As a Saudi Prince Rose, The Bin Laden Business Empire Crumbled
September 29th, 2018
Courtesy of Reuters, an interesting report on the fall of the Bin Laden business empire: Soon after Prince Mohammed bin Salman became second in line to the throne of Saudi Arabia, he turned his sights to the sprawling empire of the Saudi Binladin Group. In 2015, the prince, then 29, approached Bakr bin Laden, chairman of […]
Read more »Turkmenistan: Iran, Saudis Dangle Exits From Energy Cul-de-Sac
November 15th, 2017
Via Times of Central Asia, a report on Ashgabat’s efforts to diversify its gas exports and find investors in its hydrocarbon projects: Turkmenistan possesses huge natural-gas reserves but for now has only one buyer of its gas — China. As the Turkmen economy is experiencing a downturn caused by low gas prices in the world market, […]
Read more »Saudi Arabia Struggles to Remake Its Economy
October 13th, 2016
Courtesy of The New York Times, a detailed interesting look at Saudi Arabia, where low crude prices and the war in Yemen have sent a shock through the kingdom’s budget and forced it to revise its social contract even as it seeks to diversify its businesses: This is what it takes to run a mega-dairy […]
Read more »Egypt: A Key Plank In China’s One Belt – One Road Strategy
May 31st, 2016
Via Frontera News, a look at the role of Egypt in China’s Silk Road strategy: Egypt’s transfer of two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi sovereignty sparked street protests and a social media backlash: #Egyptissold. Yet Tiran and Sanafir are pinpricks next to the much bigger land grab by Beijing onshore. Granted, the twin islands […]
Read more »Saudi Arabia Comes To The Rescue Of The Egyptian Economy
April 25th, 2016
Via the Geopolitical Monitor, an interesting look at how Egypt’s economic struggles have allowed Saudi Arabia to increase its hold over a major geopolitical prize of waterborne trade – the Suez Canal: The Arab Spring uprising left Egypt with an assortment of leaders and an uncertain future. After the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in February […]
Read more »Saudi Arabia’s Petro Optimism
December 10th, 2008
As recently featured on CBS’ 60 Minutes, Saudi Arabia continues to feel bullish about its petroleum prospects despite the falling price of oil. As the interview with Ali Al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister and de facto head of the OPEC oil cartel, noted: “If most Americans had an opportunity to sit down with the oil […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.