2006年国际原油市场前瞻

2006年国际原油市场在上升动力和阻力的双重作用下,仍将处于高位盘整时期。一方面,由于原油品种地区和结构性矛盾突出、OPEC的剩余产能不足、中东局势动荡不安等多方面原因,以及基金投机力量的强劲推动,2006年国际原油价格上升动力不减;另一方面,在美元汇率上升、原油需求增速减缓以及原油供给仍有能力持续增加的多重作用下,油价上升遇到一定的阻力。2005年油价的持续高涨直接冲击了中国原油的供销链条,对相关行业产生着重要的影响。2006年,我国必须及早动手,采取措施,积极应对国际石油价格风险。     

Price pass-through in US gasoline markets

Using an error-correction model in a seemingly unrelated regression framework, we examine regional differences in the price pass-through from crude oil spot prices to retail gasoline pump prices. We show that regional differences do exist both in the short run and long run adjustment processes. Depending on the region, a $1 per barrel change in crude oil prices is correlated with a change in retail gasoline pump prices somewhere between 2.36¢ and 2.58¢. We examine the presence of the rockets and feathers phenomenon using both single period coefficient tests and multiple period impulse response functions.     

我国成品油价格形成机制改革演变过程、现状及建议

成品油价格形成机制不能仅仅等同于定价机制,定价机制只是价格形成机制的核心,而成品油价格形成机制改革是包括定价机制改革在内的一系列改革措施。我国成品油价格形成机制改革是一个长期过程,1998年以后,国家在成品油价格形成机制改革方面步伐明显加快,每一次重大改革不仅在成品油定价方面做出一定的改革和调整,而且还出台了一系列综合配套措施。现行成品油价格形成机制具有其积极的一面,例如逐步走向市场化,扭转了生产企业在高油价下严重亏损的局面,培育了市场主体,提高了透明度等;当然同时也存在不足之处,如现有定价机制上调和下降的起点不平等,为成品油零售价"易涨难落"创造了条件;带有一定的"时滞性";容易受到国际原油价格的被动影响,不能真实反映国内市场的供需状况;"非成本"因素比重过高等。成品油价格形成机制改革必须坚持市场化原则、竞争性原则、政府适当干预原则、国际化原则、协调性原则和透明化原则。建议国家进一步完善现行成品油价格形成机制,进一步加大公开透明度,逐步打破原油和成品油流通领域的垄断经营格局;建立健全相关法律法规体系和财政、货币、税收政策;加强国际石油市场话语权,规避油价大幅波动带来的风险。     

Asymmetry in retail gasoline and crude oil price movements in the United States: An application of hidden cointegration technique

There is a common belief that gasoline prices respond more quickly to crude oil price increases than decreases. Some economists and politicians believe that asymmetry in oil and gasoline price movements is the outcome of a non-competitive gasoline market requiring that governments take policy action to address “unfair pricing”. There is no consensus as to the existence, or nature, of the asymmetric relationship between prices of gasoline and crude oil. Much of this literature specifies asymmetry in the speed of adjustment and short-run adjustment coefficients. In contrast, Granger and Yoon's [Granger, C.W. and Yoon, G. “Hidden Cointegration”, University of California, San Diego, Department of Economics Working Paper, (2002).] Crouching Error Correction Model (CECM) identifies asymmetry of the cointegrating vectors between components (cumulative positive and negative changes) of the series. Applying the CECM to retail gasoline and crude oil prices for the U.S., we find that there is only evidence of cointegration between positive components of crude oil prices and negative components of gasoline prices. In contrast to the literature which attributes asymmetric price movements to market power of refiners, these findings suggest that gasoline prices –in the long run– are more influenced by the technological changes on the demand side than crude oil price movements on the supply side.     

国际原油价格的主控因素分析

现代国际油价有美国西得克萨斯中质原油（WTI）价格、欧洲布伦特（BRENT）油价及OPEC一揽子价格三大价格体系。根据国际原油价格变化的主控因素差异,可以将其划分为结构性转变、基本面趋势和波动3个部分。油价结构性转变与全球主要资源区和市场区的结构性调整有关,其直接诱因是世界原油供需体系的结构性紊乱．根源在于生产或市场的无序及对定价权的争夺,而结果均导致定价体系的嬗变。原油名义价格由供需矛盾、石油货币价格、边际成本和替代能源共同决定,这四者构成决定国际原油价格基本面趋势的主要因素。石油供需矛盾的日益突出和美元贬值必然导致油价上涨;而大型油公司高成本区的边际成本决定了未来国际油价基本面将围绕80美元／bbl波动：基础能源的垄断属性将可能最终使替代能源与目标能源的竞争关系转变为价格继承关系。波动情况主要受石油巨头或金融投机者操纵,他们通过原油供应链中段的多种实体原油仓储以及虚拟经济所衍生的多种投机括动达到操纵油价波动的目标,而WTI油价最容易受到地区市场因素的影响,从而为各种投机炒作和油价操纵提供了有利条件。一旦油价定价体系存在某种操纵,就可以通过分析操纵者的战略动机实现对油价趋势的合理判断。     

