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MEED
June 2007

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  • : Growing apart

    The obituaries are already being written for the GCC single currency. With Kuwait depegging the dinar from the dollar and inflation rising sharply in the UAE and Qatar, the GCC economies appear to be moving further apart, rather than closer together.

  • : Tehran seeks second-hand fleet to beat US embargo

    Iran Air is substantially overhauling its fleet for the first time in 20 years, seeking to acquire 30 aircraft in the coming months.The national airline is scouring the global market for second-hand planes as it seeks to circumvent the US embargo preventing the company from expanding its fleet using US-manufactured equipment.The airline has a lengthy shopping list and a sizeable budget as it looks to refresh its dilapidated fleet. The company is seeking Airbus 340s, 330s, 321s an

  • 3i increases Gulf exposure

    UK-based global private equity firm 3i is increasing its exposure to the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region by investing in a Bahrain-based infrastructure fund.Manara Equity Partners will manage the fund, which will invest infrastructure and oil and gas assets. The fund is expected to launch at the beginning of the third quarter. Its size has yet to be determined.'We are looking forward to putting quite a lot of capital to work in this region,' says Michael Queen, infrast

  • A barometer of success

    After months of tense bargaining, Iraq's long-awaited draft oil law took a giant leap forward on 20 June with an agreement between the central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over how to share oil revenues.

  • A handful of sand in Taweelah and a giant leap for the Gulf

    On the last day of May, spades silvered for the occasion were simultaneously thrust into the sand at Taweelah, at roughly the halfway point on the road from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, at the groundbreaking for one of the region's great industrial initiatives. It is in an area of featureless sand, close to the location of two of Abu Dhabi's privatised power and water plants. In 30 months, the area will be transformed into the world's largest single-site aluminium smelter and the centrepiece of a new

  • A rough ride

    The seconds tick away on a digital clock at the entrance to Dubailand's offices, counting down to the opening of Universal City in 2010.

  • A tragedy of errors drives US policy in the Middle East

    It has been a terrible summer so far for US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. The first public, high-level meeting between US and Iranian officials in Baghdad last month was overshadowed by Vice-President Cheney's belligerent earlier statements delivered from an aircraft carrier in the Gulf and a new anti-Israel outburst by President Ahmadinejad.

  • Aabar seeks funds for future growth

    Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Petroleum Investments Company plans to raise at least $1,000 million in debt and equity by selling global depositary receipts in either London or Singapore to fund future expansion of the company.The company plans new ventures in the region. It is holding talks to set up operations in Algeria and Libya, in what would be its first investment in North Africa.Aabar produces about 20,000 barrels of crude a day from fields in Thailand and In

  • ABB signs $1bn grain contract

    Australia’s ABB Grain has signed a $1,000 million contract to supply the kingdom with barley over the next five years.

  • Abbas and Olmert to meet in Egypt

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Sharm el-Sheikh on 25 June, Palestinian and Israeli officials said. Egyptian President Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah will also attend the talks. The leaders will discuss the situation in Gaza following the takeover by Hamas. According to Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Olmert, the talks will also cover 'mutual co-operation and ways to go forward on the Palestinian-Israeli track

  • Abbas appoints new PM

    The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on 15 June appointed a new prime minister, after dissolving the national unity government and declaring a state of emergency in Gaza a day earlier.The independent minister Salam Fayyad has been appointed to the post, vacated by Ismail Haniya of Hamas, who was sacked by Abbas on 14 June as he dismissed the three-month old national unity government. Fayyad previously held the post of finance minister.However, H

  • Abbas deploys presidential guard

    Hamas militants have consolidated their hold on Gaza, prompting Palestinian Authority President Abbas to send in new troops to strike back against his rivals on 14 June.Until now, President Abbas has maintained that it was 'madness' for either side to perpetuate the violence. However, with Hamas' attacks unrelenting, the president has decided to deploy Fatah's best troops, the highly-trained and US-armed presidential guard.Fatah is being steadily driven out

  • Abraaj buys fertiliser firm

    Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Capital finalised the acquisition of Egyptian Fertilisers Company for $1,410 million on 3 June.Dubai Capital Group and Saudi Arabia's Rashed al-Rashed & Sons Group co-invested in the acquisition that included equity and a large debt portion. Deutsche Bank advised on the transaction and provided finance. The fertiliser company produces granulated urea and liquid ammonia for domestic consumption and export at its two faci

  • Abu Dhabi and Lockheed Martin collaborate

    Abu Dhabi has agreed the principles of a significant collaboration with Lockheed Martin across a series of aerospace and defence projects.A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on 19 June at the Paris Airshow by the executives from the Mubadala Development Company - the strategic investment and development business owned by the Abu Dhabi government - and the US aerospace group.The two companies have identified various military aircraft airframes and

  • Abu Dhabi builds 20 island bridges

    Abu Dhabi plans to build at least 20 road crossings to connect Abu Dhabi island with Suwwa, Reem, Saadiyat and Umlifaina islands.

  • Abu Dhabi delays port

    Abu Dhabi Ports Company has extended the closing date for bids for a second time for the first-phase construction package on the Khalifa Port & Industrial Zone at Taweelah. The deadline is now 1 July. Six groups have prequalified for the project. It will be built offshore and connected to the mainland by a 4.5-kilometre-long causeway. Completion is set for early 2009. The programme manager is US-based Bechtel (MEED 18:5:07).

  • Abu Dhabi firms form development company

    Four Abu Dhabi-based companies have established a AED 500 million ($136 million) joint venture company to develop real estate projects in Abu Dhabi and across the region.The partners in Inshaa Properties include First Gulf Bank (FGB), Aldar Properties, Sorouh Real Estate and Reem Investments. FGB holds a 40 per cent stake, and the three developers will hold 20 per cent each.The company will develop and market residential, commercial and retail projects acros

  • Abu Dhabi launches Zayed museum design competition

    The local Tourism Development & Investment Company has invited 13 firms to participate in a design competition at the end of this year for the Shaikh Zayed National Museum on Saadiyat island in Abu Dhabi emirate.

  • Abu Dhabi plans common market

    The Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM) is pushing ahead with plans to create a single GCC equity market by establishing common trading agreements with other bourses in the region.

  • Abu Dhabi set to award Zakum gas field contract

    An award is imminent on the estimated $300 million contract to build new gas processing facilities at the offshore lower Zakum field.Two groups, Jebel Ali-based J Ray McDermott and a consortium of Paris-based Technip and the local National Petroleum Construction Company, are competing for the lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction contract, with the latter understood to be frontrunner.The project covers the construction of a new gas treatment platform in the Zakum fie

  • Abu Dhabi targets corporate sukuk sector

    Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) is planning to become more involved in arranging corporate sukuks.Eirvin Knox, chief executive officer, says the move is part of the bank's strategy to bolster its Islamic finance offerings in corporate and retail markets.'We have been lead arranger on only one sukuk issuance, but we really should be doing more,' says Knox. 'This is definitely a product that we should be getting into.'Despite being one of the biggest banks in the UAE, ADCB

  • ABU DHABI: Adnoc ups production

    Abu Dhabi may not have set itself time limits to reach oil production capacity targets - unlike Kuwait and Saudi Arabia - but its crude increment programme is just as ambitious as those of its neighbours.

