OECD members - Natural gas rents (% of GDP)

Natural gas rents (% of GDP) in OECD members was 0.081 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.793 in 1979, while its lowest value was 0.007 in 1970.

Definition: Natural gas rents are the difference between the value of natural gas production at world prices and total costs of production.

Source: Estimates based on sources and methods described in "The Changing Wealth of Nations: Measuring Sustainable Development in the New Millennium" (World Bank, 2011).

See also:

Year Value
1970 0.007
1971 0.013
1972 0.026
1973 0.061
1974 0.483
1975 0.410
1976 0.409
1977 0.387
1978 0.326
1979 0.793
1980 0.758
1981 0.477
1982 0.102
1983 0.314
1984 0.339
1985 0.287
1986 0.097
1987 0.145
1988 0.100
1989 0.105
1990 0.102
1991 0.086
1992 0.103
1993 0.143
1994 0.112
1995 0.073
1996 0.137
1997 0.132
1998 0.089
1999 0.114
2000 0.266
2001 0.298
2002 0.169
2003 0.236
2004 0.295
2005 0.313
2006 0.262
2007 0.219
2008 0.316
2009 0.112
2010 0.069
2011 0.090
2012 0.096
2013 0.091
2014 0.071
2015 0.058
2016 0.039
2017 0.053
2018 0.097
2019 0.081

Development Relevance: Accounting for the contribution of natural resources to economic output is important in building an analytical framework for sustainable development. In some countries earnings from natural resources, especially from fossil fuels and minerals, account for a sizable share of GDP, and much of these earnings come in the form of economic rents - revenues above the cost of extracting the resources. Natural resources give rise to economic rents because they are not produced. For produced goods and services competitive forces expand supply until economic profits are driven to zero, but natural resources in fixed supply often command returns well in excess of their cost of production. Rents from nonrenewable resources - fossil fuels and minerals - as well as rents from overharvesting of forests indicate the liquidation of a country's capital stock. When countries use such rents to support current consumption rather than to invest in new capital to replace what is being used up, they are, in effect, borrowing against their future.

Limitations and Exceptions: This definition of economic rent differs from that used in the System of National Accounts, where rents are a form of property income, consisting of payments to landowners by a tenant for the use of the land or payments to the owners of subsoil assets by institutional units permitting them to extract subsoil deposits.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The estimates of natural resources rents are calculated as the difference between the price of a commodity and the average cost of producing it. This is done by estimating the world price of units of specific commodities and subtracting estimates of average unit costs of extraction or harvesting costs (including a normal return on capital). These unit rents are then multiplied by the physical quantities countries extract or harvest to determine the rents for each commodity as a share of gross domestic product (GDP).

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Natural resources contribution to GDP