Lebanon’s energy hopes depend on Mideast integration

Significance Import-dependent Lebanon has faced acute energy shortages in recent months, reflecting poor infrastructure, unsustainable policies and a lack of hard currency. Leaders are exploring rival regional options for the supply of gas and oil products: primarily Iraq, Iran and Egypt gas via Jordan and Syria. Impacts Since Lebanon has no functional refinery, it would be unable to use direct crude oil imports. Reliable provision of petrol and diesel will ultimately require a painful complete end to subsidies. Installation of solar power is already happening rapidly through private initiatives, but its contribution will remain minor.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4255
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Szaruga ◽  
Zuzanna Kłos-Adamkiewicz ◽  
Agnieszka Gozdek ◽  
Elżbieta Załoga

This paper presents the synchronisation of economic cycles of GDP and crude oil and oil products cargo volumes in major Polish seaports. On the one hand, this issue fits into the concept of sustainable development including decoupling; on the other hand, the synchronisation may be an early warning tool. Crude oil and oil products cargo volumes are a specific barometer that predicts the next economic cycle, especially as they are primary sources of energy production. The research study applies a number of TRAMO/SEATS methods, the Hodrick–Prescott filter, spectral analysis, correlation and cross-correlation function. Noteworthy is the modern approach of using synchronisation of economic cycles as a tool, which was described in the paper. According to the study results, the cyclical components of the cargo traffic and GDP were affected by the leakage of other short-term cycles. However, based on the cross-correlation, it was proved that changes in crude oil and oil products cargo volumes preceded changes in GDP by 1–3 quarters, which may be valuable information for decision-makers and economic development planners.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shailesh Rastogi ◽  
Adesh Doifode ◽  
Jagjeevan Kanoujiya ◽  
Satyendra Pratap Singh

PurposeCrude oil, gold and interest rates are some of the key indicators of the health of domestic as well as global economy. The purpose of the study is to find the shock volatility and price volatility effects of gold and crude oil market on interest rates in India.Design/methodology/approachThis study finds the mutual and directional association of the volatility of gold, crude oil and interest rates in India. The bi-variate GARCH models (Diagonal VEC GARCH and BEKK GARCH) are applied on the sample data of gold price, crude oil price and yield (interest rate) gathered from November 30, 2015 to November 16, 2020 (weekly basis) to investigate the volatility association including the volatility spillover effect in the three markets.FindingsThe main findings of the study focus on having a long-term conditional correlation between gold and interest rates, but there is no evidence of volatility spillover from gold and crude oil on the interest rates. The findings of the study are of great importance especially to the policymakers, as they state that the fluctuations in prices of gold and crude oil do not adversely impact the interest rates in India. Therefore, the fluctuations in prices of gold and crude may generally impact the economy, but it has nothing to do with interest rate in particular. This implies that domestic and foreign investments in the country will not be affected by gold and crude oil that are largely driven by interest rates in the country.Practical implicationsGold and crude oil are two very important commodities that have their importance not only for domestic affairs but also for international business. They veritably influence the economy including forex exchange for any nation. In addition to this, the researchers believe the findings will provide insights to policymakers, stakeholders and investors.Originality/valueGold and crude oil undoubtedly influence the exchange rates but their impact on the interest rates in an economy is not definite and remains ambiguous owing to the mixed findings of the studies. The lack of studies related to the impact of gold and crude oil on the interest rates, despite them being essentials for the health of any economy is the main motivation of this study. This study is novel as it investigates the volatility impact of crude oil and gold on interest rates and contributes to the existing literature with its findings.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Subhadip Roy ◽  
Subhalaxmi Mohapatra

