Gabon - Natural gas rents (% of GDP)

Natural gas rents (% of GDP) in Gabon was 0.066 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.407 in 2012, while its lowest value was 0.001 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 0.001
1971 0.002
1972 0.002
1973 0.002
1974 0.003
1975 0.037
1976 0.017
1977 0.020
1978 0.021
1979 0.041
1980 0.015
1981 0.007
1982 0.002
1983 0.021
1984 0.019
1985 0.008
1986 0.004
1987 0.012
1988 0.008
1989 0.008
1990 0.005
1991 0.013
1992 0.010
1993 0.017
1994 0.016
1995 0.014
1996 0.015
1997 0.017
1998 0.014
1999 0.021
2000 0.036
2001 0.047
2002 0.048
2003 0.045
2004 0.046
2005 0.046
2006 0.059
2007 0.045
2008 0.044
2009 0.053
2010 0.055
2011 0.068
2012 0.407
2013 0.303
2014 0.384
2015 0.243
2016 0.136
2017 0.164
2018 0.276
2019 0.066

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