This study aims to investigate the determinants of capital structure (CS), how they differ among levels (upstream, midstream, and downstream), and to identify Which CS theory is more relevant to the oil and gas companies in the GCC. It uses secondary data of 22 listed oil and gas companies in the GCC over ten years (2010 and 2019). The study will add to the literature as there is few studies about CS in the petroleum industry and it is the only study about the GCC oil and gas sector. Using pooled ordinary least square (OLS) random effect model, the main findings of this study are; the CS has a positive significant relationship with the size and tangibility, negative with profitability, and insignificant with growth in sales, market to book value, and price to earnings ratio. the research concluded that the GCC oil companies are aligned with both trade-off theory and pecking order theory. The results show that only the determinants of downstream companies are significant, while middle stream and upstream have no significant impact on CS. One of the limitations is unavailability of data of some governmental oil companies and further research is needed to include non-financial determinants and investigate relationships between CS and the value of companies.

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Energy consumption is one of the strategic concerns for economies around the world, especially in view of depletion of natural resources which ultimately affects economic growth. Interestingly, policy makers in an oil-rich country such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have taken steps to bring about efficiency in energy consumption to accelerate the pace of economic growth. Therefore, the objective of the study was to test the relationship between economic growth and electricity consumption in the UAE. The data for the study related to the years between 1985 and 2017. The research used 4 variables including electricity consumption per capita, GDP in current US dollars, labor force and gross capital formation. The study employed unit root test, cointegration analysis and granger causality for making the analysis. We concluded that the variables had unit root at level and stationery at first difference. The bivariate cointegration test showed that electricity consumption had cointegration equation with capital gross fixed formation, GDP and labor force. Finally, the granger causality test showed one directional causality from GDP to electric power consumption and labor force to electric power consumption.

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