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.
China’s independent refiners account for roughly one third of the country’s downstream, yet for years, these private companies, nicknamed ‘teapots’ for their simple refining configuration, were virtually unknown to global crude markets. The independent refiners processed fuel oil as feedstock and, running at low utilisation rates, their retail market share in China was limited mainly […]
In the last few months, there has been a flurry of articles about the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Saudi Aramco. While such articles offer a fresh perspective on the complexities involved in the IPO of Saudi Aramco, key issues are still missing in the debate. This short paper tries to fill some of these […]
For the trading community, 2017’s ‘IP week’ in London (20-23 February) was not just concerned with the forecast level of crude oil prices, but about how those prices are expressed, assessed and reported. Once again the security of international oil price benchmarks is a significant cause for concern. In this comment, Liz Bossley argues that […]
The research paper discusses the structure of the Japanese upstream oil industry, investment strategies of Japanese market players and attempts to acquire concessions through case studies in the Gulf Cooperation Council, Iran and Iraq. Japan is the 4th largest importer of oil in the world and more than 80% of the 3,37 MMbpd (2015) were […]
Ethiopia has emerged to become one of the economic powerhouses in Africa with overall growth rates averaging around ten per cent in the past decade. As a growing political, economic, and transportation hub, it is rivalling neighbouring Kenya in Eastern Africa and provides investors on the Horn of Africa with a more stable business climate […]
Since mid-2014, Kuwait has experienced a substantial drop in its oil export price and, consequently, government revenues, which caused adverse impacts on its macroeconomic stability, fiscal position, and overall economic performance. Against this backdrop, cutting energy subsidies has become a top priority for the Kuwaiti government with many policy makers promising energy pricing reform as a […]
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;
B Fattouh on Saudi oil consumption: High growth rates of consumption & crude burn seen in past decades are behind us https://t.co/UhB2IpQSpt
May 25th
0IES' @thierry_bros to speak at the Africa Energy Forum #AEF17 on 7 June in Copenhagen https://t.co/YvSXBH3Sn6
May 24th
Tough market conditions for new final investment decision in FLNG. @thierry_bros quoted in @LesEchos https://t.co/vPAGy9qYKW
May 24th
