Research
The following summarises the current and planned areas of research and study by staff of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. The Institute’s unique multidisciplinary expertise allows it to examine the economics, the politics and the sociology of energy with a focus on oil and natural gas.
Its research spans the international relations between producers and consumers of energy; the economic development of producing nations and the geo-political aspects of all these issues alongside the economics and politics of the environment in relation to energy, including climate change. The specific subjects of current research, while set within these broad lines, necessarily reflects the particular research capacities, skills and interests of the research fellows.
Alternative Energy in India
By: Anupama Sen
India faces a significant long-term challenge in transitioning towards environmentally sustainable economic growth, as half of its population currently lacks any form of access to modern commercial energy. The share of commercial energy in total primary energy consumption stood at 72% in 2007; a large proportion of the rural population thus continues to rely on [...]
Categories / Country and Regional Studies, Energy Economics, Energy Policy
Blackouts: Invest, Intervene or Inveigh?
By: OIES
U.S. and EU federal authorities have wrongly concluded that lack of investment is causing transmission congestion and threatening system security in liberalised electricity markets. This perception has unfortunately been reinforced by the blackouts of summer 2003.
Download the Publication 2.53MBCategories / Energy Economics
Continental European Gas Hubs: are thet fit for purpose?
By: Patrick Heather
This study will evaluate the current stage of development of each of European gas hubs, starting with Britain, Scandinavia, Benelux, Germany, France and extending to Italy, Austria and the Iberian Peninsula. It will aim to establish their future importance in European gas price formation, as perceived by commercial and regulatory stakeholders. The study will also [...]
Categories / Country and Regional Studies, Gas, Gas Programme, Research in Progress
Contractual Framework for Oil and Gas Investments in the Middle East
By: Bassam Fattouh, Carole Nakhle
The Middle East and North Africa is the world’s most prolific oil and gas producing region. With 61% of total proved oil reserves and 41.3% of gas reserves, lasting for at least 50 years and possibly longer, and with the lowest extraction cost in the world, the Middle East should be on the radar screen of any international Exploration and Production company.
Categories / Country and Regional Studies, Current Research, Finance, Gas, Oil
Diffusion of technology to national oil production companies in developing countries
By: John L. Enos
This study explores the extent to which various national oil companies are adopting advances in oil technology. Advances occur at intervals that are impossible to predict accurately in advance, but then most national oil companies are not at the technological frontier, and so their task is to become familiar with and, where possible, assimilate advances [...]
Categories / Energy Economics, Oil
Domestic Energy Consumption in Saudi Arabia: Issues and Challenges
By: Bassam Fattouh, Laura El-Katiri
Crude oil is Saudi Arabia’s single most important natural resource and export commodity, the income from which provides most of the Saudi state’s revenues.
Categories / Country and Regional Studies, Current Research, Energy Policy, Oil, Oil & Middle East Programme, Research
Electricity Investment in Liberalised Markets
By: Malcolm Keay
The study looks at the dynamics of investment in power generation in liberalised electricity markets. It surveys the theoretical arguments and practical experience to date, with the aim of drawing out key messages, in particular in relation to the impact on the environment and on the expansion of the electricity system in developing countries.
Categories / Electricity & Nuclear, Energy and the Environment
Energy Subsidies in the Arab World
By: Laura El-Katiri, Bassam Fattouh
Energy subsidies form an important part of many governments’ policies in the developing world, the Arab world being no exception. The primary goal behind energy subsidies is often to address underlying poverty issues and to enable all citizens to access at least basic forms of energy. However, the use of energy subsidies has been criticised [...]
Categories / Country and Regional Studies, Current Research, Energy and the Environment, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Gas, Oil, Oil & Middle East Programme, Renewable
Environmental Attitudes and Impacts on Local Content Policy Formation in Kazakhstan
This project analyses state-civil society interaction and policy accountability in Kazakhstan. Specifically, the project examines how environmental attitudes across different state-civil society segments are articulated and enacted in the local content policy formation process. A comparative institutional analysis is utilised to test theories of natural resource rent extraction and circulation and their relationship to environmental [...]
Categories / Country and Regional Studies, Energy Economics, Energy Policy
Fiscal Regimes in Hydrocarbons Exploration and Production in India
By: Anupama Sen
In the mid nineties, India moved to a new contractual (production sharing) regime in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons (the New Exploration Licensing Policy or NELP), aimed towards the internationalisation of its supplier base, which prior to 1998 had remained almost entirely under public ownership and administration. It has been ten years since the [...]
Categories / Country and Regional Studies, Energy Economics, Energy Policy