Research Library

Rapid urbanization and expansion of cities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has created new opportunities — along with environmental risks, lack of financial and natural resources, and social disparity. In a new issue brief, visiting research scholar Osamah Alsayegh explores how developing smart sustainable cities can bring social and economic benefits to the growing urban population.

Will OPEC+ begin to reverse large production cuts at its June 1 meeting? In large part, it will depend on whose oil market outlook is closest to the mark, writes Mark Finley, fellow in energy and global oil. He examines several forecasts and outlines the issues in a new commentary.

Mark Finley explains the cost-benefit analysis behind the Saudi government's recent move to pause plans to increase spare oil production capacity — and why spare capacity still equates to power in the oil market.

When the OPEC+ group met last week and agreed to extend production cuts through the first quarter of 2024, the market was unimpressed. Fellow in Energy and Global Oil, Mark Finley, outlines the meeting’s outcomes and discusses why the recent agreement “could augur a year of difficult meetings ahead” in a new commentary.

Hama's Oct. 7 attack on Israel threatens to undermine a key pillar of Saudi Arabia’s foreign and domestic agenda: the “de-risking” of the region, writes fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen.

Like the 1973 embargo, today’s crises have rendered the future of energy massively uncertain, write fellows Jim Krane and Mark Finley.

The first of two issue briefs reviewing the impacts of AI on tax research, tax compliance, and tax policymaking.

Five key factors make the Biden administration’s attempts to expand the Abraham Accords in the Middle East likely to fail, writes nonresident fellow Omar Rahman. Instead, regional approaches like the restoration of Saudi-UAE diplomatic relations with Iran are now holding sway.

This issue brief highlights the potential collaboration between Arab countries and China in dealing with the global energy transition, and examines the energy transition from the perspectives of the world's largest economy (China) and richest hydrocarbon region (the Middle East).

The Saudi leadership has repeatedly rebuffed requests from President Biden and leaders of oil-importing countries to accelerate production increases. But recent price differentials could signal an intent to quietly steer crude into Europe to replace Russian supplies, writes the author. Read the post on the Baker Institute Blog.  This article originally appeared in the Forbes blog on May 4, 2022.