Publications

Why Did Domestic Gasoline Prices Fall in Saudi Arabia?

Anwar Gasim, Mohammad Aldubyan

What is behind the dramatic fall in gasoline prices? On May 11, 2020, Saudi Arabia slashed its domestic gasoline prices. The price of 91-octane gasoline fell from 1.31 to 0.67 Saudi Arabian riyals (SAR) per liter, while the price of…

Gasim, Anwar

Aldubyan, Mohammad

Long and Short-Term Economic Impact of COVID-19: Does the Future Look Greener?

Fatih Yılmaz

COVID-19 initially broke out in China in early January. It has since posed a severe threat to our lives and economies. Millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths have been recorded globally, with more casualties expected in the…

Yılmaz, Fatih

The Role of the Petrochemical Sector in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Malik Selemankhel

Our super-connected world enabled the COVID-19 virus to quickly evolve into a pandemic, bringing the world to a standstill. Millions of people have been infected by the virus, and billions are impacted by lockdown measures to contain it and the…

Selemankhel, Malik

Demystifying Policy Support Mechanisms for Distributed Solar Photovoltaic Systems

Amro Elshurafa

Solar photovoltaic (PV) distributed generation (DG) systems are installed for residential, commercial, and industrial use. PV DG systems in the residential sector typically have capacities below 20 kilowatts (kW). However, commercial and industrial PV DG systems can have capacities of…

Elshurafa, Amro

Industrial Energy Consumption in Saudi Arabia

Anwar Gasim

In 2017, Saudi Arabia’s total final energy consumption was 140.7 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe). Total final energy consumption is defined as energy used by final consumers (or end users). It includes electricity use in residential buildings, gasoline use…

Gasim, Anwar

COVID-19 and Employment in Saudi Arabia: An Initial Assessment

Cian Mulligan

In the space of a few short weeks in March, the COVID-19 pandemic took over every aspect of our lives and caused the global economy to grind to a standstill. Health concerns over the spread and mortality rate of the…

Mulligan, Cian

Analyzing the Effects of Saudi Arabia’s Economic Reforms Using a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Model

Jorge Blazquez, Marzio Galeotti, Baltasar Manzano, Axel Pierru, Shreekar Pradhan

Saudi Arabia is the world’s second-largest holder of proved oil reserves and the second-largest producer of petroleum liquids. The country is the largest exporter of crude oil, with a share of 16% of total crude oil exports in 2017. Saudi Arabia’s…

Blazquez, Jorge

Galeotti, Marzio

Manzano, Baltasar

Pierru, Axel

Pradhan, Shreekar

Overcoming Challenges to Developing a Well-Functioning Electricity Market in GCC and MENA

This is Workshop Brief reports on the insights derived from roundtable deliberations that focused on how to establish a  well-functioning cross-border electricity market in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Transport and Gasoline Demand

Hatem Al Atawi, Nora Nezamuddin, Abdulelah Darandary

In the last few months, the world has experienced the negative effects of COVID-19. The outbreak, which started as an epidemic concentrated in China, quickly spread to become a global pandemic. As of May 12, 2020, there have been over…

Al Atawi, Hatem

Nezamuddin, Nora

Darandary, Abdulelah

Oil’s Demanding Road to Recovery

Andrew Stanley

As of May 1, OPEC+ members officially began implementing supply limits, with several countries outside the group providing support on their own terms. While this cooperation will provide much needed support to the market, demand-side factors continue to dominate the…

Andrew Stanley

WTI Negative Price and Cushing, Oklahoma, Crude Oil Storage Capacity: The Importance of 15%

Ronald Ripple

Working storage capacity at Cushing, Oklahoma, is approximately 77 million barrels, which represents about 15% of the United States’ (U.S.) total working crude oil storage capacity, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Cushing storage is important to the U.S. crude oil…

Ripple, Ronald

Changing Energy Supply Economics in Saudi Arabia in the Context of Global Transitions

Many factors, local and global, will impact Saudi Arabia’s electricity sector and energy markets. The Kingdom has committed to deploying a significant share of renewable energy by 2030 and is considering plans to add nuclear power to its energy mix.…

KAPSARC Oil Market Outlook

The recent declaration by OPEC and its partners (OPEC+), alongside the G20 and some non-G20 countries (OPEC++), to cut oil production should help stabilize the market over the coming quarters. OPEC+ took the lead in finalizing the agreement to cut…

Effectiveness of China’s Plug-in Electric Vehicle Subsidy

Science Direct

Subsidies for promoting plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) adoption are a key component of China’s overall plan for reducing local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the light-duty vehicle sector. In this paper, we explore the impact and cost-effectiveness of…

Rubal Dua, Tamara Sheldon

Electricity Demand Modeling in Saudi Arabia: Do Regional Differences Matter

Jeyhun Mikayilov, Fakhri Hasanov, Waheed Olagunju, Mohammad H. Al-Shehri

Energy is a pervasive input to all business and recreational activities. As such, total energy demand is an important indicator that helps explain the pattern of economic development within a country. Identifying and understanding the key determinants of electricity demand…

Mikayilov, Jeyhun

Hasanov, Fakhri

Waheed Olagunju

Mohammad H. Al-Shehri

Optimal Policies for Managing Oil Revenue Stabilization Funds: An Illustration Using Saudi Arabia

Science Direct

We develop an analytical approach that offers insights into how governments can better manage an oil-revenue stabilization fund. The model maximizes the expected intertemporal utility of households and consists of decisions that are a function of the fund level and…

Nader AlKathiri, Tarek Atalla, Frederic Murphy, Axel Pierru

Energy Exchanges on GCCIA Interconnector

Turki Alaqeel, Shahid Hasan

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) interconnection grid has linked the national grids of the six GCC countries since 2011. It is run by the GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA). It has been primarily designed to provide GCC member countries with alternative…

Alaqeel, Turki

Hasan, Shahid

Crude Oil Reserves Metrics of GCC Members

Majed A. Al Suwailem, Abdullah Aldayel

As of December 2018, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries had combined proven reserves of 497 billion barrels of crude oil. This represents approximately 34% of the world’s estimated proven crude reserves.

Al Suwailem, Majed A.

Aldayel, Abdullah

Understanding Latent Demand for Hybrid and Plug-in Electric Vehicles Using Large-scale Longitudinal Survey Data of US New Vehicle Buyers

Springer

Consumer adoption of fuel-efficient vehicles is a crucial step in improving energy efficiency of the light-duty vehicle sector. To promote adoption, policymakers have employed various demand- and supply-side policies including incentives, fuel economy standards, zero emission vehicle mandate, among others.…

Rubal Dua, Kenneth White

Designing Transport Policy for Sustainable Freight Movement in Saudi Arabia

Hector G. Lopez-Ruiz, Nora Nezamuddin, Abdelrahman Muhsen

Logistics and infrastructure policy will play key roles in Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification and reform efforts. This study provides a quantitative assessment of specific measures related to freight transport, taking into consideration the heterogeneity of urban, regional and inter-regional localities…

Lopez-Ruiz, Hector G.

Nezamuddin, Nora

Muhsen, Abdelrahman