The geopolitical faultlines of the drone attack on the Saudi Aramco plants on Saturday are surfacing. These are early days but three broad trends have appeared. One, Saudi investigators have begun pointing a finger at Iran, which is certain to exacerbate regional tensions. Two, the all-important US response to the event is unfolding on multiple…
The attack on the world’s largest oil processing facility at Abqaiq in Saudi Arabia southwest of Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran had a few predictable responses. Given that the facility has a daily output of some 5.7 million barrels, damaging it was bound to cause a spike in the price of oil. The question troubling the…
Over the course of the past decade the United States, following decades of relative stagnation in oil production, has surprised many to become the largest oil producer in the world, exceeding Russia as well as Saudi Arabia. Latest daily production is just above 12.1 million barrels a day. In November 2018 for the first time…
The India-Saudi relationship was historically a finely poised balance of mutual interests despite all contradictions. Its glacial pace had an inner logic — don’t push too hard, as life is real. But the Modi government quickened the pace — probably with an eye on Muslim politics. Petrodollar recycling is largely about the bulk of petrodollar…
A secret deal has been set up between the US and Iran, through a third party, to enable the Iranian super tanker Adrian Darya 1 (formerly Grace 1) to deliver its 2.1 million barrels of oil to the Syrian government. Smaller tankers worked for five days unloading the oil to be delivered to the Syrian…
It’s impossible to imagine any realistic scenario where “Israel” would sit back and let its number one enemy strengthen its influence in the region unless Russia was involved as a stakeholder for keeping Iran in check. *** Iran is reportedly exploring the possibility of building a pipeline across Iraq to Syria to complement the plan that…
