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The missile threat posed to the Gulf region from Iran is “overstated”, according to a paper entitled A Crude Threat: The Limits of an Iranian Missile Campaign against Saudi Arabian Oil, published in the Harvard University-based International Security journal.

Iran plans to increase its crude oil storage capacity in order to circumvent sanctions, according to the English language Tehran Times.

UK Export Finance (until recently the Export Credits Guarantee Department) is set to insure project finance worth some $2bn for the massive petrochemicals project planned in Jubail by Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical Company (GSN 903/11).

Having announced on 27 May that it had been forced to revise its budget deficit targets upwards, and having recently shied away from some potentially painful austerity measures, Bahrain took steps to regain the reform initiative in early June by announcing that it will allow international oil companies (IOCs) to take 100% ownership of oil and gas drilling activities. The surprise move was revealed by prime minister Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa in edict number 10, issued on 2 June.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and federal Ministry of Oil (MoO) in Baghdad have been locked in a long struggle over who controls Iraqi hydrocarbons and the revenue flows that go with them. Since 2007, the Erbil-based KRG’s strategy has depended, first, on creating facts on the ground via its alliances with international partners, and second, on the assumption that Baghdad ultimately could not afford to reject production capacity of 500,000 b/d or more.

Spain’s TSK Group has announced a deal worth $385m to develop a 50MW solar plant in the Shagaya region, some 100km from Kuwait City, for commercial operation in 2017. The photovoltaic (PV) plant – Kuwait’s biggest – will supply some 100,000 households in the region, which borders Saudi Arabia and Iraq, TSK Group said. Electricity and water minister Ahmed Al-Jassar has said Kuwait intends to install 4.5GW of mainly solar PV and wind renewable energy capacity by 2030. Kuwait Oil Company and Spain’s Gestamp Solar have agreements to install 10MW solar PV plants. All three plants will be government-funded.

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on 8 May announced that the Public Investment Fund (PIF) had set a late October date for the second Future Investment Initiative (FII) – a glitzy event which last year raised the international profile of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s Vision 2030 programme of change. SPA claimed that “FII 2018 will bring together renowned visionaries with the power to shape the future of global investment”. Further details will follow.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Austria’s OMV signed an agreement on 29 April which will see the latter take a 20% stake in the Satah Al-Razboot and Umm Lulu offshore oil field concessions, in exchange for a $1.5bn participation fee. Adnoc retains 60% of the concession. The deal is for 40 years, starting from 9 March 2018. It is the latest in a series of recent agreements by Adnoc with international oil majors, including Italy’s Eni and France’s Total.

WesternZagros Ltd (WZL), a Canadian company with stakes in Kurdistan’s Kurdamir and Garmian blocks, is being sued by a former consultant, Monde Petroleum (Monde), which says it was made to wrongfully terminate its consultancy agreement with WZL in 2007. Monde says that, as a result of the wrongful termination, it is owed both fees and potentially earnings from the 3% stake in WZL’s exploration and production-sharing agreements (EPSAs) that the consultancy agreement entitled it to. The details of the case – which could be worth more than $100m, by GSN’s calculations – emerged in a preliminary judgment from the UK High Court of Justice Queen’s Bench Division on 14 January.

The two countries have ratified their maritime border (see Royals watch), but the planned natural gas pipeline between Iran and Oman faces a further complication, after reports that it is to be re-routed to avoid UAE waters. The change will add to the cost – now estimated at up to $1.5bn – and probably means more delays. An unnamed industry source told Reuters the new route would be shorter but deeper, at up to 1km under the surface.

There was more of a whimper than a bang at the unveiling of the new Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) in Tehran on 28-29 November, at a show hastily organised as a taster of better things to come for a sceptical international oil company (IOC) audience who had struggled to work within the old buyback framework even before sanctions intervened. Seasoned oil minister Bijan Zanganeh has spent the past year revealing glimpses of the possible terms, which industry analysts said promised a closer relationship between risk and reward and, ultimately, would hold out the offer of IOCs being able to book reserves from Iranian fields.

While Oman has its fair share of big IOCs – such as key PDO partner Royal Dutch Shell, Occidental Petroleum Corporation and Maersk Oil, and more recent entrants such as BG Group and BP – the Sultanate also attracts plenty of minnows and other players.

Federal Vice President and Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum unveiled a new set of green energy targets on 10 January. By 2050, the UAE aims to increase the contribution of clean energy in the total mix from 25% to 50% (including 6% from nuclear energy); it also envisages cutting the power generation sector’s carbon footprint by 70% and reducing average residential energy consumption by 40%. The UAE is expected to invest Dh600bn ($163bn) by 2050 to meet rising energy demand.

Production cuts by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE have helped maintain oil prices at around $50 a barrel, through production cuts and co-ordination with non-Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) members led by Russia. The price has weathered the remarkable upturn in Libyan output, to nearly 1m b/d, an upturn in Nigerian production and, most important of all, the reopening of investment flows for US unconventional production.

Recent promises to mend relations between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Baghdad have not led to any real progress on disputes over politics, land and oil. And as Baghdad makes overtures towards its former sparring partner – and close Kurdish ally – Turkey, the government. The 29 April framework accord signed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani was intended to steer the process of resolving disagreements over issues such as customs and border procedures, proposals for a new oil law, and the status of disputed areas. It was followed by a series of meetings in June and July when the two sides promised further co-operation.