  • Acwa Power considers listing on bourse

    The local Acwa Power Projects is to list its shares on a stock market by the beginning of 2008. It will offer up to 30 per cent of its shares through the listing. It is also considering launching an Islamic bond.

  • ADNOC: Switching over to gas

    Gas has been the focus of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (Adnoc) attention in recent years, rather than oil. With the UAE's economic boom resulting in an unprecedented thirst for power, the firm has been racing to meet annual gas demand increases of 15-20 per cent.

  • Ahmadiah starts on tower

    The local Ahmadiah Contracting & Trading Company has started work on the estimated KD 8.6 million ($30 million) main construction contract for the Panasonic office tower in Kuwait city. The 44-storey office building is on Fahad al-Salem Street, close to the Sheraton hotel in the Al-Salhiya district. The contract is for two years. The client is Easa Husain al-Yousifi & Sons Company.

  • Ahwaz issues tender

    Ahwaz Water & Wastewater Company (AWWC) has issued a tender for the main trunk line of the city's sanitation project. The nine-month project includes the construction of a 3.7-kilometre-long pipeline with a diameter of up to 1.4 metres. It is part of the Ahwaz and Shiraz water supply and sanitation project, which is partly financed by the World Bank. The deadline is 3 July.

  • Albinali wins last Khurais package

    Saudi Aramco has issued the last package on the multi-billion dollar Khurais oil processing facility project to the local Ahmad Nassir Albinali & Sons Company.The 21-month contract for utilities, roads, security fencing and a fire-training centre includes civil, electromechanical, instrumentation and overhead power line works. The project was due to start in August but Aramco is understood to have fast-tracked the works, with initial construction starting in June.The scheme is ex

  • Aldar appoints new chief operating officer

    Abu Dhabi-based Aldar Properties has appointed John Bullough as its new chief operating officer. Bullough will join the company at the end of summer, leaving his post as retail director for UK property developer Grosvenor Britain & Ireland.

  • Aldar awards Al-Raha

    Local developer Aldar Properties has awarded the first major building contract on its AED 54,000 million ($14,700 million) Al-Raha beach development. The joint venture will build apartment buildings in the Al-Bandar district. Aldar and the UK's Laing O'Rourke formed the joint venture last December to deliver the Al-Raha beach development, which involves the construction of 50 towers.

  • Aldar negotiates central market packages

    Aldar Properties has entered into negotiations with contractors for packages on the estimated $1,200 million redevelopment of Abu Dhabi's central market.

  • ALGERIA: Algiers down but not out

    When Algiers first invited companies to express interest in its programme to build a raft of world-scale petrochemicals facilities in January 2005, it looked set to take the industry by storm. An estimated $15,000 million programme was put together for six greenfield petrochemicals facilities at the hydrocarbons export hubs of Skikda and Arzew, and a fuel oil catalytic cracker at Skikda. Interested foreign companies were invited to take a majority equity stake in their development.

  • Algeria: Petrochemicals plan stalls

    Negotiations with bidders on two projects for Algiers' petrochemicals masterplan have run into difficulties, say sources close to the project.A senior executive from the client, state energy company Sonatrach, told MEED in early June the company had failed to reach agreement with interested companies on preliminary agreements for an estimated $2,500 million ethane cracker, at Arzew, and a fuel oil catalytic cracking unit at Skikda in the northeast.The draft agreements, which incl

  • Al-Hamad wins Reef island work

    UAE-based Al-Hamad Contracting Company has been awarded the estimated BD 60 million ($160 million) main construction contract for the first phase of the Reef island development, formerly known as Lulu island.

  • Al-Qaeda militants killed in Baghdad

    Up to 17 gunmen were killed on 22 June in a US-led raid on a suspected Al-Qaeda militant group in Diyala province north of Baghdad, according to the US military. The attack took place outside the town of Khalis. US helicopters fired on the militant after observing 15 armed men trying to get into the town by bypassing an Iraqi police patrol. The attack came as a US general said US forces engaged in an offensive in the province were facing fierce resistance. M

  • Al-Qaeda offers support for Hamas

    Al-Qaeda has apparently sought to establish official ties with Hamas, following the Palestinian group's takeover in the Gaza strip.In a video posted on a radical Islamist website, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second in command to Osama Bin Laden, called on Hamas to unite with al-Qaeda after its victory in Gaza over Palestinian rival Fatah.Hamas, which advocates a more moderate Islamist approach than Al-Qaeda, has shunned previous advances by the terrorist group.

  • Al-Salam Bank to split shares

    Al-Salam Bank Bahrain has become the latest local bank to announce a share split, after saying it would divide the value of its shares from BD 1 ($2.63) to 100 fils ($0.263), pending shareholder approval.

  • Alternative growth strategy

    The signing of a huge gas exploration deal between BP and Tripoli on 29 May marked an important moment for the UK oil giant. Not only did it mark a return to Libya after an absence of more than 30 years, but also it added a significant new element to the company's already-impressive North Africa portfolio.

  • Al-Toukhi wins plant deal

    The local Al-Toukhi Contracting has won the SR 462 million ($123 million) contract for the 500-MW expansion of the PP8 power plant in Riyadh.It beat the local National Contracting Company (NCC) to the 19-month contract, which covers mechanical, electrical and civil construction of the gas-fired plant (MEED 13:4:07).Commercial proposals were submitted on 30 May for a similar contract at the 1,900-MW Al-Qurayyah open-cycle plant, where NCC and the local Arabian Bemco Contracting ar

  • ALUMINIUM: Qatalum ready to go

    After 20 years of discussions and numerous aborted attempts, Doha is inching closer to becoming an aluminium producer. By mid-summer, a final investment decision should be taken on the Qatalum smelter project at Mesaieed. If, as seems likely, the green light is given to the multi-billion-dollar project, the countdown will be on for the first Qatari-produced metal in late 2009.

  • Al-Waha gets state cash

    Al-Waha Petrochemical Company has signed an agreement with the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) for the government agency to provide $107 million in financing for its polypropylene plant. The SIDF financing follows an agreement signed in November 2006 with six mandated lead arranges to lend $530 million to the scheme. The project is the first private scheme to be financed on an entirely sharia-compliant basis. Al-Waha is a subsidiary of Sahara Petrochemical Company.

  • Al-Walid to build luxury hotel

  • Amec takes refinery deal

    The UK's Amec has been formally awarded the KD 23.3 million ($80.3 million) in-house contract to provide project management and engineering services for Kuwait National Petroleum Company. Amec was low bidder for the deal earlier this year. The three-year contract, with options for a further two years, covers project management and engineering advisory services (MEED 23:3:07).

  • Amlak to launch securitisation

    Amlak Finance is due to launch a AED 1,000 million ($272 million) asset-backed securitisation with a 25-30-year tenor, arranged by Emirates National Securitisation Corporation.The deal is expected to come to the market in the next two months. It will involve pooling together packages of mortgage assets and converting them into tradable securities.Amlak is one of the first companies in the region to use securitisation to lower its cost of borrowing by giving investors direct recou

  • Anadarko invites firms to prequalify for El-Merk hub

    The US' Anadarko Corporation has invited companies to apply by late June to prequalify for the estimated $3,000 million-4,000 million project to develop a new oil production hub on the El-Merk field, 300 kilometres south of Hassi Messaoud.

