This thesis comprises three essays on the management of nonrenewable resources. Pollution is often associated with the use of nonrenewable resources. Indeed, many of today's most pressing environmental problems are caused by these types of activities. Despite the connection between nonrenewable resource use and environmental degradation, the two issues have been, for the most part, analysed separately by economists. The first paper develops a framework to analyse the effects of a pure-flow externality on the competitive allocation of nonrenewable resources. For commonly- used specifications of consumer preferences, the competitive allocation is found to be fully optimal for pure-flow externalities exhibiting decreasing marginal disutility. Hence, the paper shows that the presence of a negative externality associated with the use or extraction of a nonrenewable resource need not result in inefficiency. The US 1990 Oil Pollution Act is the most significant attempt yet made by a nation to deal with pollution of its territorial waters. It significantly altered the rights and obli gations of tanker owners operating in US waters, effectively introducing unlimited liability and significantly expanding the definition of spill damages. The second paper analyses the effect of the Act on major pelagic oil spills occurring world wide. The hypothesis that the Act had a negligible effect on the number of spills occurring in North America's coastal waters is tested empirically. The results indicate that the Act significantly reduced the number of spills occurring in North American coastal waters and has had no discernible effect on spill frequencies elsewhere. There is a keen and growing interest in the properties of vertical relationships governing the pricing and transfer of intermediate goods. The third paper examines an unusual and commercially-important vertical relationship — the price participation system —which is used extensively in the zinc industry. The paper explores the conjecture that significant demand uncertainty and risk aversion on the part of zinc smelters might explain why the industry uses the price participation system rather than a more conventional contractual arrangement. The results indicate that these factors do go part way toward explaining why the industry uses the price participation system.

This thesis comprises three essays on the management of nonrenewable resources. Pollution is often associated with the use of nonrenewable resources. Indeed, many of today's most pressing environmental problems are caused by these types of activities. Despite the connection between nonrenewable resource use and environmental degradation, the two issues have been, for the most part, analysed separately by economists. The first paper develops a framework to analyse the effects of a pure-flow externality on the competitive allocation of nonrenewable resources. For commonly- used specifications of consumer preferences, the competitive allocation is found to be fully optimal for pure-flow externalities exhibiting decreasing marginal disutility. Hence, the paper shows that the presence of a negative externality associated with the use or extraction of a nonrenewable resource need not result in inefficiency. The US 1990 Oil Pollution Act is the most significant attempt yet made by a nation to deal with pollution of its territorial waters. It significantly altered the rights and obli gations of tanker owners operating in US waters, effectively introducing unlimited liability and significantly expanding the definition of spill damages. The second paper analyses the effect of the Act on major pelagic oil spills occurring world wide. The hypothesis that the Act had a negligible effect on the number of spills occurring in North America's coastal waters is tested empirically. The results indicate that the Act significantly reduced the number of spills occurring in North American coastal waters and has had no discernible effect on spill frequencies elsewhere. There is a keen and growing interest in the properties of vertical relationships governing the pricing and transfer of intermediate goods. The third paper examines an unusual and commercially-important vertical relationship — the price participation system —which is used extensively in the zinc industry. The paper explores the conjecture that significant demand uncertainty and risk aversion on the part of zinc smelters might explain why the industry uses the price participation system rather than a more conventional contractual arrangement. The results indicate that these factors do go part way toward explaining why the industry uses the price participation system. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

