Publications

Government intervention in the micro-economy: Modeling the interventions

The challenges of energy policy are multiplying, particularly as climate change has become a feature of the discourse around the world. There is no single policy tool that addresses all elements of the energy trilemma – securing affordable, reliable, and…

Drawing from the best: Approaches to modeling China’s energy economy

KAPSARC and the U.S. Energy Information Administration jointly convened a working group meeting on June 3, 2014 in Beijing on modeling the Chinese energy economy. This introduced the different models and methods currently being pursued by different stakeholders and so…

Managing China’s energy productivity potential: what lessons for policy makers

Nicholas Howarth

Maximizing the economic welfare extracted from the energy system is a key priority for all governments. This can be measured by a country’s energy productivity. Perhaps nowhere else in the world is this issue more salient than in China. China…

Howarth, Nicholas

Changing Competitive Landscape: Transition Policy’s Blind Spots

Shahad Albardi, Jorge Blazquez, Amro Elshurafa, Nora Nezamuddin

For the past two to three decades, and particularly in the wake of the Great Recession, clean energy transitions have been sold as a three-for-the-price-ofone policy: creating “green collar” jobs to get the unemployed back to work, using domestic resources…

Albardi, Shahad

Blazquez, Jorge

Elshurafa, Amro

Nezamuddin, Nora

Energy productivity: aligning global agendas

The well-established link between economic growth and energy usage presents a conundrum for policymakers that can be resolved by focusing on energy productivity to promote greater societal welfare. Energy productivity focuses attention on how energy resources can be put to…

Policy Support for Energy Transitions: Where is Public Money Best Spent?

Considerations for the effective allocation of public funding in support of energy transitions require an appreciation of the success and failure of policy instruments in achieving balanced energy transitions. Understanding the impact of structural changes in supply chains of both…

The impact of oil price volatility on welfare in the kingdom of saudi arabia: Implications for public investment decision-making

Energy Journal

Since real oil price is positively correlated with real consumption and domesticincome in Saudi Arabia, a risk premium needs to be considered when assessingthe net present value of oil-related public investment projects. For projects generatingadditional oil exports, this risk premium…

Axel Pierru, Walid Matar

Banning the bulb: Institutional evolution and the phased ban of incandescent lighting in Germany

Energy Policy

Much academic attention has been directed at analysing energy efficiency investments through the lens of ‘behavioural failure’. These studies have challenged the neoclassical framing of regulation which emphasises the efficiency benefits of price based policy, underpinned by the notion of…

Nicholas Howarth

Lowering Saudi Arabia’s fuel consumption and energy system costs without increasing end consumer prices

Walid Matar, Frederic Murphy, Axel Pierru, Bertrand Rioux

Saudi Arabia aims to reduce the growth of its energy demand. This paper outlines an approach that could help the country to reduce substantively its current fuel consumption and could result in a net economic gain without increasing current end…

Matar, Walid

Murphy, Frederic

Pierru, Axel

Rioux, Bertrand

The Case for Energy Productivity: It’s Not Just Semantics

Ratios that link energy consumption, or its related emissions, to the economic value generated accommodate the differing progress on economic development of nations better than absolute measures. Policymakers are increasingly using indicators such as energy efficiency, intensity, and productivity to…

A Framework for Fuel and Technology Transitions in Energy: Evaluating Policy Effectiveness

This paper discusses a framework that adds to existing approaches for evaluating energy transitions and policy. The framework that KAPSARC is developing aims to provide a tool for assessing the effectiveness of policy instruments in delivering rapid transitions in the…

Energy systems modeling to support policy making

The main needs of energy system models over the past three decades trace a journey from an era in which concerns about security and sufficiency of supply were the dominant themes (1970s and 1980s), through a swing towards liberalizing markets,…

Pushing Maximum Reservoir Contact Applications to New Limits in Tight Facies: A Case Study of Middle East’s Highest Reservoir Exposure Producer

Majed A. Al Suwailem

The paper presents the evolution of reservoir management strategies that supported a recently drilled penta-lateral producer, which set a company record of total reservoir contact in a major greenfield in the Middle East. This paper will investigate the maximum reservoir…

Al Suwailem, Majed A.

Measuring the energy intensity of nations: Towards a framework for transparent comparisons

This paper explores whether it was feasible and reasonable to gain a better understanding of national energy intensity by measuring the embodied energy in goods traded across national borders. If so, this information could provide decision-makers with a more transparent…

Capital structure in LNG infrastructures and gas pipelines projects: Empirical evidences and methodological issues

Energy Policy

This paper provides new empirical insights on the capital structure of project-financed LNG infrastructures and gas pipeline projects, by using data relating to projects whose financial close occurred between June 2004 and March 2011. Most results are consistent with the…

Axel Pierru

A simple approach to valuing a multinational firm’s tax shields

Applied Financial Economics

We consider a multinational firm that seeks to maximize its total amount of interest tax shield while following a constant debt ratio policy on a global level. The firm’s total interest tax shield can then be considered as a piecewise-linear…

Axel Pierru, Tarek Atalla

National oil companies: Business models, challenges, and emerging trends

Corporate Ownership and Control

This paper provides an assessment and a review of the national oil companies’ (NOCs) business models, challenges and opportunities, their strategies and emerging trends. The role of the national oil company (NOC) continues to evolve as the global energy landscape…

Saud M. Al-Fattah

The role of CO2 capture and storage in Saudi Arabia’s energy future

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control

This paper aims to investigate for the first time the role of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) in shaping the future energy policy for Saudi Arabia. It begins with a broad analysis of the strategic context for CCS.…

Berenice Garcia Tellez, Tarek Atalla

Carbon Capture and Storage: Technologies, Policies, Economics, and Implementation Strategies

This book focuses on issues related to a suite of technologies known as “Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS),” which can be used to capture and store underground large amounts of industrial CO2 emissions. It addresses how CCS should work, as…