Privatization of industries within the energy sector has been spreading globally since its small and uncertain beginnings in Britain, in the early 1980s. Today, states of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) are actively examining the privatization of a number of key energy industries and energy-related infrastructure projects. This book provides both a practical and scholarly approach to the privatization and deregulation of the energy sector. It includes discussions on oil production and refining and gas and electricity production, and their transmission and distribution. Assessing the arguments for and against deregulation of the energy sector, it draws on international experience to highlight the political, legal, institutional and resource requirements for successful implementations of a privatization programme.