From black gold to financial fallout: Analyzing extreme risk spillovers in oil-exporting nations

Abstract

Considering various critical periods including the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russian–Ukraine war, this paper investigates the dynamics of extreme spillover effects from the crude oil market to the financial markets of major oil-exporting countries. With the increased integration of global financial systems, oil market fluctuations can have far-reaching implications for economies that are heavily reliant on oil exports. We employ a wavelet approach to explore the co-movement and lead–lag relationships between the oil market and the financial markets of the considered countries. Next, we follow the newly introduced frequency-based connectedness approach of Hanif et al. (2023) to explore the dynamic connectedness and risk transmission among these markets. First, results from the wavelet coherency technique show that the degree of co-movement during the Russia–Ukraine war was significantly lower than it was under both the pre-crises and COVID-19 pandemic periods as shown by fewer regions with warmer colors (red), which show significant dependence at the 5% level, especially for Canada. Secondly, the dynamic connectedness of these markets was largely driven by long-term dynamics during the Russia–Ukraine crisis period, unlike the short-term driven connectedness observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The average degree of connectedness at high frequencies (short-term) forms a smaller proportion of the average level of connectedness at low frequencies (long-term), indicating a stronger long-term influence of the crisis on the interconnectedness of these markets. Additionally, we find that Canada and the United States were the major net transmitters of shocks to the network during the conflict period, while Iraq exhibited the strongest level of idiosyncratic shocks. Interestingly, the crude oil market was observed to send stronger shocks to the network at the onset of the war, with the impact gradually diminishing as the conflict progressed. Our study provides valuable insights for policymakers and investors as a guide towards more informed decision-making and appropriate risk management strategies in the face of oil price volatility in these regions.