Supply chain analysis in mineral and energy markets

Abstract

This thesis presents a series of studies on supply chain analysis in mineral and energy markets. These studies include analyses of decisions on lithium and natural gas supply chains, demand-side measures to understand the natural gas market fragility, and effects of carbon policy on lithium production. Chapter 2 compares two commonly applied methodologies for estimating causal effect of supply shifters on natural gas demand which are instrumental variables (IV), with variations of post-LASSO applications. Also, this chapter provides residential price elasticities for 23 European Union (EU) countries. Chapter 3 proposes a mixed-integer programming model in order to prescribe the optimal infrastructural decisions for the EU natural gas market that maximizes consumers' welfare. Chapter 4 examines how to supply lithium demand for the next 20 years by proposing a mixed-integer programming model in order to provide optimal decisions with respect to economical and environmental factors.