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Letter from the Middle East: Iran-Israel war risks dire straits
A blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would have reverberations that would sound around the world
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Egypt’s government was already preparing for potential energy shortages this summer, and the loss of Israeli gas supply has made things worse
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The two oil heavyweights’ diverging fiscal considerations are straining unity within the group
Iraq seeks alternatives to Iranian gas
The country is facing energy shortfalls this summer amid reduced Iranian gas imports and difficulties leasing an FSRU
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OPEC++, the sequel, has arrived
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Asia proves a growing draw for Gulf players
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Iran Saudi Arabia Oman
Craig Guthrie
27 March 2019
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When power grows out of the oil barrel

Can the Gulf’s ruling families survive the post-oil era?

The brutal military crackdowns launched as the Arab Spring spread across Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen in 2011 contrasts sharply with the response most Gulf countries' leaderships took to the uprisings. Instead of soldiers, civil servants were more quietly deployed, armed with generous counter-revolutionary doles in the shape of cash and energy subsidies. Sweeping subsidies and targeted financial inducements—in some cases to the tune of as much as 4pc of GDP—quickly and bloodlessly placated populaces. But, as Jim Krane argues in Energy Kingdoms, the unspoken social contract on which this relies might not last forever. Having spent years in the region as a journalist, he crafts ins

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