Technological System Analysis by Emphasizing the Role of Contextual Factors; Case Study: Underground Gas Storage Technology

TDue to the increasing significance of natural gas in the global energy portfolio and also Iran being the holder of second most natural gas reserves in the world the importance of managing the production and consumption of natural gas is an apparent fact Therefore underground gas storage USG technology as a tool of gas reservoir management could play a considerable role in the future of the gas industry in Iran Nevertheless the growing trend of attaining key technologies in this field has experienced a standstill In order to analyze and plan the development of this technology there is a need to discover the roots of the problems and failures which hinder this development and also to analyze them This paper aims to provide a framework for analyzing such problems using the approach of technological innovation systems Furthermore the effect of contextual and environmental factors on the development of this technology has been discussed Finally using the structural equation modelling method the relationship between contextual structural and functional factors of the technological innovation system of USG has been tested In the end it is determined that contextual factors directly and also indirectly affect the performance of the mentioned system by influencing structural factors to the extent that the intensity of effects on functions caused by contextual factors is greater than that of structural problems