Silicon Sand Dunes a vital cog in energy development (Robin Mills, The National, Brookings)

http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/silicon-sand-dunes-a-vital-cog-in-energy-development

Gas industry has a great story to tell – but doesn’t (Robin Mills, The National, Brookings)

Fracking for natural gas does not enjoy good press: 53 per cent of Americans oppose it, only slightly better than the 57 per cent who are against despised coal mining. The United Kingdom’s opposition Labour Party has pledged to ban fracking in the (unlikely) event it wins power. The industry is delivering more gas at lower prices than ever before, but it is losing the battle for public opinion. And it does not seem to care.

http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/gas-industry-has-a-great-story-to-tell--but-doesnt

Real challenge of the Algiers agreement will be deciding who cuts back (Robin Mills, The National, Brookings)

After April’s debacle in Doha, Opec countries will be relieved that last week’s meetings passed without a battle of Algiers. Instead, they reached an unexpected agreement on limiting production. But it will take diplomatic mastery to turn this deal into a full accord with a real impact on oil markets at its congress in Vienna in November.

http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/real-challenge-of-the-algiers-agreement-will-be-deciding-who-cuts-back

Syria’s gas pipeline theory is a low-budget drama (Robin Mills, The National, Brookings)

http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/syrias-gas-pipeline-theory-is-a-low-budget-drama

The invasion of Iraq was never really about oil (Robin Mills, Brookings)

‘The future shape of the Iraqi oil industry will affect oil markets, and the functioning of Opec, in both of which we have a vital interest," said a British Foreign Office paper in 2003. Such quotes are gold dust for campaigning groups highlighting the role of oil in the invasion of Iraq. And those groups complain that the UK’s Chilcot report into the war, released last week, brushes the subject under the carpet.

http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/the-invasion-of-iraq-was-never-really-about-oil

Three ways to improve security along the Middle East’s risky energy routes (Robin Mills, Brookings)

“If the Americans and their regional allies want to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and threaten us, we will not allow any entry,” said deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, last Wednesday. Iran has a long history of making threats against this critical waterway, through which some 17 million barrels of oil exports pass daily, though it has not carried them out. But multiple regional security threats highlight threats to energy transitfrom and through the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)—and demand new thinking about solutions.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/markaz/posts/2016/05/11-energy-routes-security-mills

Risky routes: Energy transit in the Middle East (Robin Mills, Brookings)

In 2011, Libya’s revolution knocked most of its oil production offline for months, resulting in a loss of nearly 2 percent of global production and a corresponding increase in oil prices. The security of energy exports and energy transit from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, given its paramount importance to the global economy, has long been a concern. The current, very unsettled political situation in the region has made that concern even more salient.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2016/04/25-energy-transit-in-the-middle-east-mills

After Doha, what next for Opec? (Robin Mills, Brookings, The National)

Opec has had some infamous meetings in its history. An ill-timed hike in quotas in Jakarta in November 1997 led to a crash in prices, while the June 2011 “worst ever" meeting in Vienna, as the Saudi oil minister termed it, failed to stop prices from rising. Doha last week was, perhaps, not in that league but still blended tedium, surprise and dysfunction, even more embarrassingly for including key non-Opec players.

http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/after-doha-what-next-for-opec

Solutions to Pakistan’s energy are not all favourable to GCC states (Robin Mills, Brookings, The National)

“The energy crisis will be solved before the government’s term ends in 2018,” said Pakistan’s petroleum minister Shahid Abbasi. After Islamabad’s drawn-out struggle with energy shortages, recent developments offer some light at the end of a dark tunnel. But some of the solutions reorient Pakistan’s foreign policies to the detriment of its long-time GCC partners.

http://www.thenational.ae/business/solutions-to-pakistans-energy-are-not-all-favourable-to-gcc-states

Iran must tread softly in making a return to international market (Robin Mills, Brookings)

http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/iran-must-tread-softly-in-making-a-return-to-international-market

The Gulf’s Castles of Sand (Brookings)

https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/08/the-gulfs-castles-of-sand-oil-prices-saudi-arabia-iran/