Publications

Assessing Politics in Market Projections-Restarting Japanese Nuclear Reactors and Global Gas Markets

Saleh Al Muhanna, Rami Shabaneh

This paper explores the value of explicitly integrating the modeling of political concerns into a model of energy market projections. This is achieved by assessing the impact on global gas markets of political constraints on restarting Japanese nuclear reactors. The…

Al Muhanna, Saleh

Shabaneh, Rami

Can Japanese Nuclear Power Be Restarted Sooner? A Simulation of Alternative Scenarios

Saleh Al Muhanna, Imtenan Al-Mubarak, Brian Efird, Faisal Al-Ghamdi

This study assesses whether there are politically plausible paths to more quickly gain support for restarting Japanese nuclear power plants and considers alternative scenarios. It builds on the 2018 KAPSARC discussion paper, “The Policymaking Process to Restart Japanese Nuclear Power,”…

Al Muhanna, Saleh

Al-Mubarak, Imtenan

Efird, Brian

Al-Ghamdi, Faisal

The Use of Blockchain Technology in Saudi Logistics

Jitendra Roychoudhury, Pavithra Kumar Shetty

On September 21, 2019, Saudi Customs, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Saudi Ports Authority, and the logistics firm, A.P. Moller – Maersk, jointly announced the successful completion of a blockchain pilot project tracking a shipping container from…

Roychoudhury, Jitendra

Shetty, Pavithra Kumar

A Short-Term Forecasting Model for Brent Oil Prices

Hamid M. Al Sadoon, Colin Ward, Jennifer Considine, Abdullah Aldayel

The KAPSARC Oil Market Outlook (KOMO) has been designed to provide readers with a timely source of data, forecasts and analysis of world oil markets, including an understanding of the key factors affecting world oil prices. This paper gives a…

Al Sadoon, Hamid M.

Ward, Colin

Considine, Jennifer

Aldayel, Abdullah

Electricity Sector Reforms in Abu Dhabi and Oman: What Have We Learned?

Shahid Hasan, Turki Alaqeel, Nawaz Peerbocus

Chile was the first country to reform its electricity sector. The reform program was first mooted when Chile’s National Energy Commission was established in 1978; it took off with the enactment of the country’s Electricity Sector Law in 1982. This…

Hasan, Shahid

Alaqeel, Turki

Peerbocus, Nawaz

Macroeconomic Stability and Economic Diversification in Oil-Dependent Countries

Oil-dependent economies are vulnerable to macroeconomic fiscal instability stemming from high oil price volatility in the short – run and the exhaustibility of oil in the long – run. The workshop discussed the main challenges confronting oil-dependent economies that could…

Electric Vehicle Deployment and Carbon Emissions in Saudi Arabia: A Power System Perspective

Amro Elshurafa, Nawaz Peerbocus

A power system model for Saudi Arabia was built to quantify the carbon emission implications of deploying electric vehicles (EVs) within the Kingdom. The model represented the four operating regions in the Kingdom as segmented by the electricity regulator.

Elshurafa, Amro

Peerbocus, Nawaz

Trends in Global Solar PV Installation

Amro Elshurafa

Dozens of governments around the world have supported, and still support, renewable energy technology deployment, including solar photovoltaics (PV). This has been driven by their ambitions to be energy independent, meet carbon emission reduction targets, and contribute to their domestic…

Elshurafa, Amro

The Role of Oil in the Allocation of Foreign Aid: The Case of G7 Donors

Science Direct

Aid allocated by G7 donors increases significantly with oil endowment of recipient countries. Motivated by energy security concerns, G7 donors compete for oil resources in their provision of foreign aid.    

Fatih Karanfil, Luc Desire Omgba, Eric Kilama Gabin, Cecile Couharde

Degree of stringency matters: Revisiting the pollution haven hypothesis based on the heterogeneous panels and aggregate data

Cambridge

Empirical studies on the trade-environment nexus that use panel data face two simultaneous challenges. One is associated with the potential presence of unobserved cross-country heterogeneity, while the other is due to the use of aggregate data. In this paper, we…

Thomas Jobert, Fatih Karanfil, Anna Tykhonenko

The Potential of Distributed Solar PV Capacity in Riyadh: A GIS-Assisted Study

Abdelrahman Muhsen, Amro Elshurafa

Rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, commonly referred to as distributed generation (DG) solar systems, can play a central role in the energy mix for sustainable cities. As with all forms of power generation, DG carries technical, financial, policy, and market…

Muhsen, Abdelrahman

Elshurafa, Amro

Crude Oil Use in the Saudi Electricity Sector

Thamir Al Shehri

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken several measures to promote sustainability in its electricity sector. In 2016 and 2018, the government of Saudi Arabia introduced a range of reforms as part of Saudi Vision 2030 to modernize the economy…

Al Shehri, Thamir

Behavioral Analysis on Developing a GCC Power Market

Nourah Al Hosain

In 2011, the Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) completed the construction of a regional power grid connecting the Gulf states. Its main purpose was to provide backup in case of power emergencies. The grid also increases the likelihood of…

Al Hosain, Nourah

Political Feasibility of Enhancing India’s Midcentury Target for Emissions Intensity

AlJawhara Al Quayid, Nourah Al Hosain, Yagyavalk Bhatt, Paul Mollet

India’s greenhouse gas emissions have grown along with its rapid economic growth, making it the world’s third-largest emitter after China and the United States. Under the Paris Agreement, India has committed to reduce its emissions intensity relative to its GDP…

Al Quayid, AlJawhara

Al Hosain, Nourah

Bhatt, Yagyavalk

Mollet, Paul

India’s Increasing Imports of Crude Oil

Yagyavalk Bhatt

Surging global benchmark crude oil rates, tied with a depreciating Indian rupee against the United States dollar (US$) and India’s increasing dependence on crude oil imports, are likely to push India’s crude oil import bill higher. This insight sheds light…

Bhatt, Yagyavalk

An Improved Understanding of The Balance of System Costs Can Improve The Economics of Solar PV Projects

Amro Elshurafa, Nawaz Peerbocus

Much of the discussion around the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation has focused on the costs of PV modules that convert sunlight to electricity. The overall capital cost of a PV system consists of two components: the cost of…

Elshurafa, Amro

Peerbocus, Nawaz

Estimating the Household Consumption Function in Saudi Arabia: An Error Correction Approach

Taylor & Francis Online

We estimate a micro-founded life-cycle consumption model for Saudi Arabia over the period 1970–2017 using error correction model procedures. Dynamic adjustments are significant, and both income and wealth are found to have significant effects, with a long-run marginal propensity to…

Goblan Al Gahtani, Carlo Andrea Bollino, Simona Bigerna, Axel Pierru

Temperature Trends Across Cities in Saudi Arabia

Turki Alaqeel, Nawaz Peerbocus

KAPSARC examined temperature data for 11 cities spread across Saudi Arabia over 10 years. Except for Makkah, all cities in Saudi Arabia were warmer in 2018 compared with the national 10-year average. 

Alaqeel, Turki

Peerbocus, Nawaz

The Challenges in Measuring Global Oil Production

Timely and accurate oil production data is critical for understanding both the short-term oil market and for global energy balances. In the absence of reliable official data from many key oil producing countries, oil market analysts rely on a range…

US Rolls Back Regulation but the Oil Industry Moves Forward

Paul Mollet

On August 28, 2019, the United States (U.S.) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a series of amendments to Obama-era environmental regulations covering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that it claims will save the oil and gas industry millions of dollars in…

Mollet, Paul