To one senior oil industry official, “it’s a fascinating and somewhat bizarre phenomenon”. To another it simply “looks a bit weird”. But for Middle East states, the dynamic the two are describing is deadly serious – the globe’s most hydrocarbon-rich region is facing the prospect of critical shortages of gas.

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.