The Middle East—Read “Energy”—Complicates Ukraine Crisis

Mar 22, 2022
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Also published in The Hill
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed in 2018 - source: Reuters
About the Authors
Simon Henderson
Simon Henderson

Simon Henderson is the Baker Senior Fellow and director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at The Washington Institute, specializing in energy matters and the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

Articles & Testimony

A new gas deal with Germany may help, but the Gulf states are taking a risk by intertwining urgent Western energy requests with seemingly tangential regional issues.

In the short term, the Ukraine story is about advances of armored columns or heroic defiance of the odds, mixed with dreadful reports of casualties and refugees. But in the longer term, it’s nearly all about energy. On Sunday came news that Germany has agreed to a long-term gas supply deal with the Gulf state of Qatar, which sits on the world’s third largest reserves. “We might still need Russian gas this year, but not in the future,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in Doha. Germany is fast-tracking the construction of two liquefied natural gas terminals so it can import ship-loads that Qatar will make available...

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