1. Will Trump’s Mediation Finally Resolve The Egypt-Ethiopia Dam Dispute?

    ...naissance Dam (GERD) (MEES, 12 September 2025), US President Donald Trump has waded back into the 15-year dispute over Nile water security, offering to mediate between Ethiopia and the downstream states of Egypt and Sudan. Ethiopia broke ground on the $5bn megaproject in 2011, while Egypt was busy qu...

    Volume: 69
    Issue: 05
    Published at Fri, 30 Jan 2026
  2. Trump Intervention Throws Iraqi Politics Into Disarray

    ...d then supported his crackdown on Shia militias during his first term in office. But after the US military withdrawal in 2011 he drew closer to Iran, while the rise of the Islamic State during his second term further tarnished his reputation in Washington. While Iraq’s Sunnis publicly opposed a Ma...

    Volume: 69
    Issue: 05
    Published at Fri, 30 Jan 2026
  3. Kurdish Hopes Of Autonomy In New Syria Unravel

    ...ants in Deir Ezzor. Prior to the 2011 civil war, Omar processed gas from fields operated by the Al-Furat Petroleum Company (AFPC), a consortium made up of the Syrian government, Shell, CNPC and India’s ONGC. AFPC’s largest field was Omar and Youssef Qablawi, CEO of the Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC), sa...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 23
    Published at Fri, 23 Jan 2026
  4. Syria Eyes Major Players for Offshore Blocks

    ...prus has yet to start producing gas despite discovering the Aphrodite field in 2011. He estimated that it would take 6-8 years before any gas can be produced and even that timeline could prove overly optimistic.  ...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 51/52
    Published at Fri, 19 Dec 2025
  5. Dana Gas Signs Up To Syrian Gas Development Plan

    ...e fields that make up the South Middle Area Gas Project. There are a number of other nearby gas fields that could also be included in the agreement, with Syria having announced the discovery of the 47bn m³ (1.66tcf) Qara field in 2011 shortly after it started producing 0.6mn m³ (21mn cfd ) from the Sa...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 46
    Published at Fri, 14 Nov 2025
  6. Lebanon Approves Cyprus Maritime Border, Syria Next

    ...mplicated relationship with Lebanon: despite long periods of occupation, political domination and meddling, Syria has historically seen Lebanon as a ‘breakaway province’ and therefore resisted any form of boundary demarcation. Lebanon unilaterally claimed its EEZ in a letter to the United Nations in 2011...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 44
    Published at Fri, 31 Oct 2025
  7. Egypt Water Security Concerns Rise As Ethiopia Inaugurates Nile Dam

    ...hiopia began work on the $5bn megaproject in 2011. It hopes that the 5.15GW hydroelectric dam will supply power to the 65 million (over 50% of the population) who currently lack access to any form of electricity. It will double the country’s electricity generation capacity and turn Ethiopia into Africa’s la...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 37
    Published at Fri, 12 Sep 2025
  8. 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
  9. Can Iran’s Nuclear Power Program Offset Surging Consumption?

    ...ngthy delays, Bushehr-1 began supplying Iran’s grid in 2011, and typically supplies around 6TWh annually. Officials subsequently announced plans for two additional plants at Bushehr (bringing the total there to four), as part of a broader plan to generate 20GW from nuclear alone by 2030. 15 years on fr...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 21
    Published at Fri, 23 May 2025
  10. Trump Offers Syria ‘Chance At Greatness,’ Pledges To Remove US Sanctions

    ...ther exit or restructure in the country. The harshest sanctions regime to date came with the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011 when the US – this time joined by the European Union and the Arab League – targeted the Central Bank of Syria as well as its oil sector, which was a key source of re...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 20
    Published at Fri, 16 May 2025
  11. Morocco Looks To Renewables In Western Sahara Recognition Powerplay