Correlation between Chinese and international energy prices based on a HP filter and time difference analysis

To establish a reasonable system and mechanism for Chinese energy prices, we use the Granger causality test, Hodrick–Prescott (HP) filter and time difference analysis to research the pricing relationship between Chinese and international energy prices. We find that Chinese and international crude oil prices changed synchronously while Chinese refined oil prices follow the changes of international oil prices with the time difference being about 1 month to 2 months. Further, Australian coal prices Granger causes Chinese coal prices, and there is a high correlation between them. The U.S. electricity price is influenced by the WTI crude oil price, the U.S. gasoline price and the HenryHub gas price. Due to the unreasonable price-setting mechanism and regulation from the central government, China′s terminal market prices for both electricity and natural gas do not reflect the real supply–demand situation. This paper provides quantitative results on the correlation between Chinese and international energy prices to better predict the impact of international energy price fluctuations on China′s domestic energy supply and guide the design of more efficient energy pricing policies. Moreover, it provides references for developing countries to improve their energy market systems and trading, and to coordinate domestic and international energy markets.     

Do oil price changes have symmetric or asymmetric effects on Korea’s demand for imported crude oil?

The existing literature on demand for crude oil in developed and developing countries typically assumes that the effects of oil price changes are symmetric. In this paper, we use the nonlinear autogressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach of Shin et al. (2014) and test whether the effect of oil price changes on demand for imported crude oil is symmetric or asymmetric in the case of Korea. Using quarterly data over the last two decades, the results show that the oil price effects are indeed asymmetric in the long run; Korea’s imported demand for crude oil is more responsive to oil price spikes than to oil price plunges. However, the asymmetric effects are not observed in the short run.     

石油供求关系回顾与展望

2005年,全球经济增长带动了石油需求的增加,而原油产量增长有限,加上炼制能力和飓风及政治突发事件等影响,石油价格暴涨。2006年的国际石油供求形势和油价走势,既有促降因素,也有促升因素,还有飓风恢复和政治等不确定因素。总的来说,世界石油需求继续增加,市场更显紧张;油价取决于需求增幅的大小和产能建设的速度,总体水平应该是每桶50～60美元。     

OPEC and demand response to crude oil prices

This paper investigates demand response to crude oil price movements before and after the recent global financial and economic crisis. It employs several market power indices to structurally estimate price elasticities. A newly developed market power index for crude oil markets is implemented. In this approach OPEC is the central player and acts as a dominant producer in the global oil market. We quantify how a change in market structure (such as changes in marginal cost of production) would contribute to market power exercise of OPEC and have an ultimate impact on price elasticity of demand for oil. Our price elasticity predictions fall in a range reported in the literature, however estimates for pre-crisis deviate from the post-crisis ones. In fact, demand response to crude oil prices has almost doubled during the crisis. This severe change in price response can be associated with record price levels caused by supply shortages and surge in alternative renewable energy resources. The key advantages of this methodology over the existing literature are that it is simple to use and estimates price elasticity using a competition framework without specifying demand/supply function(s), and utilizes commonly observable market variables that can be applied to any admissible data frequency.     

Multiscale lead-lag relationships in oil and refined product return dynamics: A symbolic wavelet transfer entropy approach

This study sheds new light on the lead-lag relationships between crude oil and refined product return dynamics in the time and the frequency space. For this purpose, a novel methodology is introduced. Based on information theoretic measures and continuous wavelet transform, symbolic wavelet transfer entropy detects non-linear lead-lag relationships in the sense of Granger causality across multiple scales. Between petroleum prices, we find bidirectional causalities across the investment horizons. Further evidence is provided for asymmetric price transmission amongst crude oil and the refined products with respect to increasing and decreasing petroleum prices. Across the analyses, we observe that product price dynamics, economic crises, geopolitical risks, natural catastrophes and other market perturbations affect the price discovery in heterogenous investment horizons.     

Price and prospects for oil : Carrying the burden of excess capacity in the 1980s and beyond

The continuing decline in world oil prices will not be halted in the short term, and prospects for the long run are not encouraging. There is a problem of unprecedented gravity in the surplus capacity of the oil industry. A glut of 10 million bbl/day of crude oil remains unsold, the cohesion of the OPEC cartel is becoming more strained, and a sizeable proportion of refinery plant has been taken off-stream. The basic difficulty is that high interest rates have curbed international capital formation and depressed demand. Upward pressures on the US dollar have been created by the deficit on US domestic and external accounts, and have retarded the recovery of the global economy. Today the cost of money exceeds the factor price of oil, and the market is highly unstable. The devastating costs of carrying surplus capacity are likely to survive through the 1980s.     

