Lebanon establishes Arab Energy Club

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A group of Lebanese analysts, specialists and academics have founded the Arab Energy Club, a Beirut forum for advanced research on energy issues.

The Daily Star reported Sunday that the forum will disseminate research via publications and seminars about developments relating to Arab energy, covering not only petroleum but natural gas, electricity and nuclear and alternative energy.

The Arab Energy Club founders hope that their organization will provide an Arab counterpart to already existing international centers devoted to advanced energy research such as the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, founded in 1982 and the first such forum to be established.

The club's roster of founders includes Adnan Shihab Eldin of Kuwait, who has worked with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency; Walid Khadurri of Iraq, the editor in chief of the Middle East Economic Survey; and Majid al-Munif, adviser to Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi.