Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Kamran Yeganegi
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From Aramco to ACWA Power: How Saudi Arabia is redrawing its map of energy influence
In February 2026, an agreement to develop+ two solar plants in Turkiye illustrated Saudi Arabia’s expanding energy diplomacy. A country whose global economic presence has long rested on oil exports is now entering decades-long partnerships to generate electricity abroad. ACWA Power’s agreement with its Turkish counterparts envisages two gigawatts of…
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The architecture of Oman’s energy power: Resources, ports and global partnerships
At Duqm, Kuwait holds a stake in refining and product-export capacity outside the Strait of Hormuz, while European partners envisage a departure point for future hydrogen shipments. Oman is using this coastline to attract industrial investment and connect its energy resources to overseas markets. The challenge for Muscat is to…
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From Barakah to Masdar: The architecture of the UAE’s new energy leverage
For decades, the United Arab Emirates’ energy standing was measured primarily by its capacity to produce and export oil. That baseline remains vital, but it no longer captures the multi-layered character of Abu Dhabi’s evolving energy strategy. ADNOC still plans to raise crude production capacity to five million barrels per…
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Iraq’s energy paradox: Oil power, electricity vulnerability
Holding roughly 145 billion barrels of proved crude reserves, Iraq ranks among the world’s major petroleum powers, yet its electricity system still comes under severe strain each summer. In 2024, available peak supply stood at about 25 GW, against roughly 48 GW needed to meet summer peak demand, according to…
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Qatar’s energy diplomacy: Can a diversified energy portfolio translate into broader influence?
Qatar’s energy diplomacy is usually associated with liquefied natural gas. That is understandable: Qatar is one of the world’s leading LNG players, and North Field expansion is set to lift production capacity from 77 million tonnes per year to 142 million tonnes by 2030. But LNG alone no longer captures…
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Bahrain’s energy connectivity paradox: Networked resilience or deeper dependence?
On 9 March 2026, Bahrain’s Bapco declared force majeure after an attack disrupted operations at its Sitra refinery complex. The incident came amid the US-Israeli war with Iran, as energy infrastructure and shipping routes across the Gulf were drawn directly into the conflict. Reuters reported that Bahrain was among the…
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Kuwait: Oil wealth and the need to rethink energy diplomacy
Kuwait exports oil, yet relies on imported gas and regional electricity trade to power its economy. This dual position demonstrates why hydrocarbon wealth does not automatically deliver energy security. Oil revenues provide purchasing power; reliable supply also requires functioning power plants, fuel-receiving infrastructure and dependable transport routes. On 2nd April…
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Turkiye: From energy corridor to regional network power
When Azerbaijani gas crosses Türkiye to reach Syrian power plants, Iraqi oil flows through Turkish territory towards the Mediterranean, and Iraq’s electricity grid connects to Turkish transmission lines, Ankara is no longer merely hosting a collection of transit routes. Türkiye is increasingly positioning itself at the centre of an energy…
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Palestine’s energy sovereignty: Who controls the switch?
In Gaza, keeping a medical device running can depend on access to engine oil. A Reuters report published on 10 September 2026 describes shortages of lubricants, spare parts and fuel threatening generators serving hospitals and residential neighbourhoods. Equipment designed for emergencies carries the burden of everyday electricity supply, without assured…
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Israel’s energy paradox: Regional influence, strategic vulnerability
For decades, Israel’s energy security was defined by scarcity. Lacking substantial domestic fossil-fuel production, it depended heavily on imported coal and oil while remaining largely disconnected from its neighbours’ energy systems. The discovery of the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields changed that equation. Israel became a gas exporter, strengthened its…
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Lebanon’s energy diplomacy: Turning vulnerability into connectivity
Lebanon’s electricity crisis is usually attributed to fuel shortages, financial collapse and institutional failure. All three explanations are valid, but they are incomplete. The deeper problem is that Lebanon remains an energy island in a region increasingly shaped by cross-border grids, gas corridors and flexible electricity markets. Lebanese households and…
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Cyprus’s energy paradox: Gas beneath the sea, isolation on the grid
Cyprus presents one of the Eastern Mediterranean’s most striking energy contradictions. It possesses commercially promising offshore gas fields, yet its electricity system remains isolated from the European grid, dependent on imported fuels and increasingly unable to absorb all the solar power generated on the island. For Nicosia, therefore, the central…
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Can Syria turn foreign power into national power?
