In November 2015, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported, citing MEED Projects, that Gulf Cooperation Council states expected to expand seawater desalination by almost 40 % by 2020. Capacity was to climb from about 20 to 27.5 million m³/day, while demand was projected to rise from roughly 15 to 27 million m³/day. The study was published jointly by MEED, the International Water Summit and Masdar. MEED put ten years of spending on standalone water schemes at US$ 76 billion and expected a shift towards reverse osmosis.
The report showed how heavily the Gulf states were relying on new desalination at the time and how the focus was moving from thermal processes to less energy-hungry reverse osmosis.