Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Topological Evolution of the Global Crude Oil Trade Network

Abstract

The high separation of crude oil supply and demand markets has led to the formation of a global crude oil trading system. This paper constructs global crude oil trade networks, integrates macro, meso, and micro network analysis methods, combines geospatial visualization techniques, and then portrays the spatiotemporal patterns and topological evolution of the global crude oil trade networks. Thus, it attempts to dig deeper into the world crude oil competition and cooperation links and evolution laws and provides a scientific reference for a comprehensive understanding of the global crude oil market dynamics. The results show that: (1) After three fluctuations of increase and decrease since 2000, the global crude oil trade volume is entering the adjustment period, and the scale of the crude oil market is rising slowly. (2) The international crude oil trade has formed trade network patterns with complex structures, clear hierarchy and unbalanced distribution. The “rich club” phenomenon is significant, with large trading countries dominating the trade network. (3) The scale and density of the global crude oil trade network show a trend of increasing and then decreasing, the network agglomeration pattern becoming more obvious, the inter-nodal links continuously strengthening, and the network connectivity improving. (4) The global crude oil trade networks are characterized by core–periphery structures, and the polarization effect is significant. The US, Russia, China, Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea hold the core positions in the crude oil trade network, and the major importing countries have become the dominant forces in the trade network. In addition, we present policy suggestions for different types of countries for energy transformation and security in the global trade market system, which can be used as a reference for policymakers.