For most countries, electricity is an economic input. For Syria, it is something more fundamental: a test of whether the state can again provide basic services, reconnect its regions and translate political transition into material improvement. Factories cannot reopen, hospitals cannot function reliably and displaced families cannot be expected to…
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Jordan’s energy diplomacy: The power of being in between
Jordan does not have Saudi Arabia’s oil, Qatar’s gas or Iraq’s hydrocarbon wealth. It does, however, possess another asset that is becoming increasingly valuable on the Middle East’s energy map: location. Jordan’s 2025–2035 Energy Strategy, approved by the government on 3rd May 2026, is built around this reality. Its logic…
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Egypt’s energy paradox: Importing LNG, exporting influence
Egypt faces an unusual paradox. A country that once presented itself as the gas hub of the Eastern Mediterranean now depends increasingly on liquefied natural gas imports to fuel its power stations and supply its industries. Yet Cairo continues to derive part of its regional influence from energy infrastructure, geography…
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Can China turn energy dependence into diplomatic power in the Middle East?
For decades, China’s relationship with the Middle East appeared to rest on a straightforward bargain: the region supplied energy, while China supplied an expanding market. But that transactional equation no longer captures the structural transformation underway. In 2025, China sourced roughly half of its crude oil and almost one-third of…
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Energy without borders: Why the Middle East needs an energy Schengen
For more than a century, the Middle East has been one of the world’s most important centres of energy supply. Yet a strategic paradox remains at the heart of its energy architecture: a region that exports oil and gas across the world still lacks a coherent framework for exchanging energy…
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The Mecca Pact: From a security umbrella to an energy corridor
The Mecca defence pact between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan is, at first glance, a security development. Yet its longer-term significance may emerge in a sphere that extends well beyond military cooperation: energy diplomacy. It is still too early to speak of a new energy bloc. The operational details of…
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The Gulf needs an energy non-aggression pact
The next crisis or confrontation in the Gulf may not begin with a territorial invasion or an attack on a military base. It could start with the disruption of an oil refinery, export terminal, liquefied natural gas facility, power grid or desalination plant. In a region where oil, gas, electricity,…
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Helium diplomacy: The invisible bottleneck in the AI economy
A warning from Ras Laffan The Middle East is usually described as the engine room of the hydrocarbon economy. But it also sits quietly inside the infrastructure of the digital age. When conflict disrupted natural-gas processing in Qatar in March 2026, international attention focused on liquefied natural gas. Another, less…
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The geopolitics of energy redundancy: Why the Middle East’s new power lies in backup systems
The renewed instability surrounding the Red Sea, recurring security concerns in the Strait of Hormuz and repeated attacks on critical maritime infrastructure have exposed a fundamental reality of twenty-first century energy geopolitics: production alone no longer guarantees power. Nearly one-fifth of global oil consumption passes through the Strait of Hormuz,…
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The long shadow of 1973: Why “energy memory” is reshaping global diplomacy
Crises end. Institutions remember. On an autumn morning in October 1973, motorists across Europe and North America queued for hours outside petrol stations, uncertain whether fuel would still be available. Governments imposed rationing, reduced speed limits and introduced emergency measures that reshaped economic life. Although the immediate crisis faded, the…
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In Middle East energy, flexibility is the new power
From attacks on shipping in the Red Sea to repeated threats around the Strait of Hormuz, the Middle East’s energy arteries are under growing pressure. The war in Gaza and its regional repercussions have added another layer of instability to a system already strained by sanctions, political fragmentation and competition…
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Trust before pipelines: Why credibility has become the Middle East’s most valuable energy asset
When Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea forced vessels to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope and the Gaza war intensified regional instability, attention naturally focused on rising freight costs, supply-chain disruptions and oil-price volatility. Yet another consequence received far less attention: every disruption weakened confidence…