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The need for a sustainable development of natural resources has, in recent time taken centre stage in most natural resource rich countries. Environmental degradation resulting from the unsustainable development of petroleum resources has also resulted in the impoverishment of a large number of people. In countries like Nigeria, revenue accruing from energy and natural resources projects has become the mainstay of the nation's economy. However, the main beneficiaries of the wealth created by the exploration and production of petroleum are the state who owns all natural resources in line with the provisions of Nigerian law and the companies that exploit these resources. As a result, local landowners, do not directly benefit from petroleum exploitation even though they bear the direct consequences of petroleum exploitation. One consequence is the reduction of productive agricultural lands which has disrupted some of the traditional occupations of the people in the Niger Delta where the bulk of Nigeria's petroleum production takes place. It is this disruption that is the focus of this thesis. Despite Nigeria's support for the sustainable development of Nigeria's petroleum resources, environmental degradation resulting from the exploitation of petroleum has continued unabated. This raises a fundamental question as to the effectiveness of the regulatory regime governing petroleum activities in Nigeria. Using doctrinal and socio-legal methodology, this thesis explores the existing regulatory regime to ascertain if it is robust enough or effective to ensure the sustainable development of Nigeria's petroleum resources. It considers what impact, if any, does a failure in the regulatory regime have on the local population. Having established the failure of the legal regime, the study examines the consequences of the State's failure to sustainably develop its petroleum resources and consider if s Having established the failure of the legal regime, the study examines the consequences of the State's failure to sustainably develop its petroleum resources and consider if such failure has any impact on the stability and sustainability of petroleum projects themselves. Perhaps the most surprising finding to emerge from this study is that while the failure of the regulatory regime has negatively impacted the local population, the resulting social unrest or risks does not negatively impact the stability and sustainability of petroleum projects in real terms when compared with the cost of improving environmetal practices. In the search for solutions to address the failure of the existing regime and its consequences, the study examined relevant provisions of the new Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) intending to ascertain if there are significant improvements capable of ensuring the sustainable development of Nigeria's petroleum resources. It concludes that while the PIB contains some improvements on the existing regulatory regime, there are problematic provisions that require some attention if the nation is to achieve the goal of sustainable development of its petroleum resources.

Graduation date: 2005

In this thesis, we consider a discrete time/cost trade-off problem with a single nonrenewable resource. We assume the resource is released at some prespecified time points and at some prespecified quantities. We also assume that the costs due to the activities are incurred at their completions. Our aim is to minimize total project completion time. We formulate the problem as a pure integer programming model. We show that the problem is strongly NP-hard. We find lower bounds by pure linear programming and mixed integer linear programming relaxations of the model. We develop three heuristic procedures using the optimal solutions of mixed integer linear program and pure linear program. The results of our computational study reveal the satisfactory performance of our heuristic procedures.

<p>The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine how nonrenewable energy companies frame and manage the issue of climate change in their online communication, specifically sustainability reports. The issue cycle framework was applied through a rhetorical analysis to determine where coal and oil/gas companies place climate change in the issue cycle and subsequently manage the issue. Coal companies were determined to place climate change in lower stages of the issue cycle while oil/gas companies placed the issue later in the issue cycle. The issues management strategies of these companies also aligned with where they placed climate change in the issue cycle. This study then sought to understand the differences between the approaches of coal and oil/gas companies by examining factors such as financial standing, business models, and each industry’s publics.</p>

There are different views about the availability of non-renewable resources in the long run. Hotelling’s (1931) seminal model of exhaustible resources greatly influenced subsequent studies. Hotelling’s and related fixed-stock models imply decreasing availability and increasing real prices of non-renewable resources in the long run. However, most of the empirical evidence does not support the prediction of higher real price trends. Hotelling’s model has been criticised for ignoring certain factors relevant to the discovery and innovation-driven creation of additional non-renewable reserves. Contrary to Hotelling’s fixed-stock assumption, this may expand the total stock of non-renewable resources available for profitable extraction. The main research objective of this study is to address this problem by identifying a broader range of factors to be used when constructing models of the availability of non-renewable resources. This was done by means of an extensive literature survey of both historic and more contemporary thought in this regard. This study shows the evolution of thinking and reasons behind the diversity of views on the availability of non-renewable resources. Thirty core facts were identified and a broad research framework formulated, including policies and methods to mitigate resource depletion and ensure availability both at national and global levels. A key finding is that improvements in various productivity-enhancing technologies have, thus far, delayed the onset of decreased availability and higher real price trends implied by Hotelling’s and other fixed-stock models. / Economics / M. Com. (Economics)

