Gasoline Demand, Pricing Policy and Social Welfare in Saudi Arabia

Initiative Future of Transport and Fuel Demand
Type Discussion paper
Date 12 March 2017

Abstract

In the face of low international oil prices, countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council recently implemented fuel price reform across a number of sectors. Saudi Arabia, for example, announced in December 2015 an increase in the gasoline price. We undertook a welfare analysis in this paper to estimate the net gain in social welfare that resulted from this price increase.

Authors

Anwar Gasim

Research Fellow Anwar is an energy and environmental economist with a strong engineering background. He leads a cross-functional team on the project… Anwar is an energy and environmental economist with a strong engineering background. He leads a cross-functional team on the project titled “Modeling Energy Demand, Emissions, and the Impacts of Energy Price Reform.” This project includes studies on elasticities, emissions forecasting, the economic and environmental impacts of reforms, and understanding what leads to successful energy policy outcomes. He is also involved in multiple studies on carbon markets. Anwar’s research has been published in leading journals and has been picked up by numerous media publications, such as the Saudi Gazette and Arab News. His work has supported key advisory engagements with the Saudi energy sector. Anwar is currently wrapping up a Ph.D. from UCL in Sustainable Resources (with a sub-specialization in Economics). He holds an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from KAUST and a B.Eng. in the same field from the University of Liverpool.

Expertise