Publications

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

Eliciting preferences of TNC users and drivers: Evidence from the United States

Science Direct

Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) are changing the transportation ecosystem, but micro-decisions of travelers and TNC drivers need to be better understood to assess their system-level impacts. Using a unique sample (N = 11,902) of the U.S. population residing in TNC-served areas, we…

Prateek Bansal, Rubal Dua, Akanksha Sinha, Ricardo A.Dazianoa

Electricity demand modeling in Saudi Arabia: Do regional differences matter?

Science Direct

The paper examines the electricity demand behavior for Saudi Arabia, using annual data for the period of 1990–2016, at regional level. The study finds that income, price and population are the main drivers of electricity demand at regional level. Although,…

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

Environmental consequences of tourism: do oil-exporting countries import more CO2 emissions?

taylor & Francis Online

The study explores the impact of international tourism on consumption-based CO2 emissions in the case of Azerbaijan for the period of 1995–2013. The results of the long-run estimations revealed that the relationship between CO2 emissions and international tourism revenues is N-shaped.…

Shahriyar Mukhtarov, Jeyhun Mikayilov, Jeyhun Mammadov, Shahriyar Aliyev

Assessing Residential Solar Rooftop Potential in Saudi Arabia Using Nighttime Satellite Images: A Study for the City of Riyadh

Hector G. Lopez-Ruiz, Jorge Blazquez, Michele Vittorio

Saudi Arabia is developing utility-scale solar power projects as a first step toward diversifying its electricity generation mix, currently based almost entirely on crude oil, refined oil products and natural gas. The Saudi National Renewable Energy Program aims to substantially…

Lopez-Ruiz, Hector G.

Blazquez, Jorge

Vittorio, Michele

A Look Back on Saudi Fossil Fuel Incentives in the Last Decade

Walid Matar

The Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) and the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) have just released energy use data for 2019. This insight provides an up-to-date estimation of how fossil fuel incentives have changed in 2019 compared with 2009.

Matar, Walid

The Prospect of Unconventional Gas Development in Saudi Arabia

Rami Shabaneh, Majed A. Al Suwailem

In February 2020, Saudi Aramco announced that it obtained regulatory approval to develop the Jafurah Basin, Saudi Arabia’s largest unconventional natural gas field (Figure 1). Situated east of the giant Ghawar oilfield, it contains 200 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of…

Shabaneh, Rami

Al Suwailem, Majed A.