The retail electricity market, as the key link between end users and the wider electricity system, play a significant role throughout the power sector. This paper argues that the reference design of the retail market in the post liberalization era has not only failed to achieve its original objectives but has also proved to be unfit to keep pace with...

China recently released its Natural Gas Development Report for 2019, a document which sets outs its plans for the sector in the years ahead.  The past two years of stellar gas demand growth have framed a narrative, at least in western markets, that China’s future demand growth will remain in double-digit percentage rates and be heavily dependent on LNG.  The...

In 2019, markets were bracing for a slowdown in China’s oil product demand growth, but grappling to quantify it given the uncertainty surrounding the US-China trade negotiations. At the same time, with the start of two new mega-refineries, markets were expecting strong crude demand, alongside a deluge of product output and exports. In this comment, we explore the following four...

The September 2019 issue of the Oxford Energy Forum looks at the uncertainties facing the LNG sector as it transitions from its traditional rigid structure to becoming a fully traded commodity. This change is happening during a period of considerable volume growth in the industry, with LNG supply expected to double between 2016 and 2020. In four sections, the publication...

In this latest OIES podcast David Ledesma discusses the prospects for the Russian LNG industry with James Henderson, who recently co-authored a paper on the subject with Vitaly Yermakov. Following the successful launch of the Yamal LNG project the Russian government has great plans for the further development of the country’s LNG sector, led primarily by Novatek but also including projects operated...

Nowadays, oil market observers often start their analysis by pointing to two sets of factors pushing the oil price in opposite directions. On the one hand, supply outages from Iran and Venezuela and the rising geopolitical risks in the Middle East as US-Iran tensions escalate are keeping an upward pressure on the oil price. On the other hand, the US-China...