Cyber attacks are ramping up, and the latest victim is Saudi Aramco.

The world’s biggest oil producer confirmed this week that some files
were leaked and hackers reportedly demanded a $50 million ransom.  The attack did not impact operations, and was not due to a breach of company systems, Aramco said in an email.

The energy industry has seen an increase in cyber attacks of late, the most striking example coming in May when hackers forced the
shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline system, a critical source of oil supply for the eastern U.S. President Joe Biden
plans to meet private sector leaders next month to discuss strategies with which to confront the threat.

Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urged other nations to join his in building an international platform for defusing cyber attacks.

“Everything is under attack; our water, our electricity, our food, our cars,” Bennett said. “Why? Because it is easy and has never been easier.

 

Chart of the Week

Sharing the Burden?

The new OPEC+ deal is still most favorable to Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Source: IEA, OPEC

Saudi Arabia and Russia
clinched a deal for an OPEC+ production increase by partly submitting to the United Arab Emirates’ demands for a more generous quota. Still, the compromise leaves Riyadh and Moscow — the organization’s two biggest members — further on top. They made sure of that by awarding themselves the biggest increases. The dispute between Saudi Arabia and the UAE was essentially about the energy transition and the Emiratis being better prepared for it, Meghan L. O’Sullivan
says.

 

The Slant

The Pegasus snooping scandal, uncovered by a consortium of investigative journalists, should be a
wake-up call for the U.S., Mihir Sharma writes for Bloomberg Opinion. While Israel-based NSO Group’s software apparently did not infiltrate any American phone numbers, the future of surveillance will be determined by decisions made in the U.S. It’s time that monitoring of the end-use of weapons packages is extended to digital technologies that can be just as easily misused.

 

Need to Know

Iran’s outgoing government blamed conservative politicians for stalling nuclear talks with world powers by signing legislation that forced the country to expand atomic activities. International monitors are watching that growth with alarm.

The Saudi-UAE border
was snarled with trucks as manufacturers found their goods caught up in a deepening economic rivalry that’s raising the cost of doing business and complicating growth plans. 

Turkey
is keen to take over security at Kabul’s airport provided it has the support of the U.S. Ankara has been responsible for security at the airport’s busy military section for six years and taking on the rest of the facility could provide an opportunity to repair ties with Washington.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker is
ready to order wide-body freighter planes from Airbus SE or Boeing Co. within a month or two if a new model is made available.  Burgeoning cargo demand is increasingly important to airlines at a time when passenger travel remains blighted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Coming Up

• Teva Pharmaceutical reports second quarter earnings on July 28
• Flurry of Middle Eastern company earnings through July 29

 

Last Word

The maker of ice cream flavors such as Cherry Garcia and Chunky Money created a political storm this week when it announced
plans to halt sales in Jewish West Bank settlements and areas of east Jerusalem.

Ben & Jerry, owned by Unilever, will end a long-standing partnership at the end of next year with the licensee that makes its ice cream in Israel and distributes it in the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned in a call with Unilever’s chief executive officer that the step will have ‘’serious repercussions, legal and otherwise.’’

Know someone else who would like this newsletter? They can sign up here.