Should governments in the Middle East that are allied, or at least aligned, with the US be more concerned for their security following the final US withdrawal from Afghanistan? Or, at least, no more than they were before recent images from Kabul airp...

IHS Markit has upgraded the risk rating for Oman's banking sector by 5 points to 45, remaining in the Significant Risk category (equivalent to ratings BB+ to BB- on the generic rating scale). Prior to this downgrade, IHS Markit downgraded Oman's medi...

At its 18 July meeting OPEC+ addressed UAE concerns and restored its cooperation on output. Rebased the production levels from which any agreed restrictions will be applied from May 2022: with an 11% increase for the UAE, the main dissenting voice tw...

OPEC has pulled an eleventh-hour rabbit out of the hat many times before, and it will need to do so again to bring the UAE back into the fold this time. The UAE is the fourth-largest producer in OPEC+ and wants its quota to reflect the over 20% capac...

High oil price gives government more breathing room.

The oil market is relieved that on 1st June OPEC+ stuck to its existing trajectory for easing output restraint and that there does not appear to be an imminent signature of a new Iran Nuclear Deal. This leaves a supply shortfall of 0.9mbpd into which...