Dr Carole Nakhle, CEO of Crystol Energy and board member of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), joined an NRGI webinar on how instability is reshaping energy policy, economic strategy, and governance across the Gulf and wider Middle East and North Africa region.
The webinar, titled “The Price of Instability: Oil Shocks, Energy Transitions and MENA’s Economic Future”, brought together Dr Nakhle, Dr Rola Dashti, Kuwaiti economist and former minister, and Dr Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow at Chatham House. The discussion was moderated by Laury Haytayan, NRGI’s MENA Regional Director, and examined the structural implications of the current crisis for oil markets, energy security, regional cooperation, and the use of resource revenues.
Key takeaways from Dr Carole Nakhle’s remarks:
Energy security requires diversification across all energy sources, including oil, gas, renewables, and potentially nuclear power.
Past crises show that resilience depends on diversified supply portfolios and strong infrastructure redundancy, not reliance on a single fuel or route.
The lessons from 1973 and Europe’s energy scramble after 2022 remain highly relevant for MENA economies today.
Nuclear power is attracting renewed interest as part of the regional energy mix, but interest does not automatically translate into investment.
Nuclear energy requires long timelines, major capital, strong regulation, and sustained political commitment.
Even in stable environments, nuclear infrastructure demands robust governance, making careful planning essential before any large scale investment.
The webinar also explored wider questions around regional cooperation, economic resilience, and the role of resource revenues during periods of instability. Speakers discussed whether existing Arab institutions could be retooled to respond more effectively to shocks, how pragmatic bilateral cooperation is reshaping regional energy links, and how countries across MENA can protect development priorities while managing higher security, fiscal, and infrastructure pressures.
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