A Survey of GECF Effects on Extraction of Gas Reserves: A Game-Theoretic Approach

Abstract

This paper considers the impact of the establishment of a gas cartel on extraction of this exhaustible resource. A simple intertemporal extraction model suggests a linear extraction rule with slope term common when discount rates are homogenous and differences in pricing behavior and costs determine the intercept. As a result of comparing the amount of extraction in various market structures, we find out that when the market structure changes from competitive form to Stackelberg leader game, the amount of extraction decreases. Panel data regression exhibits a robust and stable linear extraction-reserves relationship and a significantly lower estimated slope within the countries with larger amounts of reserves. Moreover, this finding may be explained by the differences in discount rates.

Keywords

• cartel
• gas
• extraction
• reserve
• exhaustible resource