Perspectives of Oil and Gas: The Road to Interdependence is an up-to-date analysis of the dynamics of petroleum resources. It covers such subjects as oil reserves, depletion policy, pricing strategy, technological factors, and consumer trends. Likewise, it addresses the constraints faced by oil industry planners, from production to third party sales and refining. In addition to in-depth analysis, this book proposes practical solutions to complex problems: for example, how the different objectives and interests of international oil companies and oil producing countries can be reconciled to their mutual advantage. Attention is also focused on development through cooperation beween producers, importers, and multinationals. Perspectives of Oil and Gas ends by addressing the main challenges confronting interdependent economies in the near future. Audience: Decision-makers, policy planners, and academics concerned with the business and technical aspects of the petroleum economy and industry.

In 20th century society, oil has played a fundamental role not only from the economic point of view, but also from the point of view of the political relationships established between major Western countries and oil-producing countries. A survey into oil history, its market dynamics and price evolution, is essential for a deeper understanding of modern industry and world economy, as world development depends on oil supplies, prices, and its political accessibility. Oil Economics and Policy follows the historical development of the oil industry, and inevitably also covers many aspects of energy resource economy. In so doing, it pays particular attention to one aspect, namely, the fixing of oil prices. This is mainly in order to attempt to understand whether, and by how much, the structural transformations that the oil industry has undergone during the various phases of its existence - and the various market structures deriving from them - have influenced the dynamics of oil prices. Alberto Clô is Professor of Industrial Economics at the University of Bologna. Minister of Industry and Trade during Lamberto Dini's government (January 1995-May 1996), he has been a member both of national and international scientific boards and of ministerial committees. He is author of numerous writings on industrial and energy economies and editor-in-chief of the journal Energia.

How oil volatility is affecting the global political scene, and where the oil market is heading The world is rapidly moving towards an oil environment defined by volatility. The Vega Factor: Oil Volatility and the Next Global Crisis takes an in-depth look at the most important topics in the industry, including strategic risk, why traditional pricing mechanisms will no longer govern the market, and how the current government approaches have only worsened an already bad situation. Details the industry's players, including companies, traders, and governments Describes the priorities that will need to be revised, and the policies needed to achieve stability Explains how today's oil market is fundamentally different from the pre-crisis market Oil prices affect everyone. The Vega Factor explains the new international oil environment of increasing consolidation and decreasing competition, and reveals how consumers and investors can navigate price volatility and new government policies.

There are two typical views of energy security and oil crisis, with distinct analytical approaches and policy recommendations, either politics or economics. The geopolitical approach links imports to vulnerability or at least influence, and maintains that reduced oil imports improve security. One of its major weaknesses is the focus on petroleum trade balances among regions and countries as the critical variable, ignoring the fact that oil is a fungible commodity. If necessary, almost any amount of crude oil an be replaced fairly quickly in the event of a single-nation embargo. Economics often directly contradict the geopolitical view, presuming that all trade is done for money, and that specific trade disruptions are irrelevant because oil is a fungible commodity and any disruptions will be resolved through markets. Energy security, according to this view, need only concern itself with the ability of the market to allocate supply efficiently during a disruption. Although consumers often treat short-term price fluctuations as crises, they really represent normal cyclical behavior for a cartelized commodity. Oil crisis are political events, but the primary damage is economic, through the mechanism of oil price chance. Even when supply and consumption are relatively balanced, hoarding can create or exacerbate price increases. A major element that causes hoarding (and price changes in a more general sense) is uncertainty about supply, which is typically worse due to political interference in the market, whether international (as in 1973) or an exogenous event (as in 1979). Future oil crises, while far milder than 1979, can be expected to exceed the experience of 1990 in terms of price increase and related economic damage. Hoarding appears to be the most likely danger, but other elements, including policy mistakes, remain a concern. The passage of time reduces the number of policymakers with experience of oil crises, and raises the likelihood of poor policy choices during future supply disruptions. However, the primary current energy security threat is that of hoarding, give the significant probability of supply disruptions which are just large enough to cause price spikes, and which would be greatly worsened by the wrong inventory behavior. This is pertinent to policy-makers because hoarding is rational behavior during a period of supply uncertainty. Since the political element of supply disruptions creates or magnifies uncertainly about supply and encourages this trend, political intervention to reduce it seems particularly appropriate.

The Egyptian economy has undergone several reforms since the early 1990s. However, it was not until recently that the reform process picked up speed and intensity. Key initiatives included shifting to a flexible exchange rate regime, liberalizing trade, revising and reducing the tariff structure, and improving the income tax system. Plans are underway to restructure the financial sector and privatize most state-owned enterprises. This volume aims to evaluate the impact of recent reform policies and highlight priority areas for further reform at the macroeconomic and institutional levels. Topics addressed include growth, distribution, and poverty reduction; monetary policy and the impact of exchange rate liberalization; unemployment and job creation; and the new pension system. The objective is to contribute to ongoing efforts to stimulate growth and employment, ensure fiscal sustainability, improve the external sector, and address issues related to poverty and income distribution. The volume focuses on the health and energy sectors in Egypt, with the aim of assessing each sector in three areas: financing, organization, and policy management, in order to suggest ideas for reform in light of international experience. Contributors: Ragui Assaad, Omneia Helmy, Abdallah Shehata Khattab, Hanaa Kheir-El-Din, Aart Kraay, Heba El-Laithy, Nihal El-Megharbel, Mai El Mossallamy, Tarek Abdelfattah Moursi, Sarah El Nashar, Tarek Selim, Enas Zakareya.

Pure environmentalism and pure resource exploitation can be integrated together to form an encompassing sustainability solution. This is the main message of this book based on an innovative "e;structure-concentration-incentives"e; methodology applied to Egypt. This methodology provides a basis for achieving environmental sustainability based on endogenous source-driven forces of change in contrast to the traditional effects-dominant oriented approach. Though the book's methodology could be used as a framework of analysis in environmental sustainability research for any developing country, Egypt provides a rich case study because of its historical, socio-economic, and political constructs. Sustainable development is generally seen as a tradeoff between resource efficiency and social equity such that total resource essentials in society can become sustainable in the long run in a manner that meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Environmental sustainability cannot be implemented without the direct inclusion of structure (form), concentration (effect), and incentives (drivers) as critical policy choices because: (1) they constitute a necessary condition in any country's path towards sustainable development, (2) they must be implemented simultaneously as a target and constraint, and (3) they require social and political sacrifice complemented by endogenous-based systems in contrast to authoritarian solutions. Egypt, Energy and the Environment presents research on Egypt's energy and environmental resources from multidisciplinary perspectives. It offers sustainability solutions to many of the country's problems relating to energy, pollution, water, gender, wildlife, politics, economics, management, ecology, and information technology. The book's method of analysis can be applied to other developing countries as well.