Simon Watkins is a former senior FX trader and salesman, financial journalist, and best-selling author. He was Head of Forex Institutional Sales and Trading for Credit Lyonnais, and later Director of Forex at Bank of Montreal. He was then Head of Weekly Publications and Chief Writer for Business Monitor International, Head of Fuel Oil Products for Platts, and Global Managing Editor of Research for Renaissance Capital in Moscow. He has written extensively on oil and gas, Forex, equities, bonds, economics and geopolitics for many leading publications, and has worked as a geopolitical risk consultant for a number of major hedge funds in London, Moscow, and Dubai. In addition, he has authored five books on finance, oil, and financial markets trading published by ADVFN and available on Amazon, Apple, and Kobo.
Last week’s banning by the Baghdad-based Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) of oil sales made independently by the government of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan…
Before the removal of its long-time leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011, Libya had easily been able to produce around 1.65 million barrels per day (bpd)…
Iraq’s crude oil production has been stuck between the 4.0-4.7 million barrels per day (bpd) level since 2016, with a mean average of about 4.5…
The signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India’s largest crude oil and natural gas company in India, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC),…
Although White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, did observe tersely that the deal done on 10 March between Iran and Saudi Arabia to re-establish…
The recent signing by Iraq’s federal government in Baghdad of three long-term oil and gas sector contracts with the UAE’s Crescent Petroleum – a company…
The massive disparity between China’s enormous economy-driven energy needs and its minimal level of domestic oil and gas reserves meant that the country was the…
Oman is preparing to offer a new batch of onshore oil and gas concession areas by the end of this month and a new batch…
India last week stepped up its negotiations with the U.S. aimed at continuing to import as much oil from Russia as it requires, regardless of…
Iraq’s recent announcement to end its importation of gas within the next three years will be carefully watched by Washington, as it would also mean…
Germany’s reliance on cheap and plentiful supplies of Russian gas was one of three key factors that led President Vladimir Putin to believe that Russia…
The ramping up of crude oil production from Iran’s extremely oil-rich West Karoun fields – including, most notably, North and South Azadegan, North and South Yaran, and…
For several years now, Iraq has been able to access all the technology required to turn part of its abundant crude oil and/or gas…
Whilst the U.S. and its allies appear to be taking a subtle approach to advancing their remaining interests in Iraq, as hinted at by the…
Things are different now in the global energy markets to the way they were just after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Back then,…
Russia’s failure to achieve a quick military victory in Ukraine as most people thought likely at the outset of its invasion has weakened its…
To many dedicated oil market watchers, last week’s decision by ‘OPEC+’ (the Saudi Arabia-led OPEC group of countries ‘plus’ Russia) to stick to its previously…
Given that Libya has exhibited all the stability of a puff adder on benzedrine since the West removed its longstanding leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011,…
Prior to the unwitting boost that Russia’s ongoing failure in Ukraine has given the U.S., NATO, and Europe, Washington’s intentions regarding Iraq were mixed. On…
After an extended period of reduced engagement in the Middle East and a refocusing inwards on itself, which allowed China and Russia to exploit the…