Writing this book would have been impossible without the help of certain institutions and persons. For a gas-producing and oil-processing country like the Netherlands, there was surprisingly very little, publicly available, research material. Public libraries' collections contained, with a certain degree of inconsistency, little of the more specialised sources. I would therefore like to express my gratitude towards Royal Dutch Shell, and especially the library staff in The Hague, for allowing me to use the company's library, thanking them for their assistance in finding and supplying the required data. I am also grateful for the financial assistance of the 'Nederlandse organisatie voor wetenschappelijk onderzoek' (NWO) and the Faculty of Law of the University of Leiden. They provided the financial means to work a (crucial) month in the very well equipped library of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. I am indebted to the staff of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, and particularly to Robert Mabro and Jeremy Turk, for their comments, support, and friendship. After I spent a month in the Institute in July 1989, I was able to return for two five-month periods in 1990 and 1991. For both periods, the Oxford Institute and the Leiden Law Faculty provided me with the necessary means. I would also like to express special gratitude to some people who have been a great support and supplied me with valuable comments at various stages of the study.

Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter 2 REDRAWING THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN STATE AND COMPANY . . . 3 Chapter 3 STATE PARTICIPATION IN THE ECONOMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Chapter 4 INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC INSTABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Chapter 5 THE FAILURE OF OPEC TO SECURE ECONOMIC RENTS . . . . . . . . . . 67 Chapter 6 TURNING BLACK GOLD INTO DEVELOPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Chapter 7 NATIONAL OIL COMPANIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Chapter 8 AMBITIOUS CONSOLIDATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Chapter 9 STRATEGIC CONSOLIDATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 PREFACE This book has been kicking around my desk for quite some time. On and off I returned to my work on the role of the state in the economy and the international oil market, but for a long time I was not satisfied with the shape it was in. I understand now that I needed the insights developed over the past couple of years on the role of the state, regulation, liberalization, privatization, and the recent events in the international oil industry to bring all my ideas together in a more coherent format. It was the events that followed the Asian financial crisis that drew me back to finish writing this book. The early beginnings of this book were developed at the Institute of International Affairs, Chatham I-louse, in London, where I was a research fellow with the Energy and Environment Programme in 1992 and 1993. At the Colorado School of Mines, I had the opportunity to test my ideas in a graduate class, and continue the research.

Maximilian Kuhn investigates one of the most pressing, yet neglected subjects in the field of global energy politics: the integration of the Iranian gas market. Possessing the world’s second-largest proven natural gas reserves, Iran is a hypothetical energy giant-in-waiting. Yet over three decades of internal divisions, coupled with crippling international sanctions, have left Iran unable to capitalize on its vast energy potential. Increasing global demand for natural gas and a government in constant need of finding new sources of revenue to meet the needs of a fast-growing population should lead Iran to eventually become a large-scale gas exporter. How this could take place and what the implications for global gas markets would be are the central research questions tackled by this study. The study allows a look beyond international politics, Iranian political decision-making, investment laws, and pipeline games.

'To learn about how economic and institutional forces have shaped the network industries and policies towards them, read the first part of the book. To discover their impacts on particular industries, read the second part. And to find out what has happened in particular countries, read the third part. I think anyone interested in network industries should read all of it! The book's structure allows for many interesting comparisons across countries and sectors.' Richard Green, University of Birmingham, UK 'This is a very useful and comprehensive guide to reforms in network industries in communications, energy, transport and water. It is organized by generic topic, sector and region. Its authors are acknowledged experts. I am confident that this Handbook will be a widely read and valuable resource for many years.' Martin Cave, London School of Economics, UK 'Quite an accomplishment, this Handbook provides by far the most comprehensive overview of the role of the private sector and competition in infrastructure industries, with thoughtful surveys of each of the major infrastructure sectors and of the key regions and countries.' José Gómez-Ibáñez, Harvard University, US In recent decades, all infrastructures have undergone significant restructuring. This worldwide phenomenon is often labelled 'liberalization' and although expectations were high with respect to lower prices, greater efficiency and innovation, the expected gains have not always been fully realized. This extensive, state-of-the-art Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the various experiences of liberalization across different sectors, regions and disciplines. The multidisciplinary approach focuses on the economic, political and institutional aspects of liberalization as well as, to a lesser extent, on technological issues. As such, it constitutes a unique contribution, as this broad overview is often lost in the sector specific, country-focused and purely disciplinary approaches prevalent in the current literature. Sectors explored include telecoms, the Internet, energy and transport, whilst the truly global perspective incorporates unique case studies from an array of developed and developing countries including the US, China, India and the EU. The International Handbook of Network Industries will become the definitive volume for academics researchers and students of economics, political science and law interested in infrastructure regulation. It will also prove a valuable guide to practitioners and policy-makers involved in liberalization and competition.

National Oil Companies (NOCs) directly or indirectly control the majority of oil and gas reserves. As such, they are of great consequence to their country's economy, to importing countries' energy security, and to the stability of oil and gas markets. The paper analyzes the available evidence on the objectives, governance and performance of 20 NOCs from both net importing and net exporting countries, and draws conclusions about the design of policies and measures that are more likely to lead to social value creation. NOCs differ from private companies on a number of very important variables, including the level of competition in the market in which they operate, their business profile along the sector value chain, and their degree of commercial orientation and internationalization. Most share some core characteristics: they are usually tied to the 'national purpose' and serve political and economic goals other than maximizing the firm's profits. This paper introduces a conceptual model to analyze value creation by NOCs that takes into consideration their complex objective function. Our analysis aims to answer the following questions: Are certain corporate governance arrangements more suited than others to promote value creation? Is good geology a pre-condition for NOC value creation? Are there benefits from exposing the NOC to competition from private oil companies? Does the development of forward and backward linkages hamper NOC value creation?

This book describes and analyzes the formation, operation, and impacts of modern global cartels. It provides a broad picture of the economics, competition law and history of international price fixing. Intensive case studies of collusion in the markets for lysine, citric acid, and vitamins offer a deep, detailed understanding of the phenomenon. The author assesses whether antitrust enforcement by the European Union, the United States, and other countries can deter cartels.

This paper assesses the dynamic pass-through of crude oil price shocks to retail fuel prices using a novel database on monthly retail fuel prices for 162 countries. The impulse response functions suggest that on average, a one cent increase in crude oil prices per liter translates into a 1.2 cent increase in the retail gasoline price at peak level six months after the shock. However, the estimates vary significantly across country groups, ranging from about 0.5 cent in MENA countries to two cents in advanced economies. The results also show that positive oil price shocks have a larger impact than negative price shocks on the retail gasoline price. Finally, the paper underscores the importance of the new dataset in refining estimates of the fiscal cost of incomplete pass-through.