Ecuador - Natural gas rents (% of GDP)

Natural gas rents (% of GDP) in Ecuador was 0.014 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 48 years was 0.039 in 2012, while its lowest value was 0.000 in 1971.

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
1971 0.000
1972 0.000
1973 0.000
1974 0.000
1975 0.000
1976 0.000
1977 0.000
1978 0.000
1979 0.000
1980 0.007
1981 0.003
1982 0.002
1983 0.007
1984 0.008
1985 0.008
1986 0.006
1987 0.003
1988 0.005
1989 0.006
1990 0.010
1991 0.007
1992 0.006
1993 0.006
1994 0.005
1995 0.005
1996 0.006
1997 0.005
1998 0.004
1999 0.007
2000 0.015
2001 0.013
2002 0.007
2003 0.009
2004 0.010
2005 0.017
2006 0.020
2007 0.019
2008 0.017
2009 0.021
2010 0.018
2011 0.017
2012 0.039
2013 0.037
2014 0.029
2015 0.016
2016 0.011
2017 0.013
2018 0.016
2019 0.014

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