The Oil and the Middle East Programme of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies was established in 2009. It is dedicated to the advanced study of contemporary oil markets, production, consumption and policy. With a historical focus on the resource-rich economies of the Middle East, research on the Programme has expanded to include major non-OPEC producing regions such as North America and Russia, and emerging energy markets such as China and India.
This research stream encompasses the study of oil price cycles, evolution of pricing benchmarks, behaviour of oil market participants, the impact of new supply sources on market dynamics, producer-consumer relations, and international oil and product trade flows.
Research under this stream relates to the economic prospects for conventional and unconventional production in the world’s major producing economies as well as newly emerging provinces, and includes the Middle East, Africa, North America and Russia. It covers topics such as the evolution of fiscal regimes.
The programme’s third main research stream focuses on emerging centres of energy demand outside traditional OECD energy consumers. Research under this stream analyses demand and supply patterns in emerging energy markets, including Russia, India, China, Latin America and Africa.
The fourth key area of research concentrates on the management of natural resource wealth within resource-rich economies, including resource-based development strategies and economic growth, distribution of natural resource rents, challenges related to domestic demand growth, diversification, and the deployment of renewables.
Research is disseminated via a dedicated research paper series, short energy comments and contributions to academic journals and specialised publications, in addition to a book series published by Oxford University Press. Members of programme staff have also been involved in a range of international collaborative publications, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Energy Forum (IEF). The Programme’s research group is composed of core staff, and draws on a network of external contributors from a wide range of disciplinary and professional backgrounds.
The recent movements in the oil price complex indicate some deep dislocations between the physical and futures markets and in market expectations about current and future oil market fundamentals. Despite the various supply shocks hitting the oil market, the general deterioration in the geopolitical backdrop and the rise in US-Iran tensions, the Brent price has […]
The contamination of the Druzhba pipeline with organic chlorides became the most serious interruption of oil supplies in the 55-year history of oil trade on this key route. While it appears to be a one-off event that has not brought about loss of life or affected the environment, the scale of the incident is such […]
After the recent oil price declines in mid-2014, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) oil exporters including Kuwait reduced energy subsidies and passed economic diversification-enhancing policies in an attempt to improve fiscal balance and economic sustainability. This paper argues that these economies already have a diversified base but this base has not contributed to export […]
The key aim of this paper is to explore whether Russian refining sector has the flexibility to deal with the problem by lowering Heavy Fuel Oil output and exports before the mismatch between supply and demand becomes excessive. This paper builds on the research conducted by OIES in 2012. At that time the Russian government […]
Following a pause as the country complied with the recent OPEC/Non-OPEC deal Russia is set to expand its oil output again. Fields currently under development will see production rise consistently until the early 2020s, but the key question will be whether this can be sustained for the longer term. Existing fields in West Siberia and […]
In an effort to increase oil export revenue and to meet local electricity demands, the Kuwaiti government is planning to replace the majority of crude and petroleum products with imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) in its power generation by 2030. The basic motivation for this plan is that it will enable freeing crude and petroleum […]
We are interested in hearing from students and researchers working on oil and the Middle East academically worldwide. For information about the programme and questions, please email;
Jonathan Stern on the latest Groningen earthquake: I think it is likely to accelerate even further the phase-out of… https://t.co/d1tGcAIAjp
May 23rd
About 43% of the industrial gas demand in Europe could, in theory, decline in the 2020s as a result of decarbonizat… https://t.co/0iMqP4dCsd
May 23rd
New OIES comment on Saudi Arabia’s challenging balancing act: If premature return of withheld supplies back into th… https://t.co/J0LoxVkSAJ
May 23rd
