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OPEC Member Countries (opec + member_country)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	100%

Selected Abstracts

Correlation between energy usage and the rate of economic development

OPEC ENERGY REVIEW, Issue 1 2006
Salman Saif Ghouri
This paper reviews the correlation between per capita GDP and per capita consumption of different sources of energy for OPEC Member Countries, the G-7 and three Asian countries, both with and without natural logarithm. In addition, the paper estimates the ratios for total GDP and total energy consumption of different sources of energy and also estimates GDP energy consumption elasticities. The paper concludes that on a per capita basis most OPEC Countries exhibit negative and weak relationships for all forms of energy, including electricity. For the G-7 and Asian countries, this relationship is positive and strong, with the exception of oil for G-7 countries, where there is a weak correlation. Surprisingly, most OPEC Countries showed a comparatively strong and positive correlation when tested for total GDP in relation to total energy consumption of the respective energy sources. The relationship for the rest of the countries remains unchanged. Population might have distorted the results in OPEC Countries. These results suggest that one should be cautious when drawing conclusions and not ignore the aggregate comparison, as this could otherwise lead to wrong results. For G-7 countries, there has been a significant shift in the pattern of energy consumption in relation to GDP when comparing 1960,73 and 1973,2001. All adjusted downward in the later period. However, the greatest adjustment was associated with petroleum consumption. The general conclusion is that wealth creation in G-7 countries is directly associated with the efficient use of all forms of energy. In contrast, most OPEC Countries exhibit a weaker linkage between energy consumption and economic development on a per capita basis, probably due to inefficient usage of resources or due to disproportionate distribution of wealth and thus energy usage. [source]

The importance of weighted variables to OPEC's production quota allocation

OPEC ENERGY REVIEW, Issue 2 2003
Mahmoud Al-Osaimy
The objective of this paper is to estimate a weighted variables formula that could be used to calculate OPEC quota distribution. Instead of assigning an arbitrary weight to each of the selected variables included in the formula, we estimate weights based on historical data, using regression analysis. Six national characteristics of OPEC Member Countries, related to oil and socio-economic factors, are considered in the estimation. Time-series are used from 1982 to 2001, for each OPEC Member Country. The results show that the estimated weights are sensitive to the periods considered in the analysis, as well as the number of variables selected. However, there is no specific optimum way of dealing with the sensitive, complex quota issue. [source]

Oil product consumption in OPEC Member Countries: a comparison of trends and structures

OPEC ENERGY REVIEW, Issue 2 2001
Atmane Dahmani
The purpose of the present work is to analyse oil product consumption trends within OPEC's 11 Member Countries and to compare the consumption structures within and between the countries. The study examines consumption structures by product (gasoline, kerosene, distillates, residuals and others) and the most relevant indicators of economic growth during the period 1980,98. The analysis shows that, during this period, most countries increased their consumption of gasoline, kerosene and distillates, which are light and medium products. However, the consumption of heavy products, such as residuals, was diversified within the considered countries. The structural change analysis, which relates to the similarities in the oil product consumption structures of Member Countries, was carried out by using sub-groups for the periods in which consumption structures are similar. This grouping seems to be the result of the influence of important factors on oil consumption, mainly oil product domestic prices, refinery capacity and configuration, the demographic factor and social unrest. Further steps in the study refer to some practical aspects regarding observed homogeneity in the grouping of oil consumption patterns. [source]

The economic cost of low domestic product prices in OPEC Member Countries

OPEC ENERGY REVIEW, Issue 2 2000
Nadir Gürer
The present state of subsidies on major oil products (gasoline, kerosene, diesel and fuel oil) in OPEC Member Countries is analysed, in order to quantify their economic cost, keeping in mind the importance of reforming or gradually removing subsidies as one of the crucial economic challenges facing many Member Countries. The paper begins with a general definition and description of subsidies, then discusses briefly the key issues in reforming/removing them, with the potential benefits. Following a section on subsidy level estimations in recent years, the subsidy implications in terms of the accruing budget burden and foregone revenues from additional export potential are presented. This is together with some arguments supporting the process of adjustment towards internationally competitive prices for oil products as an inescapable development for Member Countries; this should progress in gradual, but firm steps. [source]

The importance of weighted variables to OPEC's production quota allocation

TERRORISM AND THE RETURNS TO OIL

ECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 3 2009
BROCK BLOMBERG
The effect of terrorism on global oil prices has been largely explained through demand-side effects. We estimate an empirical model to re-examine the effect of terrorism on the price of global oil stocks across oil market regimes that reflect different supply constraints. We believe that terrorism will have larger impacts when global capacity is tight (i.e. when global demand is close to global supply). This means that any shock to capacity (say by conflict) should have the largest impact on profits before the first OPEC shock in the early 1970s. Since then, conflict shocks would not allow firms to exploit production in the same way, thus reducing the available profits that could be garnered by such production manipulation. If capacity constraints are binding when a conflict occurs, then we predict that a positive stock price reaction can be expected for oil firms from such a shock. We exploit a new panel dataset to investigate the relationship between oil profitability and conflict, using conflict data from the top 20 oil producing and exporting countries in the world. We show that in the later part of our sample, 1974,2005, as cartel behavior of OPEC member countries has diminished and as conflict has become more regular and thus the information surrounding it noisier, oil stock prices do not increase in response to conflict. However, in earlier capacity constrained eras, we find that oil stocks can in fact increase in response to conflict. In some cases, the impact of conflict may cause the return of oil stocks to increase by as much as 10 percentage points. [source]