Purpose The challenges and factors of household adoption and the use of alternative energy sources have been a point of discussion among researchers. The purpose of this study is to apply a variant of the unified theory of adoption and use of technology (i.e. UTAUT 2) to explore the effect of various constructs that influence technology adoption on the consumers’ intention to adopt (and use) solar power generators (SPG) at the household level and the subsequent switching behavior. Design/methodology/approach Based on survey data collected from six cities in India (n = 1,246), factor analysis and structural equation modeling are applied for data analysis and testing the study hypotheses. Findings The results of the structural equation model found UTAUT constructs performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and hedonic to positively affect behavioral intentions to adopt SPG. However, facilitating conditions and perceived value was not found to affect behavioral intentions to adopt SPG. Behavioral intentions to adopt SPG was found to positively influence the switching behavior. Research limitations/implications The present study augments the domain of alternative energy usage behavior by applying the UTAUT 2 in the adoption of alternative energy sources (namely, solar) and subsequent switching behavior from traditional sources at the household level. Practical implications The findings from the present study will guide the marketers and policymakers on the consumer attitudinal and behavioral aspects of solar energy usage at the household level and subsequent switching behavior. Originality/value The present study is novel as it moves beyond household-level behavioral intention to use solar energy and includes the switching behavior to shift to solar power from traditional energy sources.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hechem Ajmi ◽  
Nadia Arfaoui ◽  
Karima Saci

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the volatility transmission across stocks, gold and crude oil markets before and during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. Design/methodology/approach A multivariate vector autoregression (VAR)-Baba, Engle, Kraft and Kroner generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model (BEKK-GARCH) is used to assess volatility transmission across the examined markets. The sample is divided as follows. The first period ranging from 02/01/2019 to 10/03/2020 defines the pre-COVID-19 crisis. The second period is from 11/03/2020 to 05/10/2020, representing the COVID-19 crisis period. Then, a robustness test is used using exponential GARCH models after including an exogenous variable capturing the growth of COVID-19 confirmed death cases worldwide with the aim to test the accuracy of the VAR-BEKK-GARCH estimated results. Findings Results indicate that the interconnectedness among the examined market has been intensified during the COVID-19 crisis, proving the lack of hedging opportunities. It is also found that stocks and Gold markets lead the crude oil market especially during the COVID-19 crisis, which explains the freefall of the crude oil price during the health crisis. Similarly, results show that Gold is most likely to act as a diversifier rather than a hedging tool during the current health crisis. Originality/value Although the recent studies in the field focused on analyzing the relationships between different markets during the first quarter of 2020, this study considers a larger data set with the aim to assess the volatility transmission across the examined international markets Amid the COVID-19 crisis, while it shows the most significant impact on various financial markets compared to other diseases.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 682-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ikhlaas Gurrib

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shed fresh light into whether an energy commodity price index (ENFX) and energy blockchain-based crypto price index (ENCX) can be used to predict movements in the energy commodity and energy crypto market. Design/methodology/approach Using principal component analysis over daily data of crude oil, heating oil, natural gas and energy based cryptos, the ENFX and ENCX indices are constructed, where ENFX (ENCX) represents 94% (88%) of variability in energy commodity (energy crypto) prices. Findings Natural gas price movements were better explained by ENCX, and shared positive (negative) correlations with cryptos (crude oil and heating oil). Using a vector autoregressive model (VAR), while the 1-day lagged ENCX (ENFX) was significant in estimating current ENCX (ENFX) values, only lagged ENCX was significant in estimating current ENFX. Granger causality tests confirmed the two markets do not granger cause each other. One standard deviation shock in ENFX had a negative effect on ENCX. Weak forecasting results of the VAR model, support the two markets are not robust forecasters of each other. Robustness wise, the VAR model ranked lower than an autoregressive model, but higher than a random walk model. Research limitations/implications Significant structural breaks at distinct dates in the two markets reinforce that the two markets do not help to predict each other. The findings are limited by the existence of bubbles (December 2017-January 2018) which were witnessed in energy blockchain-based crypto markets and natural gas, but not in crude oil and heating oil. Originality/value As per the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to analyze the relationship between leading energy commodities and energy blockchain-based crypto markets.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Yuli Andriani ◽  
Hotmalina Silitonga ◽  
Anjar Wanto

