this paper presents an oil price cartel model. the aggregate reaction functions for non-cartel producers and for substitute suppliers are included. the former group acts as a price-taker, while the latter expects oil prices in production of its non-oil energy resources. this expectation about prices affects a cartel’s oil demand and, thus, gives intertemporal price elasticities it turns out tha...

Optimizing international oil exploration projects is one of the main challenges for oil companies in obtaining investment benefits. This paper establishes an integrated evaluation model to maximize investment benefits within the constraints of technical and economic factors, including geological factors, resource quality, geographic conditions, the investment environment, and oil contracts. The...

The price of crude oil in the U.S. never exceeded $40 per barrel until mid-2004. By 2006 it reached $70, and in July 2008 it peaked at $145. By late 2008 it had plummeted to about $30 before increasing to $110 in 2011. Are speculators at least partly to blame for these sharp price changes? We clarify the effects of speculators on commodity prices. We focus on crude oil, but our approach can be ...

It is a great honor to have this opportunity to speak to you today about Japan's current monetary policy. With the aim of achieving its 2 percent price stability target, the Bank of Japan (hereafter the Bank) adopted quantitative and qualitative monetary easing (QQE) in April 2013. QQE was expanded further in October 2014. This was because of the potential risk that a decline in the consumer pr...

In this chapter, we highlight some important aspects of biofuels development and policies from partial and general equilibrium perspectives. We first examine US biofuel policy backgrounds to determine factors which caused the boom in the ethanol industry in recent years. Then, we use a partial equilibrium model to investigate the economic consequences of further expansion in the ethanol industr...

This paper finds that the long-term co-movement among commodities is driven by economic relations, such as, production, substitution or complementary relationships. These economic linkages imply that expected commodity prices, which are determined by convenience yields and risk premia among other factors, tend to move with each other. This source of co-movement is not captured by traditional co...

The substantial increase in oil prices over the past few years has been reflected in asphalt prices. Moreover, the maximization of fuel production in refineries has reduced asphalt supply. These conditions have prompted the development of alternative sources of asphalt binders, including bio-oils derived from the fractionated fast pyrolysis of biomass that comes from agricultural and forestry r...

A discussion of the interrelations between food, health, and the environment is extremely topical today. Rising food prices together with the price of oil and a series of so-called "natural" catastrophes dominate the news every day. At the same time, there is a lot of confusion. Why are world food prices increasing so quickly and dramatically? Why is world hunger rising again after a long stead...