    ...rst wind project which started up in 2011. It has since been joined by Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power – Riyadh is a longstanding ally of Rabat and has long accepted Morocco’s control over Western Sahara – and Italy’s Enel. Meanwhile French national champion Engie (formerly Gaz de France) partners Mo...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 05
    Published at Fri, 31 Jan 2025
  12. New Syria Seeks ‘Jordanian Gas’ To Alleviate Power Shortages

    ...s flows via the AGP in 2011 – was in a condition to accept renewed flows. POWERSHIPS: NETWORK HURDLES                Ç   Should the ‘Jordanian gas’ option fail to materialize, Mr Shaqrouq says an alternative is to hire one or more floating power plants, potentially operated by Turkish fi...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 03
    Published at Fri, 17 Jan 2025
  13. Will Iraq Be Caught In The Crossfire Of Trump’s Iran Policy?

    ...litary withdrawal in 2011. The already precarious balancing act facing the Iraqi government has become yet more difficult over the last year due to the involvement of Iraqi Shia militias in Iran’s coordinated ‘axis of resistance’ attacks on Israel. The US has also grown wary of Iran’s interlocking ec...

    Volume: 67
    Issue: 47
    Published at Fri, 22 Nov 2024
  14. Libya Instability Back With A Vengeance With Half Output Shut In

    ...untry in fear for their lives. Mr Kabir had, at least until recently, been a well-respected and long-standing governor: almost uniquely among Libyan officials the veteran had been in the post for the whole of Libya’s post-revolutionary period, since 2011. When Mr Kabir’s position came under threat ea...

    Volume: 67
    Issue: 35
    Published at Fri, 30 Aug 2024
  15. Cairo Wary But Silent As Ethiopia Fills Contentious Dam

    ...ates.” Instead, Egypt proposed the replacement of the article with “…not to adversely affect the water security and current uses and rights of any other Nile Basin state.” While six countries (Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya) did sign the CFA between 2010 and 2011, Kenya’s pa...

    Volume: 67
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2024
  16. Kuwait: Former PM Appointed New Crown Prince

    ...reign minister (2011-2019). He is the first crown prince to have been appointed after previously serving as prime minister, with the two positions having been joined until 2003. The separation of the posts of prime  minister and crown prince has often been blamed for encouraging opposition MPs to ch...

    Volume: 67
    Issue: 23
    Published at Fri, 07 Jun 2024
  17. Kuwait’s Emir Suspends Parliament;Can He Quell Tumultuous Divisions?

    ...position figures, including former MPs who were involved in the 2011 storming of parliament, in addition to those jailed or stripped of citizenship for state-security and terrorism-related charges. On 10 May, he doubled down saying “those who were convicted of treason were set free…I will never allow this to...

    Volume: 67
    Issue: 20
    Published at Fri, 17 May 2024
  18. Egypt’s New Capital In Spotlight As Spending Priorities Shift

    ...oject. In 2011, millions of Egyptians occupied the streets of Cairo and its iconic Tahrir square, with mass marches reaching the presidential palace and eventually forcing then-president Hosni Mubarak to resign. With Sisi having taken power in 2013 following a period of Islamist-flavored quasi-democracy, hi...

    Volume: 67
    Issue: 20
    Published at Fri, 17 May 2024
  19. Kuwait’s New Emir Criticizes Political Divisions

    ...so suffered a leadership vacuum of late, with the government accused by MPs of filling high-level vacancies based on loyalties rather than merit. The new Emir criticized recent pardons granted to opposition figures, including former MPs who were involved in the 2011 storming of parliament, in ad...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 51/52
    Published at Fri, 22 Dec 2023
  20. Libya’s Legal Battle To Recover Billions In Overseas Assets

    ...termine the exact value of the country’s assets. FROZEN BILLIONS                  In the immediate aftermath of the 2011 popular protests and Gaddafi’s violent response, leading up to his eventual demise in October that year, the international community rushed to freeze Libyan assets that could fu...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2023