Simon Watkins

Latest articles from Simon

• Here’s Putin’s Answer To The U.S. Shale Boom

  Published 08 July 2019 | viewed 66,835 times

  Last week saw Japan’s Mitsui and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation agree to buy a 10% stake in Novatek’s Arctic LNG (liquefied natural…

• Iran’s Best Bet To Avoid U.S. Sanctions

  Published 04 July 2019 | viewed 18,104 times

  Iran’s parliament last week passed a draft bill allowing for a massive increase in the number of oil and gas condensates refineries in the country,…

• The Real Reason Why ExxonMobil Won’t Go Ahead With $53 Billion Iraqi Megaproject

  Published 03 July 2019 | viewed 35,735 times

  Last week a small news item went largely unnoticed by the international media but it hints at the real – and until now unpublished -…

• Trade War Is Unexpected Boon For Iranian Gas

  Published 27 June 2019 | viewed 16,381 times

  Facing an unexpectedly rigorous enforcement by the U.S. of its re-imposed sanctions on oil and the recent addition of partial sanctions on its petrochemicals sector,…

• This Is How The U.S. Plans To Cripple Iran’s Economy

  Published 20 June 2019 | viewed 51,695 times

  With sanctions re-imposed on Iran’s oil exports last year and recently applied in part to its petrochemicals exports as well, the U.S. is now looking…

• The Oil Company Investors Fear Most

  Published 18 June 2019 | viewed 35,401 times

  Last week saw another upwards revision in Saudi Arabia’s proved oil reserves, this time via BP (although the figures came from Saudi’s state hydrocarbons behemoth,…

• How Iran Was Swindled Out Of $3.2 Trillion

  Published 13 June 2019 | viewed 58,670 times

  Underlying the one-year anniversary in mid-August of the signing of the ‘Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea’ is one of the greatest…

• Can Trump Rely On The Saudis As Oil Prices Crash?

  Published 10 June 2019 | viewed 18,513 times

  A month or so ago U.S. President Donald Trump extracted a promise from Saudi Arabia that it would pump more oil to mitigate the risk…

• Iran’s Lifeline Against U.S. Sanctions

  Published 05 June 2019 | viewed 30,728 times

  Given that the immediate focus of U.S. sanctions on Iran is the nation’s oil sector, the Islamic Republic is concentrating on pushing its already significant…

• Iraq’s Ambitious Oil Plan Faces One Major Problem

  Published 03 June 2019 | viewed 18,797 times

  The Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) in Baghdad moved swiftly when the U.S. re-imposed sanctions against Iran, ordering its Oil Ministry to breach part of…

• Iran's Trick To Sell Oil For A 30% Premium

  Published 19 May 2019 | viewed 25,821 times

  Given the U.S.’s deployment earlier this month of an aircraft carrier battle group to the Persian Gulf and comments that it may send up to…

• The Battle For Control Over Iraq’s Oil

  Published 13 May 2019 | viewed 28,581 times

  Iraq regards the U.S.’s refusal to extend waivers for countries importing oil from Iran as a tacit endorsement for it to pump its own oil…

• Iran’s Master Plan To Beat U.S. Sanctions

  Published 07 May 2019 | viewed 59,930 times

  One key foreign policy goal of the current U.S. government is to initiate regime change in Iran by crippling its economy to such a degree…