Robin Mills

Non-Resident Fellow, AGSIW; CEO, Qamar Energy

Robin Mills is a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and the CEO of Qamar Energy. He established Qamar Energy in 2015 to meet the need for regionally based Middle East energy insight. He is an expert on energy strategy and economics, described by Foreign Policy Magazine as “one of the energy world’s great minds.”

Mills has led major consulting assignments for the European Union in Iraq, and for a variety of international oil companies on Middle East business development, integrated gas and power generation, and renewable energy. Mills worked for a decade for Shell, concentrating on new business development in the Middle East. He subsequently worked for six years with Dubai Holding and the Emirates National Oil Company, where he advanced business development efforts in the Middle East energy sector.

He is a fellow at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy and senior fellow of the Iraq Energy Institute, spent two years as the non-resident fellow for energy at the Brookings Institution, is a columnist on energy and environment for The National and Bloomberg, and is the author of the influential report on Middle East solar, Sunrise in the Desert, and two books, The Myth of the Oil Crisis, and Capturing Carbon. 

He holds a first-class degree in geology from the University of Cambridge, and speaks Arabic, Farsi, Dutch, and Norwegian.

Petro Diplomacy 2023: The Energy Transition and the Road to COP28

On June 27 and 28, AGSIW convened its ninth annual Petro Diplomacy conference. 

Petro Diplomacy 2022: Gulf Countries on the Front Line of Energy Security

On October 20 and 21, AGSIW convened its eighth annual Petro Diplomacy conference. 

Following Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, Can Gulf Countries Stabilize Energy Markets? 

On March 10, AGSIW hosted a discussion examining the impact of the Ukraine crisis on global oil and gas markets and the direct effects on the Gulf region.

Petro Diplomacy 2021: Gulf Countries in a Net-Zero World

For the seventh consecutive year, AGSIW convened its Petro Diplomacy conference.

The Future of Renewable and Low Carbon Energy in the Middle East and North Africa

On May 19, AGSIW hosted a discussion on the transition to renewable and low carbon energy in the Middle East and North Africa.

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Can Iran Sustain Its Oil and Gas Export Surge?

Iran’s oil resurgence is a critical market and political development, but the Iranian energy industry remains in a shaky state.

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GCC Grid Infrastructure and Connectivity – An Electrifying Vision

The Middle East could become the center of an electric spider’s web, but such dreams face massive challenges.

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Fossil Fuels and the Gulf Energy Transition

While the global energy transition will present challenges for the Gulf Arab states, there are climate-compatible ways to use a significant portion of Gulf hydrocarbon reserves.

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OPEC+ to Cut Production, but Should Heed Energy Market Shifts

OPEC’s oil market management could be more nuanced than the blunt instrument of quotas, and should OPEC recast its mission as assisting its members in energy transition and economic diversification, it might attract less opprobrium.

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The European Union and Gulf Energy: A Gateway for Cooperation

In recent years, the EU has been inattentive to the GCC, but the immediate Ukrainian crisis and the long-term climate crisis have combined to jolt Brussels out of this complacency.

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Iranian Claims Cloud Kuwaiti-Saudi Neutral Zone Deal

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia’s deal to develop the Dorra gas field could set up a confrontation between Iran and Kuwait – one of the GCC states with which Tehran has the most cordial relations.

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Could Iran Replace Russian Oil and Gas?

A revived nuclear deal with Iran would untangle some energy knots while tightening others.

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UAE and Saudi Arabia Cut Renewables Deals to Improve Iraq Relations

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are making a serious effort to collaborate with Iraq, but these energy projects still have a long way to go to reach fruition.

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Low-Carbon Energy in Iran

Iran’s renewable energy potential is sizeable and underdeveloped, and it provides an opportunity for more fruitful international cooperation.