Publications

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.

Saudi Vision 2030 Dynamic Input-Output Table: Combining Macroeconomic Forecasts With the RAS Method

David Havrlant, Mehmet Ali Soytas

When an economy is in the midst of a transformation and diversification process, it is hard to assume that its sectoral composition and inter-industry transactions will remain unchanged. This is especially the case since substantial adjustments to a country’s economic…

Havrlant, David

Soytas, Mehmet Ali

Saudi Arabia Imports by Major Customs Ports (2014 – 2018)

Nora Nezamuddin

Saudi Arabia’s top three import destinations are the Jeddah Islamic Port, the King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam and the King Khalid International Airport with 29%, 20% and 12% of the total value of imports in 2018, respectively. The total value…

Nezamuddin, Nora

Modeling Sectoral Employment in Saudi Arabia

Fakhri Hasanov, Jeyhun Mikayilov, Moayad H. Al-Rassasi, Mohammed Al-Abdullah, Fred Joutz, Muhammad Javid

Achieving the desired level of employment is central to macroeconomic policy. Regulators should have a better understanding of employment dynamics in order to design appropriate policies and test their impact. Healthy employment levels not only benefit household income and the production factor of firms, but also…

Hasanov, Fakhri

Mikayilov, Jeyhun

Moayad H. Al-Rassasi

Mohammed Al-Abdullah

Joutz, Fred

Javid, Muhammad

Solar Energy in Saudi Arabia

Abeer AlGhamdi

Saudi Arabia aims to significantly increase the contribution of renewable energy in its power energy mix, in order to diversify its economy, reduce emissions and eliminate the use of liquid fuels in its power system. In building a global hub…

AlGhamdi, Abeer

Revisiting Energy Demand Relationship: Theory and Empirical Application

MPI

In this paper, we revisit the theoretical framework for energy demand. We then use this theoretical framework to empirically model the Saudi Arabian industrial electricity demand. We show, in the case of Saudi Arabian data, that imposing parsimonious energy demand…

Fakhri Hasanov, Jeyhun Mikayilov

Green Growth Pathways for Saudi Arabia

Green growth emphasizes that positive environmental outcomes can be consistent with economic prosperity and that greater social wellbeing can be achieved through ‘less use, more value’ policies.

Is Saudi Arabia Getting Warmer?

Nawaz Peerbocus, Hatem Al Atawi, Turki Alaqeel, Abdulrahman AlJulaifi

According to NASA, the world is getting warmer. Warmer weather increases the demand for cooling, which subsequently increases the demand for electricity. Is Saudi Arabia getting warmer? And how might this impact the demand for electricity in the Kingdom? To…

Peerbocus, Nawaz

Al Atawi, Hatem

Alaqeel, Turki

AlJulaifi, Abdulrahman

Crude Oil and Refined Products

Rami Shabaneh, Abdullah Aldayel

The power sector in Saudi Arabia makes up just over half of the natural gas demand in the Kingdom, followed by the industrial sector and non-energy use as a feedstock for petrochemicals.

Shabaneh, Rami

Aldayel, Abdullah