  • ANALYSIS: Abu Dhabi to follow Dubai mergers

    Consolidation is a Gulf-wide theme. Currencies, exchanges and banks all seem to be moving closer together. But the big question in the banking sector is who will announce the next merger, and when.

  • ANALYSIS: Finding profitable uses for deposits

    Government restrictions on retail lending means banks in Saudi Arabia are awash with cash for which they can find little use, threatening their overall profits for 2007.

  • Analysis: Hidden numbers

    The UAE's second mobile phone operator, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (Du), is the only telecoms licence holder in the Middle that has yet to publish its customer numbers.

  • ANALYSIS: Maroc Telecom maintains dominance

    Maroc Telecom has retained its position as the dominant mobile operator in Morocco one year after its market was opened to new competition by the creation of new telecoms licences.

  • ANALYSIS: Removing the barriers to the internet

    The telecoms industry is divided over why broadband internet access has been slow to catch on in the Middle East. But while some authorities are trying to bring down the cost of PCs to make it cheaper to get on line, others say removing barriers to new entrants in the Middle East would do more to improve the situation.

  • Analysis: Sharing risks and responsibilities

    Financing projects on a sharia-compliant basis is increasingly popular. However, the most widespread Islamic financing tool, Islamic bonds or sukuks, have yet to be used for project financing. Instead, other sharia-compliant mechanisms are being used.These include musharaka, which sees banks own the project being developed and the sponsor repaying the financing through variable rental; ijara or forward lease; and saalam, which is comparable to an offtake agreement.Projects that i

  • ANALYSIS: Supply shortages

    Oman Air's difficulties in finding sufficient aircraft of appropriate quality to lease or buy (see opposite page) are far from unique in the current market.As the industry emerges from its slump between 2002 and 2004, demand for new aircraft is soaring as airlines seek to expand with renewed confidence. Rocketing oil prices have added to the urgency. The newest models from Boeing and Airbus can increase fuel efficiency by up to 30 per cent.However, the two main manufacturers are

  • Aqaar prepares tender

    Ajman-based Aqaar is preparing to issue tender documents for the AED 2,700 million ($740 million) contract to build a cluster of mixed-use towers on Ajman corniche. The estimated AED 1,700 million ($466 million) first phase is due to be completed by March 2009. The local National Engineering Bureau is the consultant (MEED 26:1:07).

  • Arab Bank to finalise debt

    Arab Bank is close to finalising its first debt facility, which could act as a precursor to the bank entering the euro medium term note (EMTN) market.The $500 million, five-year loan has been arranged to spread the risk profile of the bank, and match its assets with its liabilities. Until recently, the bank's operations were predominately funded by customer deposits and shareholders' equity.Amin Husseini, global head of corporate and investment banking at Arab Bank, says: 'We fel

  • Arab League backs Abbas

    The Arab League has pledged its support to embattled Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and called for reconciliation between the warring factions Fatah and Hamas.An emergency session of Arab foreign ministers on 16 June denounced last week's violence in the Gaza Strip as a 'crime' and stressed that the 'legitimacy of his [Abbas'] leadership must be respected.Amr Moussa, head of the League, called for an 'immediate and full halt' to the violence.

  • Arabia prepares to float

    Sharjah-based Air Arabia is negotiating a new debt facility ahead of listing on the Dubai stock exchange later this month. The low-cost airline has launched a beauty contest among UAE banks to increase company liquidity as the business goes public. The company has also announced plans to expand its fleet to 34 aircraft by 2016. Two Airbus A320s will be added this year, and the airline is considering diversifying its fleet, with the possible addition of Boeing 737s.

  • Arabian Amines invites bids for Jubail complex

    The US/local Arabian Amines Company (AAC) has invited selected contractors to submit bids by mid-July for the main construction package on its $150 million Jubail ethylene amines complex.

  • Arabtec secures exhibition centre expansion work

    The local Arabtec Construction has been awarded the contract for the AED 778 million ($211 million) second phase of the expansion of Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

  • Arabtec to build Ocean Heights

    The local Arabtec Construction has been awarded the estimated AED 650 million ($177 million) contract to build the Ocean Heights tower at Dubai Marina.

  • Aramco agrees lump-sum turnkey switch

    US-based Bechtel and France's Technip have reached agreement with Saudi Aramco to convert the largest contract on the Abu Hadriyah, Fadhili and Khursaniyah (AFK) oil field development to lump-sum turnkey from the cost-reimbursable model.

  • Aramco awards upgrade

    Saudi Aramco has awarded a lump-sum turnkey contract to Jeddah-based Arabian Bemco Contracting for the upgrade of wastewater treatment facilities at the Juaymah gas plant. Estimated to be worth $47 million, the work covers a membrane bio-reactor system, oily wastewater system, caustic storage including tanks and pumps, instrumentation and control features and facilities.

  • Aramco calls for technology push

    Saudi Aramco has called for greater co-operation between the oil and gas industry and academia, while launching an aggressive research and development vision of its own.'Saudi Aramco and its academic and research partners have two major challenges,' said Aramco vice president of industrial relations Khalid al-Falih, speaking at Waseda University's Global Information and Telecommunications Institute Symposium on 8 June. 'First, to provide stable energy supplies to power hum

  • Aramco invites prequalification for Manifa

    Saudi Aramco has invited up to 30 international contractors to submit prequalification applications for four main packages on the onshore portion of its Manifa gas field development. The lump-sum turnkey contracts are worth an estimated $3,000 million (MEED 9:3:07).The first package covers the central processing core hydrocarbons facilities to handle 900,000 barrels a day (b/d) of Arabian Heavy crude, 120 million cubic feet a day of sour gas, 50,000 b/d of condensate and 950,000 b/d of p

  • Aramco launches world-scale refinery

    Saudi Aramco has formally launched its new world-scale grassroots refinery at Ras Tanura.The estimated $7,000 million-8,000 million facility, named the East Coast refinery, will have capacity to process up to 400,000 barrels-a-day (b/d) of Arabian heavy crude.It will contain several process elements, including a 231,000-b/d vacuum unit, a 91,000-b/d diesel hydrotreater unit and a 123,000 b/d visbreaker, to increase the yield of more valuable middle distillat

  • Aramco plans further domestic refineries

    Saudi Aramco is looking at opening two major crude oil refineries for domestic use on the east coast to keep pace with rampant demand from the local power, industrial and energy sectors.

