Economic Efficiency of the Main Oil Producing Countries in Upstream Sector in the Period 2010-2017

Abstract

This work aims to calculate the economic efficiency of the main upstream oil producing countries in 2010-2017, using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology. In the begining the technical efficiency is determined, next allocative efficiency is calculated to finally obtain the economic efficiency. The countries analyzed were: United States, Russia, Canada, China, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Angola, Venezuela, Algeria, United Kingdom, Holland, France and Spain. It can be seen from the results that no country was efficient in economic terms. However, Russia had the highest levels of economic efficiency, on the opposite side, France has the lowest values in this indicator. It is recommended to establish strategies in the sector to avoid economic vulnerability in some countries. The main limitation is the availability of the data.  The originality of the research consists in obtaining economic efficiency in this industry, since there are no studies with these specific characteristics. It is concluded that in terms of economic efficiency, there was no adequate use of resources in the upstream oil industry.