An Application of the Input-Output Model to Analyze the Role of the Oil and Gas Sector in the Iranian Economy

In this paper we study the Oil and Gas sector, as a key component of the Iranian economy, using the 2011 input-output table (Iran statistics center, 1390) that divides the economy into 40 parts. We study the extent of integration of the oil and gas sector in Iran’s economy through computing different coefficients including backward and forward linkage multi player coefficients.
Our calculations indicate that the service sector is the most important sector contributing to outputs of the oil and gas sector. This means that to produce one unit of product in oil sector, 0. 012 units of the service sector are used. The sensitivity index for the oil and gas sector is greater than one, indicating that other sectors use inputs from this sector, both directly and indirectly, in their activities.
Our research futher confirms the importance of the oil sector both as a direct input to ther sectors and in its role in covering final demand.
We aslo caculate oil and gas sector backward and forward linkage multi player indexes for earlier periods using the input-output tables produced for the years 2001, 1991 and 1981. The change in the values of these linkages indicates a substantial increase in forward linkages of the oil and gas sector, largely explained by the growth of refining activities.
JEL Classification: C67, O13 ، D57