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Abstract

Although all main groups of commodities are of paramount importance to our everyday lives, energy is the one that manages to capture our immediate attention, particularly in times of crises. Both by value and volume, energy constitutes the largest of the key commodity groups (the other two being metals and agriculture). In this chapter, we look at the role of the key energy commodities which drive economic development, focusing on the hydrocarbons which generate most primary and secondary energy today. Together, they account for over 80% of primary energy consumption and 40% of world seaborne trade. The latter two are also responsible for nearly 60% of global electricity generation.

We examine the economics of crude oil and refined products, natural gas and coal, together with their physical characteristics and pricing mechanisms. The predominance of these fossil fuels would not have materialised without the ability to move large quantities of the three commodities. And although pipeline, railroad and truck haulage play a vital role, it is seaborne transportation which accounts for the majority of international trade flows, which we also examine for each of the three hydrocarbons.

Publication Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in The Handbook of Maritime Economics and Business on 11/02/26, available online: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429261664 It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HF Commerce
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Faculty of Finance
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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