“Middle Eastern oligarchies yearn to move from black gold to green gold”

Lhe clear winner of the war in Ukraine is the Arabian-Persian Gulf. Western ships are now queuing in front of the LNG ports of Qatar or the oil ports of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. According to calculations by the International Monetary Fund, quoted by the FinancialTimes, Gulf producers are expected to make 1.3 trillion dollars (1.3 trillion euros) more by 2026 compared to the situation prevailing before the conflict. Growth in Saudi Arabia should be over 7.6% in 2022, allowing the country to post a budget surplus, the first since 2003, representing 5.5% of its gross domestic product.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Gulf countries benefit from soaring oil prices

What to do with all that money? until now, it is massively recycled in the Western Stock Exchanges through the sovereign wealth funds of the petromonarchies. But the oligarchies that reign over this manna can no longer be satisfied with the management of a father. The previous decade, which saw oil prices plunge seriously, convinced them of the need to see further. With three objectives: to diversify their resources (black gold represents 60% of those of Saudi Arabia), to find work for their populations and to prepare for the post-oil era, in a context of accelerating climate change.

Investment in processing industries

So they invest locally and, if possible, in the “green”: new and futuristic cities and processing industries. The ideal candidate seems to them to be hydrogen. Riyadh aspires to become the world’s largest producer, with a giant factory expected to open in 2026. Abu Dhabi has the same ambition, aiming for 25% of the world market in 2030, and Qatar announced on Wednesday August 31 an investment of a billion dollars in the construction of an ammonia plant.

Produced from natural gas and composed of hydrogen and nitrogen, it can be used either as a fuel or fertilizer or as an easy way to transport hydrogen over long distances, CO emissions₂ being captured during manufacture. Will petromonarchies turn into hydromonarchies, under the benevolent, even interested, eye of Westerners, who all want to produce their own hydrogen? Nothing is less certain, but, for the moment, the men of the desert have at least the means of their ambitions.