The Tracker report for 2024 comes as a global sense of urgency is taking hold. At the end of last year, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) again underscored the importance of transitioning away from unabated oil and gas. At the same time, oil and gas will continue to play...

Oil and gas revenues have underpinned the Russian economy for decades. As a result, they are an obvious target for sanctions from countries wishing to punish Russia for the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. However, the impact of hydrocarbons from Russia on the...

For a long time, Norway has had resource rent taxes on oil- and natural gas extraction as well as on hydropower generation. Recently, resource rent taxes have also been levied on aquaculture, and wind power generation. This paper, gives a short overview of the rent theory, the basis for rent...

This paper argues for a change in government attitudes to their extractive industries: as enclaves useful primarily as revenue sources. This is too narrow a perspective: it fails to recognize the broader economic linkages that are invariably possible. Achieving greater economic impact requires...

This paper analyses the risks facing resource-dependent countries. These include: (i) economic mismanagement (the 'resource curse'); (ii) political mismanagement; (iii) environmental damage (climate change and the destruction of natural capital). It distinguishes 'risk' (which can be addressed...

The extractives industries are highly controversial but remain vitally important in much of the developing world. This paper considers their role in reducing energy poverty and discusses scenarios for the future of the global markets for oil, gas, and metals (emphasizing the increasing...

Companies in the oil, gas, and mining sectors face ever intensifying scrutiny over their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices and impacts: from civil society but also from investment funds and other stakeholders with ESG mandates. Companies with good practices-and the paper...

While market mechanisms and private initiatives can deliver much for development, public action is also necessary to: maximize the economic benefits of the extractive industries; manage potentially large capital and revenues flows; minimize adverse environmental and social impacts; and steer the...

This paper analyses the roles that states, civil society, and international actors can play in tackling the weak governance that sometimes leads to resources being used for private rather than public benefit. It discusses the corruption that bedevils licensing and commodities trading; and oil...

The rise of shale gas and tight oil development has triggered a major debate about hydraulic fracturing (HF). In an effort to bring light to HF practices and their potential risks to water quality, many U.S. states have mandated disclosure for HF wells and the fluids used. We employ this setting...

Over the last decade, a significant concern in the energy market has been the decline in the USA's oil imports and fall in energy prices. In this context, we investigate the impact of the shale revolution in the USA on oil prices and examine its potential replicability in other shale-rich...

Steadily increasing demand for water poses a threat to sustainable development, and an increasing number of regions are chronically short of water. Putting caps on water consumption, increasing water use efficiencies, and supporting improved sharing of water resources are now critical to...

We study the impact on oil and gas activity in a mature province like Norway of limiting global warming to 1.5 ºC. To achieve net zero emissions, we consider global demand-side policies such as high CO2 taxes, very strong energy efficiency improvement and large amounts of renewables in...

This study uses a structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model to examine the relationships between the intensity of drilling (i.e. investment) for natural gas production, natural gas withdrawals, economic activity and natural gas prices in the United States. The results show that the reaction...

Theory suggests crime should decrease as economic opportunities increase the returns to legal activities. However, there are well-documented cases where crime increases when areas become more prosperous. This paper addresses this puzzle by focusing on existing residents, isolating local economic...

In the wake of the gas crisis, in March 2022 the European Council called on the Council and the Commission to examine how ‘an aggregator model / single buyer’ could help reduce gas prices. The Council also said that Member States and the Commission would ‘work together on voluntary common...

The authors analyze the economics of natural gas production in the U.S. in light of the government's recent dramatic upward revisions in gas reserve estimates as a result of advances in horizontal drilling and fracturing (“fracking”). While some observers believe the U.S. will enjoy very...

We analyze mortgage lenders’ behavior with respect to shale gas risk during the period of the U.S. shale gas boom, which coincided with fluctuations in the U.S. housing market and increased scrutiny in the lending industry. Shale gas operations have the potential to place affected houses into...

Using a text-based firm-level measure of climate policy exposure, we show that climate policies have led to a global decline of 6.5 percent in investment among publicly traded oil and gas companies between 2015 and 2019, with European companies experiencing the most significant impact....

How do expropriations of foreign oil and gas assets affect the net inflow of FDI? We analyze political and legal developments which led to increased government control of natural resource extraction industries in South America in the early 2000s and discuss at which point in time foreign...

The study examines dynamic volatility transmissions among European Energy industry participants along the production lines, using the Diebold and Yilmaz (2012)’s spillover index. We sort the sector participants, based on their production exposure, into Upstream, Midstream, Downstream, and...

Using a text-based firm-level measure of climate policy exposure, we show that climate policies have led to a global decline of 6.5 percent in investment among publicly traded oil and gas companies between 2015 and 2019, with European companies experiencing the most significant impact....

This paper studies the effects of U.S. energy shocks on international economic activity and the world oil market. The analysis uses a set of factor-augmented vector autoregressions to identify and compare the impact of unanticipated changes in U.S. energy efficiency and U.S. oil supply over...

The shale revolution is gradually transforming the industrial structure of the United States. This paper quantifies these changes in a model in which industries are linked by productivity linkages. In this framework, productivity gains in one industry may spill over to other industries. Judging...

Nigeria is the largest African oil exporter yet a large number of its population is living in abject poverty. There have been losses recorded which were caused by crude oil theft and spillage. As a result of the corruption happening in the country.Environmental Pollution caused by Oil...

As the use of fracking has spread during the recent oil and gas boom, inevitable conflicts have arisen between industry and its neighbors, particularly as fracking has moved into densely populated urban and suburban areas. Concerned over the impacts of fracking – such as risks to health and...

There are numerous risks associated with mining and owning cryptocurrencies, and exploring and producing oil and natural gas are highly risky, costly, and controversial. A marriage of digital mining and exploring and producing oil and natural gas has reduced the major risks and costs for both...

The UK is believed to hold prolific reserves of shale gas; the quality of which has been compared and sometimes branded superior to the much successful US shale plays. Nonetheless, after more than ten years since the 13th Onshore Licensing Round, the fracking industry is said to have benefited...

This paper addresses the boundaries of firms' voluntary self-regulation in the context of information disclosure laws, a widely used regulatory approach that requires firms to disclose otherwise private information, reducing information asymmetries in the hopes that market mechanisms may then...

I use synthetic control methods to identify the long run impact of the Pennsylvania fracking boom on the distribution of income among local residents. I measure income inequality using estimates of county Gini coefficients for total income made from tax bracket data compiled by the Pennsylvania...

Oil and gas leases between mineral owners and extraction firms ubiquitously include royalty and primary term clauses. The royalty denotes the share of revenue that is paid to the mineral owner, and the primary term specifies the date by which the firm must complete a well, lest it lose the...