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MEED
August 2007

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  • 175,000 illegal immigrants processed during amnesty

    Over 175,000 illegal immigrants have legalised their status or returned to their home countries since the federation introduced a three-month amnesty in early June, according to the latest government statistics.The Department of Naturalisation & Residency says it is expecting a surge of illegal immigrants at its centres in the coming weeks as the amnesty period comes to a close.It is estimated there are at least 300,000 illegal immigrants in the country and

  • A clean start

    Businesses in the region are appealing to governments to get tougher on polluting companies. MEED surveys corporate climate change across the Middle East.

  • ABB wins power job for Qatalum smelter

    Europe's ABB will supply, build and install a high-voltage power rectifier station at the $4,800 million Qatalum aluminium smelter project.The new station will support the $1,000 million gas-fired power plant with capacity of about 1,350 MW which will provide power to the aluminium project. Located in Mesaieed, 40 kilometres south of Doha, the project will consist of a smelter, casthouse and carbon plant. Qatalum, which will produce 585,000 tonnes of alumini

  • Abbas and Olmert in talks over Palestinian state

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held talks on Palestinian statehood on 28 August.Disputed borders and the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees were included in discussions ahead of a US-sponsored Middle East conference due in November. In the wake of the talks Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official who attended the meeting with Olmert, said: 'These talks did not reach the level of details. I do not want

  • Abbas holds talks with Mubarak

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas flew to Egypt on 8 August for fresh talks with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak.Following his recent meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jericho on 6 August, Abbas held talks in Alexandria to discuss the latest initiatives in the Middle East peace process. The two Arab leaders also discussed the US proposal of a peace conference later in the year.However, local concerns were

  • Abu Dhabi issues first $1bn bond

    Abu Dhabi has launched its maiden $1,000 million bond, becoming the first emirate government to do so.

  • Abu Dhabi plans beach

    Abu Dhabi Municipality plans to develop the Khalidiya beach area on Abu Dhabi island. The plans involve the construction of new beaches, public parks and other recreational areas. The project is part of a larger plan to develop the Abu Dhabi coastline and make it more accessible to the public.

  • Abu Dhabi plans Emerald Gateway

    Abu Dhabi Municipality plans to develop a AED 7,000 million ($1,907 million) series of towers on the approach to Mussafah bridge and Abu Dhabi island.

  • Abu Dhabi reviews Salam

    Abu Dhabi Municipality is redesigning the scheme to upgrade intersections along Salam Street on Abu Dhabi island. Tenders were submitted in March, but these are on hold pending the redesigns, which will incorporate elements of the Plan 2030 Abu Dhabi urban masterplan. The municipality may issue fresh tenders for the revised scheme or negotiate with the existing tenderers. The low bidder was the local Admak with a price of AED 2,400 million ($654 million) followed by Brazil's Odebrecht and the lo

  • Abu Dhabi to get English language daily paper

    The Abu Dhabi government is planning to launch an English-language daily newspaper aimed at high earners in the UAE.The paper will launch in the next few months before expanding its coverage throughout the Gulf and possibly other parts of the Middle East.The government has hired the former editor of the UK's Daily Telegraph, Martin Newland, to run the newspaper.Newland said, 'The paper is aimed at anyone at the high end, so you're looking at b

  • Abu Dhabi views tower bids

    Four companies have submitted bids for the contract to build an air-traffic control tower at Abu Dhabi International Airport. The 110-metre tower is part of the $8,000 million masterplan for the airport.The low bidder is South Korea's Kumho Construction & Engineering with a price of AED 220 million ($60 million).The other bidders are the local/Belgian Six Construct Abu Dhabi at AED 241 million ($66 million), a joint venture of the local Alec with Brazil's Odebrecht at AED 248 mil

  • Acciona signs desalination deal

    Spain's Acciona Agua has signed a contract for the construction of a 120,000 cubic-metre-a-day desalination plant at Fouka in Algeria. The estimated Eur 133.8 million ($183 million) project will be carried out on a design-build-own-operate basis under a 25-year concession. The project company, Myah Tipaza, is a joint venture with Canada's SNC Lavalin and Algerian Energy Company and was set up in May.The reverse osmosis plant will be 80 per cent financed

  • Addur appoints adviser

    A team of BNP Paribas, Freshfields Bruckhaus Derringer and UK-based Mott MacDonald has been awarded the consultancy contract on the independent water and power project at Addur. Under the scheme's first phase, the plant will have a 2,000-MW power station and a 30-million-gallon-a-day desalination plant. A request for proposals is due to be issued by the end of 2007. The client is the Finance Ministry (MEED 11:5:07).

  • Admak bids low for Al-Ain highway

    Abu Dhabi-based Admak is the low bidder for two construction packages worth more than AED 700 million ($190 million) for the upgrade of the road leading from Al-Ain, in Abu Dhabi emirate, to the border with Dubai.The scheme aims to upgrade the existing highway to allow speeds of 140 kilometres an hour by 2009.For the first package, Admak submitted a price of AED 308 million ($84 million) for the three-lane option and AED 329 million ($90 million) for four lanes. For the second p

  • African Union in troops pledge

    African countries are vowing to contribute the full complement of troops to the planned joint African Union (AU)-UN mission to Darfur, says AU diplomat Alpha Oumar Konare - making pledges from European and Asian countries unnecessary.'We have enough pledges from African nations so that we do not need to turn to forces from non-African countries,' Konare says. A UN Security Council resolution in late July authorised a 26,000-strong joint force, but the Genera

  • Airlines bypass international sanctions

    Tehran appears to have succeeded in bypassing US sanctions on its airline industry, with deals by two smaller airlines to acquire 20 new planes.Kish Air is to purchase 15 aircraft, while Qeshm Air is buying five, according to an announcement on 22 August by Mahmoud Salahi, Secretary of the High Council for Free Trade and Industrial Zones. Salahi declined to reveal where the planes were to be imported from, 'since [Iran] is under sanctions and those who impos

  • Airport financing set to close

    The debt financing for the upgrade of Queen Alia International Airport near Amman is due to close in weeks. The estimated JD 500 million ($710 million) project will be financed through a 70:30 debt/equity split.

  • Airport plans expansion

    Dubai's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has indicated it will award a $1,000 million contract to expand Dubai International Airport in a matter of weeks. The DCA has refused to discuss reports that the contract to build Concourse 3 will be awarded to South Africa's Murray & Roberts, which is already building Concourse 2. The third concourse will be used by Emirates, with 27 gates, including 12 for the Airbus A380.

  • Airport tenders revamp

    Local and international companies have until 26 September to apply for the design, supply and installation contract of a communication system at Kuwait International Airport. The contract will also involve training maintenance personnel. It is the latest part of a KD 90 million ($310 million) revamp of Kuwait's airspace system.

  • Aldar returns to debt markets

    Aldar Properties is to tap the debt markets for the third time this year, despite the increasing costs in the market.

  • Alec starts Al-Sarab work

    The local Alec has started work on an estimated AED 500 million ($136 million) resort in the Empty Quarter of Abu Dhabi emirate. Known as Qasr al-Sarab, the resort is near Liwa in the Western Region. It includes a five star hotel, conference centre, tented villages and an observatory. The client, the local Tourism Development & Investment Company, is planning a further AED 11,000 million ($3,000 million) worth of developments in the Western Region (MEED 4:5:07).

  • Alec to build Dubai tower

    The local Alec has been awarded the estimated AED 550 million ($150 million) contract for an office tower in Dubai Marina. The tower will be connected to the Marina Mall project, also being built by Alec. The other bidders were the local/Lebanese Arabian Construction Company and the local Dubai Civil Engineering. Local developer Emaar Properties is the client (MEED 18:5:07).

  • Al-Habtoor wins exhibition work

    The local Al-Habtoor Engineering Enterprises has been selected for the estimated AED 800 million ($218 million) contract to build the third phase of Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.The contract involves the construction of a mixed-use tower with offices and a hotel, which is expected to open in July 2009. The local Arabtec Construction was the other bidder.Al-Habtoor completed the first phase of the scheme earlier this year. Arabtec won the AED 778 million ($211 million) sec

  • AlMansoori buys Target Energy

    Abu Dhabi's AlMansoori Specialised Engineering has acquired UK drilling company Target Energy Group.In addition to the UK, Target has operations in Abu Dhabi, Syria, France, Canada and Nigeria. The purchase includes Target's subsidiaries, such as Tiebo Middle East and Target Well Control Syria.AlMansoori provides oilfield services in 15 locations, mainly in the Middle East. It is expanding its activities in North Africa and South East Asia.The

  • Al-Mazaya makes awards

    Local developer Al-Mazaya Holding has awarded two contracts for its developments at Dubailand. India's Simplex Infrastructure has been awarded a AED 319 million ($87 million) contract to build 838 residential units at the Liwan development. The local Model Engineering Contracting has won the AED 75 million ($20 million) contract to build 193 residential units.

  • Al-Qudra plans Mauritanian ventures

    Abu Dhabi-based Al-Qudra Holdings is planning to invest in Mauritania after Salah Salem al-Shamsi, chairman of the company, met with Mohammed Abdullah Walad Yaha, Mauritania's Minister of Investment.At the meeting the two men discussed ways to boost investment in Mauritania through development projects in a number of sectors, including infrastructure, real estate, tourism, and agriculture.Al-Qudra is also exploring opportunities in Syria and Morocco.

  • Al-Sharia offers advice

    Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has set up a sharia-compliant finance consultancy in partnership with sharia scholar Hussain Hamid Hassan. The firm, Dar al-Sharia, received its licence in early July and will undertake product structuring, advisory work and the training of Islamic finance experts. DIB was the first Islamic bank in the region and was set up in 1975. Hassan sits on the sharia boards of 16 financial institutions, including DIB.

  • Amana wins Ras al-Khaimah contract

    The local Amana Contracting & Steel Buildings has been awarded a contract by Saudi-based Al-Rajhi Investments to construct a manufacturing plant in the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah.The 50,000 square metre project will be built on 90,000 square metres of land, and will require over 1,000 tonnes of steel. The scope of works involves the construction of an aluminium, steel and glass assembly plant, offices and worker accommodation for Cladtech International, a subsidiary of Al-

  • Amec wins in-house work

    The UK's Amec has won the KD 23.3 million ($83.2 million) contract to provide in-house project engineering and management services to Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). The three-year contract, with options for a further two years, covers the provision of project management and engineering advisory services. Amec also provides consultancy services to Kuwait Oil Company. (MEED 23:3:07).

  • Amman to school Iraqi refugees

    Jordan is allowing Iraqi refugee children to attend its schools for the first time, following a change of policy by King Abdullah II.Some 50,000 Iraqi children are expected to enrol before the start of the new school year on 19 August.'The decision came in response to the humanitarian situation the Iraqis are going through. It is meant to ensure Iraqi children have access to education,' says Mohammad Okour, the managing director of general education and

  • ANALYSIS: Economies evolving

    Throughout the past 50 years, the regional economy has been shaped by two main factors: oil and politics. The Suez crisis of 1957 highlighted the ties.

  • ANALYSIS: EMAAR: Scrapping deal is good for Emaar

    The decision to scrap a deal to swap land owned by Dubai Holding for shares in Emaar Properties has been welcomed by the market. Emaar's share price rose after the two firms said they would instead pursue joint venture developments.

  • ANALYSIS: GULF BANKING: Major mergers fail to materialise

    When the merger of Emirates Bank and National Bank of Dubai was announced in March, a raft of consolidation was predicted in the region, particularly in the UAE's crowded banking sector. But instead of takeovers, rival banks have taken stakes in each other.

  • Analysts back Gulf markets

    The GCC and Egypt are among the most attractive emerging market investment options during the current global market volatility, according to banking analysts.Despite several key funding deals being postponed or scaled back (see News, page 19), the region has been insulated from the worst of the crisis.Mushtaq Khan, Middle East economist at the US' Citigroup, says: 'While a degree of emerging market risk appetite has dried up, the dynamics of the GCC markets are a bit different in

  • Arab League meets to discuss peace

    Arab foreign affairs ministers met in Cairo on 30 July to discuss the latest developments on a possible Middle East peace plan. The ministers will hear reports on the recent visit to Israel by Egypt's Ahmed Aboulgheit and Jordan's Abdelelah al-Khatib to promote the Arab League-backed plan.The emergency meeting will also discuss US President Bush's calls for an international peace conference. 'The Arab League will discuss the proposal by US Pre

  • Arab League meets to discuss peace

    Arab foreign affairs ministers met in Cairo on 30 July to discuss the latest developments on a possible Middle East peace plan. The ministers will hear reports on the recent visit to Israel by Egypt's Ahmed Aboulgheit and Jordan's Abdelelah al-Khatib to promote the Arab League-backed plan.The emergency meeting will also discuss US President Bush's calls for an international peace conference. 'The Arab League will discuss the proposal

  • Arabtec takes on towers

    The local/Belgian joint venture of Arabtec Construction and Bel Hasa Six Construct has been selected by local developer Emaar Properties for the AED 517 million ($141 million) main construction contract for two towers at the Burj Dubai development. (MEED 7:10:05).

  • Aramco enters a new era

    The reorganisation of Saudi Aramco's upstream and downstream businesses is a sign that the company is preparing for its next phase of growth.

  • Aramco invites firms to study Manifa deal

    Saudi Aramco has invited at least six companies to a meeting in London to explain its strategy for developing the onshore portion of the Manifa oil field.Companies are now expected to receive invitation to bid documents in the first week of September, ahead of the job explanation meeting, which is scheduled to take place on 10-11 September.Firms expected to attend the meeting include Italy's Snamprogetti, Australia's Worley Parsons, the US' Foster Wheeler, Japan's JGC Corporation

  • Aramco invites international bids for refinery

    At least seven international contractors are expected to receive invitation to bid documents this week for the new $7,000 million-8,000 million, 400,000-barrel-a-day East Coast refinery.

  • Aramco reports capacity of 10.8 million barrels a day

    Saudi Aramco increased its maximum sustained crude-oil production capacity to 10.8 million barrels a day (b/d) during the first half of 2007, compared with 10.7 million b/d at the end of 2006.The oil firm's mid-year accountability report, released on 30 July, said it expects to 'meet or exceed' the target addition of 5 trillion cubic feet of non-associated gas, and to at least replace 2007 crude oil production.Aramco said it now has 102 oil and gas fiel

  • Aramco reports capacity of 10.8 million barrels a day

    Saudi Aramco increased its maximum sustained crude-oil production capacity to 10.8 million barrels a day (b/d) during the first half of 2007, compared with 10.7 million b/d at the end of 2006.The oil firm's mid-year accountability report, released on 30 July, said it expects to 'meet or exceed' the target addition of 5 trillion cubic feet of non-associated gas, and to at least replace 2007 crude oil production.Aramco said it now has 102 oil and gas fields un

  • Areva to boost Sonelgaz network

    Areva Transmission & Distribution has signed a Eur 50 million ($37 million) contract with Algeria's state energy company Sonelgaz to increase the capacity of its transmission network. Areva will supply and install a 400-kv substation and a telecoms system. The project is part of the Mediterranean rim grid scheme, which will link the power networks of the Maghreb and Southern Europe. In 2003, Areva supplied a 400-kv station to connect Algeria's network with t

  • Armanah goes public

    Local logistics company Armanah Warehousing Company will stage a $112 million initial public offering of shares on 20 August. The 60 per cent offering of 300 million shares is scheduled to be open for a month. The shares will list on the Kuwait Stock Exchange.

  • Army evicts Hebron settlers

    Israeli troops evicted several Jewish settlers squatting illegally in two houses in the West Bank town of Hebron.About 200 soldiers removed the settlers on 7 August, who have held the buildings in the town's former wholesale market, for several months. The troops used heavy engineering equipment to break open doors to the houses that had been welded shut.Prior to the operation, 12 soldiers were jailed by the army for refusing to take part in the raid, w

  • Arqaam to offer shares

    Arqaam Capital is to raise $50 million through the sale of shares to institutional investors by the end of October. The company plans to launch products for equity derivatives, such as futures, options and swaps, for companies listed in the region. The products will be among the first based on GCC stock markets.

  • Auction for mobile licences attracts five bidders

    Baghdad held its auction for three 15-year mobile phone licences on 16 August, attracting five bidders. The winners are due to be named on 19 August.Iraqi communications minister, Mohammed Allawi, said: 'The price will start from a certain level which is $300 million plus 18 per cent revenue sharing.'The three companies that were awarded short-term licences in Iraq in 2004 have all bid for the new longer-term licences. They are Kuwait's MTC-Atheer, IraQna, w

  • Authority imposes fines

    The Capital Market Authority has introduced fines of up to RO 1,500 ($3,897) for companies that report financial results late, as part of its attempts to improve transparency and compliance by listed companies. It follows the announcement at the end of July of stricter rules to prevent company directors dealing in shares ahead of sensitive announcements, a move that the Doha Stock Exchange has also undertaken.

  • Aviation authority seeks bids

    Requests for proposals have been issued to companies bidding to design the new main terminal at King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah.

  • Awards vow raises doubts

    Doubts have surfaced over plans to award up to five contracts over the next year. Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said in late July that projects with France's Total and the US' Almet were being finalised, and four to five more are due in 2008. Industry sources point out that awards on three other schemes in the country's petrochemicals masterplan have already been delayed.

  • Axiom expands into India

    UAE-based Axiom Telecom will spend at least $200 million on expansion over the next two to three years as it fights to become one of the world's largest mobile phone retailers.

  • Baghdad and Damascus to reopen pipeline

    Iraq and Syria have agreed to resurrect an 880-kilometre crude oil pipeline between Kirkuk and the Syrian coastal city of Banyas.The Syrian minister of petroleum and mineral resources, Sufian al-Alao, confirmed the agreement after talks with Iraqi oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani, according to the official al-Baath newspaper.'Syria is important for Iraq. There are mutual common interests that will give Iraq the opportunity to export oil through Syria as w

  • Baghdad plans upgrade

    Baghdad is to issue a $600 million tender to upgrade the country's fixed-line telecoms network. Communications Minister Mohammed Allawi says the tender will create more than 800,000 connections to Iraqi households by the end of 2007. Iraq has only 1.2 million fixed-line connections. Monopoly fixed-line operator Iraq Telecommunications and Postal Company will operate the new lines.

  • Baghdad refuses to take on US reconstruction projects

    A US special inspector general in Iraq says Baghdad is failing to take responsibility for reconstruction projects and is not effectively handling its budget for oil, public works and education.Stuart Bowen, the chief auditor assigned by Congress, says the Iraqi government is failing to take responsibility for projects worth billions of dollars. The US has completed 2,797 reconstruction projects in Iraq at a cost of $5,800 million, but as of 31 May only

  • Baghdad refuses to take on US reconstruction projects

    A US special inspector general in Iraq says Baghdad is failing to take responsibility for reconstruction projects and is not effectively handling its budget for oil, public works and education.Stuart Bowen, the chief auditor assigned by Congress, says the Iraqi government is failing to take responsibility for projects worth billions of dollars. The US has completed 2,797 reconstruction projects in Iraq at a cost of $5,800 million, but as of 31 May only 435 p

  • Bahrain Kuwait sale nears

    Commercial Bank of Kuwait says it is in the final stages of selling its 20.2 per cent stake in Bank of Bahrain Kuwait. It says an agreement on the sale, which is thought to be worth about $57 million, is expected soon. The bank was established in 1971 as a joint venture of banks in Kuwait and a mixture of public and government shareholders in Bahrain.

