IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cir/cirwor/2007s-10.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Extracting Several Resource Deposits of Unknown Size: Optimal Order

Author

Listed:
  • Murray C. Kemp
  • Ngo Van Long

Abstract

Oil companies often announce revised estimates of their reserves. This indicates that stock uncertainty is a prevalent feature of natural resource industries. In this paper we consider the multi-deposit case where resource extraction produces information about the size of reserves. We show that the optimal order of extracting resource deposits depends both on the informational characteristics of the extraction process and on the extraction costs. Differences in extraction costs, a key consideration highlighted in Solow and Wan (1976), must be balanced against the relative value of information generated by the extraction of various deposits. Our model supplies an explanation of why high cost deposits are sometimes extracted when lower cost deposits have not been exhausted. Les compagnies pétrolières révisent souvent les chiffres de leurs réserves, ce qui indique que l'incertitude concernant les stocks est prévalente. Nous considérons le cas où l'extraction donne des informations sur la taille des réserves. Nous prouvons que l'ordre optimal d'exploitation des stocks dépend des propriétés du processus d'extraction concernant la révélation d'information et des coûts. La différence des coûts, qui est une considération importante dans Solow and Wan (1976), doit être balancée contre la valeur informative des réserves. Notre modèle fournit une explication du fait que les réserves plus coûteuses sont parfois exploitées avant l'épuisement des réserves moins coûteuses.

