Reflections on the Gulf
Based on personal memories, Gerald Butt evokes the atmosphere in the Gulf at the dawn of the oil boom era
The stench of oil in the air is one of the things I remember most vividly from my childhood. At the height of summer in Bahrain the discharge from the Sitra refinery seemed to hang like droplets in the intense humidity. The sour stench wouldn't go away—at home in Manama, in the car on the way to school, anywhere. Bahrain in the late-1950s was the hub of the Gulf oil industry, as it was for regional diplomacy, trade and finance. So while my father was manager of the British Bank of the Middle East (BBME) in Bahrain, he was in charge of all the branches in the Gulf. The Gulf in those days was emerging from the shadow of Britain's imperial past. Having been administered from British India, the
Also in this section
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future
8 January 2026
The region’s access to versatile feedstock, combined with policy support, is setting it up to meet growing demand both at home and abroad
7 January 2026
No longer can the energy source be considered a sidekick to oil in the Middle East and neither should it step aside for less convincing alternatives
