Gulf oil Producers, Decarbonization and net zero

Gulf oil producers do not envisage a post-2050 world devoid of hydrocarbons, even though two of the region’s biggest producers, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and 2060, respectively. Reconciling their future environmental commitments with their current reliance on hydrocarbons is going to be an arduous and expensive journey that starts with decarbonizing their oil and gas production to reduce their carbon footprint…

Saudi Arabia’s Oil Price War

Saudi Arabia declared a price war against Russia in early March to prove a point: that it can offer an unprecedented supply of 12.3 million barrels per day, way above the record 11 million b/d it reached in November 2018, and expand its market share at the expense of Moscow. As the coronavirus pandemic brings the world to a standstill, the question is how long it can sustain this war….

Iraq Squeezed in a Russian-Saudi Contest

Russia has decided to go to war against U.S. shale, dropping its alliance with OPEC that helped save the day when a glut in oil markets was biting hard at its revenues. Saudi Arabia launched a price war in retaliation at Russia’s refusal to agree to deeper output cuts, slashing the official price of its crude by the most in more than two decades and vowing to increase output by…

Thamir Al-Ghadhban

The Chairman of the steering committee that formulated Iraq’s first Integrated National Energy Strategy (INES) and head of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Commission (PMAC), Thamir Al-Ghadhban, explains in an interview in Baghdad with Ruba Husari, editor of Iraq Oil Forum, the formulation, the dynamics and the political risks impacting the strategy. Q: What is the Integrated National Energy Strategy and how did it come about? A: When we say a strategy…