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James Drummond

Editor-in-Chief

An Arabic speaker, the British national’s wide experience in the region includes roles as a former hedge fund correspondent and news editor in the Gulf for the Financial Times, as well as FT correspondent in Cairo and Baghdad, where he covered the aftermath of the US-led invasion. Oxford-educated Drummond is a qualified chartered accountant and anti-money laundering specialist, and has also led geopolitical risk analysis for a number of global banking and corporate institutions

James Drummond
Natural gas wells at the Habshan gas complex in Abu Dhabi. It is run by Adnoc, which is investing in carbon capture

Middle East has the keys to unlock carbon capture

Humdrum issues such as modular construction and international standards will go a long way to encouraging more carbon capture and storage (CCS), according to delegates at Oman Sustainability Week in Muscat this month. Modular approaches should help cut costs on everything from maintenance to transport to engineering. International standards, meanwhile, on what constitutes low-carbon fuel […]

US President Donald Trump and Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who predicted 'going to another level of relationship' between the two countries

Trump’s tour heralds a new era in US-Gulf relations

In The Arabists: The Romance of an American Elite Robert Kaplan reminds us of the episode in which April Glaspie, then US ambassador to Ba’athist Iraq and “an Arabist of the old school”, met Saddam Hussain in July 1990. Glaspie failed explicitly to tell the Iraqi dictator, who was massing troops on the border and engaging in […]

Geologists training for oil exploration in Oman. The country is willing to work with international energy partners

Oman and its foreign energy partners

The cameras were in Riyadh but the oilpeople were in Muscat. As our colleague Saleh Al-Shaibany has noted, Oman was not on the itinerary of the 47th US president, although the sultanate has been hosting the US Iran nuclear talks. Trump was missing something. There at the Convention and Exhibition Centre was Baker Hughes, there was Halliburton […]

US President Donald Trump is likely to prioritise lower US pump prices in his Gulf visit

Gulf ready for high-energy talks with Trump

Security, technology transfer and inward investment into the US may dominate the headlines but Gulf leaders meeting President Donald Trump this week are also likely to raise a raft of more humdrum energy issues. For Trump, who makes the first state visit of his second presidency from May 13 to 16, cheaper gasoline at the […]

Donald Trump has made it clear he will not take kindly to any efforts 'to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar' as the default for international payments

Taking on the almighty dollar

There is much to discuss during President Trump’s visit to Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia next week. Oil and gas, investment into the US and tariffs, technology transfers and nuclear power, weapons sales and security guarantees, Yemen and Iran are all likely to feature. By way of welcome, Qatar has said that it will buy a fleet of […]

TSMC is the largest contract chip maker in the world. Can Gulf states compete?

Gulf enters chip wars

Chip War by Chris Miller is an account of the most competitive, most brutal industry in the world – more competitive and brutal than the oil business, which is saying something. Miller reckons that US supremacy in the manufacture and design of semi-conductors was a major contributor to victory in the Cold War. More advanced chips […]

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman lead countries with young populations that benefit from global trade

India and Saudi Arabia’s common bonds

Events may have overshadowed Narendra Modi’s trip to Jeddah this week – the Indian prime minister was forced to cut his visit short because of an attack in Kashmir – but there was much for him to discuss with his Saudi hosts. Amid market volatility and the new dispensation from Washington, Saudi Arabia and India – […]

Iraq's prime minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani Sudani was hosted in London Sir Keir Starmer in January

Old adversaries cut deals in the new Iraq

Strange things are happening in Iraq. Opec’s second-largest oil producer has a capacity of almost 5 million barrels per day and wants to increase that to 6 million bpd over the next three years. In May last year, our columnist Robin Mills noted that in an auction of oil and gas blocks, Chinese companies won 10 bids and a local […]

The GCC states are facing hurdles from US President Trump's 'Liberation Day' trade tariffs

Few good options for US-GCC trade – but options nonetheless

It is often said that US trading partners have few good options when it comes to dealing with President Trump’s “liberation day” last week. Few good options, yes, but the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council at least have options. Oil and gas are excluded from the new tariff regime – if one can call a bookie’s […]

Energy security is the US watchword – bad news for oil exporters

What to make of The New Joule Order by Jeff Currie and James Gutman at Carlyle, the US private equity behemoth, as they consider the future of energy demand? Where does their thinking leave us here in the Arabian Gulf? Currie, a former head of global commodities research at Goldman Sachs, and Gutman point out that global […]

The Awali oilfields in Bahrain. The government is pushing for the original site to gain Unesco recognition.