Analisis pada penelitian penting dilakukan untuk tujuan mengetahui ketepatan dan keakuratan dari penelitian itu sendiri. Begitu juga dalam prediksi volume ekspor dan impor migas di Indonesia. Dilakukannya penelitian ini untuk mengetahui seberapa besar perkembangan ekspor dan impor Indonesia di bidang migas di masa yang akan datang. Penelitian ini menggunakan Jaringan Syaraf Tiruan (JST) atau Artificial Neural Network (ANN) dengan algoritma Backpropagation. Data penelitian ini bersumber dari dokumen kepabeanan Ditjen Bea dan Cukai yaitu Pemberitahuan Ekspor Barang (PEB) dan Pemberitahuan Impor Barang (PIB). Berdasarkan data ini, variabel yang digunakan ada 7, antara lain: Tahun, ekspor minyak mentah, impor minyak mentah, ekspor hasil minyak, impor hasil minyak, ekspor gas dan impor gas. Ada 5 model arsitektur yang digunakan pada penelitian ini, 12-5-1, 12-7-1, 12-8-1, 12-10-1 dan 12-14-1. Dari ke 5 model yang digunakan, yang terbaik adalah 12-5-1 dengan menghasilkan tingkat akurasi 83%, MSE 0,0281641257 dengan tingkat error yang digunakan 0,001-0,05. Sehingga model ini bagus untuk memprediksi volume ekspor dan impor migas di Indonesia, karena akurasianya antara 80% hingga 90%.   Analysis of the research is Imporant used to know precision and accuracy of the research itself. It is also in the prediction of Volume Exports and Impors of Oil and Gas in Indonesia. This research is conducted to find out how much the development of Indonesia's exports and Impors in the field of oil and gas in the future. This research used Artificial Neural Network with Backpropagation algorithm. The data of this research have as a source from custom documents of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (Declaration Form/PEB and Impor Export Declaration/PIB). Based on this data, there are 7 variables used, among others: Year, Crude oil exports, Crude oil Impors, Exports of oil products, Impored oil products, Gas exports and Gas Impors. There are 5 architectural models used in this study, 12-5-1, 12-7-1, 12-8-1, 12-10-1 and 12-14-1. Of the 5 models has used, the best models is 12-5-1 with an accuracy 83%, MSE 0.0281641257 with error rate 0.001-0.05. So this model is good to predict the Volume of Exports and Impors of Oil and Gas in Indonesia, because its accuracy between 80% to 90%.


2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.M. Quej-Ake ◽  
A. Contreras ◽  
Jorge Aburto

Purpose The purpose of this research is to study different extra-heavy crude oil-in-water emulsions that can be found in practice for corrosion process of X52 steel adding 60 mg.L-1 of non-ionic surfactant and a corrosion inhibitor (CI). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and Tafel plots are carried out. Thus, Bode-modulus and Bode-phase angle plots are discussed. Adsorption isotherms obtained from corrosion rate (CR) values are taken into account. Design/methodology/approach Two-electrode arrangement is used to characterize the pseudo-capacitance values for X52 steel exposed to water and crude oil phases, mainly. Electrochemical evaluations for X52 steel exposed to extra-heavy crude oil-in-water emulsions are recorded in a conventional three-electrode cell to study the corrosion process as was documented in detail by Quej-Ake et al. (2015). Therefore, all electrodes are placed as close as possible to eliminate the iR-drop. Findings Pseudo-capacitance analysis shows that X52 steel immersed in oilfield produced water was more susceptible to corrosion than that immersed in ocean water solution and extra-heavy crude oil phase. After being analyzed, the X52 steel surface coverage and adsorption process for surfactant and CI could be concluded that surfactant could protect the metal surface. In a coalescence extra-heavy crude oil-in-water emulsion, the water medium generated a new solution that was more corrosive than the original water phase. Wash crude oil process was provoked in emulsion systems to sweep up the salts, mainly. Thus, corrosive species that can be recovered inside extra-heavy crude oil may appear, and in turn a new more corrosive solution could be obtained. Taking into account the straight line obtained in Bode-modulus plot for X52 exposed to extra-heavy crude oil, it is possible to point out that the negative value of the slope or R2 can be related to a coefficient (Jorcin et al., 2006). It is important to mention that electrochemical responses for X52 steel exposed to extra-heavy crude oil-in-water under coalescence emulsions revealed that corrosion and diffusion processes exist. Therefore, a possible good inhibitor is surfactant in emulsion systems. Originality/value CR and anodic and cathodic slopes suggest that the surfactant acted as mixed CI. Of these, susceptible anodic (MnS and perlite or cementite) and cathodic (ferrite) sites on steel surface could be affected, due to which physicochemical adsorption could happen by using electrochemical parameters analysis. Thus, no stable emulsions should be taken into account for extra-heavy crude oil transportation, because corrosion problems in atmospheric distillation process of the crude oil due to stable emulsion cannot be easily separated. In this manner, coalescent emulsions are more adequate for transporting extra-heavy crude oil because low energy to separate the water media is required.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viju Subramoniapillai ◽  
G. Thilagavathi

