Publications

Has Coal Come to a Fork in the Road?

Coal’s future depends on politics and technology. The world currently seems divided between the OECD members—attempting to phase coal out of their energy mix—and much of the rest of the world that is torn between access to cheap energy and…

A Framework for Comparing the Viability of Different Desalination Approaches

Bertrand Rioux

Most renewable powered desalination schemes are hybrids that displace fossil fuel power when renewable power is available. Their economic viability depends only on whether the renewable power source can generate electricity more cheaply than the fuels that it displaces. The…

Rioux, Bertrand

Natural Gas: Entering the New Dark Age

Even the most aggressive decarbonization forecasts of the International Energy Agency (IEA) foresee a growing role for natural gas in 2040. Industry players forecast a role for gas as the fuel of choice, whether as a destination or a bridge…

Asian Premium or North Atlantic Discount: Does Geographical Diversification in Oil Trade Always Impose Costs?

Shahad Alarenan, Frederic Murphy, Ziyad Alfawzan, Nader AlKathiri

It is popularly believed that importers of oil diversify their suppliers to achieve security of supply and that exporters diversify their customer base to achieve security of demand. However, this diversification comes at a cost, compared with buying from or…

Alarenan, Shahad

Murphy, Frederic

Alfawzan, Ziyad

AlKathiri, Nader

Reforming the Role of State-Owned Enterprise in China’s Energy Sector: An Analysis of Collective Decision-Making Processes Using the KAPSARC Toolkit for Behavioral Analysis (KTAB)

Brian Efird, Imtenan Al-Mubarak, Lama Yaseen

What are the prospects for reform of the Chinese energy sector? This question is the subject of much debate both inside and outside China. Since coming to power in November 2012, China’s new government has issued a series of statements…

Efird, Brian

Al-Mubarak, Imtenan

Yaseen, Lama

Crude Oil Markets in 2015: The Battle for Market Share

Since the OPEC meeting on November 27, 2014, world attention has focused on the U.S. shale oil producers, their financiers and how quickly they will throttle back their production due to low oil prices. U.S. producers are now considered by…

The Challenges of Developing Eastern Africa’s Natural Resources

The discovery of significant oil and gas reserves in Eastern Africa provides a major opportunity for boosting economic development in the region. In developing these reserves, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda have the chance to rapidly transform their economies and…

Economic modelling of energy services: Rectifying misspecified energy demand functions

Energy Economics

Although it is well known that energy demand is derived, since energy is required not for its own sake but for the energy services it produces – such as heating, lighting, and motive power – energy demand models, both theoretical…

Lester C. Hunt

Efficient Industrial Energy Use: The First Step in Transitioning Saudi Arabia’s Energy Mix

Walid Matar, Axel Pierru, Frederic Murphy, David Wogan, Bertrand Rioux

External observers worry about whether Saudi domestic consumption of oil will crowd out exports. This is based on simple extrapolations which suggest that in a little more than 20 years Saudi Arabia may become a net importer of hydrocarbon fuels.…

Matar, Walid

Pierru, Axel

Murphy, Frederic

Wogan, David

Rioux, Bertrand

Determinants of energy productivity: A comparison of 39 countries

Quantifying the determinants of a country’s energy productivity trends answers the fundamental question of whether its economy is becoming more energy productive because of technological and efficiency gains, or whether it is due to structural economic shifts. This paper uses…

An Introduction to the KAPSARC Toolkit for Behavioral Analysis (KTAB)

Brian Efird, Imtenan Al-Mubarak, Lama Yaseen

The KAPSARC Toolkit for Behavioral Analysis (KTAB) is freely available, state-of-the-art software that has been designed to enable the rigorous and systematic analysis of collective decision-making processes (CDMPs). KTAB is being designed with three types of users in mind. The…

Efird, Brian

Al-Mubarak, Imtenan

Yaseen, Lama

Models for the economies and energy systems of GCC countries

Members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) play a key role in the global energy system. Collectively, in 2014 the six countries supplied the global market with over 28 million barrels of oil equivalent per day of oil and natural…

Global shift: The energy productivity transformation

While their consequences are usually obvious, global shifts are not always apparent until after they have occurred. Most shifts have their roots in local political, technological or economic forces and may interact in some way with the energy system. Globalization…

Implications of Local Content Policies in Developing East Africa’s Natural Resources

Developing local content policies requires first a definition of what constitutes ‘local’ and ‘content’. The politically workable answers are typically different in Eastern Africa than other parts of the world – local context is important. There is no single template…

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

Energy Economics

Using a multi-sector equilibrium model of the Saudi energy system that handles administered prices in a mixed-complementarity formulation, we present results from a set of policy scenarios that lower oil consumption in the country. Some of these scenarios are the…

Walid Matar, Frederic Murphy, Axel Pierru, Bertrand Rioux

Devising and Optimizing Development Strategies for South Fuwaris Field Using Integrated Reservoir Simulation Models

Majed A. Al Suwailem

The South Fuwaris Field is located in the Partitioned Zone (PZ) between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and is operated jointly by Saudi Arabian Chevron (SAC) and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC). South Fuwaris produces light crude (240 API) from two…

Al Suwailem, Majed A.

A global degree days database for energy-related applications

Alessandro Lanza

Weather can have a profound effect on energy consumption, especially extremes of hot and cold temperatures. These variations in particular drive residential and commercial energy demand because space heating and cooling is such an important component. Traditional approaches are customized…

Lanza, Alessandro

Modeling residential electricity consumption and efficiency within an economic framework

Walid Matar

Many countries have promoted energy efficiency and conservation in the residential sector due to its significant contribution to total demand. This paper discusses some of the wider implications of more efficient households on the overall energy system. Various efficiency options,…

Matar, Walid

Embodied energy in trade: What role does specialization play

Anwar Gasim

In global discussions aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions, the national targets set by governments are tied to the energy used or emissions generated within national borders. However, international trade can confuse the accounting. Moving a factory across the border…

Gasim, Anwar

How coal fueled global growth and slowed energy productivity gains in the early 21st century

Jorge Blazquez

It is common for decision makers and media to conflate the oil price with the price of energy. High crude oil prices are taken as signals of energy scarcity. By contrast, and perhaps misleadingly, low crude oil prices are perceived…

Blazquez, Jorge