Small and flat worlds: A complex network analysis of international trade in crude oil

Yu Yang, Jessie P.H. Poon, Yi Liu and Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen

Energy, 2015, vol. 93, issue P1, 534-543

Abstract: Global competition for crude oil has increased in the past decade with the entry of industrializing nations such as China and India. Yet we still do not know much about the spatial structure of crude oil commodity trade and its evolution over time. In this paper, we apply complex network analysis to examine the geography of global crude oil flows and its evolution based on the United Nations commodity trade database from 1988 to 2013. Attention is given to the geo-visualization of the networks that trace the rise and decline of oil hubs. The results show that world crude oil is characterized by network characteristics that capture both small world and flat world properties.

Keywords: Crude oil trade; Small world; Flat world; Complex networks; GIS (geographical information system) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (48)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:93:y:2015:i:p1:p:534-543

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.09.079

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