  • Banks go on buying spree

    Commercial Bank of Kuwait is preparing to pay up to four times the book value for a 70 per cent stake in Al-Watany Bank of Egypt, taking the price to $568 million. Final bids are expected by mid-August. At the same time, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has agreed to buy 40 per cent of Turkish Bank for $160 million. About $40 million of the acquisition price will be used to increase Turkish Bank's capital.

  • Barwa signs sukuk

    Barwa Real Estate Company has raised a $600 million, one-year murabaha sukuk arranged by Bahrain's Gulf International Bank. The deal has two extension options, giving it a maximum term of three years. The firm says the money will be used to finance its projects, which include the Barwa City residential development in Doha. The murabaha structure does not involve interest, setting the profit levels on the sale of commodities in advance.

  • Beirut faces rising debt

    Figures released by the Lebanese Central Bank show the country's gross public debt reached $39,800 million in June, a 2.6 per cent rise on the same time last year. External debt has fallen by 0.5 per cent to $20,200 million since June 2006. At the same time, Lebanon's balance of payments registered a deficit of $207 million in the six months to 30 June, compared with a $2,561.8 million surplus for the same period in 2006.

  • Belgian hostage freed

    Belgian and Iranian officials said on 15 August that a Belgian woman kidnapped in southeastern Iran three days earlier has been released. The woman and a Belgian man were abducted as they were driving from the historic city of Bam towards the borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan.Iranian officials said they were kidnapped by a group led by a man identified as Ismael Shahbakhsh, who demanded that his jailed brother be freed. The Iranian Fars ne

  • Benina construction starts

    The foundation stone for the new Benina Airport at Benghazi was laid by Saif al-Islam, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, on 21 August. Canada's SNC Lavalin has 24 months to complete the estimated LD 600 million ($480 million) project. The airport's passenger terminal will have a handling capacity of 5 million passengers a year.

  • Bidders line up for Ras Laffan

    Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) is evaluating proposals from three groups to build the state's largest co-generation plant at Ras Laffan.The bidders are International Power with Germany's Siemens and South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction; Marubeni Corporation with Hitachi Zosen Corporation, both of Japan, and South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries; and Belgium's Suez Energy International with France's Sidem and South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & C

  • Bids due for Jeddah plant upgrade work

    Bids are due by 21 October for the engineering, procurement and construction contract to upgrade a 240,000 cubic-metre-a-day-(cm/d) desalination plant close to Jeddah.The plant, at Al-Khumrah 20 kilometres south of the city, uses reverse osmosis technology. Prequalifiers include Spain's Cadagua with the local El-Seif Engineering Contracting Company. The client is Saline Water Conversion Corporation.The upgrade is part of wider plans to rejuvin

  • Bids due for Seeb plant

    Bids are due by 27 August for the contract to build Oman Wastewater Services Company's 82,000-cubic-metre-a-day sewage treatment plant at Seeb. Prequalified companies include the US' CH2M Hill with Japan's Marubeni; Turkey's Guris with Germany's Passavant Roediger and the local Bahwan Engineering Company; South Korea's Rotem; Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company; Austria's VA Tech Wabag; Japan's Hitachi Zosen with the local Galfar Engineering & Contracting; Germany's Bamag

  • Bids in for Al-Qatrana

    Turkey's Gama Energy, Malaysia's Malakoff Berhad and the UK's International Power with Saudi Oger are all expected to bid for the contract to build a 280-400-MW combined-cycle power plant at Al-Qatrana. Bidders have until 16 August to submit prequalification documents. The plant, which will be fuelled with Egyptian natural gas, will supply the National Electric Power Company for an initial 25 years. The World Bank-financed project will be carried out on a build-own-operate basis (MEED 19:1:07).

  • Bids in for bank sale

    At least 10 groups have bid for the advisory contract on the sale of an 80 per cent share of Banque du Caire. A shortlist will be announced by the end of August. Bidders include Delta Capital Investments with ABN Amro; Goldman Sachs with Beltone Financial; Morgan Stanley with CI Capital; Credit Suisse First Boston with EFG-Hermes; BNP Paribas with Naeem Holding; Lehman Brothers with HC Brokerage; Citibank; HSBC; UBS; and Merrill Lynch. (MEED 27:7:07).

  • Bids in for Ruwais pipeline

    Commercial bids have been submitted for the estimated $250 million contract to build the 225-kilometre-long Ruwais gas pipeline network for Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Company (Gasco). Contractors understood to have submitted prices include the UAE's National Petroleum Construction Company, Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC), UAE-based Dodsal, a local/UK grouping of Target Engineering and Penspen; and Larsen & Toubro and Punj Lloyd, both of India. An award is due by t

  • Blackout hits international airport

    Kuwait International Airport halted operations for more than an hour on 15 August after a power generator broke down causing a blackout in the main terminal. The embarrassing incident added to the state's energy woes as it struggles to meet rising demand for electricity. Kuwait has a theoretical total electricity generating capacity of more than 9,000 MW but poor maintenance of power plants mean the actual capacity is far less.In the wake of r

  • BMB meets advisers

    BMB Investment Bank could delay exits from several private equity investments because of volatility in the debt markets. The bank was set to meet with advisers in London on 10 August to discuss the situation. It has already made several successful exits over the past two months, with some returning nearly 10 times the initial investment. The bank is primarily involved in US and European private equity deals.

  • Borealis completes repositioning

    Austrian oil firm OMV and Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) have finalised the deal to merge their holdings in Linz-based AMI Agrolinz Melamine International with Vienna-based Borealis.Following the consolidation, IPIC will now hold a 64 per cent stake in Borealis, with OMV holding the remainder. In addition, IPIC has a 17.6 per cent shareholding in OMV. The merger was first announced at the beginning of the year, with OMV an

  • Borouge to build plant in China

    Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge) has announced plans to build a new compounding facility in Shanghai. The 50,000-tonne-a-year plant will be supplied with polypropylene from Borouge's olefins complex in Ruwais, before being compounded for clients, primarily in the automotive industry.The move is aimed at targeting the Chinese market, which is currently the fastest growing market for the industry. However, it goes against the trend of Gulf firms building u

  • Borse Dubai launch sparks market merger speculation

    The chances of a merger of Dubai stock exchanges has increased after the government brought its holdings in the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) together to form a new holding company, Borse Dubai The government owns 100 per cent of the DIFX, through its DIFC Investments arm, and 80 per cent of the DFM. The move is expected to improve investor access to the DIFX. At the moment, investors wanting to trade on the DIFX must do so through a financial

  • Borse Dubai offers OMX board seat

    Borse Dubai has offered OMX a seat on its board as part of its attempt to alleviate concerns at the Nordic exchange. The Stockholm-based exchange is believed to have fears that transparency and governance standards will deteriorate if it comes under the control of Borse Dubai.Per Larsson, chief executive of Borse Dubai, and also formerly of OMX, confirmed that a seat on the Borse Dubai board will be made available if the deal succeeds. He added that OMX would continue to h

  • Boycott of government eases

    Hopes have been raised of a partial reconciliation within the Iraqi administration, after the return of ministers who had been boycotting the government.Three ministers from the party of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi unexpectedly attended the latest cabinet meeting. The three members of the mixed Sunni-Shia Iraqi National List party were among five ministers who had been boycotting it in protest at Prime Minister Nouris al-Maliki's failure to curb sectar

  • BUSINESS INITIATIVES: Corporate clean-up

    Despite business demand for more legislation and incentives, many initiatives are already under way to improve performance in the region. The majority of respondents say that environmental sustainability is important to their business and their clients (see graphs).

  • Cairo starts on masterplan

    Detailed engineering work has begun on a 200,000 tonne-a-year (t/y) polystyrene plant in Alexandria, according to sources close to the project.

  • Cairo tests train station scheme

    Cairo has launched a scheme to redevelop the country's train stations, under which private investors will develop many of the country's 617 stations for commercial use under 20-25-year concession agreements. The stations will be packaged and offered to investors in groups.

  • Cairo to award boiler deal

    Cairo Electricity Production Company is set to award the boiler package on the planned 700-MW Cairo West power plant to Japan's Hitachi. In late July, a group of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Toyota Tsusho Corporation, both of Japan, won the contract to supply two 350-MW steam turbines. Tenders for the mechanical, electrical and distribution control systems packages are still to be issued. (MEED 22:6:07).

  • Calyon completes Mesaieed funding

    Financing for the Mesaieed A independent power project has been completed, with mandated lead arrangers taking on the entire $1,250 million debt package, removing the need for a general syndication.Calyon, acting as financial adviser on the deal, offered banks the opportunity to become lead arrangers from 13 July. Since then, the deal has closed more than two times oversubscribed.The debt, which has a tenor of 25 years, is priced at 90 basis points during the construction of the

  • Camel jockey suit against Dubai ruler dismissed

    A lawsuit filed in a Florida court against Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum and his brother, deputy ruler Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum, alleging that they enslaved children and forced them to race camels has been dismissed by the judge.Miami judge Cecilia Altonaga ruled in favour of the UAE leaders, saying the legal connection between them and their US business interests was not strong enough to warrant trying the suit in Florida.Th

  • Camel jockey suit against Dubai ruler dismissed

    A lawsuit filed in a Florida court against Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum and his brother, deputy ruler Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum, alleging that they enslaved children and forced them to race camels has been dismissed by the judge.Miami judge Cecilia Altonaga ruled in favour of the UAE leaders, saying the legal connection between them and their US business interests was not strong enough to warrant trying the suit in Florida.

  • Carbon trading: Capturing the market

    The global market for greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon trading, was worth $30,000 million in 2006, according to World Bank estimates. But in the Middle East and North Africa, participation in the market was limited. According to the UN, the region hosts just 1.4 per cent of the 2,260 projects being developed to reduce emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. However, that looks set to change, with several recent initiatives increasing the region's involvement in the trade.

  • Case to launch index

    Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges (Case) is to launch a new index, which is expected to be aimed at mid-sized companies. The exchange operator declined to give details of which companies would be included. There are two existing indices, the Case 30 Price Index, which includes the bourse's top 30 companies, and the Dow Jones Case Egypt Titans 20 Index, which also represents blue-chip firms on the exchange.

  • Central Bank issues sukuk

    The Central Bank of Bahrain has launched a BD 5 million ($13 million) sukuk ijarah. The Islamic bond will mature in 182 days and was almost three times oversubscribed. The Islamic bond offers a 5 per cent yield. Of the GCC states, only Bahrain and Qatar have issued sovereign sukuks. Five Bahrain government Islamic bonds are listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange.

  • Chemical Ali on trial for second time

    Saddam Hussein's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, has gone on trial in Baghdad with 14 other former regime commanders for their role in stamping out a 1991 Shia uprising in southern Iraq in which thousands died.Al-Majid, known as 'Chemical Ali' for his use of chemical weapons against the Kurdish population in the late 1980s, has already been sentenced to death during an earlier trial for his role in the 1988 Al-Anfal campaign against the Kurds.Two of his fellow

  • Commercial Bank of Qatar bids for Arab Bank stake

    Commercial Bank of Qatar is in talks to acquire a stake in the United Arab Bank. The move to buy into the Sharjah-based firm, which is listed on the Abu Dhabi stock market, is part of plan to expand throughout the region.The banks said in a statement released on 30 July that they had agreed in principle to consider the deal. They expect talks on the deal to be complete within the next two months. It would be Commercial Bank of Qatar's first expansion into th

  • Commercial Bank of Qatar bids for Arab Bank stake

    Commercial Bank of Qatar is in talks to acquire a stake in the United Arab Bank. The move to buy into the Sharjah-based firm, which is listed on the Abu Dhabi stock market, is part of plan to expand throughout the region.The banks said in a statement released on 30 July that they had agreed in principle to consider the deal. They expect talks on the deal to be complete within the next two months. It would be Commercial Bank of Qatar's first expansion in

  • Commission issues final tender for women's campus

    The third and final tender for construction of the Yanbu University College Women's Campus has been issued by the Royal Commission for Jubail & Yanbu.The work will include the construction of administrative and academic facilities, a tower and a covered walkway connecting the buildings to the rest of the campus.Bids will be opened on 2 October, and the contract is likely to be awarded by the end of the year.The first package, for construction of the main academic

  • Companies prequalify for Tarfaya wind farm

    Morocco's Office National de l'Electricite has prequalified 16 bids for the Tarfaya wind farm project. The project covers the development, financing, design, engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and operation and maintenance of the 200MW farm. The capacity could be extended to 300MW. Individual wind turbines will have a capacity of at least 850kW.The UK's Garrad Hassan and Partners is the technical advisor, Chadourne & Parke of the US i

  • Computer spending rises

    Spending on PCs in the year to 30 June reached£E 1,500 million ($226 million), according to the country's Federation of Chambers of Commerce. Of the 1 million PCs bought, half came from the Far East at a cost of£E 1,250 million ($221 million). The remainder were second-hand PCs from the US and Europe, worth£E 250 million ($44 million) in total.

  • Consultants warn Hassyan plant deadline is unrealistic

    Doubts are emerging over plans for a $2,000 million power station at Hassyan, close to the Abu Dhabi border, with consultants on the scheme saying the schedule is unrealistic.

  • Contract signed for $600 million phosphate railway

    Nouakchott has signed a deal for a new 430-kilometre railway that will link the capital with phosphate deposits at Bofal in the south.A Eur 460 million ($632 million) contract was signed in early August with a consortium of Sudan's Danfodio Holding and Transtech Engineering of China, a subsidiary of China Railway Engineering Corporation.'This line will allow the exploitation of the Bofal deposits and open up isolated areas of Mauritania with considerabl

  • Contractors bid for Ruwais plant

    Four international contractors have submitted technical bids for the main package on the Ruwais green diesel project, planned by Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer).

  • Contractors too busy to bid for Ras Tanura

    Saudi Aramco is to invite at least seven contracting companies to bid for the new $7,000 million-8,000 million, 400,000-barrel-a-day (b/d) Ras Tanura refinery in the first week of August. However, just three of the firms appear likely to bid for the contract at this stage.The company is expected to invite Fluor Corporation, Foster Wheeler, KBR, Bechtel and Jacobs Engineering, all of the US, along with Australia's Worley Parsons and Canada's SNC Lavalin to bid for the tender for the re

  • Contractors too busy to bid for Ras Tanura

    Saudi Aramco is to invite at least seven contracting companies to bid for the new $7,000 million-8,000 million, 400,000-barrel-a-day (b/d) Ras Tanura refinery in the first week of August. However, just three of the firms appear likely to bid for the contract at this stage.The company is expected to invite Fluor Corporation, Foster Wheeler, KBR, Bechtel and Jacobs Engineering, all of the US, along with Australia's Worley Parsons and Canada's SNC Lavalin to bid for the tender for the refin

  • Contracts

  • Controls enters low bid

    Kuwait Controls Company is low bidder at KD 5.4 million ($19.3 million) for a contract to install a new substation for Kuwait Oil Company at the Magwa oil field. The lump-sum contract covers the supply and installation of a new 11-kV, 72-MW substation at the field. Six other local firms priced the work. An award is due soon.

  • Correction

    The picture on page 25 of last week's issue was of shoreline apartments on the Palm Jumeirah, not the Jumeirah Beach Residence as captioned (MEED 17:08:07).

  • Cost hinders net access

    Just 16 per cent of households in Jordan have access to the internet, according to a new survey by the Department of Statistics. Some 64 per cent of households that lack internet access say they cannot afford to buy a computer. With a broadband internet penetration rate of 1 per cent, Jordan has been one of the slowest adopters of the internet in the region.

  • Council delays approval for mega-project budgets

    Budgets for major hydro-carbons projects in the state will only be approved and allocated once engineering is completed, a Supreme Petroleum Council source has told MEED.The move is aimed at avoiding situations where bids come in substantially over initial budget projections.An example is the refinery project at Al-Zour, which is being planned by Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). It had an original budget of just $6,300 million. However, when prices were submitted two yea

  • Crescent gas deal with Iran faces collapse

    Sharjah-based Crescent Petroleum is facing the collapse of a landmark gas deal with Iranian authorities after Tehran said it was in talks with other potential buyers for the gas.Iran's Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh told a local newspaper on 8 August that he had begun discussions with foreign firms.'To find a replacement for the Emirates for ... the Crescent deal, we are negotiating with some foreigners who are ready to buy our gas at the market pric

  • Damac fleshes out real estate projects

    Damac Properties, a subsidiary of Dubai-based Damac Holding, has unveiled details of three real estate projects worth a total of more than $17,000 million. The company’s Gamsha Bay project, 60 kilometres north of Hurghada, will cover 30 million square metres and feature 5,000 hotel rooms as well as housing and leisure facilities. Originally announced in late 2006, it will be completed by 2017. ‘Gamsha Bay is the largest real estate development project in

  • Damascus offers wheat

    Damascus is to help address its neighbours' wheat crisis by drawing from its strategic reserve. A total of 276,000 tonnes of wheat will be shared between Egypt, Jordan and Yemen. Cairo will receive the largest share, with 176,000 tonnes. Globally, demand for wheat is outpacing supplies, because of crop problems in the US, Australia and the Black Sea region, and increasing demand driven by the rising popularity of biofuels.

  • Dana makes Manzala find

    Sharjah-based Dana Gas has made a gas and condensate discovery from its Dabayaa-1 exploration well in the West Manzala concession. Tests yielded a production rate of 16.5 million cubic feet a day of gas and 330 barrels a day of condensate. Production is expected to come on stream by November. The well was drilled to a depth of 3,001 metres by Centurion Petroleum Corporation, the company's upstream division.

  • Darfur rebels agree to final peace talks

    Darfur rebel groups on 6 August agreed on a common negotiating position for final peace talks with Khartoum, which they want to hsold in three months. The eight factions were meeting in the town of Arusha in Tanzania. The rebels did not elaborate on the details of the agreement, but said they had reached a 'common platform on power-sharing, wealth-sharing, security arrangements, land and humanitarian issues, for the final negotiations'. One rebel leader

  • Darfur rebels claim government plane shot down

    Darfur rebel commanders said on 8 August that they had shot down a government MiG 29 plane in the western Darfur region but Khartoum has denied any plane had been shot down. 'We have downed a plane – MiG 29 about 4.5 kilometres south of Adila yesterday ay about 5pm,' Commander Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr from the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality and Movement (JEM) told Reuters. 'We are looking for the pilot. We have the body of the plane.' Adila is in

  • Darfur refugee camps becoming militarised

    Refugee camps in the Darfur region are increasingly militarised, according to John Holmes, emergency relief co-ordinator at the UN.'If you have large numbers of people in camps, you have the government of Sudan's military presence in the area, there are bound to be clashes from time to time,' Holmes says. 'The politicisation and militarisation on the ground in the camps is a fact of life you can not ignore,' he said.In late August, the Sudanese military atta

  • Dayim Punj wins Kayan tank work

    The local/Indian Dayim Punj Lloyd Construction Contracting Company has won a $79 million contract to build storage tanks at the Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company complex in Jubail.