How does the U.S. natural gas market react to demand and supply shocks in the crude oil market?

In this paper we use monthly data (over the period from January 1976 to December 2012) and a structural VAR model to disentangle demand and supply shocks in the global crude oil market and investigate their effects on the real price of natural gas in the United States. We identify the model by assuming that innovations to the real price of crude oil are predetermined with respect to the natural gas market and show that close to 45% of the variation in the real price of natural gas can be attributed to structural supply and demand shocks in the global crude oil market.     

两种基准国际原油价格的反常价差及对我国影响分析

最近几个月,Brent(布伦特)原油价格反常地大幅超过WTI(西德克萨斯)油价,加上中东国家局势紧张,而且这种状况可能还将持续较长时间。本文深入分析了形成这种反常价差的原因及对我国的影响。分析认为,市场定位不同是本质原因,而中东和北非局势紧张,美国经济不景气、库存充足,Brent原油市场投机成分增强等是价差放大的重要诱因,这种状况将对我国治理通货膨胀和推行成品油价格机制改革形成巨大挑战。     

Comparison of China's oil import risk: Results based on portfolio theory and a diversification index approach

In recent years, the international oil price has fluctuated violently, bringing about huge risk for the international oil trade. In fact, the risk of crude oil and petroleum product imports is different because of the different import origins and prices. Which import risk is lower for China? From the perspective of oil supply security, how should China portfolio crude oil and petroleum product imports to minimize its oil import risk? Using portfolio theory and a diversification index approach, this paper compares and analyzes the supply, price and transport risks of crude oil and petroleum product imports. Our results show that the following: (1) Specific risk (diversification risk) and marine transport risk of China's petroleum product imports are lower than that of crude oil imports. (2) The average rate of return of China's petroleum product imports is higher than that of crude oil imports. Moreover, the average import price variance of petroleum product imports is lower than that of crude oil imports. Thus, the systematic risk (price risk) of petroleum products is lower too. Therefore, from the perspective of oil supply security, China should increase petroleum product imports to decrease its oil import risk.     

Can alternative energy resources be brought into large-scale use in the united states by the year 2000?

The greatest single barrier to the replacement of imported crude oil with alternative indigenous fuels on a substantial scale is an economic one. Alternatives to natural crude oil (for liquid fuels) will be more expensive for many years in the future. For example, a study made in 1977 by the National Research Council suggests that synthetic crude oil could be produced from coal at a cost of between $20 and $30 per barrel (1976 dollars). Some experts believe that this estimate should be raised to $25 to $40. Comparing this with OPECs October 1979 price of $14.54 per barrel, it is unrealistic for us to expect that synthetic crude oil will compete with natural crude oil very soon. By the time there is a true economic competition it will probably be too late for the major oil importing countries to do much about it.Plants for the production of synthetic crude oil will be both large and expensive. The capital cost of a plant capable of producing 50,000 barrels of synthetic crude oil per day from coal is estimated to be about $1 billion (1976) and would take about 5 yr to construct. If this is the case, the processes of capital accumulation, R&D, design, and construction of the first generation of synthetic crude oil plants would have to be started immediately to achieve some measure of self-sufficiency by the turn of the century. Clearly this is unlikely to happen in the absence of a substantial involvement of the federal government in the effort. As much as we might wish otherwise, it is unlikely that there is a solution to this problem through “the free play of the marketplace”.Recent studies suggest that if synthetic crude oil were to cost $40 per barrel fed to U.S. refineries, gasoline without tax would cost less than $1.30 per gallon (1976)—which is still substantially less than the price paid for gasoline in 1976 in Europe and Japan. This suggests that the necessary capital for the construction of synthetic crude oil plants could be accumulated through use of a graduated gasoline tax which, in 1976 terms, would lead eventually to a price of gasoline to the consumer of about $1.30 per gallon.At the present time fuel-grade ethyl alcohol can be produced from sugar or corn for about $1.25 per gallon. Because of the lower fuel value of alcohol per gallon this price would correspond to gasoline costing $1.80 per gallon. However the Brazilians have recently demonstrated that if pure alcohol is used in automobiles with proper carburetor adjustments, the achieved mileage per gallon is actually about the same as that of gasoline, largely because of the more efficient combustion.The important conclusion for us to ponder is that, once the people of the U.S. reconcile themselves to paying about $1.30 per gallon (1976) for gasoline, many possibilities emerge for achieving energy independence on a time scale which is commensurate with the need. Other sources of liquid fuels would emerge including oil shale and extensive secondary and tertiary recovery of crude oil from depleted domestic fields. The greatly increased price of gasoline (and other refinery products) would undoubtedly result in the adoption of more intensive conservation practices and an accelerated shift to other fuel sources to fill needs other than transportation.     

