UC Davis Agricultural and Resource Economics

Chuck Mason, University of Wyoming

Why Do Firms Hold Oil Stockpiles?

Date and Location

Friday, March 16, 2012, 2:10 PM - 3:30 PM

Abstract

Persistent and significant privately-held stockpiles of crude oil have long been an important empirical regularity in the United States. Such stockpiles would not rationally be held in a traditional Hotelling-style model. How then can the existence of these inventories be explained? In the presence of sufficiently stochastic prices, oil extracting firms have an incentive to hold inventories to smooth production over time. An alternative explanation is related to a speculative motive - firms hold stockpiles intending to cash in on periods of particularly high prices. I argue that empirical evidence supports the former but not the latter explanation.


Subscribe to Upcoming Seminars

Click here to receive weekly notice of all upcoming seminars via email.

Individual seminar and workshop announcements are circulated via separate mailing lists. To subscribe, send an email to the relevant list:

Contact Us

2116 Social Sciences and Humanities
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616

Main Office: 530-752-1515
Student Advising Services: 530-754-9536
DeLoach Conference Room: 530-752-2916
Main Conference Room: 530-754-1850