  • Delays hit gas sales

    Sales from the Yemen liquefied natural gas project have been delayed until 2009. Sales were scheduled to start in 2008. The design capacity of the plant was raised in 2005 to 6.7 million tonnes a year (t/y) from the 5.3 million t/y originally planned, with sales to be split between Korea Gas Corporation, Belgium's Suez Energy and France's Total.

  • Delays hit international development plan

    Plans for the country's first international oilfield development round, announced in late July, are unlikely to take place before 2008, according to analysts. Instead, the award of licences in a new exploration round later this year is likely to take precedence.Saif al-Islam, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, said on 30 July that an announcement would be made by the end of September on a development round for enhanced oil recovery.However, the exploration and production l

  • Deyaar plans media development

    Dubai-based Deyaar Development plans to launch an AED 2,000 million ($544 million) residential project at the International Media Production Zone.The development will be located on the edge of the media zone, on Emirates road next to Nakheel's Jumeirah Golf Estates. It will be developed on 40 plots and have a built-up area of 260,000 square metres. Construction is expected to commence by the end of the year.The Internet Media Production Zone aims to create a

  • Dinar currency basket takes effect

    The Kuwaiti dinar has begun to float against a basket of currencies, several months after the Central Bank said it was dropping the dollar peg in May.The dinar has begun to move in value on a daily basis since 29 July. It depreciated by 0.05 per cent that day due to changes in the dollar value, following a total appreciation over the previous two months of about 2.5 per cent. Although the exact composition of the currency basket has not been disclosed,

  • Disi set for August award

    An award on the long-delayed Disi Mudawarra-Amman water conveyor project is due to be made by mid-August. Turkey's Gama Energy was low bidder for the 25-year build-operate-transfer contract when bids were opened in February. The project covers the construction of a 325-kilometre-long transmission pipeline, which will carry 100 million cubic-metres-a-year of water from an aquifer in the Disi Mudawarra area to Amman (MEED 6:4:07).

  • Doha Bank opens China office

    Doha Bank has opened a representative office in Shanghai as part of its geographical expansion. It is the bank's first branch in China.It is also considering applying for a full banking licence in the country, subject to approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission.The bank opened offices in Tokyo in January and Turkey in December and also has operations in Singapore and New York. It will launch full operations in Dubai in October.

  • DP World targets Algiers

    DP World is in negotiations with the Algerian Transportation and Investment Promotion ministries over the privatisation of the country's ports. DP World president Jamal bin Thaniah said on 5 August that a partnership agreement covering the privatisation of container terminals at Port Alger could be signed before the end of August. It is also reported to be in talks about investing in the Djen Djen container terminal, east of Algiers.

  • DP World to list in Dubai

    Government-owned ports operator DP World is expected to launch an initial public offering (IPO) of shares by the end of the year, making it the largest local company to list and the most significant share offering in Dubai to date.The company declined to confirm the move, but financial analysts close to DP World say they expect it to stage an offering by the end of the year, and to then list on the Dubai Inter-national Financial Exchange (DIFX). The offering could raise up to $2,

  • Drilling firm wins rig deal

    Kuwait Drilling Company has won two rig supply contracts, totalling more than KD 45 million ($160 million), from Kuwait Oil Company. The larger of the two five-year contracts, valued at KD 23.6 million ($83.7 million), is for a 1,500-HP rig for onshore drilling and workover operations. The second, worth KD 21.7 million ($76.9 million), covers a medium-depth drilling rig.

  • Du records $76.5m loss

    Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (Du) lost AE 280.8 million ($76.5 million) in the three months to 30 June. The holder of the UAE's second mobile phone licence generated AED 302.8 million ($82.3 million) in the quarter as it signed up more than 500,000 mobile phone customers. Du received a written warning from the UAE's telecoms regulator in July after it failed to launch its fixed-line services before the regulator's deadline (MEED 20.7.07).

  • Dubai awards airport deals

    Dubai World Central International Airport has awarded two new air traffic system contracts. International Aeradio will provide meteorological systems at the new $33,000 million airport complex under construction at Jebel Ali, while Park Air Systems, a unit of Northropp Grumman, will be responsible for radar operations at the site's six runways.

  • Dubai awards masterplan

    The contract to design an integrated transport masterplan for the Palm Deira in Dubai has been awarded to a Franco-Dutch consortium. The consortium, called Out and About in Palm Deira, was awarded the contract by Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority and property developer Nakheel. The group includes the Dutch architects and urban planning firm Royal Haskoning, alongside transport consultant MVA, rail consultant Systra, and maritime consultant Sogreah, all of France.

  • Dubai bid for NZ airport faces failure

    Dubai Aerospace Enterprises may shelve a proposed $1,800 million takeover bid of Auckland International Airport after saying today the airport had not done enough to complete the deal.The two parties are now expected to enter talks, but if no agreement is reached after five business days, the bid could be ended by either group.In a statement, Auckland Airport denied the claim it was 'not using its best endeavours to ensure a successful outcome to the proposa

  • Dubai buys into casinos

    Dubai World is buying a 9.5 per cent stake in the US' MGM Mirage. The stake is worth $5,000 million and includes 50 per cent of MGM's CityCenter project in Las Vegas. MGM Mirage owns 17 properties in the US, including the Bellagio, MGM Grand, and Luxor casinos in Las Vegas. Dubai World already owns a stake in a gaming business through its subsidiary Istithmar, which owns part of Kerzner International.

  • Dubai buys up shares in Swedish stock exchange

    Borse Dubai, the newly-created holding company for Dubai's two stock exchanges, is building up a 25 per cent stake in Swedish stock market OMX, in a move that could end Nasdaq's $3,700 million takeover offer for the Swedish exchange.Nasdaq launched a SEK 208 ($30.8) a share bid for OMX in May, but Bourse Dubai is presently paying SEK 230 ($34) a share to build up its stake. OMX is in the biggest Nordic exchange operator. It is not yet clear if Borse Dub

  • Dubai Civil wins tower bid

    The local Dubai Civil Engineering has been selected for the estimated AED 850 million ($232 million) main construction package for a three-tower, mixed-use development on cluster Z at Jumeirah Lake Towers. The contract calls for the construction of a hotel, office and apartment towers with a common retail podium. The development will have a total built-up area of 180,000 square metres. The client is the local Seven Tides Development (MEED 23:6:06).

  • Dubai defends share deal

    Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has moved to reassure shareholders in New Zealand that Auckland International Airport will remain a listed company should its offer for the business be accepted. The group launched a NZ$ 2,600 million ($1,981 million) bid on 23 July to acquire up to 60 per cent of the airport. DAE faces political opposition to the move in New Zealand, with the airport's board isolated in its support for the offer.

  • Dubai Holding cancels deal to take stake in Emaar

    Dubai Holding will not take a stake in local developer Emaar Properties in exchange for land in Dubai. Instead, the two companies will develop land in joint venture across Dubai.The move follows a management decision that the proposed acquisition would not have been in the best interests of Emaar shareholders, or the Dubai Financial Market as it is the bourse's largest listed stock. A further announcement is expected in September when the details of the join

  • Dubai lines up Tunis project

    UAE Vice -President and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum has launched a $14,000 million real estate development in Tunis.The 8.73 square kilometre Century City and Mediterranean Gate project, is a joint venture of the Tunisian government and Sama Dubai, a subsidiary of Dubai Holding.The development, which will take 15 years to complete, will provide office space for 2,500 businesses, 14 hotels and recreational and sports facilities.

  • Dubai metro prepares for testing

    Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority is to test rolling stock and primary rails systems for the Dubai metro on a length of track between Ibn Battuta station and Jebel Ali auxiliary depot.The 10-kilometre test track will become a permanent section of the Red line. The testing area will expand as more stations and lenths of track are completed along the 40-kilometre line.Abdulmajid al Khaja, chief executive officer of the authority's rail agency, says: 'The del

  • Dubai stands by airport bid

    Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) says it is unlikely to raise its offer for Auckland International Airport. DAE has offered NZ$2,600 million ($1,819 million) for a controlling stake in the airport. The move has aroused political opposition in New Zealand, although the airport's board is in favour of the deal. DAE says it will hold talks with shareholders to head off a threat by rival investors to block the move (MEED 10:8:07).

  • Ducab reacts to rising demand

    Ducab, a cable manufacturer based in the UAE, is to launch a $246.4 million investment programme to increase capacity at its existing plants.As part of the plan, the firm will spend up to $111.6 million to increase its output of low-voltage copper cables to 20,000 tonnes at its plant in Abu Dhabi and $33 million to boost cable production to 14,000 tonnes at its plant in Jebel Ali. Ducal presently produces up to 65,000 tonnes of low and medium voltage cables at its two plan

  • Dutco builds Tiger course

    The local/UK Dutco Balfour Beatty has been awarded the bulk earthworks contract for the Al-Ruwaya Tiger Woods golf course development in Dubailand. Selected contractors have also been invited to submit preliminary prices for the development's 80-suite boutique hotel, a spa and 15 bungalows, a 7,500-square-metre club house, 21 residential palaces, 75 mansions, 190 villas and community buildings. Australia's APP International is the project manager (MEED 27:4:07).

  • Economy shows growth

    The kingdom enjoyed real GDP growth of 8 per cent in 2006, according to the annual report published by Bank al-Maghrib (central bank) in mid-August. Unemployment fell to 9.7 per cent from 11.1 per cent, the report says, despite a 1.5 per cent increase in the working-age population to 11 million. An additional 300,000 jobs were created during the year, despite the loss of 49,000 jobs in agriculture following a poor crop.

  • EgyptAir to fly Airbus

    National flag carrier EgyptAir has signed a contract to buy five A330-200 wide-body aircraft from Airbus, with the option to buy a further three in the future. The airline's 45-strong fleet is dominated by Airbus aircraft, with 30 Airbus planes, eight Boeings and a number of freight planes and smaller Embraer aircraft. Its network covers 64 destinations in 47 countries.

  • Eight enter telecoms bids

    Eight operators are bidding for three 15-year mobile phone licences in Iraq. They include the three current holders of short-term licences in the country: Kuwait's MTC-Atheer; IraQna, which is backed by Egypt's Orascom ; and Asiacell, a subsidiary of Qatar's Qtel. The other five are Bahrain's Batelco, Jordan's Umniah, Syriatel, Korek Telecom and Turkcell.

  • Election overshadowed by boycott

    Jordan's largest political party has withdrawn from the kingdom's municipal elections after accusing the government of fraud.The Islamic Action Front (IAF), which won 20 out of 84 seats in the 2003 parliamentary election, withdrew its candidates just hours after the polls opened, calling the election a 'farce'.The Islamist party's decision has overshadowed the first democratic local government elections in Jordan's history. The IAF accuses the

  • Election overshadowed by boycott

    Jordan's largest political party has withdrawn from the kingdom's municipal elections after accusing the government of fraud.The Islamic Action Front (IAF), which won 20 out of 84 seats in the 2003 parliamentary election, withdrew its candidates just hours after the polls opened, calling the election a 'farce'.The Islamist party's decision has overshadowed the first democratic local government elections in Jordan's history. The IAF ac

  • Emaar and Sete to build desalination plant

    Dubai-based Emaar Properties and Saudi Arabia's Sete Energy Saudia for Industrial Projects are to build a desalination plant to serve the $50,000 million King Abdullah Economic City development on the Red Sea coast.The two firms signed a memorandum of understanding to construct the plant on 6 August.Under the engineering, procurement and construction contract, SETE will build a 70,000-cubic-metre-a-day plant which will use reverse osmosis technology.

  • Emaar names hotels head

    Emaar Properties has appointed Marc-Francois Dardenne as chief executive officer (CEO) of its Emaar Hotels & Resorts subsidiary. Dardenne is currently CEO of Emaar Hospitality Group and replaces Robert Riley. He was hired in 2006 to develop Emaar Hotel's flagship Armani-branded hotels, the first of which will be in the Burj Dubai tower.

  • Engineers India wins contract for Ruwais expansion

    Engineers India has been selected for the second project management consultancy (PMC) contract on the multi-billion-dollar Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge) petrochemicals expansion project in Ruwais.The Indian firm beat competition from a number of other firms to win the work, including the US/Canadian Veco, Australia's WorleyParsons and Oslo-based Aker Kvaerner.The three-year contract PMC deal involves the supervision of the engineering, procurement and

  • Ensec closes securitisation despite credit correction

    Emirates National Securi-tisation Corporation (Ensec) has successfully closed a $1,000 million securitisation for an unnamed UAE firm, despite the correction in the global credit markets that has dampened international investor confidence.The secured notes are backed by future cash flow receivables and were privately placed with international investors. The deal is the second securitisation structured by Ensec and its first non-mortgage-related issue.'We were able to successfully

  • Etihad boosts flights to Jeddah

    Etihad Airways has announced plans to double the number of flights between Abu Dhabi and Jeddah during the month of Ramadan.The Abu Dhabi-based carrier will increase flights to Jeddah to 14 a week and will also add two flights a week flights to Medina Al-Munawara on Thursdays and Sundays. The extra services will apply during the holy month between 13 September and 13 October to cater for extra demand from Umrah pilgrims.The extra flights are in addition to E

  • Etihad increases frequency of winter regional flights

    Etihad is to expand its network by more than 20 per cent during the winter, bringing in new aircraft for regional flights and raising the frequency on long-haul routes.

  • Etihad partners Royal Air

    Etihad has signed a codeshare agreement with Royal Air Maroc as it bids to expand its network in West Africa. The agreement between the Abu Dhabi-based carrier and Morocco's national airline is effective immediately. Etihad passengers will now be able to fly direct from Abu Dhabi to Casablanca and connect to routes around West Africa, while Moroccan travellers booking through Royal Air Maroc can connect to Etihad's international network.

  • Etihad revises salaries in bid to attract Airbus pilots

    Abu Dhabi's flagship carrier Etihad is finalising an improved package for its pilots in a bid to ramp up recruitment.Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft form the backbone of its fleet but there is an industry-wide shortage of pilots trained to fly them.It hopes to raise its number of pilots to 500 from 430 by the end of 2007, and has realised its package is uncompetitive.'We compared our package against regional and global competitors and the percentage of salary that was based

  • Etihad to sponsor football

    Etihad aims to conclude a deal with a high-profile European football team in the coming season as it looks to expand its sports sponsorship. On 30 July, the carrier announced a three-year deal to sponsor Harlequins, an English Premiership rugby team. 'We are looking at football. We are looking for a team playing in European competition,' says Peter Baumgartner, executive vice-president for marketing and product.

  • Etisalat enters Kabul

    Etisalat launched its mobile phone service in Afghanistan on 29 August. The UAE-based operator paid $40.1 million for the fourth mobile phone licence in Afghanistan early in 2006. Etisalat's services will be available in five cities in Afghanistan, including Kabul, from launch. The company says it will spend more than $300 million building a network in the country over the next 12 months.

  • EU agrees funding for Rabat

    The EU has signed an agreement with Rabat under which it will grant the kingdom Eur 654 million ($895 million) for social and economic development.The memorandum of understanding covers the allocation of funds to Morocco from the EU's European neighbourhood programme for the period 2007-10.According to a statement by Morocco's official press agency, the money will also be used to support human rights and good governance, the environment, and capacity buildin

  • EU agrees funding for Rabat

    The EU has signed an agreement with Rabat under which it will grant the kingdom Eur 654 million ($895 million) for social and economic development.The memorandum of understanding covers the allocation of funds to Morocco from the EU's European neighbourhood programme for the period 2007-10.According to a statement by Morocco's official press agency, the money will also be used to support human rights and good governance, the environment, and capacity bu

  • EU restarts fuel supplies to Gaza

    The EU has backed down in its row over halting fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip after receiving reassurances from the ruling Hamas faction.The EU had expressed concerns that Hamas would take advantage of the fuel to impose a tax on the electricity bills of Palestinians living in Gaza, as a means of raising funds that could then be diverted to military uses.The EU now says it will resume shipments to Gaza, just 48 hours after halting fuel supplies worth $9 mi

  • EU resumes payments for Gaza fuel

    The Gaza Strip's only power plant restarted on 22 August after the EU resumed its payments for fuel supplies. Payments had been suspended on 19 August in a move to ensure Islamic militant group Hamas would not benefit from the aid.'We received three trucks of fuel - enough for one day,' said Rafiq Maliha, who manages the power station.It was the first time in six days that Gaza's sole generating plant, which according to the EU provides between 25 and 30 per

  • Falih heads operations in Aramco revamp

    Saudi Aramco has created a new operations division, headed by Khalid Falih, heightening speculation that he is being groomed to replace current chief executive officer Abdallah Jumah.

  • Falih overhauls Aramco executive team

    Khalid Falih, Saudi Aramco's new operations chief, who is widely expected to succeed chief executive officer Abdullah Jumah, has made a series of management changes to build a new executive team.

  • Finance minister resigns as call to raise fuel prices fails

    Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Fariz resigned on 21 August, after the government rejected his calls for an increase in fuel prices. It is the third resignation by a member of the Jordanian cabinet in a month and comes ahead of parliamentary elections later this year.

  • First Kuwaiti denies abuse

    First Kuwaiti General Trade & Contracting is fighting back against allegations of labour abuse during the building of the new US embassy in Baghdad, blaming disgruntled former staff.

  • Five firms tour Ras Tanura site

    Five contractors have toured the site of the prospective East Coast refinery at Ras Tanura, after client Saudi Aramco issued bid documents for the $7,000 million-8,000 million, 400,000-barrel-a-day project.

  • Five line up for gas pipeline

    At least five companies have submitted commercial bids for the engineering, procurement and construction pipeline contract on the kingdom's master gas system.Companies thought to have submitted bids include Lebanon's Contracting & Trading Company, Saipem and Techint, both of Italy, Turkey's Tekfen and Russia's Stroytransgaz.The project covers a 154-kilometre, 56-inch pipeline from the Shedgum gas plant to Juaymah and is expected to take 12 months to complete.The client, S

  • Foreign bidders face exclusion

    Some of the region's largest mobile phone operators do not know whether they are eligible to bid for Kuwait's third mobile licence, after the government introduced last-minute changes that may exclude foreign bidders.Operators, including the UAE's Etisalat, Egypt's Orascom Telecom and Turkey's Turkcell, may be ineligible when the shortlist of bidders is announced on 7 September.'We did not have to tie up with any local partners [when the rules first came out], but the government

  • Foreign investment increases to $18bn

    Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Saudi Arabia rose to $18,290 million in 2006, an increase of 51 per cent on 2005.Awad al-Awad, under-secretary of the Saudi Arabian General Investments Authority, said: 'The kingdom has continued to attract foreign investment from countries such as the United States, Japan and the European Union.'Non-US investments now make up nearly half of total FDI into Saudi, up from 38 per csent in 2000 to 47 per cent in 2006. The bigg

  • Former militant wounded in car bomb

    Former militant leader Mustapha Kertali was seriously wounded in a car bomb blast on 14 August in Larba, south of Algiers. Kertali's car exploded after he left morning prayers at a local mosque. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. During Algeria's civil war Kertali worked with several militant groups before disarming following a peace agreement in 1999.He went on to become a supporter of President Bouteflika.In the

  • Forsyth Partners exits emirates

    Forsyth Partners Global Distributors has withdrawn from the UAE following the suspension of its licence by the regulator, the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

  • Free zone blueprint nears completion

    Plans for a free zone next to Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Port are due to be completed by the end of September. The Bahrain Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and the Customs Affairs Directorate are discussing which industries will be permitted to be established in the zone that will also include warehousing. The area will be open to local and foreign businesses.

