Posts in Middle East
Trouble in the Colonies
The Fourth of July was cool and rainy in Vermont, as it seems to be with surprising regularity. I suppose that’s why my town sets off its fireworks on the evening of July 3rd, which was perfect for pyrotechnics this year. Fireworks finished, I had all day Wednesday to contemplate this year’s version of American…
Continue reading ‘Trouble in the Colonies’.Britain Slashes Reliance on Middle Eastern Oil
Just as the debate rages of Iraq’s oil law, new government figures show that Britain is now importing only the tiniest fraction of its oil from the Middle East, sourcing its crude instead from the Americas, Africa and Norway. An analysis by UK government officials reveals how dramatically the map of UK oil sources has…
Continue reading ‘Britain Slashes Reliance on Middle Eastern Oil’.Middle East Oil Firm Buys into Alberta’s Oil
In what is being described as a startling reversal of history, a Middle Eastern energy company is pushing into the Canadian oil and gas market looking for secure supplies. Abu Dhabi National Energy Company has said it has struck a deal to buy Northrock Resources Ltd., a Calgary-based oil and gas exploration firm, for $2-billion…
Continue reading ‘Middle East Oil Firm Buys into Alberta’s Oil’.BG Group to Supply Gaza Gas to Israel
This is a really hot political potato. The British BG Group is poised to agree the terms of an historic $4 billion deal to supply Palestinian gas to Israel from a discovery off the Gaza coastline. Representatives from BG are due to thrash out a 15-year contract with the Israeli Cabinet next week. Despite the…
Continue reading ‘BG Group to Supply Gaza Gas to Israel’.Miliband: We Should Focus on Costs of Middle East Oil
The UK Environment Secretary David Miliband has said that dealing with climate change does not only help the environment but bring a “peace dividend” because the world’s “oil dependence creates real danger”. Mr Miliband said it was “right” for a growing movement in the US to push for energy independence in the United States, “focusing…
Continue reading ‘Miliband: We Should Focus on Costs of Middle East Oil’.Chomsky: US Foreign Policy Driven by Oil
A great article by Noam Chomsky in today’s Guardian arguing that “Washington’s escalation of threats against Iran is driven by a determination to secure control of the region’s energy resources.” For the US, writes Chomsky, “the primary issue in the Middle East has been, and remains, effective control of its unparalleled energy resources. Access is a…
Continue reading ‘Chomsky: US Foreign Policy Driven by Oil’.New Oil Finds in Sunni Iraq
Although huge petroleum deposits have long been known in Iraq’s Kurdish north and Shiite south, Iraq has substantially increased its estimates of the amount of oil and natural gas in deposits on Sunni lands, especially in Anbar province. Iraq has quietly been paying foreign oil companies tens of millions of dollars over the past two…
Continue reading ‘New Oil Finds in Sunni Iraq’.Persian Gulf Needs Over $500bn in Oil Investment
The Persian Gulf states need to pump $523 billion over the next 25 years in exploration and production to meet a steady growth in global demand, according to the Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research in a new book.
Saudi’s Increase Spare Capacity to Offset Iranian Influence
Saudi Arabia’s growing fear of Iranian influence in the Middle East may driving the world’s largest crude oil exporter to prepare a more aggressive long-term political oil strategy that would counter the Iranian ascendancy. According to Dow Jones, “under a new, accelerated production program, the kingdom could increase its spare oil drilling capacity to at…
Continue reading ‘Saudi’s Increase Spare Capacity to Offset Iranian Influence’.The “Demonization” of Muslims and the Battle for Oil
Interesting article by Michel Chossudovsky, published in Global Research, and by Scoop. Throughout history, he writes, “wars of religion have served to obscure the economic and strategic interests behind the conquest and invasion of foreign lands. These wars were fought with a view to securing control over trading routes and natural resources.
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