  • Arcapita finalises loan

    Arcapita has finalised a $1,100 million sharia-compliant syndicated facility at more than double its initial size. The 5-year murabaha was oversubscribed by $200 million. It will refinance the private equity firm's $210 million multi-currency sukuk due in 2010, with the rest used for general funding purposes. Arcapita has invested more than $18,300 million in the Middle East and internationally, including the US. Its largest transaction was a $4,200 million acquisition of UK power company Veridi

  • Army claims camp victory

    The Lebanese army on 22 June launched sporadic attacks on Fatah al-Islam militants hiding in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp. A day earlier, Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr said the militants had been defeated and many of their leaders killed.Murr dismissed the latest explosions in the camp as part of the final clean-up operations. 'What is happening now is some clean up that the army's heroes are carrying out, and dismantling some mines,' he said. More

  • Army shells Nahr el-Bared

    The Lebanese army resumed attacks on militant positions in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp on 18 June. Five weeks of fighting in the Palestinian camp has killed more than 150 people, including at least 20 civilians. A day earlier two katyusha rockets landed in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. According to Lebanon's LBC television channel, the missiles were launched from the Lebanese village of Taibeh - the first time militants have attacked Israel since the war i

  • Arrest warrant issued for Iraq minister

    An arrest warrant has been issued for the Iraqi Minister of Culture on charges of terrorism.Iraqi officials say police raided the house of Asaad Kamal al-Hashemi overnight. The minister was not at home and is believed to be in Jordan. At least six of the Sunni politician's personal guards were arrested in the raid.Al-Hashemi stands accused of ordering the murder of two sons of his fellow Sunni politician Mithal al-Alusi in February 2005. Ambus

  • Arvandan to tender wells

    Arvandan Oil & Gas Company has issued a prequalification notice for wellhead equipment and facilities for the Yadavaran oil field in Khouzestan province, close to the border with Iraq. It is the second major contract on the field development.It comes after another Arvandan tender for pipeline work on the field, which is intended to move the early works of the development forward while a foreign partner is sought (MEED 25:5:07). National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is in talks to bring Ch

  • Ashghal reopens roads tender

    The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has reopened the contractor prequalification process for a raft of major highway projects to be implemented in the state over the next three years.

  • ASHGHAL: Infrastructure upgrade stretches resources

    Doha's long-suffering motorists, stranded in the traffic jams that never used to afflict the Gulf state in its sleepy, pre-boom days, are desperate for Ashghal, the public works authority, to complete its mammoth road-building programme.

  • Assad secures another seven years in power

    Bashar al-Assad has secured his position as president of Syria for another seven years after winning the presidential referendum with 97.6% of the votes cast.Some 11.2 million out of the 11.5 million votes cast in Sunday's election went to Assad.Turnout was 95.8%. It was the first election since Assad took over the presidency from his father Hafez al-Assad in 2000.Assad now faces a greater challenge to his authority from the UN Security Counci

  • Audits reveal missing oil

    A draft audit report on Iraq's oil industry suggests significant volumes of oil may have disappeared and funds have been mismanaged because of the lack of a comprehensive metering system.

  • Authority invites prequalification for tram system

    Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority has invited companies to submit prequalification documents by 3 July for the estimated AED 2,000 million ($544 million) design-and-build contract for the Al-Sufouh tram scheme.

  • Authority launches bid round for Jafr Block

    The Natural Resources Authority (NRA) has launched an international bid round for the exploration of the Jafr Block, the final and largest block to be offered in a licensing round. Companies have until 22 October to submit their proposals.

  • Authority tenders ports on the Nile

    The River Transport Authority is to issue a series of tenders in September for concessions to develop new river ports on the Nile and for the operation of barges in inland waters.

  • Aviation: An enviable position

    It is only in the past two years that the global aviation sector has begun to recover from the downturn triggered by the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) virus scare in 2003.

  • Award nears for Jubail olefins complex

    An award is due on the estimated $1,500 million polyolefins package at the National ChevronPhillips (NCP) olefins complex in Jubail.Three international engineering, procurement and construction contractors are bidding for the job, following the submission of commercial offers in late May. They are South Korea's Daelim Industrial Company, Spain's TR and Italy's Tecnimont.The contract covers the construction of four main units producing polyethylene, polypropylene, hexane-1 and pol

  • Azzawiya holds talks

    Azzawiya Oil Refining Company will hold commercial negotiations with a consortium of Yokogawa and CKG, both of Japan, and Indonesia's IKPT to discuss the contract to upgrade the refinery's distribution control system. The consortium was the lowest bidder for the project which will replace the refinery's existing control system with a new digital system. Commercial bids were opened in early May.

  • Back to the drawing board for the currency union visionaries

    Six GCC central bank governors sat together on the stage at the eighth GCC Banking Conference organised by the National Bank of Kuwait and the Central Bank of Kuwait on 23 May. Only two were comfortable as they were quizzed about the single GCC currency, scheduled to go into effect in 2010.

  • Badr set to launch Islamic mortgage

    Badr al-Islami, the Islamic brand of Mashreq Bank, is close to a new home loan product, called a diminishing musharaka mortgage, that will allow home buyers to accumulate equity in their homes for the first time.

  • Bahrain bank raises debt

    BBK, formerly the Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait, has raised $275 million lower tier 2 debt for the first time, under its $1,000 million euro medium-term note programme. The bank is keen to increase its capital base ahead of its expected asset growth over the next few years that will see capital deteriorate.

  • Bahrain real estate project raises $200m bond

    Kuwait Finance House has raised $200 million in a sukuk issued under the Musharaka structure for the Diyaar Al Muharraq real estate project in Bahrain.The sukuk will come to term in 2011, and involves the project company giving reclaimed land to a special purpose vehicle, which then leases it back to Diyaar for development, using the proceeds to pay off the investors.The Diyaar Al Muharraq development will be the largest real estate development in Bahrain wh

  • Bank backs Gulf Air staff

    The National Bank of Bahrain has said it will continue to offer a full range of services and products to employees of Gulf Air, including loans and other credit facilities. The announcement follows news that UAE banks and other financial institutions in the region had refused to offer credit to staff at the Bahraini airline. Banks have been unwilling to lend to Gulf Air employees while uncertainty remained over which staff would be leaving as part of the company's restructuring.

  • BANKING Tough act to follow

    The good times of easy stock market money are over. Now it is up to Gulf banks to prove how strong they really are operationally - and 2007 will be the year of judgement for their new strategies.

  • BANKING: Positioning for peace

    It would be easy to assume that Iraq is a completely different environment for banks to operate in, compared with the rest of the Middle East. Yet some reassuringly familiar issues are at work.

  • Batelco moves online

    Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco) is set to launch a series of internet-based mobile services in a bid to improve revenue figures. Mobile email is expected to be the first service in its efforts to boost average revenue per user. 'We really operate in the low-value end of the industry,' says Peter Kaliaropoulos, chief executive officer. 'There is tremendous growth the further you move towards the high-value end of the services we could offer.'

  • Bawani wins college work

    The local Al-Bawani Company has won two contracts, totalling more than SR 190 million ($51 million), to build a higher college for women at Yanbu on the Red Sea. The first-phase contracts cover the construction of the faculty. The client is the Royal Commission for Jubail & Yanbu.

  • Beirut plans privatisation

    Beirut is to privatise the 450-MW Beddawi power plant and build a new 450-MW independent power project at Deir Ammar. Tenders for the two build-operate-transfer contracts are expected to be issued by March 2008 with awards to either one or two project companies anticipated within 12-15 months. The International Finance Corporation, the investment arm of the World Bank, is advising on both schemes.

  • Bemco secures Juaymah upgrade

    Arabian Bemco Contracting has won a second contract on the Juaymah gas plant upgrade.

