A pair of gravity-measuring NASA satellites has documented a precipitous drop in freshwater supplies in the arid Middle East over the past decade. NASA said that since 2003 parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran had lost 144 cubic kilometers of total stored freshwater, an amount roughly equivalent to the water in the Dead Sea. (more…)

Jordan’s growing economy has been hobbled by the fact that it currently imports 95 percent of its energy needs.

During the “Energy Security in the Middle East and the Gulf Region” seminar held in the capital Amman earlier this week, a number of analysts stated that the country could benefit by shifting (more…)

The generous social benefits being doled out by Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Persian Gulf nations are contributing to high oil prices, according to a report by the energy advisory firm, PFC Energy.

The report said that populist spending programs, which have recently become even more generous in (more…)

Solar energy is the predominant source of alternative energy that the Middle East could try and exploit. Other sources such as wind, hydroelectric, thermal, and tidal energy cannot be supported or justified given the obvious constraints and limitations to make them work.

When one thinks of the Middle East, ‘Solar’ (more…)

The Middle East’s first carbon dioxide recovery plant has been opened at the Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company. This is also one of the first in the world to successfully recycle carbon dioxide air emissions. The $55 million facility at the company’s Sitra facility was formally inaugurated by Gulf chairman and adviser to the Prime Minister for oil and industrial affairs Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, in the presence of board members, company officials and guests.

Carbon dioxide is useful for many industrial operations. It can be used as a feedstock if compressed and transported and it can be used in carbonation of beverages. These are useful and productive recycling efforts but the industry using the carbon dioxide must be close by. (more…)