Publications

KAPSARC Quarterly: Issue 5

GCC Energy System Overview – 2017

David Wogan, Shreekar Pradhan, Shahad Albardi

This paper presents data sets that support economic and policy analyses of countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The objective is to provide an overview of the GCC energy systems and serve as a reference for researchers performing quantitative…

Wogan, David

Pradhan, Shreekar

Albardi, Shahad

How to Achieve Economic Prosperity Through Industrial Energy Productivity Improvement

The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) and the Energy Research Institute (ERI) of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) have initiated a joint study into how industrial energy productivity can improve economic prosperity. This study comes…

Technological Disruptions and Service-Based Business Models in the Power Sector

Electricity markets around the world are facing significant challenges from the demand and supply side of the industry. From the supply side, distributed energy resources, usually owned by third parties, are forcing utilities to re-evaluate their business models; while developments…

Comparing renewable energy policies in E.U.15, U.S. and China: A Bayesian DSGE model

Energy Journal

The promotion of renewable energy sources (RES) by governments is one way of helping countries to meet their energy needs while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper, we examine the role of energy policy in RES promotion, based on…

Tarek Atalla, Simona Bigerna

Growth, Investment and the Low-Carbon Transition: A View From Saudi Arabia

Nicholas Howarth, Alessandro Lanza

A common priority across G20 countries is the need to reinvigorate economies through an economic transformation that delivers a higher level of better quality growth. At KAPSARC, the need to improve economic growth and deliver climate goals agreed at COP21…

Howarth, Nicholas

Lanza, Alessandro

Transitioning to Liberalized Energy Markets

Some countries have successfully navigated the transition to using a free market to provide energy more efficiently, while others are only just embarking on this journey. This transition is a lengthy, costly and complex process. Consequently, lessons learned from their…

Global LNG market outlook and repercussions for Europe

The European Gas Markets: Challenges and Opportunities

Anne-Sophie Corbeau

Measuring the Capabilities of Firms to Deliver Local Content in Resource Rich Countries

The term ‘Local Content Policy’ is a catch-all for ensuring that resource owners capture more value from developments than the fiscal revenues alone. KAPSARC has explained the benefits of a dynamic perspective when evaluating firms’ capabilities – their entrepreneurial capacity…

Sheltering the Economies of Oil Exporting Countries From Energy Shocks

Price shocks are a feature of international oil markets, with the oil price collapse in the second half of 2014 being the most recent example. These episodes are a source of macroeconomic disruption that harm economic activity in the short…

Asian premium or North Atlantic discount: Does geographical diversification in oil trade always impose costs?

Energy Economics

We develop a Global Oil Trade Model (GOTM) to examine the ability of large crude oil exporters or importers to influence inter-regional price differentials by allocating their sales or purchases respectively among different crude oil consuming or producing regions. The…

Nader AlKathiri, Tilak Doshi, Frederic Murphy, Yazeed Al Rashed

Drivers of Transportation Fuel Demand: Shared Automated Mobility-On-Demand

Mobility-on-demand services provide a glimpse into the potential impact of an automated mobility future. Current signs suggest an important role for public policy in reaching a desired lowcongestion, energy-efficient mobility future.

Reforming Industrial Fuel and Residential Electricity Prices in Saudi Arabia

Walid Matar

The Saudi electricity sector buys fuel and sells electricity at prices administered by the government. In this analysis, we assume that fuel prices are deregulated — priced at their marginal values or international equivalents — and use a long-term static…

Matar, Walid

Prices versus policy: An analysis of the drivers of the primary fossil fuel mix

Energy Policy

Energy policymakers often attempt to shape their countries’ energy mix, rather than leave it purely to market forces. By calibrating and simulating a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model, this paper analyzes the primary fossil fuel mix in the USA…

Tarek Atalla, Lester C. Hunt, Baltasar Manzano

Drivers of Transportation Fuel Demand: Fuel Efficient Mobility From the Consumer’s Perspective

The working assumption of most policymakers and automakers is that light-duty vehicle buyers either undervalue fuel economy or behave as if they do – perhaps because of the complexity in evaluating discounted fuel cost savings. If one accepts this argument…

An Evaluation of High Energy Performance Residential Buildings in Bahrain

Kankana Dubey, Moncef Krarti

This paper describes our analysis of the cost-effectiveness of designing and retrofitting residential buildings in Bahrain and outlines our analytical approach. The study focuses on residential buildings since households consume more than 48 percent of electricity used in the country.…

Dubey, Kankana

Krarti, Moncef

Impact of Domestic Fuel Price Reforms on the use of Public Transport in Saudi Arabia

In 2016, policymakers in Saudi Arabia increased domestic transportation fuel prices, which are expected to approach market levels in the near future. Current low crude oil prices offer an excellent opportunity for policymakers to deregulate the passenger transportation sector without…

Striking a balance between profit and carbon dioxide emissions in the Saudi cement industry

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control

Cement manufacturing is a major industry in Saudi Arabia. As a highly polluting sector, it may be part of CO2 abatement policy for the country. This paper presents a multi-criteria analysis to examine how two competing objectives affect the performance…

Walid Matar, Amro Elshurafa

Estimating the Learning Curve of Solar PV Balance-of-Systems for Over 20 Countries

Amro Elshurafa, Shahad Albardi, Carlo Andrea Bollino

The capital cost of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system comprises the module and balance-of-systems (BOS). The latter refers to everything else that is needed to make the solar system functional including cables, mounts, labor, etc. While modules are priced internationally,…

Elshurafa, Amro

Albardi, Shahad

Bollino, Carlo Andrea

Curbing Carbon Emissions: Is a Carbon Tax the Most Efficient Levy?

Jorge Blazquez

The ambitious environmental objectives of the Paris Agreement imply that, in order to curb carbon emissions, all cost-effective policy options should be considered. These options include carbon taxes, probably the most popular fiscal tool for curbing emissions, and various other…

Blazquez, Jorge