Alsen Group has announced its entry into the Middle East’s Exploration and Production sector, marking a major strategic extension of the firm’s advisory portfolio. The move will support international energy developers and technical service firms as the region transitions away from scale-driven output to a focus on securing “advantaged” barrels — assets positioned to remain competitive with low carbon intensity and robust economics under volatile demand conditions.
The Middle Eastern energy landscape is undergoing rapid transformation. National Oil Companies are expanding production aggressively, while embedding strict sustainability and decarbonisation requirements into new project frameworks. As a result, successful participation now relies not only on engineering ability, but on navigating evolving fiscal terms, national value rules and climate-aligned investment expectations. Alsen Group aims to bridge that complexity, offering deep analytical and strategic support tailored for a competitive and heavily regulated environment.
The firm will deploy its “Framework for Certainty” to help clients secure assets offering long-term resilience. Rather than applying conventional exploration screening, the framework evaluates where incentives, infrastructure and project design combine to create the most competitive breakeven positions. The advisory also supports the formation of durable joint ventures and develops bid strategies aligned with government agendas around gas utilisation, decarbonisation and technology-led value creation.
“The narrative that the Middle East is a ‘closed’ or ‘easy’ market for incumbents is rapidly becoming obsolete,” said Anders Jørgensen, Partner at Alsen Group. “We are seeing a fundamental decoupling between companies that are simply drilling wells and those that are building resilient energy portfolios. In a basin this mature, the real exploration risk isn’t geological, it’s strategic. It is about understanding how a specific asset fits into a global portfolio that must remain profitable even if crude oil prices fall to $40 per barrel, while simultaneously meeting net-zero commitments. That is the nuance Alsen Group is here to address.
“The next decade of Middle East exploration will not be defined by discovery volume, but by asset quality and portfolio integration. We are entering this market to serve the operators who recognise that distinction.”