Purpose The most widely recycled plastic in the world is recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET). To minimize the environmental related issues associated with synthetic fibers, several researchers have explored the potential use of recycled polyester fibers in developing various technical textile products. This study aims to develop needle-punched nonwoven fabrics from recycled polyester fibers and investigate its suitability in oil spill cleanup process. Design/methodology/approach According to Box and Behnken factorial design, 15 different needle-punched nonwoven fabrics from recycled polyester fibers were prepared by changing the parameters, namely, needle punch density, needle penetration depth and fabric areal weight. Several featured parameters such as oil sorption, oil retention, oil sorption kinetics, wettability and reusability performance were systematically elucidated. Findings The maximum oil sorption of recycled nonwoven polyester is found to be 24.85 g/g and 20.58 g/g for crude oil and vegetable oil, respectively. The oil retention is about 93%–96% in case of crude oil, whereas 87%–91% in case of vegetable oil. Recycled polyester nonwoven possesses good hydrophobic–oleophilic properties with static contact angle of 138° against water, whereas 0° against crude oil and vegetable oil. The reusability test results indicate that recycled polyester nonwoven fabric can be used several times because of its reusability features. Originality/value There is no detailed study on the oil sorption features of needle-punched nonwoven fabrics developed from recycled polyester fibers. This study is expected to help in developing fabrics for oil spill cleanups.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2020 (67) ◽  
pp. 154-184
Author(s):  
دانية اياد جاسم ◽  
أ. د . فلاح خلف علي

The oil refining industry in Iraq is one of the industries of strategic importance, and what these industries have been subjected to destruction, obsolescence and neglect in a way that led to the deterioration of oil products in quantity and quality, and in a manner that is not commensurate with Iraq's capabilities in the field of daily crude oil production, as well as its incompatibility with laws and standards. In addition to the inability of these industries to achieve self-sufficiency and resort to closing the gap through imports. The study assumes that rebuilding the oil refineries in Iraq on modern foundations commensurate with international environmental laws and standards, will contribute to achieving self-sufficiency in high-quality oil products and open new horizons for the refining industry. The study reached several conclusions, the most important of which are the most important reasons for the decline in the production of refineries in Iraq, failure to implement investment projects for the oil refineries sector, reliance on old methods of liquidation, obsolescence of treatment units, neglect of maintenance and maintenance operations, and continuous stops due to the interruption of electrical current, and sabotage of some pipelines that transport crude oil to the refineries. The researcher recommended that the existence of a strong sector of refineries in Iraq capable of securing energy sources and achieving self-sufficiency, in addition to its ability to compete, that achieving this goal requires working on building new and modern refineries and rehabilitating old refineries to increase production capacities and obtain high-quality oil products to Iraq can compete in the global


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