Ireland - Natural gas rents (% of GDP)

Natural gas rents (% of GDP) in Ireland was 0.089 as of 2018. Its highest value over the past 48 years was 0.348 in 1984, while its lowest value was 0.000 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 0.000
1971 0.000
1972 0.000
1973 0.000
1974 0.000
1975 0.000
1976 0.000
1977 0.000
1978 0.060
1979 0.102
1980 0.188
1981 0.191
1982 0.092
1983 0.318
1984 0.348
1985 0.345
1986 0.149
1987 0.073
1988 0.080
1989 0.093
1990 0.116
1991 0.098
1992 0.060
1993 0.082
1994 0.064
1995 0.055
1996 0.060
1997 0.049
1998 0.014
1999 0.008
2000 0.035
2001 0.041
2002 0.028
2003 0.019
2004 0.018
2005 0.012
2006 0.019
2007 0.013
2008 0.022
2009 0.015
2010 0.012
2011 0.014
2012 0.014
2013 0.012
2014 0.006
2015 0.003
2016 0.044
2017 0.070
2018 0.089

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