Simon Watkins

Latest articles from Simon

• Oil Companies Face Huge Risk As Legal Dispute In Kurdistan Escalates

  Published 14 June 2022 | viewed 11,866 times

  The long-running dispute over how oil flows are handled in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq – administered by its government (the KRG,…

• Libya’s Fragile Peace Is A Major Oil Market Risk

  Published 13 June 2022 | viewed 4,549 times

  The economic pain for many countries being caused by still-high crude oil (and gas) prices may be exacerbated by another extensive series of blockades of…

• Russia Could Replicate Iran's Strategy To Skirt Oil Sanctions

  Published 07 June 2022 | viewed 7,407 times

  The ban by the European Union (E.U.) on Russian oil imports by sea, in the first instance, is likely to affect around 75 percent of…

• Why Saudi Arabia Isn’t Giving Up On Its Russian Oil Alliance

  Published 07 June 2022 | viewed 7,159 times

  Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, met at length last week in Riyadh after which they released statements…

• Iran And Russia Expand Energy Ties Amid Ukraine War

  Published 02 June 2022 | viewed 4,032 times

  Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, headed a high-level delegation to Iran last week, with the Kremlin-orchestrated invasion of Ukraine still in full swing. According…

• Can Qatar Really Replace Russia As Germany’s Gas Supplier?

  Published 30 May 2022 | viewed 17,757 times

  Long before the re-emergence of the ‘Pan-Arab’ ideology now increasingly evident among several leading Middle Eastern countries, Qatar had sought to go its own way,…

• Could Iraq Dethrone Saudi Arabia As Largest Oil Producer?

  Published 25 May 2022 | viewed 25,640 times

  Iraq’s Oil Minister, Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar, last week stated that the country aims to increase its crude oil production to 6 million barrels per day (bpd)…

• How China Could Spark A Major Reversal For Oil Prices

  Published 23 May 2022 | viewed 249,841 times

  The huge discrepancy between China’s massive economic growth and its minimal oil and gas reserves made it the big global backstop bid for crude oil…

• How China Is Attempting To Control Middle East Oil Chokepoints

  Published 17 May 2022 | viewed 5,820 times

  Oman occupies an extraordinarily significant geographical position in the world and thus is of equally significant political importance to the two global power blocs: the…

• Failure To Implement Russian Oil Ban Could Send Oil Crashing To $65

  Published 16 May 2022 | viewed 190,212 times

  A key factor in the upper band of the benchmark crude oil trading ranges over the past weeks is market concern over a ban of…

• Can Washington Regain Influence On The World Stage?

  Published 09 May 2022 | viewed 3,710 times

  It is a matter of profound irritation to the U.S. that countries around the world will not play the roles that Washington has designated for…

• NOPEC: America's Last Stand Against OPEC’s Drift To The East

  Published 07 May 2022 | viewed 19,790 times

  The passing on Thursday by a U.S. Senate committee of the ‘No Oil Producing or Exporting Cartels’ (NOPEC) bill is the surest sign yet that…

• $100 Oil Encourages Iraq To Fast-Track Production At Two Major Oil Fields

  Published 03 May 2022 | viewed 6,820 times

  With Brent crude oil still holding above the key US$100.00 per barrel support level, Iraq is looking to optimise its oil output, including from those…

• Iran Moves Ahead With $500 Million South Pars Oil Development Deal

  Published 02 May 2022 | viewed 6,010 times

  Iran is moving ahead with a US$500-million contract for the production development and enhanced oil recovery from its strategically vital South Pars Oil Layer signed…

• Iran Invites Russia To Invest In Its One Sanctions-Proof Energy Sector

  Published 26 April 2022 | viewed 30,695 times

  Since the earliest days of its Islamic Republic from 1979, Iran has looked to its petrochemicals sector as being a key to its ‘resistance economy’…

• Is An End To Libya’s Oil Shutdowns In Sight?

  Published 25 April 2022 | viewed 3,539 times

  Given the relatively delicate supply and demand balance currently at play in the oil market, and broader geopolitical nervousness over what comes next in the…

• Middle East Sees Revival Of Pan-Arabism Through Plethora Of Energy Deals

  Published 19 April 2022 | viewed 3,855 times

  From almost the very moment that U.S. President Joe Biden took office on 20 January 2021, several major Middle Eastern countries have become more overt…

• The LNG Giant Navigating A Geopolitical Minefield

  Published 18 April 2022 | viewed 8,576 times

  The visit at the beginning of this year of Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to the White House, and his meeting in March…

• China And The U.S. Are Battling For Influence Over Iraqi Oil

  Published 13 April 2022 | viewed 21,243 times

  Like the first sparrow of spring, Iraq’s reversal of all promises made to the U.S. in order to secure another waiver to import electricity and…

• India’s Russian Dealings Have Left Biden’s Geopolitical Oil Strategy In Tatters

  Published 11 April 2022 | viewed 33,482 times

  Up until recently, Washington thought India could finally and definitively be brought on to its side in the evolving power struggle between the U.S. and…