  • Galfar to supply seawater system

    Oman's Galfar Engineering & Contracting has won the 18-month contract to carry out the seawater facilities expansion project planned by Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer).

  • GCC set to sign free trade agreement with Europe

    The GCC should sign a long-awaited free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU by the end of the year, according to Saudi Arabia's deputy finance minister for economic affairs Hamad Al-Bazie.

  • GCC summit changes venue

    This year's GCC summit has been moved from Muscat to Doha, due to the impact of Hurricane Gonu on the Oman capital. The summit is due to take place in December.Oman requested the move after feeling the full effects of the cyclone, which hit the sultanate in June, causing havoc to its infrastructure.Instead, Muscat will now hold next year's GCC summit. The annual summit is one of the most important events in the region's calendar.The A

  • Government confirms new weekend

    The government has confirmed plans to move the weekend to Fridays and Saturdays from 1 September. In a circular issued by the Civil Service Commission, the Council of Ministers (cabinet) gave details of the change and reiterated its commitment to the move.It puts an end to rumours that had been circulating that the government was back-tracking on its decision, taken earlier this year, after complaints from ministry workers who opposed the change.

  • Government confirms new weekend

    The government has confirmed plans to move the weekend to Fridays and Saturdays from 1 September. In a circular issued by the Civil Service Commission, the Council of Ministers (cabinet) gave details of the change and reiterated its commitment to the move.It puts an end to rumours that had been circulating that the government was back-tracking on its decision, taken earlier this year, after complaints from ministry workers who opposed the change.

  • Government forces target Kalma camp

    Government forces attacked a camp in south Darfur on 21 August in an attempt to target rebels who Khartoum claims are responsible for recent attacks on the police.Incursions were made into the Kalma camp following attacks on a nearby police post and a second in the al-Salam camp, also in the south. One policeman lost his life and another eight were injured in the attacks.'At 6am the government of Sudan moved 2,000 soldiers to surround the camp - army, police

  • Government in talks over Tripoli administrative zone

    The Organisation for the Development of Administrative Centres (Odac) is understood to be in talks with international companies for the contract to build a $4,000 million government complex in Tripoli.The companies include South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction, France's Vinci, Italy's Carena, Guris of Turkey and Japan's Taisei Corporation.Germany's Leon Wohlhage Wernik Architekten won an international competition for the design of the new government district, known

  • Government loses by-election

    The government has conceded defeat to an opposition candidate in a by-election near Beirut.Opposition leader Michel Aoun claimed victory for his candidate over government-backed rival Amin Gemayel. Gemayel however, has claimed that there were incidents of fraud in the election, that was widely seen as a vital battle in the race for the Christian leadership ahead of presidential elections in September.The election, in the divided Maronite Christian regio

  • Governor resigns over interest rate

    Iranian Central Bank governor Ebrahim Sheibani has resigned in a move thought to be linked to his opposition to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's economic policies.

  • Greater European involvement needed in Iraq, says France

    French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner is urging Europe to play a bigger part in stabilising Iraq.'Europe must play a role and I hope that other foreign ministers will come and visit Iraq,' says Kouchner. 'Everyone knows the Americans will not be able to get this country out of difficulty alone. And so, I have said it and I will say it again, the more the Iraqis request the intervention of the UN, the more France will help them.'Kouc

  • Guard invites Kazema bids

    The Kuwaiti National Guard, which is responsible for internal security in the country, has invited bids from companies to design a series of hangers for armoured vehicles at its Kazema Camp. Interested firms have until 16 September to submit bids for the project.

  • Gulf Air expands network

    Gulf Air has expanded its operations to Saudi Arabia. Flights to Riyadh and Jeddah have increased to 10 a week from seven, while flights to Dammam have doubled to 14 a week. Gulf Air officials say the airline aims to capture a greater market share of business traffic between Manama and the kingdom, which is flourishing in the wake of the opening up of the Saudi market to low-cost airlines.

  • Gulf Air faces fresh probe

    Gulf Air is facing scrutiny from two separate investigations, after it was announced that a parliamentary committee has been set up to examine a possible conflict of interest on the airline's board.

  • Gulf Air turns down talks

    Gulf Air is refusing to negotiate further over its salary and benefits packages for pilots, according to staff representatives, despite losing almost a quarter of its pilots since a restructuring was announced in April.Officials at the Gulf Air Trade Union (Gatu) are seeking urgent talks with the company to push for improved terms, but say its calls have been ignored. In June, the airline granted an extra BD 200 ($530) a month to its captains and first officers, and an improved benefits

  • Gulf Finance House promotes chief executive to chairman

    Gulf Finance House, the Bahrain-based investment bank, has appointed Esam Janahi, its chief executive officer, as chairman. He takes over from Fuad al-Omar who has resigned his post to focus on chairing Gulf Finance House's local private banking subsidiary, Khaleeji Commercial Bank.Peter Panayiotou, who is currently deputy chief executive officer of Gulf Finance House, has taken on the role of acting chief executive officer of the bank with immediate ef

  • Gulf investors commit to Malaysian projects

    Malaysia's Rim City, a subsidiary of South Johor Investment Corporation, has signed agreements with three Middle Eastern investors to develop real estate clusters at its Node 1 development on the Malaysian Peninsula, close to Singapore.Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Company will lead a consortium that will invest $520 million in the lifestyle and leisure cluster, which will cover an area of 5 square kilometres and comprise a city centre, golf village, amusement park, res

  • Gulf investors commit to Malaysian projects

    Malaysia's Rim City, a subsidiary of South Johor Investment Corporation, has signed agreements with investors from the Gulf and Jordan to develop real estate clusters at its Node 1 development on the Malaysian Peninsula, close to Singapore.Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Company will lead a consortium that will invest $520 million in the lifestyle and leisure cluster, which will cover an area of 5 square kilometres and comprise a city centre, golf village, amusement park,

  • Gulf Spic wins ethane upgrade

    The local/Indian Gulf Spic Trading & Contracting has been selected for the KD 17.4 million ($62 million) contract to upgrade ethane recovery facilities at the Shuaiba refinery.The lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction contract entails making the ethane unit at Shuaiba refinery compatible with the recently completed ethane recovery unit at the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery.The work involves the installation of a high-pressure lean gas compressor, amine pumps, an amine absor

  • Gunmen abduct deputy oil minister

    Iraq's deputy oil minister was kidnapped on 14 August after gunmen dressed as local security forces stormed the ministry's Baghdad-based compound.Abdel-Jabar al-Wagaa, deputy to oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani, was taken away by more than 50 gunmen driving what appeared to be military vehicles, said an oil ministry spokesman.An interior ministry spokesman said a top official in the State Oil Marketing Organisation and three director generals in the opera

  • Helicopter crash kills 14 US soldiers

    A helicopter has crashed killing all on board, the US military said on 22 August.The 10 soldiers and four air crew died after the Black Hawk helicopter developed mechanical problems during a night flight in the north of the country, the military said in a statement, but there was no indication that the helicopter had been fired upon.It was the biggest single loss of life since a US helicopter crashed in Diyala province on 20 January.

  • Hezbollah launches computer game

    A computer game launched by Islamic militant group Hezbollah on 16 August recreates key phases in the recent conflict with Israel.Special Force 2 is based on last year's 34-day war between the Lebanese group and Tel Aviv. 'This game presents the culture of the resistance to children: that occupation must be resisted and that land and the nation must be guarded,' says Sheikh Ali Daher, a media official for Hezbollah.Designed by Hezbollah's own

  • Hikma buys Alkan Pharma

    London-based Hikma Pharmaceuticals has bought a majority share in Egypt’s Alkan Pharma for £E 342 million ($61 million).  The deal, announced on 9 August, will be funded by debt and is due to be completed by the end of the year.  Alkan develops and manufactures generic pharmaceuticals and has 175 registered pharmaceutical products, including 60 products under license from leading multinational pharmaceutical firms.  

  • Hill takes Adnoc deals

    The US' Hill International has won two contracts, totalling nearly $15 million, to provide project management services to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). Under the terms of the contracts, one of which is an extension to an existing deal, Hill will supply design management and construction supervision services to Adnoc for onshore and offshore projects.

  • Holding company to control state-owned energy assets

    Bahrain is to create a $2,600 million holding company that will take control of all state-owned energy assets in a move designed to reinvigorate the country's oil and gas sector.

  • Hothouse politics is no way to make a success of Madrid II

    No venue has yet been fixed for the international Middle East peace conference the US plans to hold in November. Wherever it happens, I hope it is in the mould of the 1991 Madrid conference, the best attempt to end the world's most unnecessarily protracted conflict.

  • Housing public offering soars

    Shares in Compagnie Generale Immobiliere, the housing subsidiary of the local Caisse de Depot et de Gestion, have risen 21 per cent on the initial public offering (IPO) price.

  • HSBC seeks lead arranger bids for refinery merger

    HSBC, the financial adviser for the $1,370 million refinancing of the merged Oman Refinery Company and Sohar Refinery Company, is requesting bids from potential mandated lead arrangers (MLAs) on the transaction.

  • Huta wins city deal

    The local Huta Group has been awarded a SR 250 million ($66 million) contract for marine works at King Abdullah Economic City at Rabigh, on the Red Sea coast. The scope of works involves excavation and building quay walls for 3.5 kilometres of canals. Work is due to be completed by the end of 2008. Emaar, The Economic City is the client (MEED 18:5:07)

  • Hydra takes cement stake

    Dubai-based Hydra Properties has bought a 20 per cent stake in RAK Cement and plans to increase its holding in the firm by the end of the year. The purchase is part of the property development company's strategy to buy shares in building materials firms. Hydra has at least five developments in the UAE, including Downtown Tower and Golf Walk.

  • In an age of terror, it is the response that matters most

    For the second time in two years, Britain has been hit by terror perpetrated by people most thought harmless. No one died as bombs in London were defused while the Glasgow car attack caused no hurt to innocents. The conspirators of July 2005, in contrast, killed 56 and injured 700.

  • Inflation hits 10-year high

    Inflation in Saudi Arabia has hit its highest levels in nearly a decade to reach 3.83 per cent. It is the latest sign that none of the GCC economies are immune from the inflationary effects that have been causing double-digit price rises in the UAE and Qatar.

  • Inflation stays above 5 per cent

    Inflation has remained at above 5 per cent for the year to May, despite efforts by the central bank to curb inflation by depegging the dinar from the US dollar.The latest data from the Central Bank of Kuwait shows inflation is above 5 per cent for the third consecutive month, although it has fallen slightly to 5.34 per cent compared to 5.37 per cent the previous month.Kuwait has allowed its currency to appreciate by 2.6 per cent against the dollar since

  • ING names finance chief

    ING Wholesale Banking has appointed Rodolphe Olard as global head of project finance advisory for the oil and gas, petrochemicals, mining and metals sectors. Olard was previously head of oil and gas project finance for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, and has recently worked on a number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) deals in the region, including Oman LNG, and Qatargas 3 and Qatofin in Qatar.

  • Injazat seeks deposits

    Injazat Capital has applied to upgrade its category three banking licence to category one. The change would allow the investment and asset management firm to take deposits for the first time. The company is based in the Dubai International Financial Centre.

  • Injazat wins outsourcing

    IT outsourcing company Injazat Data Systems has won five new contracts from the Abu Dhabi government in the first six months of the 2007. The contracts cover work for the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre, the Authority for Culture and Heritage, the Civil Service Department, the Food Control Authority, and the Department of Municipalities and Agriculture. The company, which is the largest local outsourcing firm, is a joint venture of UAE-based Mubadala and the US' EDS.

  • Insurers cut investment

    Insurance sector investment in equities and bonds dropped by 5.6 per cent to AED 17,270 million ($4,700 million) in 2006, according to the Economy Ministry. The fall came despite a AED 2,000 million ($544 million) increase in income from premiums. The ministry predicts the value of insurance premiums will grow by up to 20 per cent a year for the next three years.

  • Investors swamp Salalah

    The $560m financing for the Salalah Menthanol Project in Oman has been oversubscribed. It is at the documentation stage with mandated lead arrangers. They include Royal Bank of Scotland, which is also financial adviser, Gulf International Bank, Bank Muscat, Intesa Sanpaolo, Bank Dhofar, National Bank of Oman, Oman International Bank and Oman Arab Bank. It is expected to be priced at below 100 basis points. Mubadala Development Company, which was initially involved, has since pulled out (MEED 2:8

  • Irancell user numbers soar

    Irancell, the Iranian mobile phone operator run by South Africa's MTN Group, has signed up 3.2 million customers, easing analysts' concerns that the company would not meet its target of 5.5 million users by the end of the year.

  • Islamic financing held back by lack of standards, says IMF

    The lack of Islamic hedging instruments could hamper the development of Islamic finance outside the Middle East, according to new report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).The IMF says that risk is increasingly concentrated in a small number of institutions because of the difficulty in adapting hedging instruments so that they are sharia-compliant. In effect, this prevents Islamic finance investors from being able to spread the risk of their investments.

  • Islamic rules near for hedge funds

    The International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM), the Bahrain-based organisation that promotes capital market standards, expects to have guidelines in places for sharia-compliant hedging by the end of the year.

  • Israel signs $30bn defence deal

    Tel Aviv has signed a deal with the US under which it will receive $30,000 million in defence grants over the next decade.The deal, signed in Jerusalem on 16 August, marks a 25 per cent increase in US defence grants to the country, which Washington sees as a bulwark against Iran. It currently receives military grants worth $2,400 million a year.'There is no question that, from an American point of view, the Middle East is a more dangerous regi

  • Istithmar beats Fast Retailing to Barneys department stores

    Istithmar has beaten Japan's Fast Retailing in the race to acquire the US' Barneys department store group.The UAE-based investment house agreed a price of $942.3 million with Barneys' owner, the Jones Apparel Group.Istithmar's victory came at 5.38pm New York time on 9 August (1.38am on 10 August UAE time), when Jones Apparel Group e-mailed its shareholders to confirm that Fast Retailing had failed to offer any more money.Jones had set Fast Ret

  • Istithmar raises bid for Barneys

    Istithmar has extended its battle to take over the Barneys chain of American department stores by increasing its bid from $900 million to $942.3 million.The UAE-based investment house raised its offer on 8 August after Japanese retail group Fast Retailing bid $950 million for Barneys.Although the Japanese company's bid is higher, Barneys will receive more money if it accepts the bid from Istithmar. Barneys had previously agreed a clause to pay Istithmar

  • Istithmar set to win race for Barneys

    Dubai's Istithmar is set to acquire the Barneys department store chain on 9 August, ending a two-month race for the US retailer.The deadline for any rival bid is 5pm New York time (1am Dubai time, 10 August). The only other bidder, Japan's Fast Retailing, withdrew its $950 million offer for Barneys in the early hours of 9 August.Barneys' owner, the US' Jones Apparel Group, agreed to sell the retail chain to Istithmar for $942.3 million on 8 August, shor

  • Italians win Kayan boiler work

    A Milan-based grouping of Macchi and Termokimik Corporation has won an estimated $90 million contract to supply two oil boilers and an associated air quality control system plant to Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company.Under the terms of the 20-month contract, the two firms will supply two boilers producing 700 tonnes per hour of steam, related auxiliary equipment and selective catalytic reduction systems for nitrous oxide reduction, particulate removal, fly-ash handling and

  • Ithmaar profits rise strongly

    Investment bank Ithmaar has reported a 130 per cent increase in half year net profits to $65.9 million, compared with the same period last year.The bank says profits were being driven by a rise in underwriting, private equity, Islamic finance, and advisory work.However, last year the bank made most of its profits in the second half of the year. Full year net profits for 2006 were $181.1 million. Total assets, including funds under management,

  • Japan Bank set to provide $1.3bn for Fujairah plant

    Japan Bank for International Co-operation is to supply about 60 per cent of the total fin-ancing for the Fujairah 2 independent water and power project.The Japanese bank will contribute about $1,300 million of the $2,200 million funding needed for the project. The remainder will be marketed to commercial banks in the fourth quarter of 2007.The funding will be split into 20 per cent equity and 80 per cent debt. There is not expected to be an Islamic tranche in the commercial fundi

  • Japanese and South Korean firms win refinery contract

    A Japanese/South Korean venture of Mitsui & Company and GS Engineering & Construction has won a contract, worth $1,800 million, to build a diesel oil plant at Mostorod, an industrial area 10 kilometres north of Cairo.

  • Jazeera goes to market

    Jazeera Airways has said it will float on the Kuwaiti bourse by the end of September. Kuwait's private low-cost carrier is finalising its preparations for the move, having submitted an official listing request during the second quarter. NBK Capital is advising on the flotation.

  • Jubail olefins bidding begins

    Presentations are being held in Houston for the two main contracts on the multi-billion-dollar National ChevronPhillips olefins complex in Jubail. Six international contractors are bidding for packages.

  • Kenitra plant tender nears

    Office National de L'Electricite (ONE) will issue tenders for a new 300-360-MW power plant at Kentira at the end of August. The plant's three gas turbines will run on heavy fuel oil. A second phase could convert the plant into a combined-cycle facility with a capacity of 450-540 MW. Whether this happens depends on the availability of natural gas.

  • Khartoum expels head of aid agency

    Khartoum has expelled the local head of US aid agency Care from Sudan. Paul Barker said the government had given him 72 hours to leave the country without giving a specific reason for his expulsion. According to Barker, the agency had faced difficulties in Sudan since an internal email he had written about the future of Darfur was leaked to the local media. 'The email I wrote almost a year ago in October [was] talking about the different scenarios that could

  • Khartoum expels Western diplomats

    Khartoum expelled European and Canadian diplomats on 24 August, on charges of interfering in its affairs.'Sudan has summoned the envoy of the European Commission and the Canadian charge d'affaires and informed them they were considered persona non grata because they interfered in Sudanese affairs,' foreign ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadek told the official SUNA news agency. The diplomats who have been asked to leave are Kent Degerfeld, a Swedish diplomat repr

  • Khartoum gives permission for new UN force

    Khartoum has agreed with the UN on a new peacekeeping force for the Darfur region.It comes ahead of a tour by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon of Sudan, Chad and Libya in early September aimed at preparing the ground for a settlement for the war-stricken region. In August the UN Security Council approved the sending of a 26,000-strong joint UN African Union peacekeeping force to Darfur. An estimated 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million hav

  • Khuzestan lists in Tehran

    Khuzestan Steel Company listed its shares on the Tehran Stock Exchange on 7 August, following an initial public offering of 5 per cent of the company. The shares were sold at IR 3,350 ($0.36) and listed on the same day. There are more than 100 state-owned companies lined up to follow with their own share offerings, including telecoms firms and banks. The government plans to sell a further 180 companies through a tendering process.

