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Interest is growing in the Gulf about the potential impact of a new US administration on the region, and on the West’s long-running reliance on Middle East energy. In a first pre-election analysis, GSN examines the main camps, their advisors and general policy orientations. A second part of this analysis from Washington will follow in GSN 837, focusing on the implications of an Obama or McCain victory on what remain the key theatres of US foreign policy: Iraq, Iran and the GCC states.

In a deal said to be worth around $4bn, the government has agreed to award Royal Dutch Group a contract to capture and use flared gas in the southern region of Basra. This represents the first deal signed between the government’s South Oil Company, responsible for developing southern oil fields, and a western oil company since the US-led

Obtaining details and confirmations remains as problematic as ever, but some sources are talking about upheavals in the Saudi military/security establishment linked to continuing dynastic struggles in the Kingdom. According to one version of events, as many as 150

Abu Dhabi’s recent attention-grabbing deals highlight the wealthiest emirate’s emergence as an increasingly high-profile force to be reckoned with – astride the world stage and within the United Arab Emirates, where a further round of shifts in the internal power balance are coming to light.

The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA)‘s participation in First Energy Bank (FEB), whose emergence is analysed above, is part of a rapidly multiplying network of links between Libya’s fast-changing economy and the established oil economies of the Gulf (GSN 832/12, 815/1). While Libya is still in the process of setting up institutions to take charge of its huge financial reserves

Denis McDonough – Obama’s senior foreign policy co-ordinator is a venerable ‘Beltway bandit’, a career Capitol Hill staffer. His previous job was senior fellow at CAP, a liberal-oriented think tank with many members advising Obama’s campaign and with a key focus on ending US

Rawabi Holding Company has signed memorandum of understanding with Swiber Holdings, a ‘niche’ services provider to the offshore oil and gas industry with offices in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Swiber says it is an “integrated offshore engineering, procurement, construction, installation

Gulf Finance House’s latest initiative to establish a bank that caters specifically to the energy sector could create some attractive investment opportunities, adding another powerful instrument to Bahraini mover and shaker Esam Janahi’s ever growing portfolio.

The takeover of one of the UK’s oldest football clubs by a previously unheard of Abu Dhabi vehicle has caused huge stirs in the UAE and in Britain – and still it remains unclear who owns the privately-held company. GSN highlights two members of the Abu Dhabi ruling family with close links to the sale.

Qatar's dominance as an LNG exporter is unlikely to be challenged in the foreseeable future, a leading gas sector project financier told GSN. There have been forecasts that the LNG

Population growth is a universal feature of the Gulf Co-operation Council region at a time of booming oil-financed expansion, with a surge in construction activity and accelerating demand for services creating an almost insatiable need for labour. The GCC thus continues to suck in foreign workers to meet real present economic needs. This is also the case for some sectors in Bahrain, but there is also concern that in the small communally divided island state migration policy is serving political ends too – with potentially dangerous consequences.

Dubai Group (DG), which is owned by UAE government investment vehicle Dubai Holding, has been on a spending spree this summer. It has purchased a 5.24% stake in one of Egypt’s largest banks, Commercial International Bank, for Dh580m ($157.9m). Egypt has attracted a number of investors from the Gulf looking to tap the potential of its largely underdeveloped financial sector. With the government not issuing new licenses, Gulf investors are left with no choice but to buy stakes in banks. DG chief executive Thomas Volpe said the group planned another four acquisitions before the year’s end.

Some clouds overshadowing the region’s project finance market have been lifted with the closure of a $3.3bn limited recourse loan package for Qatar’s $3.8bn Ras Laffan C IWPP, and Nakilat has also got its gas carrier financing away.

MIQRIN BIN ABDELAZIZ: Pakistan venture; PRINCE ABDULLAH: Equestrian hopes dashed; PRINCE SAUD: Turkmenistan trip; PRINCESS FAWZIA: Death; AL-SAUD: Al-Shayk wedding in Riyadh; SENIOR AL-SAUDS: Various vacations

The jihadist threat to foreign interests may be waning with the gradual whittling down of the cadre of (known) hardened Yemeni militants. This war of attrition – analysed at length in GSN over the past year, with an update on Al-Qaeda in Yemen/Jund Al-Yemen in Defence and security, below – may not yet signal the threat’s end. But it has convinced governments and corporations that Yemen remains a place where their citizens can travel and where money can be made if care is taken.