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Category Archives: Middle East
Yellow is the color of caution
Yellow traffic lights function as a caution. Yellow in the energy industry is associated with sulfur.
As a result of the war with Iran a yellow flashing light is alerting us to challenges coming in the agricultural sector.
Bright yellow is the color of elemental sulfur, a bi-product of oil and natural gas and a key ingredient for making fertilizer.
The blockade of The Strait of Hormuz is disrupting the energy supply chain.
Less oil and natural gas, less sulfur, less fertilizer. Less fertilizer results in higher prices to farmers for fertilizer. Higher costs to grow crops will result in higher prices for food.
Rest assured the energy companies, refiners, shippers, chemical corporations agribusiness and grocers will be fine. They will pass the cost along. This increased cost will be paid for by ordinary people and families buying food at the grocery store.
You think the cost of gas is a problem and for most people it is.
But wait for it…higher cost of food in the grocery store is on the horizon.
It’s time to respond to the flashing yellow light and demand a stop to this war.
The increased cost of gas is not the only consequences of the war with Iran. Incres in the cost of sulfur is coming and with it increased costs of food
Map showing the Partitioned Neutral Zone of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Map Source: Wikipedia
Money has the power to enrich relationships or to destroy them. More often than not, the pursuit of wealth has pulled families, friends, and entire nations apart. Yet when shared intentionally, wealth can become a bridge that strengthens bonds rather than breaks them.
Bedouin watching over a herd of camels, sheep, and goats along a crude oil pipeline in the Neutral Zone shared by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
Here’s a story that began long ago, on December 2, 1922. That was when the British designated 2,000 square miles of desert as a new border between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait under the Uqair Convention. The goal was to accommodate the Bedouin tribes who roamed freely across the area. The agreement declared that the rights to this region would be shared equally between the governments of Kuwait and Najd (modern-day Saudi Arabia).
Rig pumping crude oil in the Partitioned Neutral Zone shared by Kuwait and Saudi ArabiaOil Transfer Unit, PNZ Neutral Zone, Shared Crude Oil Kuwait/Saudi Arabia
Then came 1938, when oil was discovered in the Burgan field of Kuwait, near the Neutral Zone. It was a moment that could have sown division, because potential riches often spark rivalry. Over the next decades, more oil was found, but rather than dispute, both nations decided to cooperate. As oil development expanded through the 1960s and 70s, they continued to share the profits and manage the resource together. On January 18, 1970, they ratified an agreement to formally partition the Neutral Zone while continuing to jointly extract its oil.
Years later, in 1991, Iraq invaded Kuwait, threatening both its sovereignty and its oil reserves. A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United States said “no,” pushed back the invaders, and restored Kuwait’s independence—securing not just territory but the spirit of partnership that had endured for decades.
More than half a century later, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait continue to peacefully share and benefit from the oil resources of the Neutral Zone. Their story stands as a living example that cooperation can yield prosperity, and that a shared resource can unite rather than divide.
Safaniya Offshore Oil Rig, Arabian Gulf, Neutral Zone, Kuwait/Saudi ArabiaShip navigation map, Arabian Gulf, Port of Kuwait
Perhaps real wealth lies not only in what we possess, but in how we choose to share it.
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