Here are a few snips in regards to the Oil Industry.

 CHEVRON CORP - Quarterly Report (SEC form 10-Q)

Chevron intends to address all critical items prior to 2000. Phase 1 - identification and assessment - is complete. Regarding Phase 2, the company estimates that at June 30, 1999, over 85 percent of embedded systems issues had been completed

Snip

The company used a risk-based analysis of its operations to identify those items deemed to be "mission critical," defined as having the potential for significant adverse effects in one or more of five areas: environmental protection, safety, ongoing business relationships, financial and legal exposure, and company credibility and image. Over 400 items of varying degrees of complexity in the company's own operations and about 800 third-party relationships have been deemed mission-critical.

Snip

Using practical risk assessment and testing techniques, Chevron has divided its list of more than 400 mission-critical items in its own operations into three categories: (1) those that are expected to be tested and made Year 2000 compliant prior to 2000; (2) items that will be removed from service without testing and replaced with Year 2000 compliant items; and (3) items found not to be Year 2000 compliant, will be "worked around," until they can be replaced or made compliant. Because of the scope of Chevron's operations, the company believes it is impractical to eliminate all potential Year 2000 problems before they arise. As a result, Chevron expects that for non-mission-critical items and those mission-critical items that remain "worked around," Year 2000 remedial efforts will continue into the year 2000.

Snip

In the normal course of business, the company has developed and maintains extensive contingency plans to respond to equipment failures, emergencies and business interruptions. However, contingency planning for Year 2000 issues is complicated by the possibility of multiple and simultaneous incidents, which could significantly impede efforts to respond to emergencies and resume normal business functions. Such incidents may be outside of the company's control, for example, if mission-critical third parties do not successfully address their own material Year 2000 problems.

 MOBIL CORP - Quarterly Report (SEC form 10-Q)

The thrust of the Project is to address those of Mobil's IT systems, non-IT systems and relationships with external agents which Mobil judges to be materially important to Mobil. These systems or relationships, referred to herein as materially important, are those whose failure for year 2000 reasons would likely: put the safety of individuals at risk; lead to damage to property or the environment; put in jeopardy the value of Mobil's name or intellectual property; or trigger a significant adverse consequence to Mobil's financial performance or condition.

Snip

The systems upgrade and replacement work consists of the implementation of a major integrated enterprise software system in North America (which would have been implemented regardless of year 2000 considerations) and numerous other systems. The major integrated software system in North America is complete. Mobil estimates that approximately 91% of the projects comprising the work to upgrade and replace the other systems had been completed as of June 30, 1999, and all such projects are expected to be essentially completed by September 30, 1999.

Snip

The work described in the preceding paragraph will be focused on risks, scenarios and contingency plans involving materially important systems and relationships with external agents. There are, however, an almost infinite number of additional risks which are simply not assessable and for which, therefore, contingency plans cannot be developed. These are the risks of failure for year 2000 reasons of one or more systems or relationships with external agents which, individually, Mobil does not judge to be materially important but whose failure could trigger a cascade of other failures for year 2000 reasons,  the combination of which could be materially important or could prevent Mobil from implementing contingency plans it has developed. Such a combination of failures could also have a material adverse effect on Mobil's results of operations, liquidity and/or financial condition.

Snip

 TEXACO INC - Quarterly Report (SEC form 10-Q)

On pages 39 and 40 of our 1998 Annual Report, we discussed our state of readiness and our costs, risks and contingency plans for dealing with potential Year 2000 (Y2K) date change problems. We reported that approximately 95% of the computers and computer software involved in corporate financial applications, and about 5% of our industrial automation systems used in refineries, lubricant and gas plants and oil well operations needed modification or upgrade.

Snip

We have identified over 45,000 systems for assessment of potential Y2K issues. These were categorized as: Applications, Telecommunications, Computer Systems or Embedded Systems (Industrial Automation). We assessed each system and prioritized them as Critical, Essential or Important. Critical systems are those related to Safety, Health and Environment, including monitoring and regulatory reporting systems. Essential systems are those required to accomplish business objectives. Important systems are those used in a support role and are not required for day-to-day operations. As of July 1, 1999, we have 129 Critical and Essential systems pending upgrades, which are all scheduled for completion during the third quarter.

Snip

 EXXON CORP

(Below is the first referance to a time line for possible failure.  Brian)

Notwithstanding the substantive work efforts described above, the corporation could potentially experience disruptions to some mission critical operations or deliveries to customers as a result of Year 2000 issues, particularly in the first few weeks of the year 2000. Such disruptions could include impacts from potentially non-compliant systems utilized by suppliers, customers, government entities or others. Given the diverse nature of Exxon's operations, the varying state of readiness of different countries and suppliers, and the interdependence of Year 2000 impacts, the potential financial impact or liability associated with such disruptions cannot be reasonably estimated.

 Shell - SUO7B02 form 10-Q

(Shell was a leader communicating the Y2K problem in their industry.  Brian)

The analysis and inventory of potential Y2K problems has been completed in all areas involving critical IT Systems and Imbedded Technology Systems, with remediation requirements identified and remediation plans developed. At June 30, 1999, remediation of Y2K problems in all such areas in which issues have been identified had been substantially completed with the remaining remediation work expected to be completed during the third quarter of 1999. Remediation has been primarily handled by internal company staff, although some outside companies have been involved in the remediation associated with particular systems. It is expected that analysis of interfaces with key Third Parties will continue through the third quarter of 1999 to insure appropriate coordination and, where necessary or appropriate, development of contingency plans in the event a Third Party cannot meet its commitments to Shell Oil. Analyses and remediation of non-critical IT Systems, Imbedded Technology Systems and Third Party interfaces will continue through the remainder of the year.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), August 15, 1999

Answers

Thanks for the update Brian,

We have an older Nissan Stanza which just quit running a while back. Well, being a fixit kinda guy, I tried to determine which one of the golden triangle of mission critical engine components was at fault.

First, fuel. I sprayed some starting fluid into the air intake and fired it up. It ran momentarily and quit. Ha I says to myself. It's the fuel. Just to get a second verifying test, I repeated the procedure. This time it started and kept running. Oh well, at least I'm back on the road. Three miles later it happened again.

Well it may be an intermittent electrical problem, I guessed. So I proceeded to trace that down. The problem with intermittent is it is intermittent. It would run for three miles or 130 miles before happening again.

Perhaps the culprit is a function with the third piece of the triangle, air, I surmised. So I proceeded to trace down all the vacuum lines, the canisters, erg, etc.etc. and still to no avail. I'm certainly no quitter, but when the knowledge base is overwhelmed by the symptoms, it is time for expert help (expensive!!)

Turns out that an embedded chip in the transmission, sending faulty data to the ECM (computer) causes the fuel to be shut down to avoid damage to the transmission!!! It cost an entire tear down of the tranny and rebuild, weeks of time at the shop, untold stress, and eventually more than a *new* transmission is sold and installed for.

The point is, 99.9% of the entire power train was just fine, but a two bit chip in the belly of the beast, stopped the normal routine of day to day. Even worse, there was absolutely no manual override, workaround, or anything else available, each time the thing quit running.

I am a big believer in systemic!!

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), August 15, 1999.

thanks for these most important snips brian... love your image... really...

keep the faith...

-- booann (cantsay@lovemyjob.edu), August 16, 1999.