Mineral Resources and Development

37 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10986/16297

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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The Role of Liquefied Petroleum Gas in Reducing Energy Poverty
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-12) Kojima, Masami
Increasing household use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is one of several pathways to meet the goal of universal access to clean cooking and heating solutions by 2030, as stated in the United Nations' Sustainable Energy for All Initiative. This study examined factors affecting household use of LPG, the state of LPG markets in developing countries, and measures to enable more households to shift away from solid fuels to LPG. The study is based on three separate but complementary analyses of factors affecting LPG use in developing countries: (1) econometric analysis of national household expenditure surveys in 10 developing countries that assessed the factors influencing LPG selection and consumption; (2) examination of LPG markets in 20 developing countries, including their regulatory frameworks, pricing and other policies, supply infrastructure, cylinder management, amount of information available to the public, and activities designed to promote household use of LPG; and (3) data from households in 110 developing countries about energy choices related to cooking, with information on energy choice by wealth quintile available in 63 of them.
Rockets and Feathers : Asymmetric Petroleum Product Pricing in Developing Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-06) Bacon, Robert; Kojima, Masami
This paper aims to provide those working in developing countries with a review of the issues that can help address the four questions: 1) are petroleum product margins excessively high at certain times?; 2) Does asymmetry of price responses to cost changes exist and, if so, what are the possible reasons that could account for it?; 3) If there is asymmetry of petroleum product price responsiveness, how large is the cost to consumers compared with symmetric pricing?; And 4) what policies can combat excessive petroleum product margins? The discussion focuses mainly on liberalized markets, because, in markets subject to price control, the pattern of responses of prices to cost changes will be determined partially or largely by the Government. Chapter one describes asymmetric pricing and the structure of the oil market, focusing in particular on the links between the retail sector and the rest of the chain of supply. The chapter next briefly reviews types of legislation that exist in liberalized markets to protect consumers from monopolistic or collusive behavior in petroleum products pricing. Chapter two describes different types of firms' pricing behavior, including both collusive and non collusive behavior, and provides an overview of how lags in pricing behavior arise and the reasons they can lead to asymmetry. Following this section on theories, econometric studies testing for the presence of asymmetric pricing are reviewed, with special reference to those studies carried out in developing countries. Based on these models, a sample calculation of the extra costs to the consumer of asymmetric pricing relative to those under symmetric pricing is given, including an illustration based on a specially constructed estimate for Guatemala. Chapter three provides an overview of policy responses to asymmetric pricing.
Expenditure of Low-Income Households on Energy : Evidence from Africa and Asia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-06) Bacon, Robert; Bhattacharya, Soma; Kojima, Masami
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.
Petroleum Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa : Analysis and Assessment of 12 Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-03) Kojima, Masami; Matthews, William; Sexsmith, Fred
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.
Changes in CO2 Emissions from Energy Use : A Multicountry Decomposition Analysis
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-10) Kojima, Masami; Bacon, Robert
The continued growth of global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and their likely adverse effects on global warming are focusing debate on the contribution of various countries to total emissions and the comparability of efforts across countries in mitigating these emissions. This paper examines recent trends in CO2 emissions across countries at different levels of development and asks what has been contributing to the growth of emissions as well as to their moderation. The paper applies a decomposition analysis, an accounting methodology based on a log mean Divisia index, to analyze the change in CO2 emissions over a decade.
Government Response to Oil Price Volatility : Experience of 49 Developing Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-07) Kojima, Masami
Oil prices rose from 2004 to historic highs in mid-2008, only to fall precipitously in the last four months of 2008 and lose all the gains of the preceding four and a half years. The steep price increase from January 2007 to July 2008 was challenging for all economies. While the sharp drop in prices since August 2008 has been welcome news for consumers, the cause of it, the global financial crisis, is not. Moreover, currency depreciation against the dollar in many developing countries has meant that, in local currency units, petroleum product prices have not fallen as sharply as in U.S. dollars. This report examines the policy responses of 49 developing country governments to world oil price movements in the last three years. The sample includes 16 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, 15 in Asia, 10 in Latin America, and 8 in the Middle East and North Africa. The report updates a companion 2006 publication on coping with higher oil prices and builds upon two other publications: one on oil price volatility and another on the degree of pass-through of world oil price increases between January 2004 and August 2009. As with all other publications in this series, this report examines issues related to oil price levels and volatility in the downstream petroleum sector and other sectors where oil is an important input, such as transport, fisheries, and agriculture, from the point of view of consumers. It does not consider macro-level policies (such as monetary or exchange rate policy) or the impact of oil price changes on the macroeconomic performance of countries, nor does it discuss management of the windfall income by large oil exporters and the long-term economic consequences of revenue management.
Changing Patterns of Household Expenditures on Energy : A Case Study of Indonesia and Pakistan
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06) Bacon, Robert; Bhattacharya, Soma; Kojima, Masami
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.
Changes in End-User Petroleum Product Prices : A Comparison of 48 Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-02) Kojima, Masami
This paper presents retail prices of the petroleum products in August 2008 in up to 56 countries, and examines the degree of pass through to consumers of increases in world gasoline and diesel prices since January 2004 in 48 countries. This is the second paper in a series summarizing work undertaken to assess the implications of higher oil prices on fuel use, the downstream petroleum sector, and household fuel consumption in the developing world. It follows a recent publication on a decomposition analysis of vulnerability to oil price increases, where vulnerability is defined as the percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) spent on net imports of crude oil and petroleum products (Bacon and Kojima 2008). This paper focuses on the extent to which international petroleum product price increases have been passed on to consumers.
Vulnerability to Oil Price Increases : A Decomposition Analysis of 161 Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-08) Bacon, Robert; Kojima, Masami
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.