Bahrain at a crossroads: Economic challenges loom

The nodding donkeys in Awali, where oil was first discovered in the centre of Bahrain in 1932, are museum pieces now. The government is pushing for the surrounding oil settlement, an unreconstructed mid-twentieth century company town complete with cricket pitch, pub and church, to be listed by Unesco as a world heritage site. To the north […]

A Russian oil tanker crosses the Bosphorus in Turkey. If Russia faces difficulty with exporting its oil, Gulf states could benefit

Why Russia could ease the Gulf’s oil headache

The Opec+ countries have said that they will conduct “a gradual and flexible return” of 2.2 million barrels a day in production through until the end of next year. Saudi Arabia in particular has been gritting its teeth in holding back over 3 million bpd in spare capacity as it has watched while others – […]

The tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange was rocked by the emergence of DeepSeek, and S&P and Dow Jones have fallen, too

The Gulf is not immune to global economic fluctuations

It has been a torrid week in the US markets. The S&P 500 has fallen 8 percent over the past month – close to correction territory – while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 6 percent. The dollar, too, has been hurt, which is of consequence to the Gulf’s dollar-pegged economies. The greenback has […]

A mother and baby in Karaj, Iran, one of several Gulf states that are falling below the fertility replacement rate

Gulf fertility: falling short of replacement rates

Your starter for 10. The demographics of Tehran most closely resemble those of which city? a) Damascus b) Riyadh or c) Zurich. The answer of course, as any fule kno, is c). True, Zurich lacks a prison with the reputation and commodiousness of Evin, but in terms of population growth –  or lack of it […]

Aerial view of Kuwait City. Kuwait's economic potential is in some ways hindered by its wealth, as 90 percent of its oil revenues go to its Reserve Fund for Future Generations

Kuwait’s economic potential: A wake-up call

Project approvals in Opec’s fifth-largest producer are at their highest since 2017, according to the independent National Bank of Kuwait (NBK). That may be because the emirate is planning to expand oil production capacity by up to 40 percent to 4 million barrels per day, exploiting what was described as a significant discovery last year […]

Adnoc's new acquisitions in the petrochemicals sector are part of its attempts to diversify

Adnoc’s big bet on petrochemicals

Pay attention at the back. Earlier this week Abu Dhabi-listed Fertiglobe reported net profits of $160m for 2024, down by more than half on 2023 because of lower revenues. Meanwhile, net earnings at Borouge, another of Abu Dhabi’s listed petrochemicals ventures, jumped by nearly a quarter year-on-year to $1.2 billion. Borouge reported record production and sales. What […]

Secretary of state Marco Rubio suggests Iran is in US sights but other Gulf economies may fare better

Navigating volatility: The impact on GCC economies

The optimism is welcome – but it may be misplaced. This week the Riyad Bank Purchasing Managers’ Index in Saudi Arabia hit its highest level in more than 10 years – a significant vote of confidence in the Arab world’s largest economy. There was positive news too on jobs in the kingdom. Employment rose “solidly” last year, […]

Tugboats help tow the Greek-registered MT Sounion, which was attacked by Yemen's Houthi militants last year in the Red Sea

Shippers wary of Houthis’ fragile concession

Yemen’s Houthi militia said last week that it will stop targeting US and British ships as they try to pass peacefully through the Red Sea. Instead, the group said in emails to shipping lines that “sanctions” will apply only to Israeli-flagged vessels and ships owned by Israeli nationals or companies – although the Houthis’ grasp […]

In the famously transactional Trump White House, it is likely quid pro quos will be sought

Transactional Trump will seek mutual benefits

There were few guests from outside the US establishment at Donald Trump’s inauguration in the Capitol building on Monday. Along with the past presidents, supreme court justices, members of congress, tech titans, and the military band avoiding an icy Washington day, was Javier Milei, the libertarian president of Argentina. Also present were Giorgia Meloni of […]

The opening of the sixth line of the Riyadh metro should be celebrated, but the country can do better with its economic growth

Balancing the Saudi books to improve growth

The sixth line of the Riyadh metro has now opened – a considerable achievement executed at unprecedented speed, according to architects and engineers interviewed by Valentina Pasquali. But the IMF is predicting growth in the Saudi economy of only 1.5 percent this year. Not so great. It is easy to be sceptical of macroeconomic forecasts, subject as they […]

Larderello geothermal power plant in Italy. Advanced techniques could make it easier to bring geothermal power to the Gulf

Geothermal could be the Gulf’s energy solution 

In Dubai, the sixth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is due to increase its production capacity in the hydrocarbon-poor emirate to over 4,500MW – roughly three big conventional power plants. In Abu Dhabi, the 2,000MW – 2GW – Dhafra plant is among the largest single-site solar PV power installations in the […]

Cronyism in Syria crowded out foreign investment even before conflict began

Syria’s first needs: energy and investment 

It can get mighty cold in Damascus and Aleppo. Unfortunately, it may be about to feel a lot colder for Syria’s hard-pressed population as supplies of oil and gas dwindle. As our columnist Frank Kane wrote this week, after nearly 14 years of civil war Syrian oil production is not enough to move the dial […]