The country has the chance to change direction, open up, and win the investment that would transform its natural and human resources into the economic engine needed. It just needs the will.
Old fields could produce 400,000 barrels of oil per day within a year and there are some large natural gas reserves to exploit, but investment is needed to make the most of the opportunity.
Promising new discoveries, big new deals on gas, and a successful second public share offering is shaping one of the world's biggest companies to beat its own high expectations.
Streamlining the public sector, enhancing the role of the private sector, and reviewing financial policies away from sovereign funds are just some of the reforms needed. Time is running out.
Cheap unmanned aerial vehicles cost only a few thousand dollars to make, but are costing millions to defend against, turning the economics of war on its head
Britons seem fed up with establishment parties after Labour's disastrous performance in this week's local elections, and the Tories' similar failure two years ago
Nestled on the southern Mediterranean coast, Egypt's quaint coastal metropolis marked its inception as an ancient city that wore many hats across civilisations