  • Bemco to build plant

    The local Arabian Bemco Contracting has been awarded a SR 2,139 million ($570 million) contract to build the 1,900-MW Al-Qurayyah open-cycle power plant in the Eastern Province. Under the engineering, civils construction and mechanical erection package, Bemco will install gas-fired turbines at the plant supplied by the US' GE Energy. The client is Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) (MEED 8:6:07).

  • Bid rumour puts exchanges under pressure to merge

    Pressure is mounting on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) to merge, in the wake of speculation over a local bid for the Swedish stock exchange OMX.

  • Bidders await approval for Alwatany Bank

    The Central Bank of Egypt has yet to grant approval to banks interested in buying a stake in Alwatany Bank of Egypt.

  • Bidders set to submit offers for Kureimat project

    Bidders for the construction supervision contract on the 150-MW Kureimat hybrid power plant will submit their financial offers to the New & Renewable Energy Authority on 10 June.Australia's WorleyParsons, Germany's Fichtner and the local/US Power Generation Engineering & Services Company (Pgesco) submitted technical bids, with WorleyParsons the preferred bidder.The authority has also selected contractors for the solar and combined cycle phases of the plant. The local Orascom Cons

  • Bids in for Conrad hotel

    At least two companies have submitted bids for the Conrad Hotel tower project in Dubai. The bidders include the local Alec and the local/Lebanese Arabian Construction Company. Located on Sheikh Zayed road, the project involves the construction of a 50-storey, 400-room, five-star hotel with a total built-up area of 172,000 square metres. US-based Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart is the consultant. Abu Dhabi-based Private Property Management is the client (MEED 27:4:07).

  • Bids under evaluation for new power plant

    The Oman Power & Water Procurement Company (PWP) is evaluating bids from technical, financial and legal consultants for the sultanate's fourth independent water and power project (IWPP). Bids for the project were submitted on 18 June.

  • Blair eyed for Middle East role

    UK Prime Minister Tony Blair could soon be appointed as the Middle East Quartet's envoy after he steps down on 27 June, according to a White House official.US President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently discussed the idea directly with Blair, the official said. According to BBC News, Bush would like Blair to become the special envoy for the quartet of the US, European Union, UN and Russia.The job has been vacant since James Wolfensohn, th

  • Blair takes on new role as Middle East envoy

    Tony Blair has resigned as British prime minister and been appointed as the special envoy to the Middle East by the international Quartet of the US, the EU, Russia and the UN.The appointment was announced just hours after Blair stood down as prime minister. The initial focus of his job will be to boost efforts to create an independent Palestine peacefully co-existing with Israel.Blair also needs to mobilise international assistance for the ins

  • Boeing signs UAE deals

    Boeing has signalled a big step forward in Gulf aviation by signing co-operation agreements with Dubai and Abu Dhabi.The US aircraft manufacturer signed memorandums of understanding with Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) and Mubadala Development Company, the government-owned investment vehicle in Abu Dhabi.The agreements set out the principles of collaboration in the areas of aircraft services, customer education, financing, and maintenance, repair and overha

  • Booz Allen to advise Kuwait Oil Company

    US consultancy firm Booz Allen Hamilton has won a major contract to provide state upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) with management consultancy services.

  • Borouge to award olefins unit work

    An award is due on the Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge) olefins conversion unit (OCU) following the submission of commercial offerson 4 June.

  • Bourland joins Jadwa

    Brad Bourland has left Samba Financial Group after nine years as chief economist to head up the research team of newly established Saudi investment company Jadwa Investment. Jadwa was founded by the heads of some of the kingdom's leading business families with SR 500 million in paid-up capital. Bourland has been named head of research and chief economist, with former Samba economists Paul Gamble and Gasim Abdulkarim also recruited to the research team.

  • Bourse outlines expansion

    The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX) is considering launching more energy contracts in a move that would ramp up competition with its new rival, the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME).

  • Bourse seeks to boost crude oil futures

    The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) is planning to initiate talks with Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) in an effort to lure supplies from two of the region's leading producers for its fledgling crude futures contract.

  • BP gas deal set to reach $25bn

    The UK's BP could spend up to $25,000 million in Libya, after returning to the country following a gap of more than 30 years.

  • BP makes up for lost time

    The $2,000 million exploration and production sharing agreement (Epsa) signed by the UK’s BP and the state-run National Oil Corporation (NOC) on 29 May was a landmark deal for many reasons. But the initial figure disguises the total investment the oil major could make - as much as $25,000 million.The acreage, split between the offshore Sirte basin and the Ghadames basin near the Tunisian border, is one of the largest awarded in the country. It is BP’s biggest single exploration commitm

  • Breaking the cycle of conflict over Sudan's Plan B

    The long-running battle between France’s Total and the UK’s White Nile over rights to explore part of Block B, a huge oil concession in the south of Sudan, came to an end on 15 June, with both companies claiming victory. The local name for the remote swamp acreage, three-quarters the size of Tunisia, is Al-Sudd. Fittingly, the name translates as ‘the obstacle’ or ‘the impenetrable’, and was the site of the repeated failure of British explorers to trace the source of the Nile in the 19th centu

  • Brotherhood members appear in court

    More than 40 members of Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood opposition group appeared before a military court on 4 June. The trail was adjourned after the defendants pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism and money laundering. The proceedings will resume in mid-July. At least 100 defence lawyers arrived at the court, but only a few were allowed in. The lawyers boycotted the first session in April, saying they had not been informed of the start date.

  • Budget carrier mixes fleet

    NAS Air is set to become the Gulf's first low-cost airline to move away from an all-Airbus fleet. The Saudi airline's holding company, National Air Services (NAS), is poised to announce the purchase of five new commercial aircraft at the Paris Airshow in late June, and is expected to introduce a number of Boeings into its low-cost operation.

  • Burj Dubai now second tallest tower in the world

    The Burj Dubai is now the second tallest building in the world at 468.1 metres, about 40 metres shorter that the world's tallest building, Taipei 101 in Taiwan. 'This is another proud moment for Dubai as the city's iconic tower continues to scale its way upwards to become the tallest building in the world,' says Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties. 'From now on, every new level and every additional metre on Burj Dubai will be the culminating steps

  • Bush condemns Iraq shrine bombing

    US President Bush has criticised the bombing of one of the holiest Shia shrines in Iraq and pledged US support for protecting and rebuilding the sacred mosque. Three Sunni Muslim mosques were torched and mortar bombs hit Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone on 14 June, according to local police.It was seen as retaliation for the destruction of two minarets at the Shia Al-Askari shrine in Samarra a day earlier.Bush, who ordered thousands more

  • Bush holds Israel up as model for Iraq

    President Bush has defended US policy in Iraq and suggested that it should aspire to emulating Israel. He described the war as being against Al-Qaeda militants and their ability to exploit the media.'Our success in Iraq must not be measured by the enemy's ability to get a car bombing in the evening news,' said Bush.Instead he said it should be based on 'the rise of a government that can protect its people, deliver basic services for all its citizens and func

  • Busy skies

    Middle East aviation took centre stage at the Paris Air Show in mid-June. The major Gulf carriers went on a lavish spending spree on new aircraft. With Gulf Air restructuring in an effort to stop haemorrhaging cash, the region's aviation elite has been reduced to three. Led by Emirates' formidable operation in Dubai, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways complete the trio.