  • Kidnapped deputy oil minister freed

    Iraq's deputy oil minister, Abdel-Jabar al-Wagaa, was freed today along with three other oil officials after being kidnapped by gunmen from the ministry's Baghdad-based compound on 14 August.'He is in good health along with the others. They are now at home,' said Asim Jihad, Oil Ministry spokesman.Al-Wagaa, deputy to Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, was taken away by more than 50 gunmen driving what appeared to be military vehicles.Al-Waga

  • Kingdom Hotels targets Seychelles

    Kingdom Hotel Investments is investing $137 million to develop a luxury resort in the Seychelles. The Raffles-branded resort will cover 300,000 square metres and include a hotel with 90 villas and 17 private residential villas. It is the second big move for the Raffles brand in recent weeks. In mid-July the company announced that it had invested $35 million in two Raffles hotels in Cambodia.Kingdom Hotel Investments is the Dubai-based subsidia

  • Kingdom Hotels targets Seychelles

    Kingdom Hotel Investments is investing $137 million to develop a luxury resort in the Seychelles. The Raffles-branded resort will cover 300,000 square metres and include a hotel with 90 villas and 17 private residential villas. It is the second big move for the Raffles brand in recent weeks. In mid-July the company announced that it had invested $35 million in two Raffles hotels in Cambodia.Kingdom Hotel Investments is the Dubai-based

  • Korek to decide on network purchase

    Korek Telecom says it will decide whether to buy a mobile phone network covering all of Iraq from Egypt's Orascom Telecom before 7 September.The Kurdish mobile phone operator won a 15-year nationwide licence in Iraq costing $1,250 million on 17 August, but it lacks the infrastructure to provide mobile services outside northern Iraq.Orascom Telecom, which owns the nationwide Iraqna network with more than 3 million customers, has asked Korek to pay $1,500 mill

  • KPC privatisation drive put on hold

    Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has put its privatisation programme on hold pending the approval of a law enshrining workers rights.The privatisation programme, initiated three years ago, covered KPC's non-core assets such as its petrol stations and fertiliser plants.Critics say that the terms offered are unattractive, with buyers given little flexibility to sack under-performing local workers or raise prices. Saad al-Shuwaib, the new chief

  • KPC privatisation drive put on hold

    Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has put its privatisation programme on hold pending the approval of a law enshrining workers rights.The privatisation programme, initiated three years ago, covered KPC's non-core assets such as its petrol stations and fertiliser plants.Critics say that the terms offered are unattractive, with buyers given little flexibility to sack under-performing local workers or raise prices. Saad al-Shuwaib, the

  • Kurds call for US aid boost

    The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) claims it has received significantly less US funding for its power sector than the rest of Iraq.

  • Kuwait Airways deal blocked

    A deal intended to double the size of Kuwait Airways' fleet has failed to gain government approval.The Kuwaiti aircraft leasing group Alafco, which was to supply the airline with 12 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and seven Airbus A320s at a cost of KD 540 million ($1,900 million), announced to the Kuwaiti stock exchange on 28 August that the deal was 'considered dead'. Alafco's share price fell by 7 per cent following the announcement. The arrangement was thrown int

  • Kuwait cuts jet fuel price

    The Kuwaiti government has announced it is to cut the cost of jet fuel for airlines operating out of the country's international airport. With Kuwait aiming to raise its profile as a tourist destination, the country's Civil Aviation Authority claims the move will boost the airline industry and economic activity. It should also improve the fortunes of the loss-making Kuwait Airways, which has complained that revenues were being undermined by high fuel costs.

  • Kuwait Oil extends tenders on four upstream projects

    Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has extended the bid deadline for all four of its major upstream projects under tender, to allow contractors more time to prepare their bids (see Tenders, page 36).

  • Kuwait Oil in-house services contract faces retendering

    All three prequalified firms have submitted bids for the five-year contracts to provide in-house project management services to Kuwait Oil Company. However, the wide range of bids could lead to the contract being retendered.

  • Kuwait Oil tenders tanks

    Kuwait Oil Company has invited nine local contractors to submit bids by 30 October for an estimated $100 million five-year contract to clean, repair and paint its crude storage tanks. The scope of works covers the maintenance, repair, replacement, desludging, cleaning, testing, painting and associated pipe works at storage tanks at the north and south tanks farms, the Mina al-Ahmadi crude pumping station, and the Burgan, Ahmadi, Magwa and Subkha oil fields.

  • Kuwait to launch sector watchdog

    Kuwait is to set up a telecoms regulator, ending its status as the largest Arab economy without a dedicated watchdog for phone and internet services.

  • Landbridge bids due in November

    Bids for the Saudi Landbridge project are to be submitted in the first week of November, after a series of delays.

  • Leisurecorp issues invite

    Leisurecorp, a division of Istithmar, has invited companies to express interest in the phase one building works at its Jumeirah Golf Estates development. The works include 840 villas, a clubhouse and residential centre. The local Khansaheb Civil Engineering is working on the golf course. The UK's Mott Macdonald is the project manager (MEED 24:8:07).

  • Licences go to auction

    Iraq's Communications Ministry will auction three nationwide mobile phone licences on 16 and 17 August in Amman, Jordan. The winners of the 15-year licences will be announced on 18 August. They will replace short-term licences held by IraQna, a subsidiary of Egypt's Orascom Telecom, Kuwait's MTC-Atheer, and a subsidiary of Kuwait's Wataniya called Asiacell, which has since been closed down. Korek and Sanatel currently operate in the Kurdish north without licences.

  • Listed firms boost profits

    The combined net profit for all companies listed on the Doha Securities Market has increased by 35 per cent, compared to the same period in 2006. The figure has risen from QR 6,900 million ($1,900 million) in 2006 to QR 9,300 million ($2,560 million) in the six months to 30 June this year. There are 38 companies listed on the exchange.

  • Local banks get ratings approval

    Egypt is making strong progress in reforming its banking sector, according to a report issued by ratings agency Moody's on 6 August.Conatantinos Kypreos, an analyst at Moody's says: 'Considerable progress is being made, with a number of issues that have been problematic in past years presently being addressed.'Among the reforms that Moody's says are strengthening the sector is the consolidation of banks, restructuring of state-owned banks to bring in pr

  • Local consortium wins healthcare contract

    The Health Ministry has awarded the third and final phase of its SR 3,600 million ($959 million) programme to build 1,030 healthcare centres in the kingdom.A consortium of the local Al-Arrab Contracting, Haif Trading and Construction and Al-Mansouri Contracting was awarded the SR 1,600 million ($426 million) package for 440 clinics on 25 August.The first phase, to build 150 clinics, was awarded to Saudi Oger in 2005. Fifty of those have already been delivered, while the rest will

  • Local movement seeks to halt privatisations

    The leader of a campaign to halt the sale of state-owned companies says he has the support of 108 members of Egypt's parliament.Yehia Hady said that his 'No to Selling Egypt' campaign would attempt to stop the upcoming privatisation of Banque du Caire, one of the three largest state-owned banks. Hady previously ran Omar Effendi, a department store chain which was sold to Saudi Arabia's Anwal Group last year.He said, 'We are not against all privatisation, but

  • Locals bid for port road

    Six local firms are bidding to build a new access road linking the Port of Sohar to the Batinah Highway. Desert Line Projects, Al-Adrak Trading and Contracting, Consolidated Contractors, Larsen & Toubro (Oman), Nagajuna Construction and Shanfari Trading are due to submit bids soon. The multi-million-dollar project, overseen by the Transport & Communications Ministry, involves the construction of an interchange to ease traffic flow to and from the port.

  • Locals to build Wave

    The local National Piling Company has been awarded the foundations contract for the Wave Business Towers project at Jumeirah Village in Dubai. The project involves the construction of three 40-floor commercial towers. The local Dimensions Engineering is the consultant. Local developer High Rise Properties is the client (MEED 25:8:06).

  • Locals win water deals

    Kuwait Controls Company and Khalid al-Kharafi & Brothers, both local, have won two contracts totalling $78.6 million to improve the state's water storage and distribution. Kuwait Controls has won a KD 8.7 million ($30 million) contract for a 1.2 metre diameter pipeline from the Doha west desalination complex to the Doha water distribution facility. Khalid al-Kharafi has won a KD 14.1 million ($48.6 million) contract to build three water tanks at Subiya (MEED 23:2:07).

  • Logistics: Moving people

    One of the biggest challenges facing developers wanting to build high is how to physically move people around the building.

  • Mahdi Army placed on hold for six months

    Radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has told his followers in the Mahdi Army militia to halt all activity for the next six months while the group reorganises.In a statement read out in the Shia holy city of Kerbala, which this week saw fighting that left at least 50 dead during an annual pilgrimage, he ordered the militia to co-operate with security forces and 'show self control'. That includes fighting against US and coalition forces, as well as other militias, a spokesma

  • Maintenance work forces cut in oil production

    The UAE may be forced to shut up to a quarter of its oil output for several weeks in October, due to planned maintenance work.The loss of production levels could reach 810,000 barrels-a-day (b/d), with the worst hit likely to be the Upper Zakum and Lower Zakum fields. Work at the Umm Shaif field is expected to take around 180,000 b/d from UAE's output.In July, the emirate produced around 2.54 million b/d.The price of Abu Dhabi crude has risen

  • Major gas field discovered

    Iran has discovered a major gas field in the Fars province, with estimated reserves of 11.4 billion cubic feet of gas.Iran's Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said the discovery was made in early August near Qir-Karzin, and that the gas would be used for domestic needs.About 8.5 billion cubic feet of the total can be exploited according to the minister, although it remains unclear when production may start.'Once drilled, the 17 wells in the ne

  • Major operators out of the running for mobile licence

    Most of the region's largest telecoms operators have been squeezed out of bidding for Kuwait's third mobile phone licence.The Kuwait Investment Authority has selected 10 consortiums to bid for the phone licence at the auction this September, but only two of them are known to include international telecoms companies.The short-listed groups are dominated by banks and real estate companies from GCC countries.The UAE's Etisalat leads one of the co

  • Maliki responds to US critics

    Iraq prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has responded to criticism from US President George Bush by saying that 'no one has the right to impose timetables on the Iraq government'.Malaki went on to blame the impending US presidential election campaign in 2008 for the strong words currently coming out of Bush and other US politicians.His comments came on 22 August during a press conference to mark the end of a three day visit to Syria. 'Those who make such stateme

  • Manama gets ratings upgrade

    Fitch Ratings has upgraded Bahrain's long-term default rating by one notch to A, because of the growth in the country's non-oil sector and the positive steps it is making towards political and economic reform.The ratings agency welcomed moves towards political diversity, including Al Wefaq becoming an official opposition party, representing the Shia majority in the country. Fitch said: 'While relations between the opposition and the executive have not been t

  • Manama looks to landfill as potential power source

    Manama is considering developing an estimated $200 million waste recycling scheme at the country's largest landfill site, which could be used as a source for power generation.

  • Marafiq invites interest

    Companies have until 6 September to express interest in two contracts covering an infrastructure investment programme for The Power & Water Utility Company for Jubail & Yanbu (Marafiq). It is seeking consultants to advise on an estimated SR 5,000 million ($1,333 million), 20-year utilities masterplan to support industrial and residential growth (MEED 13:7:07).

  • MARKET IN FOCUS: BORSE DUBAI: Illegal moves

    In an embarrassment for Dubai, the Swedish financial regulator ruled on 23 August that Borse Dubai acted illegally when it bought shares in the OMX stock exchange earlier in the month. Borse Dubai's move to acquire the 28 per cent stake constituted an undisclosed takeover bid, according to Nordic Exchange Stockholm rules and breached the rules governing takeovers on the stock market.

  • MARKET IN FOCUS: JORDAN: Foreign interests

    As the appetite for initial public offerings (IPOs) shows signs of waning in the Gulf, investors in the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) are still buying up new issues. Jordan's largest ever IPO closed on 24 July, with shares in First Jordan Investment Company oversubscribed by 3.7 times.

  • MARKET IN FOCUS: REGIONAL Crisis hits bonds

    Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) is the latest regional victim of the global credit crunch. The company has cut the size of its planned bond sale by almost half to $1,500 million, and increased the amount of term loan facilities used to finance its purchase of GE Plastics.The decision follows that of Dana Gas to postpone its $1,000 million sukuk (Islamic bond) until September, because of turbulence in the global credit markets, sparked by the ongoing crisis in the US housing lo

  • MARKET IN FOCUS: SAUDI ARABIA: Open for business

    The decision by the cabinet of Saudi Arabia to order the Capital Markets Authority to remove legal restrictions on investments by other GCC nationals has been welcomed by domestic investors.

  • MARKET IN FOCUS: SAUDIA ARABIA: Acquiring rules

    Despite several high-profile listings in the kingdom, the capital markets are no longer all about initial public offerings. New merger and acquisition (M&A) regulations, which are expected to be passed by the end of the year, will set the foundations for increased takeover activity involving publicly listed companies.

  • MARKET IN FOCUS: WEST BANK/GAZA: Interlinked futures

    The fortunes of the Palestine Securities Exchange (PSE) and the political situation in the Palestinian Territories are intertwined. The Al-Quds Index hit its lowest mark this year at 458 points on 14 June. But, since an interim government was sworn in on 17 June, the index has started to recover. By 25 July, it had climbed 6 per cent.The bourse has suffered a wave of corrections exacerbated by the political situation, which have driven the index down 16 per cent since the beginning of

  • Mauritanian anti-slavery law gets mixed response

    The Nouakchott parliament has passed legislation to punish the practice of slavery with a 10-year prison sentence.The unanimous decision formalises a presidential decree banning slavery in 1981 that until now has not been backed up by criminal law.The move has drawn a mixed response from anti-slavery organisations.Boubacar Ould Messaoud, head of local anti-slavery group SOS Slavery, welcomed the move: 'We have been demanding this law for a lon

  • McDermott wins record Aramco deal

    Jebel Ali-based J Ray McDermott has won its largest ever deal from Saudi Aramco, with a seven-year platform contract designed to boost the kingdom's oil and gas production.McDermott will provide engineering, procurement, construction and installation services for the project, in the Zuluf, Safaniya, Marjan and Karan offshore fields.The long-term agreement covers several packages that will be awarded over the coming years.The first pac

  • Medgaz on track despite gas sales dispute

    The planned 8,000 million-cubic-metre-a-year (cm/y) gas pipeline linking Algeria and Spain is proceeding on schedule, according to senior project sources, despite a protracted stand-off between the governments of the two countries (MEED 8:7:07).The dispute centres on the volume of gas that Algeria's state energy company Sonatrach would be able to sell in Spain.In June, Algeria's Energy Minister Chakib Khelil threatened to pull out of the project unless Sonatrach's gas marketing a

  • Medics were tortured, says Saif al-Islam

    Saif al-Islam, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has admitted that the foreign medics imprisoned in Libya for infecting children with HIV were tortured.The medics, five Bulgarians and a Palestinian who later became a Bulgarian national, spent eight years in jail before being released in July.'Yes they were tortured by electricity and they were threatened that their family members would be targeted,' he said on Al Jazeera. 'But a lot of what the Pales

  • Middle East contracts awarded: August 2007

    Almost $6bn worth of contracts were awarded across the Middle East region in August, according to this selected checklist compiled from MEED reports throughout the month.

  • Ministry decides shortlist

    Kuwait's Communications Ministry will announce the shortlist for the state's third mobile phone licence on 12 August. All shortlisted companies must have a partnership with an international telecoms operator. The two existing licences are held by MTC and Wataniya, both Kuwaiti companies.

  • Ministry orders planes

    Kuwait Airways expects to receive an order of new planes, despite the Kuwaiti government scrapping its deal with local aircraft leasing company Alafco. A meeting was held between government officials and representatives of Airbus and Boeing on 29 August. By ordering direct from the manufacturers, Kuwait hopes to secure a cheaper fee for the 19 aircraft than the KD 540 million ($1,900 million) agreed with Alafco. The government is also keen for the planes to be delivered early (MEED 10:8:07).

  • Ministry retenders Subiya

    The Electricity & Water Ministry is set to retender the contract to supply, install and commission simple-cycle gas-fired turbines with capacity of 2,500 MW at Subiya. The KD 829.7 million ($2,861 million) contract, awarded to the local Kharafi National, is expected to be cancelled because of cost constraints. The new contract is part of the ministry's plans to build up emergency capacity (MEED 15:6:07).

  • Ministry signs road deals

    The Ministry of Transport has signed two contracts for road building, worth a total of more than $170 million. Al-Rio Contracting & Trading Company has won a SR 472 million ($125.4 million) contract for phase two of a road around the Makkah region. The second, worth SR 180 million ($47.9 million), has gone to Ajzala Contracting Company for the expansion of the Dharan to Abgaig road.

  • Ministry turns to Aramco for help

    The Petroleum & Mineral Resources Ministry is to approach state oil firm Saudi Aramco for help on the planned multi-billion-dollar oil refinery in Jizan, sources tell MEED.

  • Ministry upgrades network

    The Communications Ministry is spending KD 42 million ($149 million) replacing the country's copper telephone lines with fibre-optic cables. The new network will provide high-speed internet connections and improve fixed-line telecoms services when it goes live in 2009.

  • Mobinil seeks instalments

    Mobinil is seeking approval from the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to spread payments over several years for the£E 3,340 million ($585 million) 3G licence it agreed to buy in July. Alex Shalaby, chief executive officer at Mobinil, has requested to pay the licence in four instalments over as many years. Mobinil is raising£E 2,300 million ($407 million) from local banks to pay for the licence.

  • Moody's to rate finance

    Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has created a new division dedicated to rating project finance deals. The global project finance group aims to increase the reach of ratings for companies' project finance debt. Moody's currently rates about 20 per cent of the world's total project debt.

  • Mott to design golf estate

    UK-based Mott MacDonald has been appointed by Leisurecorp, a division of Istithmar, to provide management and design services on phase B of Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. Known as the water course, it will include luxury villas, cottages and medium-rise apartment buildings themed on a wetlands landscape (MEED 10:11:06).

  • Multi-billion dollar post-war clean-up stalls over awards

    Plans for the multi-billion-dollar clean up of environmental damage caused by the 1990 Iraqi invasion and subsequent occupation appear to have stalled at an early stage.In a similar scenario to other major public sector projects of recent years, the client, Kuwait National Focal Point (NFP), has been unable to issue a prequalification shortlist for any of the first three contracts on the programme, despite applications being submitted more than six months ago.On the largest of th

  • Municipality to build Deira tower block

    Dubai Municipality is preparing designs for an AED 250 million ($68 million) annex for its headquarters.The building, which is being designed by the municipality's general projects department, will be located at the intersection of Maktoum and Omar bin al-Khattab streets in Deira.The building will be made up of three basement parking levels and four floors above ground that will be used by the municipality. A 16-storey office tower will be available for rent

  • Nakheel awaits interest

    Local developer Nakheel has invited companies to express interest in two design, build, own and operate contracts for its Palm Jebel Ali and Madinat al-Arab developments. The contracts cover a gas farm and associated network, and two sewage treatment plants with capacities of 220,000 and 256,000 cubic metres a day respectively (MEED 10:8:07).

  • Nakheel hires retail chief

    Nakheel has appointed the former head of retail operations at rival group Majid al-Futtaim (MAF) to head up its restructured retail business.

  • Nakheel invites tower bids

    Nakheel has invited companies to bid by the end of September for the Trump International Hotel & Tower on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. The project is one of the biggest tendered in Dubai in 2007.

  • Nakheel launches Al-Furjan to replace Lost City plans

    Local developer Nakheel has launched a new residential development in Dubai to replace its Lost City development.

