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Syria’s Cash Backers
...r in March 2011, are believed to have fallen to around $4bn (MEES, 21 June). Rebels Producing Oil, Refining Locally Damascus does not have access to the bulk of Syria’s oil fields; a number of oil wells in the east of the country remain producing but are in the hands of rebel forces, wh...
Volume: 56Issue: 27Published at Fri, 05 Jul 2013 -
Egyptian Army Hints At Intervention As Country Remains Divided
...e side of the government. In early February 2011, just after the departure of Mr Mubarak, the White House said a new Egyptian government should “include a whole host of important non-secular actors,” a clear reference to the Brotherhood, and now the US ambassador to Egypt, Anne Peterson, has come un...
Volume: 56Issue: 26Published at Fri, 28 Jun 2013 -
Cautious Optimism Reigns Supreme Following Election Of Rohani
...cently as in June 2011 (see graph 2). This decline – which could continue should the Western sanctions machine carry on in its current vein – has forced Iran into storing up to 30mn barrels of its crude oil at sea, according to London-based EA Gibson Shipbrokers, as sanctions prevent Iran from im...
Volume: 56Issue: 25Published at Fri, 21 Jun 2013 -
Turkey At The Crossroads
...wards a single aim, ie Erdogan’s removal – that mirror the 2011 Arab Spring revolts. Erdogan may well overcome his rivals this time, but Turkey’s opposition now has a template to work from. Erdogan To ‘Throttle’ Banks Mr Erdogan’s reaction to the clashes was true to form. He continued on his to...
Volume: 56Issue: 24Published at Fri, 14 Jun 2013 -
EU Renews Sanctions On Syria
...y that Syrian production of oil had fallen to only 20,000 b/d, that is to say a mere 5% of the 380,000 b/d Syria was producing before the start of the civil war in March 2011. In early May Mr ‘Abbas estimated Syrian crude production at 70,000 b/d (MEES, 10 May). This has forced his country to...
Volume: 56Issue: 22Published at Fri, 31 May 2013 -
Libya: New Law Divisive
...ficial posts during the Qadhafi era (1969-2011) face a 10-year bar from political office. The law will affect a number of senior politicians who were leading figures in 2011’s revolution, including Prime Minister ‘Ali Zidan, GNC President Muhammad Magraif, former prime minister Muhammad Jibril and NTC ch...
Volume: 56Issue: 21Published at Fri, 24 May 2013 -
US Gets Tough On Iran Sanctions-Busting
...ports have since plummeted, falling to around 1.1mn b/d in March 2013 according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), down from near 2.5mn b/d for 2011. Among Iran’s key East Asian customers US allies Japan and South Korea have cut imports the most; China – now by far the biggest buyer of Ir...
Volume: 56Issue: 20Published at Fri, 17 May 2013 -
Libya ‘Mob Rule’ Sounds Investment Alarm
...byan oil veteran. The contrast could not be sharper with the optimism generated by the oil industry’s Phoenix-like rebirth from the 2011 civil war. Confounding outside commentators, Libyan oil professionals managed to bring output from almost zero in August 2011 to over 1mn b/d in just five mo...
Volume: 56Issue: 19Published at Fri, 10 May 2013 -
MENA Security Deterioration Sounds Oil Investment Alarm
...insurgency campaign and the KRG could have been motivated just as much by a desire to send a political message to Baghdad. “The Kurds had no pressing security rationale to mobilize,” explains Dr Knights. “The last time the Kurds screened Kirkuk - in February 2011 - Arab Haweiji tribes were about to...
Volume: 56Issue: 18Published at Fri, 03 May 2013 -
Syria: At The Crossroads
...sponding on behalf of the president and want to offer a prompt response to your question: ‘Has the Asad regime - or Syrian elements associated with, or supported by, the Asad regime - used chemical weapons in Syria since the current conflict began in March 2011? ...Our intelligence community does as...
Volume: 56Issue: 18Published at Fri, 03 May 2013 -
Iraqi Provincial Elections: Prelude To A New Balance Of Power
...ections, down from 72% in previous elections in 2009. The drop reflects growing disillusionment with the post-2003 political process. The April 2013 elections are the first to be held following the departure of US forces in late 2011. Iraqis typically vote on the basis of their sectarian or et...
Volume: 56Issue: 17Published at Fri, 26 Apr 2013 -
US Pressure Smothers Kurdish Oil Export Ambitions
...ar or so, this was a policy that lacked teeth. After an initial entry of US firms in 2007 into the region, American investment gathered momentum in 2010 and 2011 (see table). This investment influx coupled with the active participation of former US officials as consultants in the sector, al...
Volume: 56Issue: 16Published at Fri, 19 Apr 2013 -
Egypt: Fraying At The Seams
...d been founded. Shell and Statoil – both deepwater heavyweights – gave up deepwater exploration in 2011, not because there was no gas, but because rising costs left them unable to see a way of commercially exploiting any discoveries. And this is with Egypt – unlike Cyprus or Israel – al...
Volume: 56Issue: 15Published at Fri, 12 Apr 2013 -
Comment: Domestic Problems Vex Egypt’s Regional Role
...ve been weakened, not strengthened. Egypt has traditionally played a dominant role in regional Middle Eastern politics, and in the wake of the 2011 revolution it was widely expected that Cairo would reclaim this position for the first time since the Camp David Accords in 1978. However, th...
Volume: 56Issue: 15Published at Fri, 12 Apr 2013 -
Iran-Pak ‘Peace Pipeline’ Progress Raises Stakes in New ‘Great Game’
...kistan Energy Yearbook 2011....
Volume: 56Issue: 11Published at Fri, 15 Mar 2013 -
North African Energy Producers Face Growing Challenges
...proven gas reserves, Algeria has been a leading exporter to Europe for around 50 years. However, there has also been a steady decline in natural gas exports, from 64bcm in 2005 to 54bcm for 2011. Crude production has also fallen, from 1.36mn b/d for 2005 to 1.18mn b/d last year, while domestic co...
Volume: 56Issue: 11Published at Fri, 15 Mar 2013 -
Kerry Gears Up To Tackle Arab Autumn Fall-Out
...iving several of the key regional conflicts. Mr Kerry, who took over from Hillary Clinton as Washington’s top foreign affairs decision-maker only on 1 February, comes to the job with a reputation as both a liberal and a conviction politician. In 2011, as head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Co...
Volume: 56Issue: 09Published at Fri, 01 Mar 2013 -
Syrian Revolt Mars Oil Sector
...e infrastructure has suffered its share of destruction. Meanwhile, Israel has taken advantage of the chaos to open the Golan Heights to oil exploration and awarded the first drilling contract last month. Syria’s oil problems started some time before the March 2011 revolt. Crude oil re...
Volume: 56Issue: 09Published at Fri, 01 Mar 2013 -
Iran-Syria Gas Mega-Project Discussions Roll On
...gned in July 2011, but the obstacles to realizing such a mega-project are formidable. Clearly as things stand now, the project cannot progress. There is civil war raging in Syria and both Tehran and Damascus are currently sanctioned by western countries. This in effect means that it would be ve...
Volume: 56Issue: 09Published at Fri, 01 Mar 2013 -
Kuwait Prepares Refinery Bidding, Amid Latest Political Chaos
...grill Mr Husain have said that they have dropped their plan to also question him about Shell’s $800mn consultancy deal with KPC’s upstream firm Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) to help develop northern Jurassic gas fields (MEES, 8 August 2011). Shell investigations by the government and parliament probed if...
Volume: 56Issue: 08Published at Fri, 22 Feb 2013