SOAS Research Online

Abstract

For many decades, the Gulf states’ significant oil reserves have rendered the region among the most important energy suppliers in the world, and there is similar potential for the region’s natural gas reserves. However, the Gulf states’ rapidly rising regional consumption has begun to play a critical role in the region’s future export prospects, including the size and longevity of domestic oil and gas production, both for domestic and export market supply. This paper by Laura El-Katiri aims to discuss the current and future challenges evolving from the Gulf region’s growing domestic energy use, coupled to its continued, almost exclusive, reliance on oil and natural gas, on the region’s future export potential, as well as the security of its domestic energy supplies. It suggests that only a more proactive Gulf policy response to rising domestic energy consumption can help safeguard the stability of the Gulf’s role as a global energy supplier as well as its domestic long-term energy security; such a policy response would include the diversification of the region’s energy base and the effective management of domestic demand.