1. Syria: Why Are Foreign Firms Creeping Back?

    ...ly up-and-comer on the crude front with plans to increase production further from 24,000 b/d at Block 26 but was forced to leave in 2011 (MEES, 18 May 2018). Whilst nobody can fault Gulfsands’ keenness to return to Syria, the swarm of activity beginning to form around Syria’s oil sector certainly me...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 25 Jul 2025
  2. Rosneft Re-Elects Al-Sada Chairman

    ...In a 21 July update after its annual shareholders meeting, Russian state firm Rosneft announced it had re-elected former Qatari energy minister Muhammad al-Sada as chairman. Mr Sada was first elected chairman in June 2023 after serving as Qatar’s energy minister between 2011 and 2018. Top of hi...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 25 Jul 2025
  3. Syria Signs Socar Gas MoU, While Israel Launches Airstrikes

    ...24). Restoring Syria’s electricity sector, which provided 24/7 service before the outbreak of civil war in 2011 but now manages just a few hours a day in many regions, is a key pillar of the new government’s social contract with the population. Turkey is certainly playing its part in helping the new le...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 29
    Published at Fri, 18 Jul 2025
  4. BP Sets Sights On Expanded Libya Operations With New MoU

    ...ngtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi started just as BP was preparing to drill its first well in February 2011, and drilling only started in October (MEES, 1 November 2024). The start of that Eni-led drilling campaign, coupled with this week’s MoU points to Libya potentially emerging as an important co...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 11 Jul 2025
  5. Israel-Iran Conflict Exposes East Med Gas Interdependence

    ...e recent conflict provides Chevron with a plausible excuse not to dip into its deep pockets to fund a multi-billion-dollar project like a Cyprus LNG plant; any new Israel conflict would risk depriving the plant of its main feedstock. For Cyprus, Aphrodite, it’s first discovery made in 2011, is no...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 27
    Published at Fri, 04 Jul 2025