The Economics of Transit Oil and Gas Pipelines: A Review of the Fundamentals

Abstract

The growing relevance of transit oil and gas pipelines is reflected in the general anticipation of an increase in their construction in the future because of factors such as the increasing discoveries of reserves in remote and land-locked locations, the depletion of reserves close to established markets, and improvements in cost-effective technological methods of exploration and production in previously uneconomic reserves. Recent disputes between parties to transit pipeline agreements demonstrate, in addition to other problems, the relevance of a fundamental analysis of the workings of oil and gas pipelines in economics. The objective of this paper therefore is to provide a fundamental framework for understanding and analysing transit oil and gas pipelines. The paper finds that the concept of economic rent, natural monopoly and basic cost concepts clearly explain the rationale behind the imposition of a transit fee, although they do not sufficiently define how they are determined.