John Roberts

John M. Roberts is a senior partner with Methinks Ltd, a consultancy specializing in the inter-relationship between energy, economic development, and politics. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Global Energy Centre, Atlantic Council, Washington DC. He is currently researching European energy security issues, including the role of Turkey in European energy security, Russian gas deliveries to Europe, the development of new supply pipelines and interconnectors within Europe, and the energy security implications of gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Roberts is a respected energy analyst who has testified to UK parliamentary committees on Middle Eastern, Russian, Caspian, Turkish and Kurdish energy security issues. He has lectured widely on a variety of subjects, including the development of Arctic oil and gas, the impact of social and political unrest in the Middle East and boundary disputes in the Caspian Sea. His recent papers include Democracy in Turkey: Implications for Regional Energy Security (JNU, Delhi, March 2017); Olive trees hold up Southern Gas Corridor (Platts Energy Economist, April 2017); and Iranian Gas Export Prospects and Energy Security (FLAME, Amsterdam, May 2017).

Roberts has recently completed studies for the Atlantic Council on oil and gas in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, on gas interconnectors in Europe, and on the development of Russia’s Turkish Stream pipeline and its impact on the development of the Southern Gas Corridor to connect the Caspian to Europe. Private consultancy work has included investigation of investment conditions in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 programme. He is currently preparing a study on the Russia-China-Turkmenistan gas triangle.

His books include Caspian Pipelines (1996) and Visions & Mirages: The Middle East in a New Era (1995).