Mineral Resources and Development
37 items available
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This series aggregates and presents the World Bank`s knowledge on oil, gas, and mining in an accessible format. It is meant to assist knowledge sharing and trigger policy dialogue on topics relevant to managing natural resource wealth sustainably and responsibly. The series is produced by the Extractive Industries Unit of the World Bank. The unit serves as a global technical adviser that supports sustainable development by building capacity and providing extractive industry sector-related advisory services to resource-rich developing countries.
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Publication
Expenditure of Low-Income Households on Energy : Evidence from Africa and Asia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-06)Patterns of household energy use and expenditure have been the subject of a large number of studies. Household expenditures on energy-particularly, how much the poor spend-have policy implications for several reasons. First, policies to mitigate or cope with energy price shocks are increasingly focusing on targeted support to low-income households as a way of limiting the fiscal cost of such policies while offering protection to the most vulnerable members of society. Second, for governments looking to reform energy price subsidies, the effects on household welfare- especially effects on poor households-of price increases resulting from subsidy reduction/removal is an important policy consideration. But subsidies for liquid fuels targeting the poor are difficult to design and implement effectively, because liquid fuels tend to be used more by the rich than by the poor, and are also easy to transport (and hence to divert to non-poor users). For this reason, there is a growing recognition of the need to move away from price subsidies for liquid fuels to alternative forms of targeted assistance to compensate the poor for the adverse effects of higher fuel prices. Third, in areas where many households have not yet begun using modern commercial energy regularly, the amount they can afford to pay for such energy services is a relevant question. Quantifying expenditures on different types of energy at varying income levels provides a basis for addressing these questions. The paper also examines expenditures on motorized passenger transport and food, two items for which the price of oil is an important component of their cost structure and which are consequential in the budget of poor households. -
Publication
Environmental Governance in Oil-Producing Developing Countries : Findings from a Survey of 32 Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-06)The Petroleum Governance Initiative (PGI) encompasses three general themes, or pillars, that address issues issues of transparency and economic responsibility, environmental sustainability and responsible community development. Of particular interest here is the second pillar, environmental sustainability; the PGI is currently involved in four main activities surrounding this theme: 1) assessing environmental governance and management in oil-producing countries-the topic of this paper; 2) conducting a strategic environmental assessment of oil and gas activity in Mauritania; 3) conducting workshops and preparing a toolkit on decommissioning and abandonment; and 4) providing in-country assistance on environmental management to a limited number of countries. This paper presents the results of a survey undertaken by the PGI to measure the environmental governance of oil-producing nations against a benchmark standard representing a compendium of good management practices for minimizing impacts of oil and gas development. The objective is to identify areas where the World Bank can provide assistance to improve environmental governance and management systems, particularly in those developing countries whose oil and gas industry is rapidly emerging as a major component of gross domestic product. Detecting governance gaps-and, more importantly, facilitating the rapid implementation of corrective measures-is an important challenge for the World Bank in its efforts to preserve natural habitats and the culture of indigenous peoples. -
Publication
Petroleum Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa : Analysis and Assessment of 12 Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-03)This regional study takes twelve oil-importing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and asks the following two questions: does each stage in the supply chain, from import of crude oil or refined products to retail, seem to be efficiently run and are the efficiency gains passed on to end-users? And if not, what are the potential causes and possible means of remedying the problems? The study focuses on Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, and Senegal in West Africa and Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda in East and Southern Africa, covering a wide range of conditions that affect price levels, such as the market size, geography (whether landlocked or coastal), existence of domestic refineries, degree of sector liberalization including pricing, and level of economic development. -
Publication
The Aluminum Industry in West and Central Africa : Lessons Learned and Prospects for the Future
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-12)The purpose of this working paper is to evaluate the future of the aluminum industry in West and Central Africa, with a focus on aluminum smelting and its relationship with power generation and availability in the regions. The organization of this study is as follows. It continues with an overview of the global aluminum industry, including a description of the production process, current and projected supply and demand, and the most important cost considerations for companies investing in the industry. Chapter two provides a brief history and future prospects for the aluminum sector in West and Central Africa. Chapter three contains an analysis of the viability of the two most important existing smelters in the regions, Valco in Ghana and Alucam in Cameroon, as well as a briefer analysis of Alscon in Nigeria and the potential for other smelters in the regions. In chapter four, the recent experience of the three large aluminum smelters in southeast Africa is reviewed and lessons are extracted for West and Central Africa. Conclusions and recommendations are in chapter five. -
Publication
Sub-Saharan Africa Refinery Study
