Publications

Critical Minerals in the Energy Transition: Exploring Prospects and Addressing Hurdles

The worldwide endeavor to achieve a low-carbon, sustainable economic future via energy transition technologies emphasizes the significant need for minerals and materials.

How the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act Supports Energy Efficiency and Low-Carbon Buildings

Fateh Belaïd, Mahelet G. Fikru

The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) recognizes that buildings account for a significant share of U.S. energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. To address this issue, the IRA includes a range of policies and programs to make energy efficiency and…

Belaïd, Fateh

Mahelet G. Fikru

Toward Just Transitions in the MENA Region: Insights from the 2022 Circular Carbon Economy Index

Fatih Yılmaz, Mari Luomi, Laura El-Katiri

In recent years, it has become increasingly evident that any major effort to reduce emissions will require a whole-of-society approach that brings along people equally within and across countries. As a sign of this notion entering the “mainstream” of global…

Yılmaz, Fatih

Luomi, Mari

Laura El-Katiri

The New Oil Market Multiverse: Physical Commodity Swaps as Instruments for Circumventing Sanctions and Their Implications for the Global Economy

Majed A. Al Suwailem, David Soud

From the global pandemic to the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the past few years have witnessed a reordering of global trade flows, most dramatically in the energy sector. Less obviously, these shifts have also…

Al Suwailem, Majed A.

David Soud

European Gas Supply Diversification: What Is the Role of Middle Eastern and African Liquefied Natural Gas?

Sid Ahmed Hamdani, Rami Shabaneh

This paper investigates the role of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) in supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe in the context of sustained Russian gas pipeline disruptions.

Hamdani, Sid Ahmed

Shabaneh, Rami

Forecasting Saudi Arabia’s Non-Oil GDP Using a Bayesian Mixed Frequency VAR

Jeremy Rothfield, Mansour Al Rajhi

Bayesian vector autoregressions have been used by central banks to prepare short-term projections of quarterly GDP and other macroeconomic variables. The Bayesian approach offers the advantage that a researcher can use a priori knowledge to specify a prior distribution of…

Rothfield, Jeremy

Mansour Al Rajhi

KAPSARC Oil Market Outlook

This quarter’s highlights include an oil demand quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth of 940 Kb/d following last quarter’s declines. While the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries witnessed a QoQ decline of roughly 700 thousand barrels per day (Kb/d) last…

Smart Energy-Saving Technologies and Their Potential Application in Buildings Lessons for Saudi Arabia

Fateh Belaïd, Fatimah Alsunbul, Mohammad Aldubyan

The increasing demand for energy in our modern world has led to a critical need to conserve energy resources. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) predicts that under the 1.5°C scenario, electricity will be the primary energy carrier in the…

Belaïd, Fateh

Alsunbul, Fatimah

Aldubyan, Mohammad

Energy-from-Waste (Ef W) with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Saudi Arabia

Naser Odeh

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies, such as direct air capture (DAC) and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), are essential for Saudi Arabia to achieve net zero by 2060. It is estimated that approximately 250–371 Mt/y of CDR will…

Naser Odeh

The Contribution of Energy to Economic Growth and Convergence

Nader AlKathiri, Abdulelah Darandary

Using a sample of 94 countries, we analyze the contribution of energy to cross-country economic growth and convergence since 1980. By extending the traditional frontier approach to include energy as an additional factor of production, we decompose economic growth into…

AlKathiri, Nader

Darandary, Abdulelah

Projecting Global Oil Demand for the Buildings Sector

Fateh Belaïd, Mohammad Aldubyan

As one of the largest consumers of energy resources, the building sector plays a key role in the evolution of the global energy landscape. Buildings account for approximately one-third of the world’s final energy consumption. This methodology paper aims to provide…

Belaïd, Fateh

Aldubyan, Mohammad

Decoding the Behavioral Patterns in Saudi Arabia from GASTAT’s Five-Year Household Energy Statistics Survey

Abdulelah Darandary, Fateh Belaïd

This commentary presents the findings of the annual Energy Statistics Survey by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), an ongoing initiative since 2017 that is now in its fifth iteration, which covers 2022. The survey encompasses hundreds of responses from…

Darandary, Abdulelah

Belaïd, Fateh

Assessment of the Potential of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines in the Red Sea

Ahmed Al-Balawi, Nora Nezamuddin, Frank Felder, Abdelrahman Muhsen, Amro Elshurafa

Floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) have recently gained traction and are being installed in several regions of Europe and Asia. These turbines use the same technology as typical offshore wind turbines but are not directly anchored to the seabed. Instead,…

Ahmed Al-Balawi

Nezamuddin, Nora

Felder, Frank

Muhsen, Abdelrahman

Elshurafa, Amro

The U.S. Hydrogen Production Tax Credit (45V) – The Cause of an Ideological Fault Line

In 2022, the U.S. passed the “Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)” – legislation that appropriated ~$370 billion as subsidies for measures dedicated to improving energy security and accelerating the clean energy transition, making it the single largest investment in climate and…

Global Crude Oil Refinery Configurations

Evar Umeozor

Crude oil refineries produce finished petroleum products through a series of processing steps known as refinery unit operations. The capacities and varieties of process units, along with their operational characteristics, differentiate one refinery from another.

Umeozor, Evar

Energy Policy Pathways to Inform Climate Policy in Saudi Arabia

Science Direct

Walid Matar, Noura Mansouri, Evar Umeozor

Macroeconomic, Energy, and Emission Effects of Solar PV Deployment at Utility and Distributed Scales in Saudi Arabia

Science Direct

Amro Elshurafa, Fakhri Hasanov, Lester C. Hunt

Geothermal – Saudi Arabia’s Next Energy Vector?

Majed A. Al Suwailem, Mohammad Aldubyan, Osamah Al-Momen

For decades, Saudi Arabia’s power sector has heavily relied on hydrocarbons for electricity generation. Their abundant supply, affordability, and differential performance have made them a top choice. A significant portion of this electricity provides power for air conditioning systems and…

Al Suwailem, Majed A.

Aldubyan, Mohammad

Osamah Al-Momen

Satellite-Assisted Methane Emissions Intensity from Saudi Oil and Gas Production in 2023

Anwar Gasim, Walid Matar, Abdelrahman Muhsen

In its latest release of the Global Methane Tracker, the International Energy Agency (IEA) imputes methane intensity for each oil and gas producer for 2023.