  • Cabinet to review proposed changes to companies law

    The country's federal cabinet will review proposed changes to the federal companies law when revised legislation is submitted by the Economy & Planning Ministry this summer. The proposed legislation is expected to allow foreigners to fully own companies operating in some segments of the services industry.Federal law at present requires a local national, or a locally-owned company to be the majority shareholder in companies operating in the UAE, although 100 per cent foreig

  • Cairo draws up integrated masterplan for transport

    Cairo is developing an integrated transport strategy with the help of several international consultants. Unlike previous studies which have focused on the overall transport infrastructure, the latest plan will instead first develop separate plans for road, rail and ports.The US' Booz Allen Hamilton has already completed a study of the rail sector, while McKinsey & Company, also of the US, is due to complete a review of ports by the end of this year. The Ministry of Transport is now seeki

  • Cairo reviews energy plans

    The New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) is preparing to reintroduce private sector participation in renewable energy projects, in conjunction with the Petroleum Ministry and the Electricity Ministry. Talks between the three are likely to be followed by a ministerial decree setting out a framework for private investment in the sector.Although current regulations allow renewable energy schemes to be carried out on an independent power project (IPP) basis, investors have been unwilling

  • Cairo set for olefins deal

    A consortium of the local Oriental Petrochemicals Company, Singapore's Eurochem and Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company(Echem) are set to sign a memorandum of understanding in the near future on the development of a major petrochemicals scheme using leading-edge gas-to-olefins technology, according to a senior source in the industry.

  • Call centres win tax exemption

    The call centre industry will be exempt from corporation tax, as the centrepiece of a strategy to increase the revenues of the kingdom's IT and telecoms sector to $3,000 million a year by 2011.

  • Carillion to build concert hall

    The local/UK Carillion Alawi has been awarded an estimated $250 million main construction contract for a concert hall in Muscat.

  • Causes of inflation: Increasing disunity

    In 2001, when currency union was agreed, inflation across the GCC was in a 4 percentage point range, oil was a third of its current price, and the six member states were all plotting a similar economic course. The current oil boom has dramatically changed that. Inflation now ranges between 2 per cent and 14 per cent, and is expected to remain a concern for the group.

  • CEMENT: A delicate balancing act

    The kingdom's cement producers have a turbulent three years ahead of them. Despite growing demand, the industry is facing chronic over-supply problems as the expansion plans announced over the past few years come on line.

  • Central bank opens up to foreign insurers

    The Central Bank of Bahrain is to further liberalise its insurance market by changing the laws on capital requirements for foreign firms wanting to operate on the island.

  • Chief gets exchange chair

    The Dubai International Financial Exchange has appointed Soud Ba'alawy as its new chairman. Ba'alawy, who is chief executive officer (CEO) of Dubai Investment Group, replaces Henry Azzam. Azzam was appointed CEO for the Middle East and North Africa at Deutsche Bank in April.

  • China tells Sudan to accept UN in Darfur

    China has told Sudan to allow a joint force of African Union and UN peacekeepers into its war-torn Darfur region.While China has yet to publicly condemn the murder of more than 200,000 people in Darfur, the Chinese Government's special envoy to Sudan Liu Guijin, said on 18 June that he had applied pressure behind the scenes.UN officials said on 17 June that Sudanese President Al-Bashir would allow a 25,000-strong force of AU and UN peacekeepers to be deploye

  • City seeks advice of hi-tech experts

    Al-Madinah Knowledge Economic City is to consult international IT and telecoms companies over the design of the 4.8 million-square-metre development.

  • Coker deal goes to Foster Wheeler

    The US' Foster Wheeler has been awarded the process design package by Saudi Aramco for a new delayed coker unit on its Jubail export refinery. The unit is understood to be part of a new paraxylene unit at the proposed 400,000-barrel-a-day Jubail 2 refinery in the Eastern Province.

  • Colony Capital takes $3.5bn stake in Tamoil

    The US' Colony Capital signed a Eur 2,600 million ($3,500 million) deal on 6 June to take a majority stake in Libya's European refining and distribution company Tamoil.Colony was awarded the 65 per cent stake following an auction launched in 2005. The government will retain the balance of the shares in the company. Bids were submitted in July 2006.The deal is part of Tripoli's strategy to sell off a number of state-owned businesses and to realign the country

  • Companies line up to build three giant shopping malls

    Construction work is scheduled to start on three new shopping mall projects in Dubai by the end of 2007. Since late May, bids have been submitted by contractors for schemes in Mirdif, Dubailand and Deira.

  • Companies vie for offshore Bouri contract

    Three companies have submitted technical and commercial bids for the engineering contract on the estimated $1,000 million development of the offshore Bouri field.Competitors for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract, expected to take 12 months, are understood to include Paris-based Technip and Australia's Worley Parsons. The four-year engineering, procurement and construction contract, set to be tendered in the first half of 2008, calls for two offshore oil platforms. An a

  • Consortium selected for processing work

    A consortium of Paris-based Technip and the local National Petroleum Construction Company has been selected for the contract to build new gas processing facilities at the offshore lower Zakum field.The joint venture was low bidder for the work when bids were submitted earlier in the year, beating off competition from Jebel Ali-based J Ray McDermott (MEED 1:6:07).The estimated $300 million lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction contract covers the

  • Consortium to take Enip stake

    A consortium of India's TSS Projects & Industries and Stone & Webster, part of the US' Shaw Group, is in line to take an unspecified majority stake in state petrochemicals company Entreprise Nationale d'Industrie Petrochimique (Enip), according to sources close to the project.

  • Consortium wins Zakum plant deal

    A consortium of Paris-based Technip and the local National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) has been selected for the contract to build new gas processing facilities at the offshore lower Zakum field.The lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction contract covers the construction of a new gas treatment platform in the Zakum field adjacent to the Zakum West super complex. The work includes the installation of two 250 million-cubic-feet-a-day gas injection compressors, an air-c

  • Consultants to solve Dubai's planning woes

    The Urban Planning Committee of Dubai's Executive Council was due to receive technical and financial proposals from invited consultants by 27 June for a new urban planning study.The rapidly growing emirate is suffering from the consequences of inadequate planning in the past. Vast real estate projects have been built without proper co-ordination with the local government authorities, such as Dubai Municipality, the Roads & Transport Authority and Dubai Electricity & Water Authority. The

  • CONTRACTOR SURVEY: Taking a turn at the top

    It has been a topsy-turvy year for the Gulf petrochemicals contracting industry. While the amount of work awarded in the 12 months to June levelled off at just over $16,250 million compared with last year's high of $17,500 million, there was a sea change of contractors at the top of MEED's annual contracts league table.

  • Contractors bid for third phase of exhibition centre

    Two companies have submitted bids for the third phase of the expansion of the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

  • Contractors prepare for Al-Zour retender

    Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) is preparing to retender the main packages on its 615,000-barrel-a-day refinery project at Al-Zour after making changes to its contracting strategy At a meeting with international engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors in Houston on 30 and 31 May, KNPC officials outlined the new contracting model and took soundings from attendees on their interest in the estimated $12,000 million-15,000 million project.

