Research Library

Though consumers generally pay higher electricity prices in areas with capacity markets, those markets also serve as an insurance mechanism to incentivize capacity additions and reduce the probability of extreme events. Graduate fellow Raúl Bajo Buenestado analyzes the implications of capacity markets for consumers in liberalized energy sectors.

Kenneth Medlock, senior director at the Center for Energy Studies, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Small Business on June 17. Medlock testified for the committee’s hearing, “Crude Intentions: The Untold Story of the Ban, the Oil Industry and America’s Small Businesses.” He discussed the latest CES study, “To Lift or Not to Lift? The U.S. Crude Oil Export Ban: Implications for Price and Energy Security,” which analyzes the economic and energy security impacts of the 40-year-old ban on oil exports.

The accession of a new king in Saudi Arabia and the kingdom’s intervention in Yemen have overshadowed important moves to reform two of the kingdom’s key institutions. Incoming King Salman has taken steps to prepare Saudi Arabia for a new generation of leaders, both within the royal family and among the world’s largest oil export sector and its marquee company, Saudi Aramco. The changes involve installing new personalities into key positions and shifting the roles of long-serving managers. "Overall, the moves ought to enhance the resilience of the kingdom and its economy by shifting leadership responsibilities to a younger generation," writes fellow Jim Krane.

Texas loses between five to six million acre-feet of water per year to evaporation from surface water supply reservoirs. Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR), whereby water supplies are stored underground, may provide a useful strategy for managing and protecting water supplies.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is starting her second term in office facing economic and political problems that feed into each other. These problems can be attributed to a large extent to mistakes her administration made during her first term. Rousseff’s macroeconomic policy proved to be inconsistent, and the choices she made in some key economic sectors, especially energy, were demonstrably disastrous. Rousseff now faces the enormous challenge of reconciling the leftwing populism that led her to victory with the inescapable need to regain the trust of the most dynamic sectors of Brazilian society, including the private sector.

This study examines the effects of lifting the 40-year-old U.S. crude export ban on crude pricing, energy security and energy sector investment. It includes a statistical analysis that explains what the relationship would be between the prices of crudes of different qualities in an unconstrained setting, which, according to author Ken Medlock, is important to providing a more accurate assessment of the impact of current U.S. policy.

South America is likely facing a "second wave" of Chinese investment. How will China's rise to global economic power — and its transition to a new economic growth model — impact South America?

After decades of underinvestment, Mexico's natural gas pipeline network faces severe limitations in capacity and geographical coverage, leading to limitations in meeting domestic demand. To correct this, the government has launched an aggressive program to upgrade natural gas transport capabilities. The natural gas infrastructure program and energy reform are designed in part to help decrease Mexico’s reliance on imports of fertilizers (urea) and basic food staples, which stand at approximately 70 percent and 43 percent of domestic consumption, respectively. Increasing natural gas production and infrastructure will contribute to gains in ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer production, which would in turn have a positive impact on Mexico’s agroindustry.

Rising populations and growing wealth have coupled with low domestic prices to propel huge increases in energy consumption within the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. The trend of large and continuing increases in demand threatens assumptions about the sustainability of the region’s oil exports Politically difficult reforms that moderate consumption can extend the longevity of exports, and perhaps, the regimes themselves.

A growing number of Brazilian companies are expanding internationally. These companies are part of the transformation reshaping the global investment environment. They have shifted their international strategy from being based exclusively on exports to becoming foreign investors in countries such as Peru, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.