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-07)Over the past two decades, the growing awareness of the role that emissions play in human health and environmental degradation had led to a general movement in many parts of the world to control emissions to reduce the impacts. This movement has mainly taken two forms: 1) the development and subsequent required use of control devices for stationary sources and vehicle sources and, 2) changes in the specifications of transportation fuels to reduce emissions of the major pollutants. These trends originated in the industrialized countries and are now spreading, at different rates, throughout the world. As in other world regions, the first improvement in the specifications of transportation fuels in Sub-Saharan Africa was the elimination of lead. The phase out of lead is now complete and the World Bank and its partners are looking at the next step the reduction of sulfur in transportation fuels. The growing complexity of the vehicle emission control technologies for both personal vehicles and commercial trucks and the concomitant need for clean fuels.In addition to the growing awareness of the human health and environmental impact of vehicle source emissions, have placed increasing requirements on refineries. Sulfur is not an additive but a natural part of crude oil. Its removal processes presents both technological and economic challenges to refiners. However, by coming later than Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) regions to ultra-low sulfur fuels, SSA refineries are in a position to benefit from the operating experience and process improvements obtained elsewhere in the refining industry. -
Publication
Changing Patterns of Household Expenditures on Energy : A Case Study of Indonesia and Pakistan
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06)This paper applies a decomposition technique using a log mean Divisia index to two sets of household surveys taken several years apart in Indonesia and Pakistan. The methodology enables separation of changes in expenditure on different types of energy into changes in prices, quantities, the share of households using the given form of energy, and total household income. The technique was applied to electricity, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), kerosene, and gasoline in Indonesia, and to natural gas, kerosene, LPG, purchased firewood, collected firewood, dung cake, and other forms of biomass in Pakistan. The methods of analysis presented in this paper could be extended to other commodities or to changes in energy use patterns over longer periods of time, where suitable household expenditure surveys are available. In particular, when household surveys covering the period of high oil prices become available, the analysis of changing household patterns of fuel use will be valuable. The availability of evidence on the use of energy by various household groups will be important for considerations of providing targeted support to low-income households at times of unexpected shocks to energy prices. -
Publication
Vulnerability to Oil Price Increases : A Decomposition Analysis of 161 Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-08)This paper examines the levels of and changes in vulnerability to oil price increases between 1996 and 2006 in 161 countries for which data are available. Vulnerability defined here as the ratio of the value of net oil imports to gross domestic product (GDP) rises if oil consumption increases and oil production decreases per unit of GDP. By comparing the level of vulnerability of different economies at a point in time, those that are particularly vulnerable to oil price increases can be highlighted. This enables consideration of the factors (variables) that help determine the magnitude of vulnerability. Over time economies change in ways that may make them more vulnerable to oil price increases or less so, and the change in vulnerability will be related to changes in the underlying variables. The analysis this paper uses is a starting point for linking these factors. The study also examined changes in vulnerability by subdividing the period under review into two sub-periods, 1996-2001 and 2001-6. The oil price increase during the first sub-period was small, and correspondingly the change in vulnerability was also limited. The change in vulnerability was greater during the second sub-period, which saw a 2.5-fold price increase in nominal U.S. dollars. This paper highlights the role of changes in the oil share of energy and of energy intensity, both of which can be influenced by government policies, and also by oil production, which, even though it is largely a function of geology, can also be affected by a country's upstream fiscal, contractual, and regulatory frameworks. -
Publication
Striking a Better Balance : Volume 6. Research Reports
(Washington, DC, 2003-11)In July 2001, the extractive industries review (EIR) was initiated with the appointment of Dr. Emil Salim, former Minister of the Environment for Indonesia, as eminent person to the review. The EIR was designed to engage all stakeholders-governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), indigenous peoples' organizations, affected communities and community-based organizations, labor unions, industry, academia, international organizations, and the World Bank Group (WBG) itself-in a dialogue. The basic question addressed was, can extractive industries projects be compatible with the WBG's goals of sustainable development and poverty reduction? The EIR believes that there is still a role for the WBG in the oil, gas, and mining sectors-but only if its interventions allow EI to contribute to poverty alleviation through sustainable development. And that can only happen when the right conditions are in place. This report makes major recommendations on how to restore the balance in the WBG - promote pro-poor public and corporate governance in the EI, strengthen environmental and social components of WBG interventions in these industries, respect human rights, and rebalance WBG institutional priorities. These recommendations have as the ultimate goal: to lift up civil society so it is balanced in the triangle of partnership between governments, business, and civil society; to raise social and environmental considerations so they are balanced with economic considerations in efforts at poverty alleviation through sustainable development; and to strive for a human-rights-based development that balances the material and the spiritual goals of life.