Chatham House says OPEC may be heading for a Shia-Sunni split, but it appears to have discounted the group’s enduring powers and its resilience despite wars and severe disputes between member states. READ MORE HERE

Opec countries will rake in $900-billion this year. But these outstanding figures mask great turmoil facing group members in the next few
years.

With Brent crude comfortably over $100 a barrel, oil exports of OPEC countries this year will amount to nearly $900 billion, a 38%
increase over 2010, according to the Centre for Global Energy Studies. READ MORE HERE

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Read the ten major forecasts from Opec’s latest World Oil Outlook, ranging from the challenges and prospects for oil developers to the intense competition they will face over the next 25 years. READ MORE HERE

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Even as hopes arise of a quick resumption of Libyan oil, a whole host of new supply-side worries will ensure that crude production remains tight. The resumption of Libyan oil will not dent oil prices as supply constraints continue to add up. READ MORE HERE

With a string of impressive economic policies, Iran has ensured that it remains a major energy supplier, despite various restrictions imposed by the western international community.

But while Iran has benefited from high oil prices, lack of major investments in the country’s energy sector could hamper growth and continue to handicap the country’s economic prosperity. Add to this dynamic, is Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme and its divisive role in regional politics, which makes it a target for many countries around the region that are eager to hurt Iran’s economy. READ MORE HERE
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Opec’s annual bulletin reveals the changing dynamics of the energy industry and the key challenges facing both the producers and the consumers.

Click through the charts to find out more:

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The price of oil is not the only ‘greaser’ for expansion of Islamic finance. Lately, a number of countries seem to be pre-empting social-movement-cum-change of regime as today’s ‘oil price’ facilitator for welcoming Islamic finance.

But what happens to Islamic finance when alternative energy, solar, bio-mass, wind, ocean, etc., becomes a viable replacement for oil or oil has simply ‘run dry,’ or ‘Arab street democracy’ arrives in the Muslim OPEC countries, or even the anti-Shariah movements in selected western countries finds another ‘boogeyman?”
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Even if Saudi Arabia was aware of the IEA’s move to draw from its oil reserves, all parties appear to have lost face, without really upsetting the trend of stubbornly high oil prices. Goldman says buy the oil dip.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) followed through on its threat of releasing oil supplies into the global markets, after OPEC had failed to raise output in its last meeting in early June. READ MORE HERE

With Opec seemingly irrelevant, the GCC is trying to find a balance between responsible crude suppliers and their own domestic needs. But, as Deutsche Bank warns, their own high breakeven prices are making them even more vulnerable to oil price shocks than before. READ MORE HERE