Simon Watkins

Latest articles from Simon

• Iran Jumps Into Crucial KRG-Iraq Oil Negotiations

  Published 01 September 2019 | viewed 20,548 times

  Iran has entered the ongoing negotiations over the on-off budget disbursements-for-oil deal between the Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) in Baghdad and the government of…

• The CIA’s Dark Prince Doesn’t Want War With Iran

  Published 28 August 2019 | viewed 51,512 times

  Two comments last week highlight the dangerous security impasse in which Iran and the U.S. find themselves. The first was from Iran’s spiritual leader, the…

• Will China, Russia Defy U.S. Sanctions To Fund Iranian Oil Projects?

  Published 25 August 2019 | viewed 13,965 times

  Given the greater willingness of two of Iran’s long-time allies, China and Russia, to defy the U.S.’s re-imposed sanctions against the Islamic Republic – in…

• Rampant Corruption In The World’s Last Oil Frontier

  Published 20 August 2019 | viewed 43,669 times

  It seems that as fast as any positive news appears about the massive and under-developed oil and gas resources of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan…

• Iraq Moves To Upgrade Oil Export Capacity

  Published 17 August 2019 | viewed 23,338 times

  Two factors make the urgent build-out of Iraq’s ailing and inadequate oil export infrastructure more essential than ever. The first is the increasingly dangerous security…

• China Prepares Its “Nuclear Option” In Trade War

  Published 13 August 2019 | viewed 152,543 times

  As the trade war with the U.S. continues to escalate, China has re-engaged with Iran on three key projects and is weighing the use of…

• Kurdistan’s Massive Gas Reserves No One Knows About

  Published 07 August 2019 | viewed 29,302 times

  Barely a month goes past without another indication of the vast gas potential still largely untapped in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Last…

• Russia Gains Stranglehold Over Persian Gulf

  Published 04 August 2019 | viewed 57,776 times

  In a potentially catastrophic escalation of tensions in the Persian Gulf, Russia plans to use Iran’s ports in Bandar-e-Bushehr and Chabahar as forward military bases…

• Iran’s Newest Escape Route To Key Asian Oil Markets

  Published 31 July 2019 | viewed 10,505 times

  In a remarkably prescient move just after the implementation of the nuclear deal with Iran at the beginning of 2016, China signed a massive land…

• Russia Squeezes Out Saudis In Asia Market Share Race

  Published 29 July 2019 | viewed 16,355 times

  Saudi Arabia is struggling in its key economic and geopolitical ambition to position itself as the key substitute in Asia in general and China in…

• Iraq Uses Old Trick To Get US Involved In Major Gas Hub

  Published 29 July 2019 | viewed 15,894 times

  Last week saw two apparently independent major events occur in Iraq centred on its gas sector but a senior oil and gas industry source who…

• Saudi Arabia’s Big IMO 2020 Lie

  Published 23 July 2019 | viewed 21,818 times

  The recent announcement that Saudi Arabia’s Alfanar Group is to set up an office in the U.K. to oversee its multi-billion dollar renewable investments there…

• Iran’s Tactical Move To Skirt Sanctions

  Published 17 July 2019 | viewed 16,163 times

  Facing vigorously enforced U.S. sanctions directed principally on oil, Iran is focussing on the less targeted strategic areas in its hydrocarbons business, notably continuing to…

• The Only OPEC Member That Could Challenge Saudi Oil Dominance

  Published 15 July 2019 | viewed 32,786 times

  In line with its targets for increasing crude oil production to 6.2 million barrels per day (bpd) by end-2020 and 9 million bpd by end-2023,…

• The No.1 Reason Why The Saudis Won’t Ditch The Aramco IPO

  Published 11 July 2019 | viewed 13,322 times

  Last week Saudi Arabia announced that it is to launch its first Euro-denominated bonds shortly, following the recent bond issue from Saudi Aramco. At around…

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

  Published 08 July 2019 | viewed 65,356 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 17,452 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 32,202 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 15,953 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,…

• The Last Truly Underdeveloped Oil Frontier In The Middle East

  Published 25 June 2019 | viewed 27,306 times

  Over and above the petty party squabbling that characterises the politics of Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, it can safely be conjectured that at…