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A conjuntura energÃtica mundial vem experimentando alteraÃÃes, em virtude da disponibilidade dos recursos, das tecnologias implantadas, do custo de produÃÃo, das polÃticas adotadas pelos paÃses, bem como da quantidade de reservas existentes e, recentemente, da necessidade de migraÃÃo para fontes menos poluentes. Nessa perspectiva, o presente trabalho objetivou mensurar a evoluÃÃo da composiÃÃo e sustentabilidade econÃmica da Matriz EnergÃtica Brasileira, entre os anos de 1970 a 2014. De maneira especÃfica a pesquisa buscou: avaliar a evoluÃÃo da produÃÃo energÃtica brasileira no perÃodo de 1970 a 2014; aferir o comportamento da oferta de energia e dependÃncia externa energÃtica no Brasil e verificar o impacto da DependÃncia Externa de Energia sobre a evoluÃÃo do Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) brasileiro no perÃodo sob investigaÃÃo. Os dados utilizados na pesquisa foram de natureza secundÃria e analisados em nÃvel Brasil. Para estimar os Ãndices optou-se pela tÃcnica multivariada de AnÃlise Fatorial, com decomposiÃÃo em componentes principais. Diante dos resultados obtidos, observou-se que desde as crises do petrÃleo (1973 e 1979) a Matriz EnergÃtica Brasileira experimentou transformaÃÃes, com destaque para a inserÃÃo de fontes renovÃveis. Em contrapartida, houve uma reduÃÃo da produÃÃo de lenha, que em 1970 representava 64,2% das fontes renovÃveis, jà em 2014 teve uma participaÃÃo de apenas 9,1% da matriz renovÃvel. Para as fontes nÃo renovÃveis, destacaram-se o petrÃleo e o gÃs natural, que apesar dos incentivos para a reduÃÃo de fontes de origem fÃssil, apresentaram tendÃncia de crescimento de 1970 a 2014. Constatou-se que, durante 25 anos (1970-1995) e, em 24 anos (1970-1994), o Brasil nÃo apresentou um desempenho satisfatÃrio na produÃÃo e na oferta per capita energÃtica, respectivamente, apresentando elevada instabilidade ao longo do perÃodo. Entretanto, mesmo com o aumento na oferta energÃtica, a dependÃncia externa apresentou tendÃncia ascendente, com uma Taxa GeomÃtrica de Crescimento de 8,35% ao ano, atentando que mesmo com todos os investimentos alocados para alcanÃar a autossuficiÃncia energÃtica, a necessidade de importaÃÃo se manteve em ascendÃncia para suprir a demanda interna de energia. AlÃm disso, a pesquisa mostrou que um aumento de 0,1 unidade na dependÃncia externa aferida pelo IDEXT provoca, em mÃdia, uma reduÃÃo de 0,545 unidade do Ãndice do PIB brasileiro. Deste modo, a dependÃncia de importaÃÃo de energia causa efeito negativo na economia interna do paÃs, dificultando o crescimento do produto agregado. Diante dessa conjuntura, permite-se afirmar que a Matriz EnergÃtica Brasileira, entre os anos de 1970 e 2014, nÃo à sustentÃvel economicamente no quesito fornecimento energÃtico, havendo necessidade de importaÃÃo para suprir a demanda interna por este importante insumo de produÃÃo e de qualidade de vida. AlÃm disso, a dependÃncia externa crescente, tal como mensurada pelo IDEXT nesta pesquisa, provoca impactos negativos na formaÃÃo da riqueza do paÃs. / The world energy situation is undergoing changes due to the availability of resources, deployed technologies, the cost of production, the policies adopted by countries, and the amount of existing reserves and recently the need to move to cleaner sources. In this perspective, the present work aimed to measure the evolution of the composition and economic sustainability of the Brazilian energy matrix, between the years 1970 to 2014. In a specific way: to evaluate the evolution of Brazilian energy production in the period 1970 to 2014; assess the behavior of the energy supply and energy dependence on external in Brazil and check the impact of the index of external energy dependency (IDEXT) on the evolution of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Brazil in the period under investigation. The data used in the study were of secondary nature and analyzed in level Brazil. To estimate the indices we opted for the multivariate technique of factorial analysis, with decomposition in main componentes. Considering the obtained results, it was observed that since the oil crises of (1973 and 1979) the Brazilian energy matrix experienced transformations, with emphasis to the insertion of renewable sources. In contrast, there was a reduction in the production of wood, which in 1970 accounted for 64.2% of renewable sources, already in 2014 had a share of just 9.1% of the matrix renewable. For non-renewable sources, stood out the oil and natural gas, which despite the incentives for the reduction of sources of fossil origin, the same presented a trend of growth from 1970 to 2014. It was found that, during 25 years (1970-1995) and in 24 years (1970-1994), Brazil has not presented a satisfactory performance in the production and supply of energy per capita, respectively, presenting high instability over the period. However, even with the increase in energy supply, the IDEXT presented upward trend, with a geometric rate of growth of 8.35%, considering that even with all the investment allocated to achieve the energy self-sufficiency, the need for import remained in ancestry to supply the domestic demand of energy. In addition, the survey showed that an increase of 0,1 unit in external dependence measured by IDEXT causes, in average, a reduction of 0.545 unit of the index in the Brazilian GDP. In this way, the dependence on energy imports cause negative effect in the internal economy of the country, making the product growth of aggregate. Faced with this situation, allows you to say that the Brazilian energy matrix, between the years 1970 and 2014, is not sustainable economically at delivering energy supply, and there is need for imports to meet the internal demand for this important production input and of quality of life. Moreover, the growing external dependence, as measured by IDEXT in this research, causes negative impacts in the formation of the wealth of the country.

