A graph theory analysis towards the behaviour of the world crude oil market / Nur Aina Izzati Ali, Aisha Hannah Amzar and Hanis Zulkifli

Today, the global economy is heavily reliant on fossil fuels such as crude oil, and the demand for these resources frequently causes political unrest due to the fact that a small number of countries control the largest reservoirs. The price of crude oil and its profitability, like any other sector, are heavily influenced by supply and demand. This research study investigates the behaviour of the world crude oil market by analysing countries’ import and export of crude oil by employing the Minimal Spanning Tree (MST), a special kind of tree in graph theory that minimises the length of the edges of the tree. An example is, a cable company wanting to lay a line to multiple neighbourhoods, by minimising the amount of cable laid, the cable company will save money. Moreover, this research will also focus on the long-term and sustainable development of the world crude oil market and will provide a new perspective on the safest crude oil trading system. The world crude oil market is structured geographically and organizationally. From the computation made, results show that the crude oil market in the United States (US) takes the lead with greater betweenness, closeness, eigenvector and occupies the top spot for degree centrality. This research study is important for understanding how the global crude oil market operates. It will be crucial for world leaders in richer nations to put initiatives into place to maintain steady oil supply, which will be advantageous to everyone. Additionally, the information we gathered on the correlations between crude oil prices in different geographic markets can be utilised to predict inflation and economic growth. This research will be very helpful to international leaders in their future efforts to enhance the standard of living in undeveloped nations.