Assessing the impact of US ethanol on fossil fuel markets: A structural VAR approach

Despite the growing importance of biofuels, the effect of biofuels on fossil fuel markets is not fully understood. We develop a joint structural Vector Auto Regression (VAR) model of the global crude oil, US gasoline, and US ethanol markets to examine whether the US ethanol market has had any impact on global oil markets. The structural VAR approach provides a unique method for decomposing price and quantity data into demand and supply shocks, allowing us to estimate the distinct dynamic effects of ethanol demand and supply shocks on the real prices of crude oil and US gasoline. Ethanol demand in the US is driven mainly by government support in the form of tax credits and blending mandates. Shocks to ethanol demand therefore reflect changes in policy more than any other factor. In contrast, ethanol supply shocks are driven by changes in feedstock prices. A principle finding is that a policy-driven ethanol demand expansion causes a statistically significant decline in real crude oil prices, while an ethanol supply expansion does not have a statistically significant impact on real oil prices. This suggests that even though US ethanol market is small, the influence of US biofuels policy on the crude oil market is pervasive. We also show that ethanol demand shocks are more important than ethanol supply shocks in explaining the fluctuation of real prices of crude oil and US gasoline.     

Horizontal and vertical transmissions in the US oil supply chain

Oil prices, inventory levels, and utilization rates are influenced by changes that are transmitted horizontally and/or vertically through the energy supply chain. We define horizontal transmissions as changes that are generated by linkages among fuels at a similar stage of processing while vertical transmissions are changes that are generated by upstream/downstream linkages in the oil supply chain. Here, we investigate vertical and horizontal transmissions by estimating vector error correction models (VECMs) that represent relationships among the price of crude oil, US refinery utilization rates, US stocks of crude oil, US stocks of motor gasoline, the US price of motor gasoline, and the US price of a substitute fuel, natural gas. Causal relationships estimated from both weekly and quarterly observations indicate that the price of crude oil is an important gateway for disturbances to the oil supply chain. Impulse response functions indicate that disturbances to crude oil prices ripple down the oil supply chain and affect inventory behaviors, refinery utilization rates, and the price of motor gasoline, and are transmitted laterally to the natural gas market.     

Short-run and long-run elasticities of import demand for crude oil in Turkey

The aim of this study is to attempt to estimate the short-run and the long-run elasticities of demand for crude oil in Turkey by the recent autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration. As a developing country, Turkey meets its growing demand for oil principally by foreign suppliers. Thus, the study focuses on modelling the demand for imported crude oil using annual data covering the period 1980–2005. The bounds test results reveal that a long-run cointegration relationship exists between the crude oil import and the explanatory variables: nominal price and income, but not in the model that includes real price in domestic currency. The long-run parameters are estimated through a long-run static solution of the estimated ARDL model, and then the short-run dynamics are estimated by the error correction model. The estimated models pass the diagnostic tests successfully. The findings reveal that the income and price elasticities of import demand for crude oil are inelastic both in the short run and in the long run.     

Oil and pump prices: Testing their asymmetric relationship in a robust way

The aim of this study is to provide a novel method to assess whether retail fuel prices respond asymmetrically to changes in the international crude oil prices. To do so, we consider the whole supply chain, we use daily data and we depart from the current practice in the literature that focuses on prices. Rather, we consider the mark-ups of both the refineries and retailers. Hence, we show that we first need to assess whether the refineries' mark-up responds asymmetrically to the international crude oil prices and subsequently whether the retailers' mark-up shows an asymmetric behaviour relatively to changes in the refined fuel prices. Focusing in Greece as our case study, our findings show that Greek fuel retailers do not change their mark-up behaviour based on changes of the refined fuel price. By contrast, the asymmetric behaviour is evident in the refineries' mark-up relatively to changes in the international crude oil prices, which is then passed through to the retailers and consumers. Finally, we provide evidence that weekly and monthly data mask any such asymmetric relationship. Thus, we maintain that unless the appropriate data frequency, fuel price transformations and the whole supply chain are considered, misleading findings could be revealed.     

2010年全球石油市场基本面因素分析及2011年展望

供应、需求、库存是决定石油市场供需平衡的基本面因素.2010年全球石油市场需求旺盛、供应充足、库存处于高位,石油市场整体处于相对宽松平衡状态,油价相对平稳;2011年,因受市场流动性、利比亚局势、日本地震等因素影响,石油市场供需平衡将受到需求和供应变化的影响,油价上涨和波动的幅度较大.