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo analisar criticamente a governança das receitas públicas de recursos naturais não renováveis no Brasil. Considerando a característica essencial de finitude dos recursos naturais explorados, que importa também em negar às gerações pósteras o acesso aos bens minerais e petrolíferos, impõe-se reconhecer nos diversos aspectos dessa governança a necessidade de tratar essa receita de forma singular. Para compreender quais são estas especificidades, foram eleitos dois eixos de análise: o primeiro, com a revisão da literatura sobre a maldição dos recursos naturais, a doença holandesa, e fenômenos (especialmente econômicos) relacionados à exploração mineral; e o segundo, com consulta à doutrina de diversos ramos (no Direito e fora dele) sobre a noção de justiça, solidariedade ou equidade entre gerações, bem como com a busca de especificação do conteúdo desta perspectiva, que se aplica a diversas áreas do Direito, inclusive e especialmente ao Direito Financeiro. Com essas bases, elegem-se aspectos da governança brasileira de royalties a serem analisados: o federalismo fiscal dessas receitas públicas patrimoniais; a forma de tratamento financeiro-orçamentário dos royalties, especialmente sua classificação consoante a Lei nº 4.320/1964; a utilização de Fundos para gestão dessas receitas (o Fundo Social); a relação entre a arrecadação de royalties e a arrecadação tributária, especialmente nos entes subnacionais beneficiados em grande monta com essas receitas patrimoniais; os modos de direcionamento e coação que a lei impõe ao gestor no gasto dos royalties; a transparência fiscal brasileira; e, de forma ampla, as recentes alterações (efetivadas e propostas) nas leis que regem as explorações de minérios e de petróleo no país. Conclui-se que, apesar de o ordenamento jurídico brasileiro ter avançado significativamente em alguns desses aspectos recentemente (especialmente com a criação do Fundo Social no âmbito da União, e no que diz respeito à transparência fiscal relacionada à atividade exploratória), ele não está, sob as perspectivas de análise escolhidas, adequadamente aparelhado para a governança das receitas públicas de recursos naturais não renováveis. / This dissertation aims to critically analyze the Brazilian governance of public revenues from nonrenewable natural resources. Considering that finiteness is an essential characteristic of natural resources that are exploited, which implies in denying future generations the access to mineral and oil assets, one must acknowledge, in various aspects of governance, the necessity to treat these revenues singularly. To understand what these specificities are, two axes of analysis were elected: the first envolves revisiting the curse of natural resources, the Dutch disease, and phenomena (especially those of economic nature) related to the mineral exploitation; and the second involves consulting doctrine of different areas of study (in and out of Law) about notions of justice, solidarity or equity between generations, as well as searching for specification of this content, which applies to various areas of Law, including and especially Public Finance Law. Building on these foundations, some aspects of Brazilian governance of royalties were elected to be analyzed: fiscal federalism applied to these public revenues; the financial-budgetary treatment of royalties, especially its classification under Law nº 4.320/1964; the utilization of Funds to manage these revenues (the Social Fund); the relationship between the collection of royalties and the collection of taxes, especially in subnational governmental entities largely benefited by these revenues; the ways the law directs and coerces the expenditure of royalties; Brazilian fiscal transparency; and, broadly, the recent modifications (finished and proposed) in the laws that conduct the exploitation of minerals and oil in the country. It is concluded that, although the Brazilian legal system has advanced significantly in some aspects as of late (especially the creation of the Social Fund by the central government, and in respects to fiscal transparency related to the exploratory activities), it is not, under the elected perspectives of analysis, adequately prepared to regulate the governance of public revenues originating from exploration of nonrenewable natural resources.