IEEJ：August 2016

ｃ○ IEEJ 2016

Special Bulletin
A Japanese Perspective on the International Energy Landscape (283)

August 5, 2016

Mourning Mr. Robert Mabro’s Death
Ken Koyama, PhD
Chief Economist, Managing Director
The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan
On August 2, Robert Mabro, a former director of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
and a globally famed oil expert, died at the age of 81. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1934. As
one of the people who learned much from Mr. Mabro, I would like to thank him and sincerely pray
for the repose of his soul.
Mr. Mabro was a great energy expert who rose to the top of his profession in energy
research, particularly oil market studies. Founding the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies in 1982,
Mr. Mabro served as its first director until 2003 and contributed much to developing it into one of
the most famous energy think tanks in the world. For his contributions to energy studies, Mr. Mabro
received the Order of the British Empire in 1995 and won numerous awards from the International
Association of Energy Economics, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and otherorganizations and countries.
The oil market was the field where Mr. Mabro made the greatest contributions bypublishing studies on oil producing countries and international oil majors. In the 1970s before
founding the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, he launched the Oxford Energy Policy Club andthe Oxford Energy Seminar, a globally famous seminar kept until today. As the decade featured two
oil crises, oil problems were the center of energy studies. Taking advantage of his vast high-level
personal network in the oil industry, Mr. Mabro held center stage in world oil market studies,publishing numerous excellent papers on crude oil price analysis, OPEC policies and other topics.
The abovementioned awards given to him indicate that his contributions were recognized in theworld.
My full personal exchange with Mr. Mabro began with my participation in the 13th Oxford
Energy Seminar in 1991. Attracting more than 70 participants, the seminar featured speeches bystate-run and international oil company executives over two weeks. It was a substantial seminar. At
the outset of the seminar, he introduced all participants’ personal records without memos, surprising
the audience. Such introductory speech was customary for the seminar. I remember that I wasoverwhelmed by his central role in discussions and his vast high-level personal network
demonstrated at the seminar.
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As I have continued to study mainly oil problems, he has been a living textbook and agreat teacher for me. When I visited Oxford and London and met with him at overseas international
conferences and when Mabro visited Japan, I had opportunities to ask questions and talk with him
about up-to-date oil market analyses and future outlooks. Despite his busy schedule for a top oil
expert, Mr. Mabro faithfully accepted talks with me and generously provided me with knowledge
based on his abundant experiences with uniquely accented, rapid English speeches strictly,humorously or cynically.
When I studied in Britain for two years under the sabbatical leave from the Institute ofEnergy Economics, Japan, I selected the University of Dundee to acquire PhD degree. Mr. Mabro,
who might have expected that I would choose his Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, jokingly
asked me every time we met why I did not select his institute. Then, I thought that he saw hisrelationship with me as important. I thanked him for such kind remarks and felt sorry about failing to
go to his institute to study.
Over recent years, I heard that Mr. Mabro was in bad physical condition and rarely
attended events of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Although his flourishing period has
passed, I feel that his views, experiences and insight are precious even at present, or very precious
for the present world. This is because the international oil market is in the midst of turbulent times asin his flourishing period. This is also because factors behind the present turbulent times include whatis common or similar to the dynamism of the international oil market seen in the 1970s and 1980s.
It would be significant to get Mr. Mabro’s views from historical perspectives about themost important problems for analyzing today’s oil market, including the ongoing U.S. shale
revolution, shale oil production with its unique supply elasticity and its impacts, the present andfuture situation of OPEC that has given priority to market shares and abandoned its oil market
balancing policy, Iran’s growing presence after the termination of Western sanctions, the future ofSaudi Arabia embarking on bold domestic reform with a possible view of its rivalry with Iran, andinternational oil majors’ responses to and strategies on crude oil price plunges.
Mr. Mabro’s death has led me to lose opportunities to directly get his comments on theseproblems. I deeply regret his death when thinking about present energy problems. However, hisviews and insight will never be lost. This is because the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies isdeveloping energy studies based on his views and insights, with many researchers having beenstimulated by his studies and having learned much from him. We are required to base our studies on
his great views and further develop his great views. Through this process, we should further promoteanalyses on energy problems and initiatives to resolve them. Again, I would like to mourn Mr.
Mabro’s death and pray for the repose of his soul.

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