Axiom Insights

Proprietary research, briefings, video and podcast series.

Research/Briefing7 Sept 2026

Syria's oil and gas comeback: contracts, companies, and what comes next

A year and a half after Damascus regained authority over its northeastern territories, Syria's hydrocarbons sector is showing the first real signs of life after more than a decade in ruins. What began as a handful of tentative memoranda has, over the past several months, hardened into signed development contracts, competitive bid rounds, and an offshore exploration push that would have seemed unthinkable in 2024.

Research/Briefing2 Sept 2026

The Strait of Hormuz crisis: six months that redrew the Gulf's oil map

Few chokepoints carry as much weight in global energy markets as the Strait of Hormuz, the 33-kilometre gap between Iran and Oman through which roughly 15% of the world's oil and close to a fifth of its LNG must pass. For the past six months, that weight has been tested repeatedly. What began as a single, catastrophic strike has evolved into a rolling, multi-phase crisis of closures, partial reopenings, and renewed escalation that has forced almost every Gulf producer to rethink how it gets its barrels to market.

Research/Briefing22 Aug 2026

North Field/South Pars: the world's largest gas field caught in the crossfire

No gas asset has a greater impact on global gas markets than the world’s largest gas resource, shared by Qatar and Iran. Damage to production and processing infrastructure on both sides of the field has exposed the geographical concentration and interconnected vulnerabilities embedded across the wider value chain, from upstream production and gas processing to LNG liquefaction and export infrastructure.

Research/Briefing14 Aug 2026

American oil companies are quietly retaking Iraq

For much of the past decade, the story of foreign investment in Iraq's oilfields was, in large part, a Chinese one. Sinopec, PetroChina, Anton Oil, ZPEC – Chinese state firms and service companies filled the vacuum left when Western majors grew wary of Iraq's thin margins and cumbersome service contracts. That balance has been shifting hard in the other direction since mid-2025, as a wave of American majors, independents, and oilfield-services firms have come back to the table, chasing a country that still holds well over 140 billion barrels of remaining oil. What's striking isn't just the volume of activity – it's how many separate American companies, of very different sizes and specialties, are moving at once.

Research/Briefing27 Feb 2026

Iraq’s refining resurgence redraws crude flows, export leverage and fiscal trade-offs

Iraq’s refining capacity has surged past 1.5 million b/d, driven by Baiji’s rehabilitation, creating significant spare capacity and reshaping crude allocation dynamics. This downstream revival is altering Iraq’s export flexibility, OPEC+ positioning and leverage in northern pipeline negotiations, marking a structural shift in oil policy.