  • Contractors submit bids for Ruwais pipeline

    Technical bids were submitted in early June for the contract to build the 225-kilometre-long Ruwais gas pipeline network. The client is Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Company (Gasco).

  • Contractors welcome cement price cap

    The Economy & Planning Ministry has placed a cap on cement prices ahead of July and August, when cement prices traditionally reach a peak. Prices are capped at AED 17 ($4.60) a 50-kilogram bag for bagged cement and AED 295 ($80) a tonne for bulk cement.

  • CONTRACTS May

  • CONTRACTS May

  • contracts: Bringing in contractors

    Several regional authorities are starting to enlist foreign contractors, handing out major contracts for waste management services. In 2006, Qatar's Municipal Affairs & Agriculture Ministry awarded two contracts worth QR 3,900 million ($1,071 million) to Singapore's Keppel Seghers to build and operate a solid waste management facility for 20 years.The facility, due to open in 2009, will have initial capacity of more than 1,550 t/d. It will also house waste-sorting and recycling facilitie

  • Credit card use to surge

    The number of credit cards issued in the Middle East and North Africa is expected to grow by 51 per cent by 2008, as banks increasingly look to grow the most profitable parts of their retail banking businesses. In 2006 the credit card industry in the region made a profit of $300 million, and this figure is expected to grow by 22 per cent in two years, according to research by Lafferty Group, a retail banking advisory firm.

  • Cristal completes Lyondell acquisition

    Saudi Arabia's National Titanium Dioxide (Cristal) completed its acquisition of the titanium oxide business of US chemicals group Lyondell on 11 June in a deal worth $1,200 million.Cristal will take over the operations of Lyondell's Millennium Inorganic Chemicals subsidiary, which has a capacity of 670,000 tonnes a year. Cristal is an affiliate of National Industrialisation Company, majority owned by Saudi Arabia's Tasnee. Cristal says that two-thirds of the

  • Cristal finalises acquisition deal

    The local National Titanium Dioxide (Cristal) has completed the $1,200 million acquisition of Millennium Inorganic Chemicals.Cristal will take over the titanium oxide subsidiary of US chemicals group Lyondell, which has capacity of 670,000 tonnes a year.Two-thirds of the deal's value will be financed through a direct loan, while the remainder will be financed by Cristal and its shareholders.Cristal is an affiliate of National Industrialisation Company.

  • Damac awards contract

    Local developer Damac Properties has awarded the local Engineering & Contracting Company the main construction contract for Smart Heights at Dubai Technology & Media Free Zone. Completion is scheduled for 2008. It follows Damac's award of the contract to build the Ocean Heights tower at Dubai Marina to the local Arabtec Construction in June (MEED 22:06:07).

  • Damascus close to power plant deal with Iran

    Damascus’ first independent power project (IPP) looks set to go ahead with Iran’s Azarab Energy now close to finalising a deal with the Public Establishment of Electricity for Generation & Trans-mission (PEEGT).

  • Damascus to ditch dollar peg

    The Central Bank of Syria says it will drop the pound's peg to the dollar in mid-July in an effort to combat imported inflation caused by the weak dollar.

  • Dana Gas to issue $1bn sukuk

    The UAE's Dana Gas plans to issue a $1,000 million sukuk pending shareholder approval, the company announced on 5 June.Dana Gas has already received permission from the Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority to launch the convertible Islamic bond. It is now selecting an international bank to act as lead manager.A shareholder meeting has been convened for 26 June to approve the fundraising.

  • Dana leads on gas plant

    Sharjah's Dana Gas is to lead a consortium to build, own and operate a gas liquids plant in Ras Shukheir on the Gulf of Suez through its local subsidiary, Danagaz Bahrain. The project is a joint venture of Danagaz Bahrain (40 per cent), Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (40 per cent) and Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation (20 per cent). The plant will be able to process 55,000 million cubic feet a year of natural gas.

  • Dar al-Arkan goes to capital markets again

    The roadshow for Saudi Arabia's Dar al-Arkan Real Estate Company's second sukuk will begin at the end of June. The Islamic bond will have a tenor of five years and is targeted at international investors. It will be marketed in the Gulf, UK, Malaysia and Singapore.Unicorn Investment Bank was the structuring agent and sharia adviser on the issue, and it was also joint lead manager with ABC Islamic Bank, Arab National Bank, Deutsche Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Gulf Internationa

  • Darwish builds mansion

    The joint venture of Darwish Engineering and Austria's Strabag has started work on the QR 160 million ($44 million) contract to build a beach mansion for the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. The main building will be a star-shaped, two-floor reinforced concrete steel construction. (MEED 22:9:06).

  • Daytime working banned

    The government has instructed contractors that labourers must not work outside between 11.30am and 3pm. The measures, which were introduced on 15 June, will remain in force until 31 August. Companies that do not comply with the order will be threatened with a two-month trading license suspension.

  • Deal may be close on Bulgarian nurses

    A compromise may be near on the plight of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for infecting Libyan children with HIV, according to a spokesperson for the children's families.'We might reach an agreement on the Bulgarian nurses and the infected children before 21 June,' said Driss Lagha, head of the Association for the Families of the HIV-Infected Children and the father of one of the infected children.The six were sentenced to d

  • Descon set to win Fertil complex revamp contract

    Pakistan's Descon Engineering is understood to have been recommended for the contract to revamp and expand the Ruwais Fertiliser Company (Fertil) ammonia and urea complex. A decision on the contract award is thought to be imminent.Descon was low bidder for the job when commercial bids were submitted in mid-May. The other two bidders are the India office of Germany's Uhde with the local Al-Jaber Energy Services, and the India office of Italy's Tecnimont with Deutsche Babcock Energie.

  • Deutsche Bank launches operations

    ~Deutsche Bank~ has launched two operations in Algeria. The global investment bank has acquired a 51 per cent stake in Algerian financial services company ~Strategica~ and has established a separate subsidiary, ~Deutsche Securities Algeria~. The new company is applying for licences to Banque d'Algerie (central bank) and the Commission de Surveillance des Operations de Bourse. Algiers will be the hub of the bank's operations in North Africa.'The controlled transformation an

  • Do not look now, Islamic banks are conquering project finance

    In 2005 and 2006, almost $50,000 million worth of project finance deals were reported in the Middle East. The figure reflects the region's construction boom and more long-term lending by big international banks.

  • Dolphin produces first gas for UAE

    Dolphin Energy has produced the first gas from its well in Qatar's North Field with imports expected to reach the UAE in July. Dolphin aims to import 2 billion cubic feet per day (cf/d) of gas by the end of the year. It will boost the gas available for domestic sales in Abu Dhabi by nearly 50 per cent from last year's levels, helping to ease a gas crisis in the emirate. Maturing oil reservoirs, coupled with a programme to boost crude capacity by close to 1 million barrels

  • Dozens of firms apply to prequalify for Manifa field

    About 30 companies have submitted prequalification applications to Saudi Aramco for four main packages on the onshore portion of its Manifa gas field development.The strong interest in the project is partly due to a number of the companies electing only to register interest in select packages rather than the full works.France's Technip and Foster Wheeler of the US are thought to have submitted interest just in the gas processing component of the works, while others including Ital

  • DP World bond bonanza

    DP World has raised $3,250 million from its recent bond issue, exceeding the initial $3,000 million target. The Dubai-based port operator will refinance existing debt and fund future expansion with the $1,750 million conventional 30-year bond and a $1,500 million 10-year sukuk. The conventional bond is the largest long-term issue from the Middle East. Barclays Capital, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers were lead managers.

