Published in MarketWatch:

“The most noteworthy point is that the this plan confirms that Saudi Arabia is going to maintain its current policy in oil markets—defending market share and ignoring commercially unwise calls for an output cut,” said Omar Al-Ubaydli, a program director at the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies.

“Any speculators who were hanging on to the hope that internal and external political pressure would lead the Saudis into a commercial error [output cut] should really consider moving on, and accept that the Saudis are not going to cut output for the benefit of other producers, and at a significant cost to themselves,” he said.

Published on the LSE Middle East Centre Blog:
النسخة العربية أدناه

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are an attractive destination for prospective migrants from developing economies due to their high income levels, similar to the countries of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). However, unlike the OECD, the GCC countries’ immigration systems allow workers from all skill levels to enter the economy. This is due to the dependence of the labour force on foreign workers (approximately 75% of the GCC workforce is foreign), which in turn derives from young education systems, and rapid development paths. Continue

تشكّل دول مجلس التعاون هدفاً جذّاباً للمهاجرين المحتملين الآتين من الدول النامية؛ نتيجة لازدهارها الاقتصادي، الذي يشابه ما يوجد في الدول الغربية (تحديداً دول منظمة التعاون والتنمية الاقتصادية «OECD»). ولكن على عكس الدول الغربية، تمنح أنظمة الهجرة الخليجية حقّ العمل للوافدين ذوي كل مستويات المهارات. ويعود ذلك إلى اعتماد القوات العاملة الخليجية على العمالة الوافدة (يمثّل الأجانب تقريباً 75% من القوة العاملة الخليجية)؛ بسبب مرور فترة محدودة منذ تأسيس الأنظمة التعليمية الخليجية، فضلاً عن سرعة النمو الاقتصادي في مجلس  التعاون الذي يستدعي استيراد أيدٍ عاملة. المزيد

Published in Investor's Business Daily

Novak called Saudi Arabia’s insistence that Iran join in a freeze “unreasonable” and said that he thought a deal in Doha was assured.

But Omar Al-Ubaydli, an affiliated senior research fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, told IBD earlier that Russia was already “basically producing at capacity.”

نُشرت في صحيفة الحياة
English version below

اندلع أخيراً صراع شرس بين مرشحي رئاسة الجمهورية الأميركية، وانكشفت الفجوات الضخمة التي تفصل مؤيدي الحزب الديموقراطي عن مؤيدي الحزب الجمهوري، مثل سياسات الضرائب، وكيفية التعامل مع القطاع المالي، وحقوق ملكية الأسلحة النارية، وسياسات أميركا في الشرق الأوسط، وغيرها. وعلى رغم الاختلافات الكبيرة بين الناخبين حول طبيعة السياسات التي تعتبَر أخلاقية وفاعلة، ثمة مجال يتفق عليه اليساريون واليمينيون، وهو تقليل عدد الفرص المتاحة للأجانب للعمل والاستقرار في الولايات المتحدة، فحتى المرشح اليميني دونالد ترامب، والاشتراكي بيرني ساندرز، يعتبران العمالة الوافدة ظاهرة مضرّة بمصلحة المواطن الأميركي. وهذه تطورات غريبة لدولة أُسست على الهجرة، وتحوّلت إلى عملاق اقتصادي بسبب فتح أبوابها للعمالة الوافدة، كما نرى في أحد أبيات الشعر التي نُقشت على تمثال الحرية في عاصمة العالم الاقتصادية، مدينة نيويورك: «فليُرجَع إليَّ المتعبون والفقراء منكم». المزيد

US presidential candidates have been battling fiercely of late, revealing huge gaps between Democrat and Republican supporters over issues such as taxation, financial sector regulation, firearms ownership laws, and US policy in the Middle East. Despite significant differences among the electorate over what constitute effective and morally desirable policies, one area of agreement among both left-wing and right-wing voters is the desire to diminish the opportunities for foreigners to work and settle in the US. In fact, even the para-fascist candidate, Donald Trump, and the traditional socialist, Bernie Sanders, share the view that migrant workers damage the interests of US citizens. This is a bizarre development for a country that was founded on immigration, and that transformed into an economic powerhouse by opening its doors to migrant workers, as recorded in one of the verses from the sonnet etched on the Statue of Liberty, in the world’s financial capital, New York: “Give me your tired, your poor.”

Published in Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

"The OPEC meetings will result in nothing of substance," Omar Al-Ubaydli, program director for international and geopolitical studies at the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies, said in an email.

"Output freezes are of virtually no significance when those committing to them are producing at capacity or close to capacity, which is the case for many oil producers at the moment," he said. "Whenever the stakes are this high, expect a lot of rhetoric from oil producers and analysts as they jockey for position."