Natural Gas Research Programme

The Natural Gas Research Programme, launched in 2003, has become one of the foremost sources of independent academic research on natural gas. The programme focuses on natural gas within the disciplines of the Institute: economics, politics and sociology, international relations of gas-producing and gas-consuming nations and the environment in its relationship with natural gas.

Research and Publications

The Programme concentrates on natural gas issues of international significance but also deals with national issues and problems. The Programme has produced major studies on LNG, Russian gas, UK gas, German gas, gas in Asia, gas in the CIS and gas-fired power generation in Europe.

Details of current and published research by the Natural Gas Research Programme are listed on the projects page.

Most publications are free to download.

Staff and Authors

Professor Jonathan Stern is Director of the Programme.

Anouk Honoré, Hakim Darbouche, John Elkins, Andy Flower, Floris van Foreest, Florence Gény, Patrick Heather, Aleksandar Kovacevic, David Ledesma, Simon Pirani, Howard Rogers and Katja Yafimava, are the Programme's Research Fellows.

In addition to work by the Programme staff, research is commissioned from authors in a wide range of countries and from varied backgrounds: academic, industry and journalism.

The Programme has a Research Group comprising the sponsors of the Programme and independent experts from academia, industry and journalism. The Group meets twice a year to discuss proposed research projects, provide progress reports and debate topical issues, particularly new trends in supply and demand for gas in Europe and the Atlantic Basin.

Sponsors of the Gas Programme

We would like to acknowledge the kind support of our sponsors; without whom the research carried out by the Programme would not be possible.

The Natural Gas Research Programme is sponsored equally by the following organisations: BG Group, BP, Centrica, Cheniere Energy, DONG Energy, EDF, Gazprom Marketing and Trading, Energy Delta Institute, Gasunie, GDF Suez, Iberdrola, JKX, Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (Norway), National Grid, Petoro, Qatar Petroleum, RWE, StatoilHydro and Vattenfall.

Sponsors maintain an on-going dialogue with the staff including visits and presentations.

The contents of the Programme publications are the authors’ sole responsibility. They do not necessarily represent the views of the sponsors, the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies or of any of its Members.

If your company or organisation would like to discuss any aspect of the Gas Programme further, please do not hesitate to contact Jonathan Stern or Anouk Honoré.

Academic Institutions

The staff of the natural gas research programme have links with the following:

The Energy Delta Institute (EDI) in Groningen, Netherlands. EDI is a sponsor of the Programme and staff teach on EDI courses which specialise in providing research and management skills for natural gas executives.
Centre for Energy, Petroleum & Mineral Law & Policy, University of Dundee, UK.
Department of Environmental Science and Technology at Imperial College, London, UK.
Columbia University, New York, USA.
Center for Energy Economics, Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin, USA
Institute for Energy and Finance, Moscow, Russia.
Groupe Réseaux Jean Monnet, University of Paris-Sud 11, Paris, France.
Florence School of Regulation, Loyola de Palacio Energy Policy Programme, Florence, Italy.

Request for Information from Other Institutions and Researchers

We are interested in hearing from anybody working on natural gas issues (research institutions, individual researchers and students worldwide regarding non-technical research on natural gas).

There is relatively little independent research on natural gas being carried out anywhere in the world, if you are working on these issues, please let us know. You can write to Jonathan Stern or Anouk Honoré.