  • Nakheel signs $1.8bn loan

    Nakheel has raised a $1,850 million Islamic syndicated loan, in what is thought to be one of the largest purely Islamic banking facilities arranged in the region.

  • Nakheel to redevelop Jebel Ali Village

    Nakheel plans to redevelop Jebel Ali Village as a medium-density residential community.The new development will offer a range of housing options with retail services and amenities including a school, a community club and recreation areas.A number of the existing facilities will remain as part of the redeveloped masterplan such as the Mosque and the Jebel Ali Recreational Club, which will remain open during its expansion and refurbishment. The central park wi

  • Nasa wins Motorcity work

    Local developer Union Properties has awarded the local/Australian Nasa Multiplex a second contract at its Motorcity development in Dubailand. The latest package, estimated to be worth AED 500 million ($136 million), covers the construction of a hotel with a 29-floor tower. Motorcity is an extension of the already complete Dubai Autodrome on Emirates road. The local Edara is the project manager (MEED 28:4:06).

  • National Bank enters Cairo

    National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) is to expand into Egypt's retail banking market, after Cairo accepted its bid for Al-Watany Bank of Egypt.NBK says it will more than triple the number of Al-Watany branches during the next five years, turning it into the country's third largest retail bank. It is also expected to rebrand the business as NBK.Hadi al-Hakim, assistant vice-president of NBK, says: 'We see great potential in this bank and plan to expand the number of retail branches to 75

  • National Bank sells shares

    National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) will approach its shareholders to help finance the acquisition of Egypt's Al-Watany Bank, with a rights issue thought to be worth $1,450 million.

  • National grid near collapse, warns Baghdad

    Baghdad is warning that the state power sector is near to collapsing. Aziz al-Shimari, a spokesman for the Electricity Ministry, says Iraq's electricity system is only meeting half of the demand and that there had been four nationwide blackouts in early August. 'When we fix a line, the insurgents attack it the next day,' Shimari says. He claims the shortages are the worst since the summer of 2003, when the US-led invasion overthrew former Iraqi presiden

  • Netanyahu to head Likud party

  • New airline to launch with services to Asia

    The UAE will see the launch of its fifth airline before the end of the year.Kang Pacific Airline, based in Fujairah, will launch commercial operations in October. The company is owned by an Indian businessman, Paul Kang, who is providing $10 million of start-up capital for the airlineThe carrier plans to build up a fleet consisting of two DC-10s, a Boeing 747 and a Boeing 737 over the next six months. It intends to launch services to the Phili

  • Nine jailed for terrorist attacks

    Nine people were jailed for up to 25 years on 20 August for their involvement in terrorist attacks in Cairo in which three were killed and more than 20 people injured.Three tourists lost their lives in April 2005 in a bomb attack at a bazaar in Al-Azhar, an Islamic district of the capital. Later that month, 26 people - 11 of them tourists - were injured in suicide bomb and gun attacks. The four perpetrators were all killed during the violence.Four of the def

  • Non-oil exports increase

    Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohammed Rachid has said that non-petroleum exports exceeded petroleum exports for the first time ever in the 2006/07 fiscal year. Non-petroleum exports grew by 45 per cent to reach $11,910 million, compared with $8,233 million in 2005/06. At the same time, petroleum exports fell to $10,108 million, compared with $10,222 million the previous year.

  • Norwegians win offshore oil storage contract

    Norway's Aker Kvaerner will begin a five-year contract on 1 September to operate, manage and maintain the Al-Zaafarana floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO). It is based off the coast of the Egyptian Red Sea.The NOK 200 million ($34 million) contract, which includes an option for an extension, was awarded on 10 August by the operator, Gemsa Petroleum Company.''The award of this contract gives Aker Kvaerner Operations a foothold in North A

  • Nuclear power: Joining the nuclear club

    Just a year ago, the idea of the Middle East turning its attention to nuclear power seemed fanciful. With abundant oil and gas reserves and record oil prices, the region appeared to have little need for alternative energy sources. But after four successive years of rapid economic and population growth, the frantic battle by state-run utilities to ensure demand does not outpace supply has not gone unnoticed by governments in the region.

  • Nuclear watchdog says Tehran has made significant progress

    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran has made 'significant steps forward' towards explaining its past nuclear actions, and is producing less nuclear fuel than expected.The UN nuclear agency says, however, that as long as Tehran refuses to grant its inspectors wide-ranging access to sites, it could not be certain there were no secret military facilities elsewhere in the country. The IAEA and Iran agreed on 30 August to a plan for Iran to an

  • Official inflation falls

    Inflation in Iran has decreased to 16.1 per cent for the year to 21 June, according to the latest official statistics from the country's central bank. In the previous set of official figures, covering the year to 19 February, inflation was 17.6 per cent. Unofficial figures put the inflation rate far higher, at above 20 per cent. In July, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told state-owned companies not to increase the prices of their products.

  • Oil boom prices Kingdom Hotel out of Middle East

    Kingdom Hotel Investments will avoid making further acquisitions in the Middle East because the oil boom has made the price of the region's hotels too expensive.

  • Oil major bid fails

    Norwegian independent oil producer DNO has turned down a $700 million bid by a large unnamed international oil company to buy its assets in Kurdistan. DNO says it expects the first export of oil from its Tawke field to be delivered to Turkey by November. It has confirmed oil deposits at two new wells on the field.

  • Oil majors show interest in oil tender

    Around 25 international oil firms have registered interest in four offshore blocks, which cover Bahrain's entire offshore acreage. It will be the first new exploration on the island in more than 70 years.Oil & Gas Minister Abdulhussain bin Ali Mirza told a Bahraini daily newspaper, Akhbar al-Khaleej, that 25 firms have expressed an interest in conducting exploration. He had previously stated that 78 firms had indicated an interest in the blocks, although this figure also i

  • Oil majors show interest in oil tender

    Around 25 international oil firms have registered interest in four offshore blocks, which cover Bahrain's entire offshore acreage. It will be the first new exploration on the island in more than 70 years.Oil & Gas Minister Abdulhussain bin Ali Mirza told a Bahraini daily newspaper, Akhbar al-Khaleej, that 25 firms have expressed an interest in conducting exploration. He had previously stated that 78 firms had indicated an interest in the blocks, although this figure also

  • Oil minister quits

    Iran has promoted the head of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) as caretaker oil minister after his predecessor, Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh, resigned at the weekend.Iranian news agencies, which carried the announcement of the move from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, did not offer a reason for the decision.Vaziri-Hamaneh, who became oil minister in December 2005, is to become Ahmadinejad's adviser in the oil and gas affairs department inst

  • OIL PRICES: Crude slips below $70 a barrel

    Brent oil remained below the $70 mark, as fears over the impact of Hurricane Dean were eclipsed by lingering concerns over the stability of global financial markets.Oil prices traded at $68.48 on 22 August, compared with $70.90 on 15 August.Barclays Capital attributed much of the drop in oil prices to a delayed exit by hedge funds. The bank said funds held on to long futures positions until it became clear the hurricane was unlikely to pose a significant threat to US or Mexican o

  • OIL PRICES: Economic concerns dent prices

    Crude prices had a torrid week, with Brent oil plunging by more than $7 from last week's record high because of concerns over the US economy and falling equity markets.Brent crude traded at $71.10 a barrel on 8 August, compared with an intra-day record of $78.77 on 1 August. Much of the drop was attributed to the ongoing fallout from the crisis in US mortgage-backed securities, along with a series of government reports that point to a slowdown in the economy.Barclays Capital note

  • OIL PRICES: Economic indicators cloud views

    Oil prices crept back up over the $71 a barrel mark in mid-week trading, with Opec admitting the demand growth outlook had been obscured by mixed economic indicators in recent weeks.Brent oil traded at $71.40 a barrel on 29 August after falling to $68.48 a barrel mark on 22 August.Oil cartel Opec says the US sub-prime mortgage crisis had made it more difficult to track oil policy as it had clouded the picture on demand growth.'The situation in the past few weeks has becom

  • OIL PRICES: Oil supply fears drive price high

    Crude oil neared record highs on speculation that demand will outpace supply. Brent crude traded at $77.87 a barrel on 1 August after hitting $78.21 on 31 July, close to the record $78.40 reached on 14 July in 2006.

  • OIL PRICES: Prices stay stable amid uncertainty

    Brent crude prices stabilised to remain above the $70 mark, with the market coming to terms with the bursting of the credit bubble in the US. Prices had plunged $7 in the first week of August.Brent traded at $70.90 a barrel on 15 August, compared with an intra-day record of $78.77 on 1 August and $71.10 on 8 August.Traders shrugged off the resignation of Iran's oil minister and the abduction of Iraq's deputy oil minister to focus on the chances of Opec raising crude oil productio

  • Oil reserves grow slowly despite record spending

    Global oil and gas reserves inched up by just 2 per cent last year, despite a 45 per cent surge in spending on upstream investments by world oil majors.A study released by industry consultancy Harrison Lovegrove found reserve volumes edged up to 263 billion barrels of oil, which would have fallen had it not been for a substantial increase in reserve bookings in Canadian oil sands and Asia-Pacific natural gas.The report found global investment by oil companie

  • Omniyat invites bids

    The local Omniyat Properties has approached contractors for its AED 500 million ($136 million) tower project at Business Bay. The Pad tower, designed to resemble an Apple iPod, will slant 7 degrees and include 231 apartments and a fitness club. Completion is scheduled for late 2009. Hong Kong's James Law Cybertecture International is the architect.

  • Omran invites hotel bids

    The Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran) has invited international firms to bid by 19 August for the contract to provide project management services on the Duqm Beach hotel project. It involves the construction of a four-star, 200-room hotel and 25 chalets, conference and meeting rooms, a business centre and recreation facilities. It will serve Duqm industrial port. The local office of KEO International Consultants is the design consultant (MEED 18:5:07).

  • Opec wary of US economy

    Oil cartel Opec has warned that ongoing economic problems in the US could cut oil consumption for the rest of 2007.'The more bearish economic trend which has materialised in recent weeks could negatively impact demand growth in the second half of the year,' Opec said on 14 August.Opec also cut its forecast for US economic growth this year to 1.9 per cent from the 2.1 per cent estimate published in July, saying it has growing doubts about the outlook.

  • Operator avoids profit fall

    Jordan Telecom, the monopoly fixed-line operator, has avoided an expected drop in net profits for the first half of 2007. The company made profits of JD 46.6 million ($65.8 million) for the period, up from JD 42.1 million ($59.4 million) in the first six months of 2006. Analysts from Kuwait's Global Investment House had also predicted the firm's share of the mobile market would fall. Instead, its market share rose from 30 per cent to 34 per cent.

  • Operator writes off $45m

    Telecom Egypt has written off£E 258 million ($45.4 million) from the value of an Algerian joint venture with Orascom Telecom, over fears that it is worth less than originally thought. Egypt's monopoly fixed-line telecoms company owns an equal share of Consortium Algerien De Telecommunications (CAT) with Orascom Telecom. Akil Beshir, chairman of Telecom Egypt, says the venture, which runs Algeria's second fixed-line licence, is being damaged by competition from the incumbent Algerie Telecom.

  • Orascom faces licence loss

    The Zimbabwe government has threatened to cancel the local mobile phone licence held by Egypt's Orascom Telecom. The government acted after Orascom failed to reduce its holding in Telecel International from 60 to 49 per cent before a 30 June deadline. The owner of the 40 per cent stake, Empowerment Corporation, lacks sufficient foreign currency to buy the extra 11 per cent.

  • Orascom shares tumble after loss of Iraq business

    Orascom Telecom's shares have plunged by more than 16 per cent since the Egyptian mobile phone operator failed to win a licence to operate in Iraq on 17 August.The company's shares fell by 5.3 per cent on 21 August, ending the day at£E 64.55 ($11.36). The shares are down 16.8 per cent, from£E 77.61 ($13.66), since the results of the Iraqi licences were announced. The company is now valued at£E 70,356.8 million ($12,383 million).The operator, which has licenc

  • Paradise lost as minorities in Iraq pay the price for chaos

    Iraq's leaders have agreed to hold a summit in what looks like a final attempt to create an effective unity government to fill the security void that will be created as US and other coalition troops withdraw to base or go home.

  • Paris, London threaten Khartoum with sanctions

    Paris and London on 31 August called for sanctions against Khartoum if progress is not made on upcoming Darfur peace talks.UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a joint statement in the London-based The Times newspaper that they would work to deploy by the end of the year a 26,000-strong UN-African Union (AU) force to replace the existing AU mission.'It is the combination of a ceasefire, a peacekeeping force, economic re

  • Parliament stalls bourse regulator

    Plans for an independent capital market authority have stalled, with legislation to set up the new stock exchange regulator stuck in the deadlocked parliament.The new law was presented to parliament in early 2007 but is not expected to make any further progress before the election of a new president, due by the end of November.There are 15 companies on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), regulated by the Finance Ministry and the BSE's board. Listed banks are audited by Banque du

  • Petrofac bids low for In Salah gas field

    UAE-based Petrofac Inter-national is the lowest bidder for the lump-sum turnkey contract to provide gas compression facilities for the In Salah field, the country's largest dry gas resource. Only two bids were submitted, and both are understood to be substantially over the client's budget.The opening of commercial bids on 7 August revealed a Petrofac price of $595 million. The only other bid was for $660 million from a team of Italy's Saipem and Europe's ABB.However, both bids ar

  • Petropars awards South Pars pipeline work

    Petropars has awarded a $750 million pipeline deal on phase 12 of the South Pars gas field to the local Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC).

  • Pilgrim city sealed after fighting

    The Shia holy city of Karbala has been sealed off and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims ordered to leave, following heavy fighting between security forces and insurgents.The city has been crowded with worshippers marking the birthday of Muhammed al-Mahdi, the twelth Imam of Shia Islam.Gun battles broke out near the shrine of Imam Hussein on the night of 27 August, a police spokesman says, and continued in to 28 August. At least 25 people were killed and 65 i

  • Pipeline tender nears

    The prequalification list and tender for the contract to design and build the Taweelah-Fujairah gas pipeline are likely to be issued simultaneously in late September or early October. At least five international and local contractors are understood to have submitted prequalification applications for the design, procurement, manpower supply and construction of the pipeline. The line pipes will be procured by the client, the local Dolphin Energy (MEED 27:4:07).

  • Police checkpoint attacked

    A government building and police checkpoints in Yemen were attacked by gunmen a day after the government claimed a significant victory over Al-Qaeda.The attacks came on 9 August near the town of Mareb, east of the capital Sanaa. No casualties were reported in the immediate aftermath.On 8 August, Yemeni officials reported that police had killed four Al-Qaeda militants believed to have been involved in a suicide attack that killed 10 people, including eig

  • Port Said and Suez refinance

    Syndication has started on the $680 million refinancing of the Port Said and Suez independent power projects.

  • Profits up for property companies

    Local property firms have posted large increases in profits, on the back of continuing strong interest in residential and tourism developments.Egyptian Resorts, one of the largest listed companies on the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges, has posted a 186 per cent increase in net profit for the first half of the year to£E 206.5 million ($36.8 million).The company holds land along the Red Sea coast. Orascom Hotels and Development reported an

  • Provincial governor killed in bombing

    The governor of Muthanna province in the south of Iraq was killed by a roadside bomb on 20 August, the second Shia provincial leader to be killed in August.Mohammed Ali al-Hassani was on his way from the city of Rumaitha to Samawa, the provincial capital, when a convoy of nine cars he was travelling in was hit by a roadside bomb, said provincial officials. One bodyguard was also killed and two others wounded.The death of Hassani's follows the death of the go

  • Pvaxx plans relocation

    Shipping pallet manufacturer PVAXX is considering moving its headquarters to Oman. The company, which is building production facilities in the sultanate and already has operations in Bahrain, recently relocated its main office to the UK from its base in Jebal Ali Free Zone in Dubai. The company is raising $75 million through a private placement lead by SICO Invetment Bank. It plans to list shares on London's Alternative Investment Market by the end of the third quarter.

  • Pvaxx raises funds

    Shipping pallet manufacturer ~Pvaxx~ is raising $75 million through a private placement lead by ~SICO Investment Bank~ to fund manufacturing facilities in Oman and Bahrain. The Bermuda-based company plans to list shares on London's Alternative Investment Market by the end of September.

  • Qasco extends deadline

    Qatar Steel Company (Qasco) has increased the size of the financing package for its direct reduced iron plant at Mesaieed by $150 million, because of rising construction costs. It is now seeking $1,150 million and has extended the deadline for offers to 31 August. Qasco is thought to be looking for 12-year funding with initial pricing of about 60 basis points. It will use part of the funding to refinance a $560 million facility.

  • Qatalum closes smelter financing

    Financing for the $4,500 Qatalum project closed on 23 August, with 30 banks providing debt for the construction of an aluminium smelter in Mesaieed.

  • Qatar Petroleum boosts marketing

    Qatar Petroleum (QP) has promoted Ali al-Hammadi to head its new subsidiary, which will deal with the export marketing of its regulated oil and gas products.Al-Hammadi, who was previously marketing director at QP and chief operating officer at Qatargas, has been appointed chief executive officer at the Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Company (Tasweeq) as part of a restructuring of its marketing units.The new division is expected to start operating on 1 January 2008, and w

  • Qatar to host 2011 Asian Cup football competition

    Qatar will host the Asian Cup football tournament in 2011, the Asian Football Confederation announced on 29 July.

  • Qtel joins Algerie bidding

    Qtel has joined the list of bidders to take a strategic stake in government-owned Algerie Telecom, despite having already accumulated $4,500 million worth of debt to fund acquisitions this year.

  • Qtel takes stake in Asiacell ahead of licence award

    Qtel rescued its interest in the Iraqi mobile market by buying a stake in mobile operator Asiacell just weeks before Asiacell won a new licence in the country.

  • Queen Alia team finalises finance

    The Alfa Airport consortium upgrading Queen Alia International Airport near Amman has completed its financing, meaning the project can go ahead next year.The six consortium members have raised finance for 40 per cent of the JD 500 million ($705.6 million) scheme. A new debt facility will fund the remainder. The consortium won the build-operate-transfer contract at the end of April (MEED 27:4:07).'The financial partners have already split up the cost and issued shares,' says a sen

  • Raffles seeks contractors

    Singapore-based CapitaLand Group is approaching contractors for its estimated $630 million Raffles City project at Bahrain Bay. It will cover 43,000 square metres and include the construction of three apartment blocks and a three-floor retail podium. It will be located in the District Centre which, with a built-up area of 230,000 square metres, will account for 20 per cent of the Bahrain Bay development. New York-based Rafaeil Vinoly is the architect (MEED 15:12:06).

  • Rail signals hit red light

    The allocation of four rail signalling contracts in Egypt could be delayed until the middle of 2008. Bidding was due to open on the packages, worth $200 million in total, in the summer. However, the Egyptian Rail Authority, which had intended to finance the project from government funds, decided to accept a World Bank loan for part of the cost. Under World Bank rules, the institution must approve consultants and contractors to projects it subsidises, meaning the tendering must restart.

  • Railway seeks proposals

    The Saudi Railways Organisation has issued requests for technical proposals to the six international bidders for the $6,000 Mecca-Medina high-speed rail link. No deadline has yet been set for the technical or the financial proposals, with various elements of the concession still requiring government approval. The final bid deadline for the design-build-operate-transfer contract on the rail link is not expected until the first quarter of 2008 (MEED 29:6:07).

