Energy & Economics

On May 25, the presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Turkey inaugurated the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC), a major artery linking oil fields in the Caspian Sea region to the Mediterranean Sea and Western markets beyond. It will take several months for oil pumped from Baku, Azerbaijan, to pass through Tbilisi

On March 1, British prime minister Tony Blair will host a conference in London dedicated to garnering support for the Palestinian Authority (PA). The summit is intended to help the new Palestinian leadership strengthen PA institutions, with a special focus on facilitating economic development, encouraging donor pledges, and identifying investment

As Iraqi elections rapidly approach despite an entrenched and violent insurgency, the country's economic challenges are extensive. The government is faced with the momentous task of transforming a war torn, state-dominated economy into a transparent, investment-friendly institution, all during the course of daily political violence. Problems Inherited from the Former

Rapidly growing Chinese oil demand was one of the key factors influencing discussions at this week's meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), convened in Vienna by ministers from OPEC member states. During the first eight months of 2004, Chinese oil imports surged by 40 percent compared with

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is meeting this week in Beirut, where the cartel is expected to confirm a higher production ceiling that should lead to a decrease in international oil prices. Nevertheless, the sharp price hikes seen during the past few weeks have rekindled questions about OPEC's

Over the past week, oil prices have exceeded $40 per barrel for the first time since the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and gasoline prices in parts of the United States are now more $2 per gallon. Contributing to this increase were heightened concerns about supply, particularly in the wake

Egyptian officials and businessmen are visiting Israel this week to discuss the creation of Egyptian-Israeli qualified industrial zones (QIZs), which would give them free trade access to US markets. They seek to emulate Jordan's QIZ, the most successful example to date of US-Arab free trade. Indeed, these zones have given

Friends of the Arabs can but mourn the transformation of the Middle East from an advanced and powerful region arguably ahead of Europe to a backward state. It is sobering to realize that as recently as the 1930s, there was no Arab development deficit. At that time, Alexandria was more

Later this month, an oil tanker will leave the Israeli Red Sea port of Eilat after taking on a cargo of Russian crude oil pumped through the Trans-Israel Pipeline (Tipline). The pipeline runs between Eilat and Ashkelon, located south of Tel Aviv on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast. The tanker will