Energy Transition Research Initiative

New OIES Podcast – Contracts for Difference: The instrument of choice for the energy transition

Gas Research Programme

New OIES Energy Comment – The Uniper-Gazprom Arbitration Ruling: Is the final curtain coming down on remaining long-term Russian gas supply contracts to Europe?

Electricity Research Programme

Reforming Capacity Markets: How to Incorporate the Flexibility of Residential Consumers?

Oil Research Programme

New OIES Oil Monthly – Issue 35

China Energy Research Programme

New OIES Podcast – Fact and fiction of clean innovation in China

The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies is a world leading independent energy research institute specialising in advanced research into the economics and geopolitics of the energy transition and international energy across oil, gas and electricity markets

  • Energy Transition Research

    Energy Transition Research at OIES focuses on the trends shaping energy systems, transformations in behaviours and business models, and the implications of shifting from the existing hydrocarbon-dominated energy economy to a system in which renewables, low-carbon energy sources and abated use of hydrocarbons will play a much greater role.

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  • Gas Research Programme

    The Gas Programme, launched in 2003, has become one of the foremost sources of independent academic research on gaseous fuels and their role in the energy economy. The programme has historically focused on natural gas, and while this remains a core strength it is increasingly also turning its attention to...

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  • Electricity Research Programme

    The Electricity Research Programme focuses on fundamental issues including re-design of electricity markets to integrate zero marginal cost renewables, regulation of electricity networks to accommodate variable supply/demand and incentivizing efficient investment and identifying conditions for efficient growth of distributed energy resources (DERs), activating demand side flexibility and consumer participation in...

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  • Oil Research Programme

    The Oil Research Programme, established in 2009, has cemented its reputation as a leading source of academic research on oil market issues. The Programme’s research group continues to produce high-quality empirical oil market research of international significance based on its core understanding of oil market dynamics and price cycles, the...

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  • China Energy Research Programme

    Launched in 2019 the OIES China Energy Research Programme, is a center of analytical excellence offering insights into the factors that inform China’s energy policies and choices and their pivotal role in global energy markets. China is the world’s second largest economy, biggest importer of crude oil, the fastest growing...

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Latest Research Papers

Low carbon hydrogen (whether based on renewable or nuclear electricity, or fossil fuels with carbon capture) is a means to decarbonise sectors of the economy which are hard to electrify. Its business model is heavily dependent on government intervention (e.g. mandatory targets, subsidies, decarbonisation policies) so low carbon hydrogen is subject to significant regulatory risk. The boundary between low carbon...

Latest Energy Insights

Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS) has been identified as a critical decarbonisation solution especially for hard-to-abate sectors such as cement, steel, chemicals and refining. CCUS development has accelerated over the last few years in Europe, with several projects expected to come online by 2030. This pace has been backed by ambitious targets of European governments – EU, UK and...

Latest Energy Comments

This comment explains the factual background of this month’s Uniper-Gazprom arbitral tribunal ruling which terminated the long term gas supply contracts between the parties, and its potentially seismic implications for European gas markets. According to Uniper, the arbitration tribunal awarded the company the right to terminate its long-term gas supply contracts with Gazprom Export; and more than €13 billion in...

Latest Oxford Energy Forum

Energy storage, encompassing not only the storage of electricity but also the storage of energy in various forms such as heat and chemicals, is a linchpin in the movement toward a decarbonized energy sector, due to its myriad roles in fortifying grid reliability, facilitating the integration of renewables, and advocating for energy efficiency and equity. Furthermore, energy storage facilitates the...

Latest Podcasts

In this latest OIES podcast, Michal Meidan talks to Agniezska Ason, senior visiting research fellow at the OIES, and Julio Dal Poz, managing director at FTI consulting, about contracts for difference and how they can be used in the low carbon energy transition. They discuss how Contracts for Difference (CfDs) are currently used to support the decarbonisation of electricity generation,...

Latest Quarterly Gas Review

In this first edition of the Gas Quarterly for 2024 we review the developments during winter 2023/24 on the European gas market and global LNG market and draw conclusions about the outlook for prices and the supply-demand balance in summer 2024. In pricing terms, the winter of 2023/24 was notable insofar as the price peak arrived in October, driven by...

Latest China Energy Monthly

This is the first edition of the new China Energy Monthly. It includes a selection of the most recent macro and energy data for China including a number of proprietary data sets as well as a brief commentary about short-term trends.

Latest Oil Monthly

The new issue of OIES Oil Monthly, including our latest short-term oil market outlook to 2025, is now available. - Our Brent price forecast is little changed from last month at $85.2/b in 2024 and $78.5/b in 2025, from $84.5/b and $79.0/b, respectively. Our forecast this month incorporates the June 2 decisions by OPEC+ and the group of eight OPEC+...

Latest Presentations

OIES has developed three scenarios considering the impact of the energy transition on natural gas. The control scenario – Declared Policies – sees global gas demand peaking around 2040, but this is not a decarbonisation scenario. The Net Zero scenario achieves net zero across the board everywhere by 2050 but with a significant volume of carbon capture and storage (CCS)...

OIES Energy Transition Event 2024

In June 2024 OIES will hold it's 3rd Energy Transition Event over 2 days.

The event will cover the following issues:

3 June

• Green Industrial Policy and the Geopolitics of the Transition.
• What is next for Battery Supply Chains?
• Inflation, Macroeconomics and Financing Renewables.
• Carbon Offsetting, Removals and Net Zero Targets.

4 June

• Navigating Challenges and Seizing Opportunities in Offshore Wind.
• Grids and Clean Energy Transitions.
• Energy Storage’s Crucial Role in a Sustainable Future.

The Guide to Chinese Climate Policy 2022

China is the world’s leading emitter of heat-trapping gases by a wide margin. Its policies for limiting emissions will have a significant impact on the global climate for decades to come.

This Guide to Chinese Climate Policy provides information on China’s emissions, the impacts of climate change in China, the history of China’s climate change policies and China’s response to climate change today.

Visit the website to download the Guide