Storage and Security of Supply in the Medium Run

Chaton, Corinne and Creti, Anna and Villeneuve, Bertrand (2008): Storage and Security of Supply in the Medium Run.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the role of private storage in a market for a commodity (e.g. natural gas) whose supply is subject to the threat of an irreversible disruption. We focus on the medium term in which seasonality of demand and exhaustibility can be neglected. We characterize the price and inventory dynamics (accumulation, drainage and limit stocks) in a competitive equilibrium with rational expectations. We show the robustness of our results to alternative scenarios in which either a disruption has finite duration or the crisis is foreseen. During the crisis consumers may put pressure on the Government to intervene, but too severe antispeculative measures would inefficiently discourage storage. Practical solutions to this dilemma cause welfare losses that we characterize and quantify.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Storage; Dynamic models; Gas industry
• Subjects: L - Industrial Organization > L9 - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities > L95 - Gas Utilities ; Pipelines ; Water Utilities; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q4 - Energy > Q48 - Government Policy; L - Industrial Organization > L9 - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities > L98 - Government Policy

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