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The oil price boom has prompted a splurge in deal-making by Gulf funds, mirroring what the region’s sovereign wealth funds did when asset prices fell during the Covid pandemic.

GSN Risk Grade: D↓5 GCC ambassadors: The direction of political travel will undoubtedly be set by efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, but there has been some easing of regional tensions as Kuwait and the UAE sent ambassadors to Tehran for the first time since relations soured with the GCC countries in 2016.

Governments across the Gulf are enjoying another boom in  oil  and gas prices, which is all the more welcome given the fiscal crunch in many economies caused by the Covid pandemic.

Oman drew an audience of international oil companies and others to an event at London’s Mansion House in late July to push green hydrogen (GH2) and other ‘future fuels’ projects.

Dubai-based Blue Cactus joined several Chinese brokerages on the latest list of US sanctions targeting Iranian oil exports. The package of measures focused on the state-owned Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Company and adds to pressure on Tehran as negotiations on reviving the nuclear deal appear to reach their final make-or-break phase in Vienna – and gives an indication of Washington’s intentions should those talks fail.

For all the build-up, United States President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia on 15-16 July ended up being a distinctly underwhelming occasion. The grubby compromises of realpolitik were on clear display, but without the glittering prizes of any ‘historic’ breakthrough, either in political or economic terms.

Migrant flows: Gulf Co-operation Council countries are home to almost three-quarters of all migrants and refugees in the Arab region, according to the latest Situation Report on International Migration in the Arab Region.

The Saudi government is setting up a SR300bn ($80bn) fund to support the development of the futuristic city of Neom in the kingdom’s remote north-west corner.

A contract for the management of air traffic control at Afghanistan’s main airports is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks, with companies from the UAE, Qatar and Turkey in the running, after Abu Dhabi firms won a big ground services and security contract for Herat, Kabul, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif. It is hoped improved services will encourage more airlines to return to Taliban-run Afghanistan.

Saudi Arabia’s Ajlan & Brothers (Abilitii) has signed an agreement with Israel-lined SolarEdge to explore renewable energy investments. The rare (possibly so far unique) public Saudi-Israeli deal was finalised on the sidelines of United States President Joe Biden’s mid-July visit to the kingdom by a company whose star has risen on Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s watch.

Oil and gas markets are expected to remain buoyant, whether or not Saudi Arabia makes concessions to the United States and Europe by pumping more crude. Ahead of a crucial early-August meeting of Opec+ ministers, the signs are that the Saudi-Russian axis will hold, but the market is restructuring with China and other Asian buyers taking more from Russia while the Gulf sends more to Europe.

Qatar’s recent deals to bring five majors – Shell, TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Eni – into the $29bn North Field East (NFE) project underline Doha’s ambitions for its liquified natural gas (LNG) sector and Emir Sheikh Tamim’s political priorities, as QatarEnergy’s sales are redirected towards Europe.

Western oil majors have been pulling out of the Russian gas industry, but that presents opportunities for the likes of Saudi Aramco who are less concerned about the reputational impact of investing in Siberian resources.

Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) secretary-general Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo fell victim to a heart attack in his native Nigeria on 5 July, shortly before he was due to leave the post he had held with some skill and grace for six years. Veteran Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and government official Haitham Al-Ghais is scheduled take over as secretary-general in Vienna on 1 August.

The start of construction at the Dabaa nuclear power plant is both a major step forward for President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s ambition to lead Egypt into the elite grouping of nuclear nations and a rejection of Russia’s pariah status among western nations. But the start of work at El Dabaa is also a significant advance in Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS)’s aim of shaping the development of a nuclear Middle East, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that Arab states can confront Iran on an equal footing without having to rely on the United States.