In this paper, we analyze the strategic function of gas storage focusing on how gas storage decisions impact competition between gas companies on both spot and downstream markets. Using a two-tier oligopolistic structure, we first show that gas storage is actually used strategically even in a...

Motivated by policy events experienced during the last two decades by the European natural gas industry, this paper develops a simple model for analyzing the interaction between gas release and capacity investment programs as tools to improve the performance of imperfectly competitive markets....

Scarce storage capacity and distortions in access to storage can lead to market foreclosure in liberalized gas markets. We consider rules currently adopted in Europe for storage allocation, and discuss efficient rationing mechanisms as based on the value of storage, when other flexibility inputs...

Gas prices around the world vary widely despite being connected by international trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Some industry observers argue that major exporters have acted irrationally by not arbitraging prices. This is also difficult to reconcile with a competitive model in which...

Heating and cooling degree days are in common use in conditional demand models, billing analysis, and large-scale energy forecasts. The implications of either choosing an ex-ante base temperature, or scanning over the base temperatures, as suggested in Fels (1986) and recommended by some...

This paper studies the impact of corporate ownership on residential net-of-tax electricity prices, when the ownership effect is separated from the liberalisation effect and from other drivers of change. After a discussion of a simple conceptual model, and of earlier literature, we use IEA and...

The mathematical formulation of a strategic Eurasian natural gas market model is presented. The model represents horizontal oligopolistic relationships among producers, bilateral market power between producer (Russia) and transit (Ukraine) countries, detailed transport constraints, and operation...

Among the many reasons policy makers across the world have sought to supplement fuel supplies with ethanol-blended fuels are the cited environmental benefits that come with replacing a fossil-fuel with a cleaner burning alternative. Dual-blend ethanol mandates, in which multiple ethanol blends...

Incentive regulation in electricity distribution is expected to enlarge its scope, from an input-oriented instrument to one that includes additional, output-based incentives. This creates a potential conflict with more traditional concerns for productive efficiency. In the case of Italy,...

Smart grid technologies may bring substantial advantages to society, but the required investments are sizable. This paper analyzes three main issues related to smart grids: reliability, demand response and cost recovery of investments. In particular, we show that generators will lose profits as...