Research Library

Faculty scholar Jim Blackburn proposes a series of realistic ideas that can substantially reduce misery and damage the next time a catastrophic storm like Harvey tears through the Houston-Galveston area. 

The Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Qatar Leadership Centre hosted a roundtable on February 15-16, 2017, in Doha, Qatar, to discuss some of the most pressing challenges facing market participants in the global energy landscape, with a focus on several issues of paramount interest to Qatar and the broader Gulf Cooperation Council.

The relationship between the United States and its Gulf allies has evolved in important ways since President Jimmy Carter’s 1980 declaration of American “vital interests” in the Persian Gulf — the “Carter Doctrine” — and while many circumstances have changed, the rationale for maintaining U.S. protection for Gulf oil supplies remains strong, authors Gabriel Collins and Jim Krane write in this paper.

The environmental and economic gains of biochar application in agricultural soils are the focus of this study.

To access the full paper, download the PDF on the left-hand sidebar. 
 

“If I were to pick a single indicator—economic…

Iran is on the brink of “water bankruptcy” in large part because the Iranian government’s aspirations for wheat self-sufficiency are driving high agricultural water use, fellow Gabriel Collins writes in this research paper. The paper analyzes Iran’s water situation and proposes policy solutions to slow the rapid depletion of the country’s groundwater.

Under long-established Texas law, the surface estate owner clearly owns oilfield produced water. However, the law does not address how, if at all, the producer would need to split revenues with the surface owner for a sale or a for-value transfer of produced water. Fellow Gabe Collins analyzes the ambiguity related to revenues from this commodity and discusses potential transaction structures for produced water in Texas.

This paper presents a simple dynamic growth model of investment, consumption, passive military spending, and active military spending for an oil-exporting country. It argues that under conditions of significant geopolitical strife, a country might engage in a military conflict of limited scope and extent to drive up oil prices and revenues.

This research paper examines the potential market for a system that would pay landowners to restore natural ecosystems, such as native prairies and oyster reefs, that protect the Gulf Coast from hurricane and severe storm damage.

This study examines the changing trends and preferences in energy demand among Asian countries.