Venezuela - Natural gas rents (% of GDP)

Natural gas rents (% of GDP) in Venezuela was 0.317 as of 2014. Its highest value over the past 44 years was 0.637 in 2002, while its lowest value was 0.051 in 1972.

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 0.068
1971 0.069
1972 0.051
1973 0.057
1974 0.083
1975 0.171
1976 0.160
1977 0.059
1978 0.070
1979 0.269
1980 0.417
1981 0.301
1982 0.134
1983 0.352
1984 0.375
1985 0.376
1986 0.388
1987 0.344
1988 0.285
1989 0.513
1990 0.613
1991 0.538
1992 0.411
1993 0.506
1994 0.469
1995 0.391
1996 0.554
1997 0.511
1998 0.423
1999 0.395
2000 0.498
2001 0.519
2002 0.637
2003 0.620
2004 0.548
2005 0.533
2006 0.603
2007 0.540
2008 0.410
2009 0.400
2010 0.274
2011 0.524
2012 0.526
2013 0.541
2014 0.317

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