Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the West has been scrambling to find reliable sources for consistent oil and gas supplies to compensate for those lost from Russia. At the same time, and cognisant of this dire need, China and Russia, have done their utmost to deny the West any such opportunities. An additional crucial factor at play in this element of the new global oil market order, as analysed in depth in my new book of that name, is that China and Russia want to expedite the creation of a pan-Arabic ‘unified power grid’ – in every sense of the phrase. The basic notion reflects the view on how to maintain control over people or countries espoused by former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt: “If you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.” In this context, control over a unified Middle Eastern power grid means that China and Russia would be able to exert even more authority over countries dependent on that grid for their electricity than they otherwise might. Egypt is at the centre of these plans for a unified power grid, so the two recent announcements by Western firms of major new discoveries in that country is extremely significant.
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