The Dead Sea transform: the Master Sculptor
The history of the world’s three great monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – has unfolded in the so-called Holy Land, a starkly rugged landscape that stretches from the…
Middle East
Shale Plays of the Middle East
The Middle East is best known for its conventional oil and gas reserves, which have been a critical part of the world’s supply for nearly a century. Could the US…
Exploration Update: Significant Gas Discovery Offshore Israel
International oil and gas exploration and production company, Energean, make gas discovery offshore Israel at Karish North in the Levantine Basin. Source: Energean. The recent run of large gas discoveries…
Mr. Five Per Cent: Calouste Gulbenkian
Intensely secretive, for more than half a century Gulbenkian personally controlled five per cent of Middle East oil production and shaped the firms we know as Shell and Total. The…
Developments in Middle East Oil and Gas Exploration
It was a successful 2018 in Middle East oil and gas exploration for the small Gulf states and UAE. With global exploration delivering slim pickings for organic reserves replacement, focus…
Giant gas field discovery in Iran
Reports that Orca is the largest gas find this year have a competing claim from Iran, where in mid-October the National Iranian Oil Company announced that it had discovered a…
Extraordinary hydrocarbon potential Offshore Lebanon
Extraordinary hydrocarbon potential Offshore Lebanon As Jane Austen might have said: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that exploration companies possessing acreage in the Eastern Mediterranean must be in want…
Using Solar Energy in Oil & Gas
A revolution is underway in the Omani desert: renewable solar energy is being used in oil & gas to help lower the cost of production of heavy oil and conserve…
Exploration Update: Offshore Bahrain
Highly significant offshore hydrocarbon discovery of tight oil and deep gas in the Khaleej Al Bahrain Basin, offshore Bahrain. Major Hydrocarbon Discovery Offshore Bahrain Map showing the location of the…
The First Discoveries of Oil in Saudi Arabia
In the 1930s, Chief geologist at Casoc and Aramco expat, Max Steineke revolutionised hydrocarbon exploration in the Middle East using structure drilling – which led to some of the first…
The Policy Perception Index – Where to Invest?
A recent global petroleum survey suggests Norway and the UK are still considered attractive places to invest in petroleum exploration & production. Infographic results of the Global Petroleum Survey…
Giant Oil Fields of the World: Rumaila–West Qurna, Iraq
Rumaila–West Qurna in the Middle East is one of the world’s greatest supergiant oilfields. What is a Supergiant Field? Location of the Rumaila–West Qurna field, southern Iraq. © OECD/IEA 2012…