Suggested Citation

  • Murray C. Kemp & Ngo Van Long, 2007. "Extracting Several Resource Deposits of Unknown Size: Optimal Order," CIRANO Working Papers 2007s-10, CIRANO.
    • Handle: RePEc:cir:cirwor:2007s-10
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cirano.qc.ca/files/publications/2007s-10.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sanford J. Grossman & Richard E. Kihlstrom & Leonard J. Mirman, 1977. "A Bayesian Approach to the Production of Information and Learning By Doing," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 44(3), pages 533-547.
    2. Hartwick, John M, 1978. "Exploitation of Many Deposits of an Exhaustible Resource," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 201-217, January.
    3. Tsur, Yacov & Zemel, Amos, 1996. "Accounting for global warming risks: Resource management under event uncertainty," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 20(6-7), pages 1289-1305.
    4. Hartwick, John M. & Kemp, Murray C. & Van Long, Ngo, 1986. "Set-up costs and theory of exhaustible resources," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 212-224, September.
    5. Long, Ngo Van, 1976. "Expectation Revision and Optimal Learning in a Foreign Investment Model," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 17(2), pages 247-261, June.
    6. Monica Brezzi & Tze Leung Lai, 2000. "Incomplete Learning from Endogenous Data in Dynamic Allocation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(6), pages 1511-1516, November.
    7. Amigues, Jean-Pierre & Favard, Pascal & Gaudet, Gerard & Moreaux, Michel, 1998. "On the Optimal Order of Natural Resource Use When the Capacity of the Inexhaustible Substitute Is Limited," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 153-170, May.
    8. Jean-Pierre Amigues & Ngo Van Long & Michel Moreaux, 2006. "Ressources naturelles, impatience et progrès technique," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 57(2), pages 185-218.
    9. Reed, William J., 1984. "The effects of the risk of fire on the optimal rotation of a forest," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 180-190, June.
    10. Robson, Arthur J., 1979. "Sequential exploitation of uncertain deposits of a depletable natural resource," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 88-110, August.
    11. Glenn C. Loury, 1978. "The Optimal Exploitation of an Unknown Reserve," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 45(3), pages 621-636.
    12. Hartwick, John M. & Yeung, David, 1985. "Preference for output price uncertainty by the non-renewable resource extracting firm," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 85-89.
    13. Ramesh C. Kumar, 2002. "How long to eat a cake of unknown size? Optimal time horizon under uncertainty," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 35(4), pages 843-853, November.
    14. Kemp, Murray C & Long, Ngo Van, 1980. "On Two Folk Theorems Concerning the Extraction of Exhaustible Resources," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(3), pages 663-673, April.
    15. Lewis Cecil Gray, 1914. "Rent under the Assumption of Exhaustibility," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 28(3), pages 466-489.
    16. Kumar, Ramesh C., 2005. "How to eat a cake of unknown size: A reconsideration," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 408-421, September.
    17. David Levhari & Nissan Liviatan, 1977. "Notes on Hotelling's Economics of Exhaustible Resources," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 10(2), pages 177-192, May.
    18. John M. Hartwick, 1983. "Learning about and Exploiting Exhaustible Resource Deposits of Uncertain Size," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 16(3), pages 391-410, August.
    19. Long, Ngo Van, 1975. "Resource extraction under the uncertainty about possible nationalization," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 42-53, February.
    20. Cropper, M. L., 1976. "Regulating activities with catastrophic environmental effects," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 1-15, June.
    21. Ramesh C. Kumar, 2002. "How long to eat a cake of unknown size? Optimal time horizon under uncertainty," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(4), pages 843-853, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Murray C. Kemp & Ngo Van Long, 2009. "Extracting Resource Deposits of Unknown Size: Optimal Order," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 10(4), pages 401-421, November.
    2. Gérard Gaudet, 2007. "Natural resource economics under the rule of Hotelling," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(4), pages 1033-1059, November.
    3. van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2010. "Aggressive oil extraction and precautionary saving: Coping with volatility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(5-6), pages 421-433, June.
    4. repec:bla:germec:v:10:y:2009:i::p:401-421 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. R. Quentin Grafton & Tom Kompas & Ngo Van Long, 2010. "Biofuels Subsidies and the Green Paradox," CESifo Working Paper Series 2960, CESifo.
    6. R. Quentin Grafton & Tom Kompas & Ngo Van Long, 2010. "Do Biofuel Subsidies Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions?," International and Development Economics Working Papers idec10-01, International and Development Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kemp Murray C. & Van Long Ngo, 2009. "Extracting Resource Deposits of Unknown Size: Optimal Order," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 10(4), pages 401-421, December.
    2. repec:bla:germec:v:10:y:2009:i::p:401-421 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Fisher, Anthony C, 1981. "Hotelling's "Economics of Exhaustible Resources": Fifty Years Later," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 65-73, March.
    4. Gérard Gaudet, 2007. "Natural resource economics under the rule of Hotelling," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(4), pages 1033-1059, November.
    5. van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2010. "Aggressive oil extraction and precautionary saving: Coping with volatility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(5-6), pages 421-433, June.
    6. Julien Daubanes & Pierre Lasserre, 2019. "The supply of non-renewable resources," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1084-1111, August.
    7. Gérard Gaudet & Pierre Lasserre, 2011. "The Efficient Use Of Multiple Sources Of A Nonrenewable Resource Under Supply Cost Uncertainty," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 52(1), pages 245-258, February.
    8. Yacov Tsur & Amos Zemel, 2016. "The Management of Fragile Resources: A Long Term Perspective," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 65(3), pages 639-655, November.
    9. Sweeney, James L., 1993. "Economic theory of depletable resources: An introduction," Handbook of Natural Resource and Energy Economics, in: A. V. Kneese† & J. L. Sweeney (ed.), Handbook of Natural Resource and Energy Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 17, pages 759-854, Elsevier.
    10. Yacov Tsur & Amos Zemel, 2017. "Coping with Multiple Catastrophic Threats," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(1), pages 175-196, September.
    11. Tsur, Yacov & Zemel, Amos, 2002. "Endangered Aquifers: Groundwater Management Under Threats Of Catastrophic Events," Discussion Papers 14993, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Agricultural Economics and Management.
    12. Tsur, Yacov & Zemel, Amos, 2012. "Dynamic and stochastic analysis of environmental and natural resources," Discussion Papers 120017, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Agricultural Economics and Management.
    13. Lafforgue, Gilles & Magné, Bertrand & Moreaux, Michel, 2008. "Energy substitutions, climate change and carbon sinks," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 589-597, November.
    14. Tsur, Yacov & Zemel, Amos, 1995. "ON EVENT UNCERTAINTY AND RENEWABLE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT; Proceedings of the 4th Minnesota Padova Conference on Food, Agriculture, and the Environment, September 4-10, 1994, Wayzata, MN," Working Papers 14434, University of Minnesota, Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy.
    15. Moreaux, Michel & Ricci, Francesco, 2005. "The simple analytics of developing resources from resources," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 41-63, January.
    16. Frederick van der Ploeg, 2018. "Breakthrough Renewables and the Green Paradox," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 74(1), pages 52-70, March.
    17. Gaudet, Gerard & Moreaux, Michel & Withagen, Cees, 2006. "The Alberta dilemma: Optimal sharing of a water resource by an agricultural and an oil sector," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 548-566, September.
    18. Thomas Michielsen, 2013. "Environmental Catastrophes under Time-Inconsistent Preferences," Working Papers 2013.55, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    19. Kumar, Ramesh C., 2005. "How to eat a cake of unknown size: A reconsideration," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 408-421, September.
    20. Polasky, Stephen & de Zeeuw, Aart & Wagener, Florian, 2011. "Optimal management with potential regime shifts," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 229-240, September.
    21. Behrens, Axel, 1989. "Optimal resource extraction under stochastic terms of trade," Kiel Working Papers 395, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    order of extraction; value of information; uncertainty; ordre d'extraction; valeur de l'information; incertitude;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q30 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cir:cirwor:2007s-10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Webmaster (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ciranca.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.