. Within this second-best setting, the issues of carbon taxation and revenue recycling are addressed. I propose a dynamic, rules-based, and revenue-neutral carbon tax to reduce carbon emissions and measure the resulting welfare effects. A measure of compensating variation indicates that consumers are made better off following the implementation of a dynamic carbon tax with lump-sum redistribution regardless of how the externality effect of emissions is modeled.

“Flexible Work Arrangements: A Human Resource Development
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Two UCO College of Business faculty members are paving the way for future human resource management professionals through meaningful connections and real-world experience.

Abbie Lambert, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Department of Management who teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, primarily related to human resource management.

Lambert comes to the College of Business with more than a decade of experience in corporate HR at the Sonic headquarters in Oklahoma City. Lambert worked up the human resources ranks, beginning as an HR intern and until most recently holding the position of director of field HR. Upon earning a Ph.D. in human resource development, Lambert decided to make the switch to academia.

“I feel I’m working in my dream job,” said Lambert. “I love having the opportunity to share my passion for HR with students across multiple disciplines through the HR management undergraduate course and the strategic HR course in the MBA program.”

Since joining UCO in 2018, Lambert has played an integral part in launching two online programs through Connected Campus. Lambert has used her experience in corporate HR to create meaningful, engaging curriculum in an online format. In addition to teaching, Lambert is a faculty advisor for the UCO HR Society, alongside Melody Edwards.

Melody Edwards is an instructor and the Edu-Innovator for the College of Business. Edwards’ background is also in HR and she teaches courses in HR management, principles of management and business ethics.

“As the Edu-Innovator, I serve as a resource to College of Business faculty to provide training opportunities, one-on-one support and assistance wherever I can for online teaching and learning,” said Edwards.

The UCO HR Society is a student group that provides learning opportunities in the field of human resources by connecting HR majors and minors to local HR industry professionals. Lambert and Edwards have both worked hard to expand the HR society into what it is today.

Last year, Lambert and Edwards started a service-learning project as part of the organization’s leadership team’s responsibilities. The project allowed the team to complete a real-world HR-related project. In addition, the organization plans to strengthen their connections with the broader HR professional community to help students build external professional networks, while also ensuring students feel fully supported by faculty, staff and peers from their very first interaction with the UCO HR program.

“As we continue forward, UCO HR Society student leaders will focus on community-building and engagement initiatives, such as developing an orientation/onboarding program for new UCO HR majors and minors,” said Edwards.

UCO HR Society’s founding sponsor is the Oklahoma City Human Resource Society, where Edwards serves as the vice president for college relations. Through her involvement in both organizations, Edwards hopes to create a true partnership where students can meet professionals through guest speakers and events, as well as find internships and employment opportunities.

“I hope students leave UCO with not only a degree or another line item for their resume, but also with some valuable and relevant leadership experience that will benefit them in their future HR careers,” said Edwards.