The past several decades have been characterized by episodes in banking, currency, and financial and energy markets that have resulted in dramatic change. These events create new challenges for energy companies as the investment climate continues to change. The conference "Globalization and Energy Markets: Investment and Commodity Price Cycles" will investigate the interaction between the oil investment cycle and the general business cycle, including the manner in which the global economy and capital investment patterns are influenced by oil price shocks. During the event, Baker Institute researchers will preview new economic modeling approaches aimed at improving the understanding of how the business and oil investment cycles impact energy commodity markets. Additionally, speakers from government, Wall Street, industry and academia will engage in a discussion of the influences on oil and gas investments, as well as future directions for global commodity pricing.
Conference Agenda
9:00 am Welcome
Kenneth B. Medlock III, Ph.D., James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics and Senior Director, Center for Energy Studies, Rice University"s Baker Institute
9:05 am Keynote: The Outlook for Global Oil and Gas Markets
Howard K. Gruenspecht, Ph.D., Deputy Administrator, U.S. Energy Information Administration
Major Oil Production Shifts: Technology, Investment and Regime Change
Mahmoud A. El-Gamal, Ph.D., Rice Scholar, Baker Institute, and Chair in Islamic Economics, Finance and Management, Rice University
10:15 am Coffee Break
10:30 am Speculation and Oil Price Formation
A Structural Approach to Oil Price Drivers: The Role of Fundamentals and Speculation
Kenneth B. Medlock III, Ph.D., James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics and Senior Director, Center for Energy Studies, Rice University"s Baker Institute
Factors Impacting Oil Price
Gürcan Gülen, Ph.D., Senior Energy Economist, Center for Energy Economics, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin
11:30 am Keynote: Sin-Orgy and Energy
Bart Chilton, Commissioner, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Noon Lunch
1:30 pm Developing Strategies for Effective Delivery of Capital Projects: Accenture
Global Survey of the Energy Industry
Barbara J. Duganier, Senior Executive, Resources Operating Group, Accenture
Oil and the U.S. Economy: Does Shale Change the Picture?
Mine Yücel, Ph.D., Vice President and Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
3:00 pm Coffee Break
3:15 pm Geopolitics and Oil Market Drivers
China and the Oil Cycle: Changing Patterns?
Trevor Houser, Partner, Rhodium Group
The Arab Spring and Oil: 1970s Revisited?
Amy Myers Jaffe, Executive Director for Energy and Sustainability, University of California, Davis
4:30 pm Closing Remarks
Kenneth B. Medlock III, Ph.D., James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics and Senior Director, Center for Energy Studies, Rice University"s Baker Institute
4:45 pm Reception