Rising oil prices is forcing Gulf states to invest in gas production. Some analysts estimate that the cumulative supply shortfall for the six countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council up to 2015 will reach at least 7,000bn cubic feet. To put the number into perspective, according to BP the UK's entire remaining proven gas reserves total just under 17,000bn cu ft. "There is a Middle East regional gas crisis brewing," says Rajnish Goswami at Wood Mackenzie, the Edinburgh-based energy consultancy.

More than a decade after cessation of hostilities, the Gulf region continues to reel under the ravages of war. Kuwait recently revealed that oil well fires ignited by Iraqi troops in the 1991 war and

kuwait's leading fish farm has trashed 51 tonnes of dead fish. Probably a

Iraq is facing lawsuits claiming billions of dollars in compensation by Kuwait and its allies including the US, for environmental damage caused during the Gulf War. Iraqi troops are alleged to have

THE WORLD Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has gone on record officially that oilwell fires in Kuwait have had no global effect on the atmosphere. At WMO's recent meeting in Geneva with

THE IRRITABLE HEART: THE MEDICAL MYSTERY OF THE GULF WAR Jeff Wheelwright . W W Norton & Company . New York . 2001 . 427 pages Bill is 46 and a military

at least 1,000 tonnes of fish were recently found dead near the shores

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