Publications

Estimating the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Saudi GDP

David Havrlant, Abdulelah Darandary, Abdelrahman Muhsen

The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted economic and social activity globally at an unprecedented pace. The international movement of goods has been limited to the necessary minimum, often solely for deliveries of protective and healthcare equipment. Many governments have imposed strict…

Havrlant, David

Darandary, Abdulelah

Muhsen, Abdelrahman

World Oil and Inventory Study: A Global VAR Analysis

Jennifer Considine, Abdullah Aldayel, Emre Hatipoglu

Despite numerous journal articles, forecasting studies, and books, very little is known about the actual quantitative value, or economic cost, of shocks to world oil markets. The potential consequences of a given political or economic disturbance are unclear, and appear…

Considine, Jennifer

Aldayel, Abdullah

Hatipoglu, Emre

OPEC’s Pursuit of Market Stability

IAEE

We investigate attempts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to stabilize the price of oil during the past fifty years. We first develop a novel decomposition of shifts in global demand and non-OPEC supply. This decomposition provides a…

Axel Pierru, James L. Smith, Hossa Almutairi

Do High Oil Prices Obstruct the Transition to Renewable Energy Consumption?

MDPI

The study analyzes the impact of economic growth, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and oil price on renewable energy consumption in Azerbaijan for the data spanning from 1992 to 2015, utilizing structural time series modeling approach. Estimation results reveal that there…

Jeyhun Mikayilov, Shahriyar Mukhtarov, Vugar Muradov, Sugra Humbatova

Electric Vehicle Deployment and Carbon Emissions in Saudi Arabia: A Power System Perspective

Science Direct

Although battery electric vehicles (EVs) are emission-free at the tailpipe, the energy mix that provides electricity to charge EVs is generally not. Ideally, it is desired to charge EVs from a low- or no-carbon energy source to ensure that the…

Nawaz Peerbocus, Amro Elshurafa

Why Did Domestic Gasoline Prices Fall in Saudi Arabia?

Anwar Gasim, Mohammad Aldubyan

What is behind the dramatic fall in gasoline prices? On May 11, 2020, Saudi Arabia slashed its domestic gasoline prices. The price of 91-octane gasoline fell from 1.31 to 0.67 Saudi Arabian riyals (SAR) per liter, while the price of…

Gasim, Anwar

Aldubyan, Mohammad

Long and Short-Term Economic Impact of COVID-19: Does the Future Look Greener?

Fatih Yılmaz

COVID-19 initially broke out in China in early January. It has since posed a severe threat to our lives and economies. Millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths have been recorded globally, with more casualties expected in the…

Yılmaz, Fatih

The Role of the Petrochemical Sector in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Malik Selemankhel

Our super-connected world enabled the COVID-19 virus to quickly evolve into a pandemic, bringing the world to a standstill. Millions of people have been infected by the virus, and billions are impacted by lockdown measures to contain it and the…

Selemankhel, Malik

Demystifying Policy Support Mechanisms for Distributed Solar Photovoltaic Systems

Amro Elshurafa

Solar photovoltaic (PV) distributed generation (DG) systems are installed for residential, commercial, and industrial use. PV DG systems in the residential sector typically have capacities below 20 kilowatts (kW). However, commercial and industrial PV DG systems can have capacities of…

Elshurafa, Amro

Industrial Energy Consumption in Saudi Arabia

Anwar Gasim

In 2017, Saudi Arabia’s total final energy consumption was 140.7 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe). Total final energy consumption is defined as energy used by final consumers (or end users). It includes electricity use in residential buildings, gasoline use…

Gasim, Anwar

COVID-19 and Employment in Saudi Arabia: An Initial Assessment

Cian Mulligan

In the space of a few short weeks in March, the COVID-19 pandemic took over every aspect of our lives and caused the global economy to grind to a standstill. Health concerns over the spread and mortality rate of the…

Mulligan, Cian

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