Publications

The Ban on Long-Term Natural Gas Contracts for the European Union: A Double-Edged Sword?

Zlata Sergeeva

Long-term natural gas contracts are necessary market instruments that provide supply security for customers and demand security for producers. Nevertheless, the European Commission recently announced a plan to ban long-term contracts for unabated fossil gas after 2049. This study shows…

Sergeeva, Zlata

Accelerating the Demand for and International Trade in Low-Carbon Hydrogen

Hydrogen is projected to play an important role in meeting decarbonization targets. Hydrocarbon-rich countries perceive this as an opportunity to decarbonize existing assets and monetize undeveloped hydrocarbon reserves. Meanwhile, non-traditional energy exporters rich in renewable energy resources view hydrogen as…

A Global Hydrogen Future

The Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) convened an invitation-only in-person workshop titled A Global Hydrogen Future. The full-day event was held on Oct. 11, 2022, in Washington, D.C., and brought together 68 subject matter…

Fostering Net-Zero Transition Pathways: The Role of Clean Hydrogen

Salaheddine Soummane, Rami Shabaneh

In early 2022, 80 countries (including Saudi Arabia), representing around 74% of global greenhouse gas emissions, pledged to reach net-zero emissions (NZE) in the coming decades. Achieving these ambitious climate policy objectives requires shifting the energy mix toward existing and…

Soummane, Salaheddine

Shabaneh, Rami

The Current State and Future of Clean Hydrogen Projects Worldwide

Salaheddine Soummane

This data insight reviews clean hydrogen projects worldwide that are listed in the Hydrogen Projects Database of the International Energy Agency (IEA 2021), which covers hydrogen projects for “energy or climate change mitigation purposes” based on electrolysis, fossil fuels with…

Soummane, Salaheddine

The European Energy Collapse: A Chain of Contingencies or a Recurring Nightmare?

Zlata Sergeeva, Nikolay Fedorov

Choosing to rely exclusively on renewable energy sources (RES) and eliminating hydrocarbons can lead to significant difficulties for an energy system. Challenges may arise when energy storage is insufficient to guarantee a stable power supply. The lack of suitable technologies…

Sergeeva, Zlata

Nikolay Fedorov

How Realistic Is Hydrogen for Electrification?

Shahid Hasan, Rami Shabaneh

Hydrogen has gained considerable global support in the energy policy discourse on how to meet decarbonization targets. Due to its clean-burning properties and versatility, hydrogen is being examined as an alternative fuel source to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in…

Hasan, Shahid

Shabaneh, Rami

The Economics and Resource Potential of Hydrogen Production in Saudi Arabia

Shahid Hasan, Rami Shabaneh

Energy transition discussions, policymakers are increasingly viewing hydrogen as a preferred emissions-free substitute for oil, natural gas and coal in hard-to-abate sectors. However, hydrogen is not a primary energy source but rather is a carrier of energy. Many factors, including…

Hasan, Shahid

Shabaneh, Rami

Saudi Arabia’s Clean Hydrogen Ambitions: Opportunities and Challenges

Jan Frederik Braun, Rami Shabaneh

Saudi Arabia is a prime example of a country with an immense potential for clean hydrogen, i.e., hydrogen derived from a production process in which carbon emissions into the atmosphere are avoided, mitigated, or captured and stored.  Fully leveraging clean hydrogen to…

Braun, Jan Frederik

Shabaneh, Rami

What Happened to Oil Product Demand in Saudi Arabia During the First Two Quarters of 2020?

Anwar Gasim

In this commentary, we examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the various lockdown measures on domestic oil product demand in Saudi Arabia during the first and second quarters of 2020. We explore the pandemic’s effects on six key…

Gasim, Anwar

Charting Saudi Energy Flows

Andrew Stanley

KAPSARC has developed an energy flow chart for Saudi Arabia. The graphic provides a comprehensive view of the Kingdom’s energy profile, breaking down energy supply by source, sector, and electric power.      

Andrew Stanley

Saudi Arabia Energy Report

Abeer AlGhamdi

Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s leading oil producers and exporters. It has the second-largest proven crude oil reserves after Venezuela. Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves have made it one of the most significant players in the global oil market.…

AlGhamdi, Abeer

The Path Toward a Hydrogen Economy: How Industry Can Broaden the Use of Hydrogen

In the past couple of years, it became evident that hydrogen would need to play a pivotal role in a carbon-free energy system. It would help decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors and act as an energy carrier to manage large variability in…

Energy Security and Portfolio Diversification: The Exporter’s Perspective

Philipp Galkin, Carlo Andrea Bollino

Despite the increasing attention paid to energy security and the continuously broadening scope of the field, the perspective of energy importing countries (i.e., supply security) has overshadowed that of exporters, who seek to ensure demand security. As official statements and…

Galkin, Philipp

Bollino, Carlo Andrea

Saudi Arabian Cement Companies: Upgrading Through Leveraging Overcapacity

Jitendra Roychoudhury

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s annual cement production capacity of 72.4 million tonnes is the highest of any Gulf country. From 2001-2005, Saudi cement production grew at a compound annual growth rate of almost 8%. However, its annual production in…

Roychoudhury, Jitendra

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

Implementing Alternative Pricing Policies in Economic Equilibrium Models Using the Extended Mathematical Programming Framework

Bertrand Rioux, Abdullah AlJarboua, Frederic Murphy, Axel Pierru

Standard economic optimization models represent markets in perfect competition. They are commonly used, though they may not accurately represent real-world policies and regulations. Equilibrium models built using a mixed complementarity problem (MCP) approach are capable of simulating more flexible pricing…

Rioux, Bertrand

AlJarboua, Abdullah

Murphy, Frederic

Pierru, Axel

Policy and Economic Frameworks to Deepen Sino-Saudi Cooperation

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has expanded from 65 original member states during its official launch in 2015 to 131 as of April 2019. The countries of the Middle East and North Africa have generally welcomed the initiative and…

China’s Energy Investment Through the Lens of the Belt and Road Initiative

Philipp Galkin, Dongmei Chen, Junyuang Ke

The Chinese government launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013 as a vision to promote growth and cooperation among the economies of Asia and Europe. Over the five years since its inception, the BRI has expanded in both…

Galkin, Philipp

Chen, Dongmei

Ke, Junyuang

The Geopolitics of the Energy Transition

Starting in 2017, KAPSARC and the Clingendael International Energy Program (CIEP) have convened a series of workshops on the Role of Oil in the Low Carbon Energy Transition. This workshop held on April 25th, 2019 took place in Hus Clingendael,…