  • Regulator delays mobile phone auction

    Qatar's telecoms regulator has delayed the sale of the country's second mobile phone licence by postponing the deadline for bids by a fortnight.ictQatar put back the deadline for the 12 companies that are bidding for the licence from 2 September to 16 September.The 12 companies competing to enter the Gulf's last monopoly market for mobile phone services have to submit both a technical and a financial bid.ictQatar will judge the companies on th

  • Regulator suspends Forsyth Partners from operating

    The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has suspended a company's licence to operate in the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC), for the first time.

  • Regulator to review rules governing Skype services

    The kingdom's telecoms regulator is examining whether to legalise Skype, the internet telephony firm that lets users make calls over the internet at a fraction of the cost of conventional phone services.

  • Regulator vows to be fair

    Lebanon's telecoms regulator has promised the country's internet service providers (ISPs) equal access to broadband internet connections once a new fixed-line telecoms operator is set up. The state-owned fixed-line monopoly Ogero is being relaunched as Liban Telecom, as part of the regulator's plans to prepare the telecoms sector for privatisation. The ISPs say that Ogero has failed to provide them with sufficient bandwidth.

  • Regulators sign accord

    The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Central Bank of Jordan as part of its efforts to build a relationship with other regulatory bodies in the region. A similar deal has also been signed by the DFSA and the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency of Turkey. One of the issues the regulatory bodies plan to address is the development of a common framework for Islamic finance regulation.

  • Reliance to make $10bn investment

    India's Reliance Industries is set to invest $10,000 million in Egypt's petroleum sector.According to Cairo's official Middle East News Agency the investments would include $7,000 million in the petrochemicals sector and $1,000 million in an oil refinery.India's investments in Egypt are currently worth some $320 million. The company's oil and gas subsidiary, Reliance Petroleum, has been buying Egyptian crude since 2001.

  • Religious police call for separate sidewalks

    The religious police called on 31 August for the local authorities in Medina, the second holiest site in Islam, to construct separate sidewalks for men and women.The country's Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice said that men and women should not be allowed to mix on the streets near where the Prophet Muhammad is buried.The Mutaween, or religious police, are authorised to arrest unrelated men and women caught socialising and en

  • Renewable resources: Forces of nature

    Environmentalists make strong arguments for the use of renewable energy technologies in power generation. Reducing the quantities of fossil fuels burned and cutting carbon emissions are undoubtedly noble goals. But it is not just concern for the environment that is behind the growing number of renewable energy projects in the Middle East and North Africa.

  • Review of feedstock delays Petrokemya cracker plans

    The local Arabian Petrochemical Company (Petrokemya) hasput plans to expand its cracker capacity on hold while it evaluates its feedstock options.

  • Revolutionary Guards labelled as terrorists

    The US is poised to declare Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group.US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will make a final decision in the next month. If confirmed, it will be the first time the US has ranked a state organisation alongside Al-Qaeda and other militant groups.The US continues to blame Iran for destabilising Iraq and Afghanistan and accuses the Revolutionary Guards of providing weapons and military training. If the organisation is black

  • Rice says US will help Middle East

    US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said Washington will help its Middle East allies address their security needs. She was speaking during a visit to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt, where she met Egyptian President Mubarak and ministers from other Arab countries.Rice and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates will continue their tour of the region with visits to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the West Bank. The pair are trying to convince allies in the region to play a positive role

  • Rice says US will help Middle East

    US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said Washington will help its Middle East allies address their security needs. She was speaking during a visit to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt, where she met Egyptian President Mubarak and ministers from other Arab countries.Rice and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates will continue their tour of the region with visits to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the West Bank. The pair are trying to convince allies in the region to play a positive rol

  • Riyadh considers plans for water regulation reform

    Riyadh is considering plans to set up a new water regulator in the kingdom. The move follows the recent launch of a plan to encourage private sector management of water networks and wastewater plants in Jeddah, the kingdom's second largest city.'The Water & Electricity Ministry is the regulator at present but the government is reviewing a number of options,' says John Young, vice-president at the US' CRA International, the lead consultant advising the government on the part privat-isatio

  • Riyadh reveals aquifer map

    Riyadh is creating a database of all its groundwater resources, based on one of the world's largest surveys of aquifers.

  • Riyadh risks moving too fast

    Riyadh knows it has to do more to improve Saudi Arabia’s water infrastructure. Inefficient supply systems in the main cities and a high consumption rate have led to shortages, which provoked riots in Jeddah in 2006. And with rapid population growth of about 3 per cent a year, it is likely to get worse. In search of a solution, Riyadh has turned to the private sector. But some believe it is pushing ahead too fast with water privatisation, while others say the government should first tackle wat

  • Riyadh to boost Yanbu oil capacity

    Saudi Aramco is to boost capacity at its Yanbu domestic oil refinery by 125,000 barrels a day (b/d) in a bid to keep pace with spiralling local demand.Aramco has requested expressions of interest from international contractors for the estimated $500 million project to increase production capacity at the west coast refinery to 360,000 b/d from the current output of 235,000 b/d.The scope of works includes a crude distillation unit, a diesel hydrotreater platform, a downstream proce

  • Riyadh weighs reopening embassy in Iraq

    Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal says a Saudi delegation will visit Iraq within a week to work on the reopening of the kingdom's embassy in Baghdad. 'The mission will head for Baghdad next week to look into security conditions there and … the modalities of opening the embassy,' Prince Saud said on 7 August. During a visit to Saudi Arabia by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in late July, Prince Saud announced that a diplomatic

  • Russia supports Abbas over Hamas

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has demonstrated his support for his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, after talks in Moscow on 31 July.Abbas, on a visit to the Russian capital, was given explicit backing by Putin, who called him the 'legitimate leader of all Palestinians'. Moscow has also signalled its intention to downgrade relations with the militant Islamist group Hamas, the main rival to Abbas' Fatah organisation. Putin urged dialogue betwee

  • Russia supports Abbas over Hamas

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has demonstrated his support for his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, after talks in Moscow on 31 July.Abbas, on a visit to the Russian capital, was given explicit backing by Putin, who called him the 'legitimate leader of all Palestinians'. Moscow has also signalled its intention to downgrade relations with the militant Islamist group Hamas, the main rival to Abbas' Fatah organisation. Putin urged dialogue between the

  • Saad set for downgrade

    Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has put Saad Group's BBB+ rating on a negative outlook for a potential downgrade, because of the investment firm's rising debt and exposure to volatile markets. Credit analyst Nigel Greenwood says the use of debt to invest in the financial sector makes Saad vulnerable to further declines in the market. With a debt-to-equity ratio of 34 per cent, the firm it is already 4 per cent above the threshold for a BBB+ rating.

  • Saadiq enters Abu Dhabi

    Saadiq, the Islamic banking brand launched by Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai in April, will open its first branch in Abu Dhabi before the end 2007, according to Afaq Khan, its chief executive officer. Khan says that since launching, Saadiq has managed to secure a 'robust pipeline in project finance deals' and developed an Islamic treasury risk management system.

  • Sabic delays Al-Kayan debt

    Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) has been forced to delay offering $1,800 million in project finance debt to the market, to fund its Al-Kayan project, because of the knock-on effects of the global credit crunch.

  • Sanaa considers nuclear power

    Yemen may build a nuclear power plant according to the country's electricity & energy minister. It is the latest in a growing list of countries across the region considering nuclear power.Mustafa Yahia Bahran said that foreign firms were being invited to come to the country to build the reactor.'Specialised international firms will build the strategic nuclear reactor that Yemen seeks to own for producing electricity,' he said at a lecture in Mukalla.

  • Saraya upgrades software

    Jordanian real estate company Saraya Holdings is implementing enterprise resource planning systems from Germany's SAP in a bid to cut costs. It is replacing standalone software with a standard package across all departments. The company specialises in tourist developments, including the Saraya Aqaba project in Aqaba and Saraya Dead Sea in Jordan.

  • Saudi Arabia the target as Japan refines its Middle East strategy

    Fifty years ago, in December 1957, Japanese business decisively entered the markets of the Middle East for the first time. Since then, Japan has been the Gulf's largest customer for crude oil and the Middle East has bought more Japanese than any other region. In 2006, the value of GCC-Japan trade was almost $100 billion, making Tokyo the GCC's leading trading partner.

  • Saudia buys Boeing dreamliner

    Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) is in talks with Boeing to purchase a 787 Dreamliner.The Saudi division of the US aircraft manufacturer has confirmed it is in discussions with the kingdom's national carrier. The deal will make Saudia the latest in a string of Middle East airline to purchase one of Boeing's prestige, long-haul passenger aircraft. Other buyers include Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and Etihad. The aircraft's list price is $160 m

  • Saudia invites interest

    Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) has sent out requests for proposals to prequalified companies bidding to take over the running of its cargo business. The deadline for expressions of interest passed on 29 July and officials at the airline are assessing documents from 30 international groups that have applied. Up to 49 per cent of the cargo operation will be sold.

  • Schlegel shortlists Shiraz

    Shiraz Water & Wastewater Company is due to issue a request for proposals by early September for the design-build-operate contract to construct a 100,000-cubic-metre-a-day wastewater treatment plant in Shiraz, in the west of the country. Germany's Schlegel is finalising a shortlist of prequalifiers. At least 30 international firms have expressed an interest in the project (MEED 18:5:07).

  • Senior US official visits Tripoli

    David Welch, US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs arrived in Tripoli on 22 August where he met Libyan deputy foreign affairs minister Mohammed Sayala. He is also due to meet Abdelrahman Shalgam, the foreign affairs minister. The trip is being seen as a precursor to a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.'This visit is very important because it lays the ground for another important visit by Secretary Rice next month,' Sayala sai

  • Series of attacks kill 250 villagers

    A series of bomb attacks in two villages near the Syrian border have killed over 250 people, and wounded a further 350.The attacks, believed to have been carried out by al-Qaeda militants, occurred on the evening of 14 August. Four car bombs exploded in the Kurdish villages of Qataniya and Adnaniya. Witnesses said one of the vehicles was an oil tanker rigged with explosives.The death toll is expected to rise further, as the debris from more than 30 houses wh

  • Seven killed in Kirkuk car bomb

    At least seven people have been killed and 45 wounded in a car bombing at a market in the northern city of Kirkuk.The blast hit the busy fruit and vegetable market in the southern al-Hurriya district of the city on 10 August. Police initially blamed a suicide bomber for the attack.The bombing is the latest attack in the oil-producing city, which has a population of about 250,000 people and is claimed by Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen. On 16 July, 85 people were ki

  • Shamil cuts Meezan stake

    Bahrain's Shamil Bank has reduced its stake in Pakistan's Meezan Bank from 26 per cent to just 7 per cent. The State Bank of Pakistan has approved the move.Meezan was Pakistan's first licensed Islamic retail and investment bank. Shamil first acquired its stake in the bank, which has 60 branches across Pakistan, in 1997.Kuwait's Noor Financial Investment Company bought Shamil's 72 million shares for PR 2,304 milllion ($38 million).

  • Share issue to go ahead

    The Capital Market Authority has granted Egyptian Housing Development & Reconstruction permission to issue the remaining shares in its rights issue. Subscription was due to open on 5 August for the 1.5 million shares and was expected to last four days. In total, the company will have issued more than 20 million new shares as part of its capital raising exercise.

  • Sharia indices launch

    Standard & Poor's has launched three new sharia-compliant indices, including a pan-Arab index with 29 listed stocks on regional markets. The other indices cover property companies in developed and emerging markets. Kuwait's Ratings Intelligence Partners will screen companies for their inclusion in the indices. The ratings agency now has nine indices that cover sharia-compliant stocks including ones targeted at the GCC, Europe, Japan and pan-Asia markets.

  • Shell seeks Rub al-Khali extension

    The South Rub al-Khali (Srak) exploration company has asked Riyadh for more time to drill for gas in the Rub al-Khali (Empty Quarter), blaming terrorist activities in 2004 for putting its exploration activities behind schedule.

  • Shimizu scoops record road deal

    Japan's Shimizu Corporation has been awarded the largest ever road contract in Dubai by the Roads & Transport Authority. The estimated AED 645 million ($175 million) contract is for the construction of a new intersection on Sheikh Zayed road.Interchange 8, the third phase of the Jebel Ali-Lehbab road scheme, replaces the existing junction with the Dubai-bound carriageway of the highway.The new interchange will provide access to developments such as Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai Worl

  • Shipping firm refinances

    The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia has agreed to a sharia-compliant credit facility with Riyad Bank. The shipping group, which operates crude oil and chemical tankers, will use the funds from the SR 900 million ($240 million) facility to pay the existing debt of National Chemical Carriers, the subsidiary it owns with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation.

  • Siemens to power King Abdullah Economic City

    Germany's Siemens has signed a memorandum of understanding with Dubai-based Emaar Properties to set up a 110/380 kV power grid within the planned King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia.Under the agreement, Siemens will draw up a two-phase plan. The first will involve the construction of three 110-kV substations and associated works by the end of 2008.The second phase, which will start in September 2008 and is due to be completed by June 2010, will

  • Siemens to power King Abdullah Economic City

    Germany's Siemens has signed a memorandum of understanding with Dubai-based Emaar Properties to set up a 110/380 kV power grid within the planned King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia.Under the agreement, Siemens will draw up a two-phase plan. The first will involve the construction of three 110-kV substations and associated works by the end of 2008.The second phase, which will start in September 2008 and is due to be completed by June 2010, will see t

  • Siemens wins Al-Zour bid

    Germany's Siemens, has won a Eur 350 million ($482 million) contract to convert Al-Zour South power station to a combined-cycle plant. Under the engineering, procurement and construction contract, Siemens will install two 250-MW steam turbines and heat recovery boilers at the 1,000-MW gas-fired plant. The client is the Electricity & Water Ministry (MEED 3:2:06).

  • Siemens wins Safaniya

    Egypt's Engineering for the Petroleum & Process Industries (Enppi) has awarded a contract to Germany's Siemens Water Technologies to provide a produced water treatment system at the offshore Safaniya field. The system is designed to remove high concentrations of free oil from the water stream so the water can be used for sub-surface reinjection. It is expected to have capacity of 850,000 barrels of water a day and is scheduled to begin operations in mid-2008.

  • Societe builds Gulf team

    Societe Generale has created a new Middle East energy project finance team, based in Dubai, to cover business across the GCC. The team will be headed by David Hodson as managing director and head of energy for GCC, and Jean Pascal Peltier as vice-president. The appointments are part of the bank's attempts to extend its project finance abilities, particularly in the GCC.

  • Sonatrach appoints Boots

    The US' Boots & Coots International Well Control has won a $21 million, two-year contract to provide oil well maintenance and training services to state energy company Sonatrach. It is the latest in a series of deals the company has signed with Algiers, totalling more than $50 million (MEED 4:8:06).

  • Sonede draws up shortlist

    National water company Societe Nationale d'Exploitation et de Distribution des Eaux (Sonede) will shortlist companies to build a desalination plant on Djerba island by the end of September. Six bidders submitted prequalification documents in July. Sonede has requested clarifications before it makes a decision. The desalination plant will have a capacity of 50,000 cubic metres a day (MEED 29:6:07).

  • Sonelgaz considers adding consortium to its blacklist

    Algerian state energy company Sonelgaz is considering blacklisting the US' GE Energy and Spain's Cobra after they failed to submit a bid for two power plants.

  • Sorouh posts profits

    Abu Dhabi-based developer Sorouh Real Estate has posted a net profit of AED 557 million ($152 million) for the first half of 2007. Earnings per share are 22 fils (6 cents).Revenues reached AED 1,100 million ($300 million) during the six months to 30 June, according to the company's statement on 30 July. None of the profit posted is attributed to the revaluation of the company's properties.Total assets grew to AED 6,100 million ($1,662 million), an increase o

  • Sorouh posts profits

    Abu Dhabi-based developer Sorouh Real Estate has posted a net profit of AED 557 million ($152 million) for the first half of 2007. Earnings per share are 22 fils (6 cents).Revenues reached AED 1,100 million ($300 million) during the six months to 30 June, according to the company's statement on 30 July. None of the profit posted is attributed to the revaluation of the company's properties.Total assets grew to AED 6,100 million ($1,662 million), an incre

  • Special report: Alternative energy

    The carbon-neutral city being built in the Abu Dhabi desert under the Masdar initiative could set a standard for sustainable development across the region and beyond.

  • Standard appoints chief

    Standard Chartered Bank has appointed Boon Huat Lee as regional head of global markets for the Middle East and North Africa. Lee previously held the same position in the bank's South East Asian operations. He will be responsible for the bank's capital markets, foreign exchange and derivatives businesses.

  • State hands over Orascom customer base to Korek

    The Iraqi government has given Korek Telecom the right to run Orascom Telecom's 2.9 million customer accounts and its mobile phone network, with immediate effect.Korek, the winner of one of the country's three new telecoms licences, has until the end of the year to negotiate exclusively with Egypt's Orascom over the value of the assets.Orascom was forced to suspend its Iraq operation, which trades under the Iraqna name, on 17 August when it withdrew from bidding for three 15-year

  • State invites Salalah bids

    State-owned Oman Power & Water Procurement Company is due to issue a request for proposals for the Salalah independent water and power project by mid-August. At least 19 firms are prequalified. The new plant will have capacity of 15 million gallons a day and 400 MW to meet projected demand in the Dhofar region until 2013 (MEED 20:4:07).

  • State prepares sell-off

    The Iraqi government is to sell stakes in all 65 enterprises owned by the Industry and Minerals Ministry by the end of the year. Industry and Minerals Minister Fawzi Hariri says foreign companies will be able to buy the stakes and run the businesses as joint ventures. The ministry has already discussed asset sales with France's Lafarge and Egypt's Orascom. Hariri says he also wants to attract the US' Dow Chemicals and Japan's Mitsubishi.

  • State speeds up airline sale

    The privatisation of Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) is to be accelerated following a crucial decision by the Saudi cabinet to give the airline more freedom over the sell-off programme.

