Energy Efficiency And Sustainability In Oil-dependent Countries

The sustainable and efficient energy industry should be seen as an important branch in sustainable development strategies,although the improvement programs will differ due to regional and financial specifications.This dissertation is the first study to comprehensively analyze the efficiency and sustainability of the energy sector in oil-dependent countries(OPEC)focusing on the management of public policy implications.It proposes a novel framework for the assessment of the energy sector in oil-dependent countries which previously was not developed in the literature.The presented analysis in the current study is unique in that it comprehensively assessed the degree of sustainability in the energy industry in OPEC countries and recognized efficiency improvement possibilities within member countries.Through these improvements,oil-dependent countries can empower their economy to subsequently implement challenging long-term goals of the green transition which means more usage of renewable energy carriers.Thus,the improvement of the oil supply chain according to the provided policies is very important and is seen as a short-term strategy to sustainability in future.The UN Economic and Social Commission promotes and recommends various solutions and sustainable development goals(SDGs)which can enhance the sustainability of energy systems in the world,including a reducing usage of fossil fuels,increased use of renewable in particular wind and solar energies,and decrease utilization of the pollutant carriers.These targets are also mentioned in the SDG 7(affordable and clean energy).More than 50%of total exports in the OPEC nations are related to oil.Against such background,most of the union members cannot satisfy the domestic demand for petroleum products including precious transportation fuels,forcing OPEC nations to correct this imbalance in their domestic market by importing.On the other hand,statistics indicate an enormous share of fuel oil in the final refinery products and outputs of OPEC members.These production patterns and export-import procedures are in contrast with SDG 12,which emphasizes the efficient utilization of natural resources and therefore,do not lead to energy sustainability in OPEC.Using data from their refineries for 2017,the proposed model evaluates the economy and the environmental efficiency of refineries as a major chain in the energy supply chain in OPEC members.The current model incorporates heavy products and the import of light products as an unprofitable output.In the case of environmental efficiency,wastage incorporates as undesirable refinery output.By using wastage that includes water and soil pollutions,this research aims to mitigate the neglect of previous studies that mainly focused on air pollution.The current thesis also focused on the case of Iran.Iran ranks as one of the biggest producers of crude oil in the world.The country has the fourth-largest proven oil reserves and ranks the fifth largest producer of crude oil worldwide.Therefore,the country has the potential to play a significant role in the international petroleum products market.Surprisingly,Iran is not able to satisfy the domestic demand for transportation fuels,forcing the country to import gasoline route diesel fuel.To investigate this problem,this study applies a novel dynamic two-stage slacks-based measure framework to evaluate the efficiency of the petroleum refining industry in Iran.Using data from Iranian refineries for the period 2011-2015,in the first stage,the model decomposes the efficiency of refineries into operational and profitability efficiencies.In the second stage,the overall efficiency scores are computed.Dissimilar to other studies considering byproducts like emissions as undesirable outputs,the current model incorporates mazut as an unprofitable output.The empirical results reveal low efficiency among Iranian refineries and indicating a significant negative relationship between the overall efficiency scores and the amount of mazut.Scrupulous analysis shows which an inappropriate production pattern and a lack of advanced conversion units in refineries contribute greatly to the low performance of the Iranian refining sector.Findings can be used to improve the refining sector as a step toward energy sustainability in Iran and other OPEC members.This thesis suggests illuminating information to the Petroleum headquarters in OPEC members that can benefit from such information regarding decision making and Policymaking for the oil supply chain.Based on the results obtained,the study analyzes the ownership and production patterns in the refining sector,local and foreign investment in the petroleum sector,and feasibility of diversification among energy carriers in the energy sector in oil-based economies.In addition,the study provides application guidelines that aid decision-makers to improve oil-dependent nations' refining industry output and downstream oil,aiming to decrease the export of crude oil and simultaneously to reduce the production of mazut and increase the yield of transportation fuels.