  • Stockholm rules against Borse Dubai

    Sweden's Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) has ruled that Borse Dubai broke the law when it bought a large stake in Nordic exchange operator OMX without tabling a formal bid for the company.While the ruling may affect the decision by the FSA as to whether Borse Dubai could be a 'fit and proper' owner of OMX, the FSA said it would take no immediate action against the exchange because Borse Dubai has subsequently announced a formal offer for OMX.Borse Duba

  • Strong growth in Islamic bond issues

    Sukuk issuance has increased by 75 per cent in the first half of 2007 to $24,500 million, according to a report issued by research firm ISI Emerging Markets.Transactions such as the $1,500 million issue by ports operator DP World and the $1,250 by the Dubai International Financial Centre have driven the market well ahead of performance in 2006. The figure for the first six months of 2006 was $14,000 million.According to the report, Malaysia continues to

  • Sudan offers refuge to Palestinians

    Khartoum is to take in Palestinian refugees stranded on Iraq's borders with Syria and Jordan, according to the Palestinian envoy in Baghdad.Sudan extended its offer following a personal appeal by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to his Sudanese counterpart, Omar al-Bashir. The refugee agency of the UN estimates that about 34,000 Palestinians currently live in Iraq, with several hundred trapped in border regions after being refused entry to Jordan and Syri

  • Sugar refinery planned for southern port

    State-owned Khuzestan Ports and Shipping Organisation (PSO) has launched a tender for the construction of a $190 million sugar refinery.PSO wants the refinery to be built at Imam Khomeini Port, in the south of the country, within the next three years, so that Iran's sugar production industry can reduce its transport costs.'When completed, the project will annually help save $9 million in the transportation costs of the nation's sugar industry,' says an offic

  • Sukuk issues predicted to soar

    Rating agency Moody's has said that the value of sukuk issues in the GCC this year will significantly outweigh the amount for 2006.A report by the firm says that $6,300 million of corporate sukuks have been issued in the first half of 2007, already approaching 2006's record level of $9,000 million.Large transactions such as the sale of a $1,500 million sukuk by DP World and a $1,250 sukuk by the Dubai International Financial Centre have buoyed this year's fi

  • Sungwon takes road deal

    South Korea's Sungwon Corporation has been awarded the estimated BD 41 million ($109 million) Issa town interchange. The 33-month contract involves the construction of a three-level interchange, including a flyover and underpass, on Sheikh Salman road. The local Nass Contracting was the low bidder with a BD 38 million ($100 million) offer in April. There were three other bids. The consultant is the UK's Hyder Consulting. The Works and Housing Ministry is the client.

  • Sunni group snubs attempt to rebuild government

    Sunni politicians are refusing to join a new political alliance aiming to get Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's paralysed government back on track.Parliament, which is currently in the recess for the summer, has been in crisis since the main Sunni block, the Iraqi Accord Front, withdrew from the government on 1 August. Shia followers of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr withdrew their support for the coalition government in April.Numerous ministerial post

  • Sunni sheikh killed in attack by al-Qaeda

    A Sunni tribal leader who had encouraged his followers to unite with the government and coalition forces against Al-Qaeda militants has been killed in an attack on his family compound.Sheikh Yunnis al-Tae died together with several members of his family when mortars and rockets were fired at his house in the town of Kanaan, north east of Baghdad. Five women were reportedly seized from the house before police and tribal forces drove the attackers away, with 2

  • Talks planned to end political deadlock

    Beleaguered Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called for a summit of Iraq's political leaders to bring an end to the paralysis that has gripped his government.The coalition of Shia, Sunni and Kurdish political parties has all but broken down, with the main Sunni block, the Iraq Accord Front, pulling out of the government on 1 August. Shia followers of Moqtada al-Sadr withdrew their support in April.Seventeen ministerial posts are now either empty or held by

  • Taqa buys more Canadian assets

    Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) has bought Pioneer Canada, a Calgary-based oil and gas exploration company, in a deal worth $540 million. By buying Pioneer, a subsidiary of the US' Pioneer Natural Resources Company, Taqa will add an extra 59 million barrels of oil and gas reserves to its books and more than 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent. 'The Pioneer business is a great addition to Taqa's existing operations in Canada,' says Peter Barker-Homek, c

  • Taqa gets interim finance chief

    Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) has appointed William Reynolds as its interim chief financial officer (CFO).Reynolds will be responsible for all group-level financial planning and control, as well as communicating financial performance and forecasts to the analyst community and capital markets. Reynolds has held CFO roles with two US companies, Prisma Energy International and Integrated Electrical Services, and senior treasury and finance roles with

  • Taqa to issue notes

    Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) will launch a $1,000 million commercial paper programme in early August to issue short-term promissory notes. The notes will have a tenor of 397 days or less. The company has assets of $15,240 million and on 1 August reported first-half profits of $67.8 million, up 26 per cent on the same period in 2006.

  • Tavanir sell-off moves ahead

    Tehran is moving ahead with the privatisation of state-owned power company Iran Power Generation, Transmission & Distribution Company (Tavanir), despite UN sanctions that are deterring international developers from investing in the country.

  • Tax hits Sonatrach

    Sonatrach suffered a 33 per cent drop in revenue, as foreign companies cut back on their involvement in Algeria because of a windfall tax. The tax was introduced by Algiers in July 2006 and means international firms have to give 5-50 per cent of revenues to Sonatrach when oil prices exceed $30 a barrel. Sonatrach's export sales fell by 1 per cent to $26,800 million in the first half of 2007.

  • Technip scoops Arzew

    State energy company Sonatrach has awarded Paris-based Technip a contract to build ethane extraction facilities in Arzew in the north-west. The front-end engineering and design contract calls for two units to remove ethane from two liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) trains. The trains produced 7,672 million tonnes of LPG in 2006.

  • Technology: Power without pollution

    As environmental sustainability rises up the agenda, one of the key questions being asked by oil companies is what to do with the polluting by-products of the industry.

  • Tehran appoints deputy oil ministers

    Iran's oil minister has appointed two deputy ministers, in an effort to boost co-ordination between Tehran and international companies and governments.Gholamhossein Nozari, the former managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), was promoted to caretaker oil minister after his predecessor, Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh, resigned on 12 August.He has subsequently appointed Hossein Noghrehkar-Shirazi as deputy oil minister for international affairs, rep

  • Tehran attempts to resolve Crescent pricing dispute

    Iranian authorities have pledged to revive a landmark gas deal with Sharjah-based Crescent Petroleum, after forming a committee to help break the deadlock over the pricing of gas.The move marks a softening of its position after Iran's then oil minister, Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh, said on 8 August that Tehran had started talks with other foreign firms (MEED 8:8:07).Crescent was set up to deliver gas to utilities and industrial customers in the UAE, but has been locked in negotiations o

  • Tehran delays telecoms sale

    Iran has postponed the privatisation of Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI), the country's state-owned telecoms operator. A partial sell-off had been expected to take place in September.

  • Tehran denies arming the Taliban

    The Iranian President has denied reports that Tehran is supplying arms to the Taliban.Speaking in Kabul on 14 August, during his first visit state visit to Afghanistan, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied his country was working against the Afghan government.'With all our force, we support the political process in Afghanistan. For us, a secure and stable Afghanistan is best,' he said.US officials have this year repeatedly accused Tehran of su

  • Tehran ready to prevent power vacuum in Iraq

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that Iran and its 'regional friends' were ready and willing to fill the power vacuum they say is developing in Iraq.'Soon we will see a huge power vacuum in the region,' Ahmadinejad said on 28 August. 'Of course, we are prepared to fill the gap, with the help of regional friends like Saudi Arabia, and the help of the Iraqi nation.'He claimed that the US' political influence in the country was collapsing, before dismissi

  • Tehran seeks foreign backers for South Pars

    Tehran is turning to Italy and Turkey in the latest effort to develop its South Pars gas field. The project has been increasingly hampered by international sanctions, led by the US.

  • Tehran-Algiers talks focus on gas co-operation

    Iranian President Ahmadinejad arrived in Algiers on 6 August to begin two days of meetings expected to centre on gas co-operation between the two countries.Ahmadinejad will hold meetings with Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika and other senior government and business figures in Algiers during his visit. Iran's ambassador to Algeria Hussein Abdi Abyanah insisted that Iran's nuclear programme would not be on the agenda. Instead, Abyanah focused on

  • Tel Aviv discourages EU contacts with Hamas

    Tel Aviv is warning European states that it would be a 'big mistake' to seek conciliation between Palestinian militant group Hamas and the secular Fatah party led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.'I know that it looks tempting and I know that the international community is eager to see a kind of an understanding between Hamas and Fatah,' Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni told a news conference with visiting Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Taro Aso on 14

  • Terrorist group losing foreign support, claims deserter

    Dozens of international members of Al-Qaeda's recently-created North Africa wing are leaving in disillusionment according to a former member.'The rare foreign recruits are still present in Algeria because they do not have another choice, or did not find the means yet of regaining their countries of origin,' said Benmessaoud Abdelkader in remarks published in the local daily newspaper Liberte on 15 August.Abdelkader left the organisation, known as Al-Qaeda in

  • The US loses 190,000 guns in Iraq

    The US Defense Department has lost 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 assault rifles in Iraq since 2005, according to a report by the US' Government Accountability Office.The department lost track of the firearms after issuing them to Iraqi army units and the police force.The US has also lost 135,000 pieces of body armour and 115,000 helmets. In a new report, the GAO said that Iraqi government agencies failed to keep accurate records of the weapons'

  • Three bid for Jubail plant

    Three groups have submitted technical and commercial bids to build the Jubail ethylene amines complex for the US/local Arabian Amines Company. They are Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company with Hanwha Engineering & Construction, both of South Korea, a joint venture of Oslo-based Aker Kvaerner with China's Sinopec, and Taiwan-based CTCI. The contract is worth an estimated $150million-200million(MEED 15:6:07).

  • Total and Almet win plant deals

    France's Total and the local/international Almet consortium have won the contracts to build and operate ethane and methanol plants at Arzew, following the public opening of commercial bids on 16 July.Total's deal, worth Eur 2,180 million ($3,000 million), is to develop a 1.4-million-tonne-a-year ethane cracker at Arzew, on Algeria's northeast coast.The Almet consortium sub-mitted the best price to develop the estimated $700 million methanol plant at Arzew, on the north-west coast

  • Total and Chevron sign Majnoon field pact

    France's Total and the US's Chevron Corporation have signed service agreements to develop oil and gas reserves in Iraq, potentially paving the way for more international oil companies (IOCs) to enter the war-torn country. The two companies are to work on the Majnoon oil field, which is Iraq's fourth biggest field with potential reserves of 12 billion barrels. Majnoon is located 50 kilometres north of Basra, close to the Iranian border.Elf, another Frenc

  • Tourists escape attack

    An attempted attack on a busload of tourists in the town of Meknes on 13 August ended in failure, after the bomber detonated the device before he reached his target, say police.'The gas cylinder exploded some metres from the bus and badly injured the attacker,' said a police source.The man, who authorities believe to be a member of the Islamist Jihadia group, is understood to have lost his arm when the butane canister he was holding blew up.Po

  • Tower deal goes to Dubai

    The local Dubai Contracting Company (DCC) has been awarded the estimated AED 200 million ($54 million) main contract for a commercial tower at Business Bay. The contract involves the construction of a 45-floor tower with a total built-up area of 70,172 square metres. The tower is due to be completed in 2009. Dubai-based Arkiteknik International Consulting Engineers is the consultant. Local developer Dubai Investment Properties is the client.

  • Trident to build tower

    Hong Kong-based Trident International Holdings plans to build a 120-floor residential tower at Dubai marina, known as the Pentominium. US-based Hirsch Bedner Associates is the interior designer. The Hong Kong office of Aedas is the consultant. It is Trident's third project at the Marina, following The Waterfront and the Trident Grand Residence tower.

  • Trio submit bids for Ruwais refinery deals

    Three firms have submitted technical bids for the two front-end engineering and design contracts on the grassroots expansion of the Ruwais refinery, planned by Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer).

  • Trio vie for design work

    Three contractors are understood to be competing for front-end engineering and design contracts on the grassroots expansion of the Ruwais refinery by Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer). Bechtel and Foster Wheeler of the US and Paris-based Technip have until mid-August to submit technical bids, with commercial offers due by the end of September. The first contract covers the refinery component and the second covers an aromatics complex (MEED 11:5:07).

  • Turkcell to bid for licence

    Turkcell will bid for Kuwait's third mobile phone licence if it passes the Communications Ministry's pre-qualification stage. The Turkish mobile operator, which is owned by Oger Telecom, itself a subsidiary of Saudi Oger, recently lost out in the auction for Saudi Arabia's third mobile licence. The winner of the Kuwait auction will own 26 per cent of the new mobile operator.

  • Turkcell to bid for licence

    Turkcell will bid for Kuwait's third mobile phone licence if it passes the Communications Ministry's pre-qualification stage. The Turkish mobile operator, which is owned by Oger Telecom, itself a subsidiary of Saudi Oger, recently lost out in the auction for Saudi Arabia's third mobile licence. The winner of the Kuwait auction will own 26 per cent of the new mobile operator.

  • UK considers sovereign sukuk issue

    The UK government's Islamic Finance Experts Group held its first meeting on 16 August to discuss the possibility of issuing a sovereign sukuk.The group discussed the market implications of a sukuk backed by the UK government, and also considered the potential size, demand and risk characteristics of such a sukuk.'We discussed issuance options and parameters, and potential benefits for the City and retail investors,' said Kitty Ussher, economic secretary to t

  • UN envoy says Israel must do more for Palestinians

    Michael Williams, the UN secretary general's special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, has said that Israel must do more to improve the lives of Palestinians if negotiations are to resume.A conference aimed at restarting the peace process is scheduled to take place in Washington in November. Williams, who will take up the post of the UK's Middle East envoy in September, warned that Palestinian leaders may not attend the meeting without further assurances from

  • UN role to be expanded

    The UN's role in Iraq is being expanded to include seeking reconciliation between warring factions and dialogue with neighbouring states, under a UN Security Council resolution due to be agreed on 10 August.Washington and London drafted the resolution and the new measure is set to pass unopposed. The new mandate comes on top of the existing four-year-old UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (Unami), which covers assistance with elections and monitoring human right

  • UN to approve troops for Darfur

    The UN Security Council was set to authorise a peacekeeping mission for Darfur on 31 July. Up to 26,000 troops and police will be sent to the region, in western SudanThe force is expected to cost more than $2,000 million in its first year. London and Paris are sponsoring the new UN resolution, which they formally introduced on 30 July to the Security Council. A vote is expected late on 31 July on a combined UN-African Union (AU) force.The resolution, un

  • UN to approve troops for Darfur

    The UN Security Council was set to authorise a peacekeeping mission for Darfur on 31 July. Up to 26,000 troops and police will be sent to the region, in western SudanThe force is expected to cost more than $2,000 million in its first year. London and Paris are sponsoring the new UN resolution, which they formally introduced on 30 July to the Security Council. A vote is expected late on 31 July on a combined UN-African Union (AU) force.The resolution, under C

  • UN water relief work starts

    Work has started on an estimated Eur 10 million ($13 million) project to supply new water networks to the Palestinian refugee camps of Khan Eshieh and Khan Danoun, 30 kilometres south of Damascus.

  • Urbis to lead urban planning reform study

    Dubai's Urban Planning Committee has awarded its urban development framework project to a consortium led by Australia's Urbis, as it seeks to reform its planning system to cope with the fast growth of the city.

  • US arms Middle East partners

    The US has announced a series of arms deals with Gulf nations worth $20,000 million.US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, confirmed the deals with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and others on 30 July, before departing on a trip to the Middle East. The US is also renewing its military aid packages with Israel and Egypt. Israel will receive $30,000 million 10 years. Egypt will get a $13,000 million 10-year deal.The Bush administration is keen to counte

  • US arms Middle East partners

    The US has announced a series of arms deals with Gulf nations worth $20,000 million.US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, confirmed the deals with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and others on 30 July, before departing on a trip to the Middle East. The US is also renewing its military aid packages with Israel and Egypt. Israel will receive $30,000 million 10 years. Egypt will get a $13,000 million 10-year deal.The Bush administration is keen

  • US criticises nuclear power deal

    A senior US envoy has warned that a nuclear co-operation agreement which Tehran signed with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has 'real limitations'.On 21 August, Iran and the IAEA said they had identified the outstanding issues of Tehran's nuclear programme and agreed on conditions to find common ground between them, but refused to provide more specific details.Gregory Schulte, the US envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog, said Iran should stop tryin

  • US investigates banks

    Several European banks are believed to be close to agreeing settlements with the US Justice Department over alleged violations of US sanctions against Iran, Libya and Sudan. The banks were being probed in the wake of an $80 million fine given to ABN Amro by US authorities in 2005, relating to its operations in Iran and Libya. The US has already warned banks that it will be strict in restricting business with Tehran.

  • US launches Phantom Strike

    The US military is launching a new offensive against Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Iranian-backed militant groups. Operation Phantom Strike will be carried out across the country. 'It consists of simultaneous operations throughout Iraq focused on pursuing remaining AQI [Al-Qaeda in Iraq] terrorists and Iranian-supported extremist elements,' the US military says. The announcement comes a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on political leaders to mee

  • US report criticises Bush administration on Iraq progress

    The White House has responded angrily to a report criticising progress in the redevelopment of Iraq.The study, published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), says only three of the 18 targets set to gauge Iraq's progress have been met. This conflicts with a report by the US administration, which has claimed that eight targets have been satisfied.In the report, seen by the Washington Post, the GAO claims that 'While the Baghdad security plan was int

  • Vice president expects oil law approval

    Iraq's vice president Adel Abdul Mahdi expects the draft oil law to pass comfortably when parliament meets to discuss it after the end of its summer break in September, although some changes may have to be made to it.'The oil law was completed in cabinet... the draft that was approved in cabinet is the one that will be presented to parliament,' he said. 'The parliament will return at the start of September when we will reaffirm that the law will be presented to the parliam

  • Washington wins oil deal

    The US' Washington Group International has won the front-end engineering and design contract on the programme to increase Abu Dhabi's onshore oil capacity to 1.8 million barrels a day (b/d) from 1.4 million b/d. The 12-month contract will initially focus on the Bab and Qusahwira fields before moving onto the Bida al-Qemzan, Ruwais and north-east Bab fields. The client is Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco) (MEED 20:4:07).

  • Woodside chairman resigns

    The chairman of Australia's Woodside Petroleum - which has exploration and production assets in Libya Algeria and Mauritania - has retired.Charles Goode was chairman for eight years and will be replaced by Michael Chaney, who will assume his responsibilities from 1 August. Since bringing on stream Mauritania's first oil, from the Chinguetti field in February 2006, it has been beset with problems.From its initial production peak of 75,000 barre

  • Woodside chairman resigns

    The chairman of Australia's Woodside Petroleum – which has exploration and production assets in Libya Algeria and Mauritania – has retired.Charles Goode was chairman for eight years and will be replaced by Michael Chaney, who will assume his responsibilities from 1 August. Since bringing on stream Mauritania's first oil, from the Chinguetti field in February 2006, it has been beset with problems.From its initial production

  • Work begins on Al-Ghurair City

    The local Al-Habtoor Engineering Enterprises has started work on the estimated AED 1,000 million ($272 million) expansion of Al-Ghurair City.The project, located on Al-Rigga road in Deira, involves the construction of a hotel, apartments and retail space on an adjacent plot to the existing complex. The total built-up area of the expansion is 230,000 square metres. Al-Ghurair City opened in 1983 and is one of the oldest shopping malls in the emirate. An expansion in 2002 added a supermar

  • Work to restart on flood-hit Infinity tower

    Work on the Infinity tower project at Dubai Marina is to restart in October, after the site was flooded earlier in the year.

  • World Bank seeks proposals

    The World Bank will issue a request for proposals to prequalified companies by mid-September for two contracts on the Red Sea-Dead Sea conveyor project. The contracts are to carry out a feasibility study and an environmental impact assessment. Bids are due by the end of October.

  • Zabeel plans Logo Island

    Local developer Zabeel Investments plans to build a resort on one of the two small islands on either side of the trunk of the Palm Jumeirah. Known as Logo Island, the estimated AED 250 million ($68 million) resort will be built on the south-western island, and will include about 50 holiday villas, a small hotel, a spa and shops. The UK's EC Harris is the project manager. Zabeel's other projects on the Palm include the AED 2,100 million ($571 million) Tiara Residence (MEED 11:5:07).

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