  • DP World launches bond programme

    DP World launched a roadshow in Abu Dhabi on 10 June to raise investor interest in its $5,000 million, 12-month euro-medium term note (EMTN) programme. The first bonds to be issued under the programme will be a dollar-denominated sukuk, or Islamic bond, and a conventional long-term dollar-denominated bond. The road show will visit Singapore, Malaysia, the US and UK.The company is expected to invest up to $3,500 million in the acquisition and expansion of existing assets ov

  • DP World to run Dakar port

    DP World has been awarded the concession to develop and operate the port facilities in Dakar, Senegal.

  • Dubai Aerospace to issue sukuk in financing drive

    Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) will issue its first sukuk by the end of 2007 as it seeks financing for expansion. The company's divisions are holding discussions regarding the size of the sharia-compliant bond and the timing of its issue.'The purpose is to fund acquisitions globally, including airports, aircraft and manufacturing-engineering [companies],' says Michael Killian, executive vice-president and treasurer of DAE.'For several of our shareholders, sharia-compliant inves

  • Dubai Banking Group buys Shuaa stake

    Dubai Banking Group (DBG) plans to acquire a 32 per cent stake in Dubai-based investment bank Shuaa Capital, making it the largest single shareholder in the company. The purchase will be made through a financing agreement in which Shuaa will issue an AED 1,500 million ($408 million) bond that can be converted into 250 million shares priced at AED 6 each ($1.6).Shuaa will hold an extraordinary general meeting on 5 August to approve the move. Shuaa is also pla

  • Dubai completes creek section of Red Line

    The Durl consortium has completed the tunnel section of Dubai metro that passes under the creek and has now excavated more than 26 per cent of the tunnel for the network's Red Line.

  • Dubai Drydock weighs up deals

    Dubai Drydock World is considering further international expansion after buying a controlling stake in its Singapore-based rival Pan-United Marine.The ship repair group, part of Dubai World, will finance the $424 million acquisition from its own cash reserves and a credit facility from HSBC.The deal is the company's first international move. It says the credit facility may be expanded to provide funding for further acquisitions.'The acquisition gives us a foothold in Sout

  • Dubai Drydocks makes offer for Pan-United Marine

    Dubai Drydocks World (DD World) has made its first major overseas acquisition by making a cash offer for Pan-United Marine, of Singapore.Like DD World, Pan-United Marine is involved in ship repair, shipbuilding and conversions. The company has major shipyard facilities in Singapore and Batam, Indonesia.DD World made a voluntary conditional cash offer for all the issued and paid-up ordinary shares and has received approval from the controlling shareholders of

  • Dubai extends deadline

    Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority has extended the bid closing date to 12 July for the contract to build a new interchange on Sheikh Zayed road. Prices were due to be submitted on 14 June but the tender failed to attract more than one bidder. Interchange 8 will provide free-flow access onto the Jebel Ali - Lehbab road and will serve Jebel Ali free zone and other major developments in the area, including downtown Jebel Ali and Dubai World Central. Cansult Maunsell, part of US-based Aecom, is th

  • Dubai Financial buys majority stake in Bahrain bank

    Dubai Financial will acquire a 60 per cent stake in Bahrain-based investment bank TAIB Bank pending regulatory approval. EFG Hermes was financial adviser on the transaction. The Central Bank of Bahrain has yet to approve the deal in which Dubai Financial will buy 60 per cent of shares from each existing shareholder. Dubai Investment Group (DIG) executive chairman Soud Baalawy will be appointed chairman of TAIB. Dubai Financial is a subsidiary of DIG.

  • Dubai financial centre launches sukuks

    Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is planning to sell $1,000 million of sukuks in the next two weeks, the first time it has issued Islamic bonds.The financial centre will begin a roadshow to attract investors in Malaysia on 5 June, and is expected to also visit potential investors in the UK and Dubai. The sukuk will be arranged by Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, and has been rated A1 by credit rating agency Moody's Investor Services. It will matur

  • Dubai launches $12bn roadbuilding plan

    Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority is to spend $12,000 million by 2020 as part of a comprehensive plan to boost the capacity of the emirate's roads.The authority estimates that the local economy loses $1,250 million each year because of traffic congestion, of which 61 per cent is the result of insufficient road capacity.'Our plan is to increase the capacity of the roads by building 500 kilometres of new roadways, 95 new interchanges, nine new ring roads, and increasing the numbe

  • Dubai Marina tower tender to begin in June

    Tender documents are expected to be issued by the end of June for the main construction package on the Marina 101 tower project in Dubai Marina.The 101-storey structure will be 412 metres high with a total built-up area of 144,000 square metres. It will include a five-star hotel on 32 floors that will be managed by Premier hotels, apartments, duplexes and penthouses.The building's external facade will be predominately glass and will rise up to a crown-like crystal structure on th

  • Dubai plans acquisition

    Dubai Bank is planning to buy a bank in the GCC and expects to announce the acquisition in the next 12 months. The bank is considering purchasing other sharia-compliant institutions and conventional banks that could be converted. 'It depends on the opportunity as to whether we buy a conventional bank and convert it,' says Ahmed Elshall, chief financial officer of Dubai Bank.

  • Dubai plans five landmark bridges

    Dubai is in talks with a number of leading international designers to develop a series of high-profile landmark bridges across Dubai Creek.

  • Dubai seeks canal proposals

    Local developer Limitless has invited contractors to submit proposals for the largest civil engineering project in Dubai's history, the excavation of the Arabian Canal.

  • Duo plan Abu Dhabi plant

    The local Sultan International Holding and France's Saint-Gobain Gypsum plan to build a plasterboard plant in Abu Dhabi. Saint-Gobain Gyproc Emirates Industries will be located at Industrial City Abu Dhabi 1 (ICAD 1) in the Mussaffah area, and will produce a range of plasterboard products and systems.

  • Economists criticise Iranian economic strategy

    Fifty-seven Iranian economists criticise the policies of President Ahmadinejad and accuse him of ignoring basic economics, to the detriment of the country.In a letter to the media, the university professors say economic mismanagement is causing widespread inflation that is especially affecting people with low incomes. Housing costs have doubled in the last year and food is getting more expensive by the week, they say.They also accuse the government's policie

  • ECONOMY: Raising the bar

    It is not only on the political front that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki finds himself under renewed pressure to deliver. With public support for the war dwindling in the US and almost non-existent in Europe, Iraq has been subjected to a range of new conditions from foreign powers. The clear message from the conference in Sharm el-Sheikh in May was that while the international community is keen to help Iraq, the government is expected to deliver on its commitments to stamp out corruption

  • EGYPT: Turning potential into fact

    On 16 May 2005, Petroleum Minister Sameh Fahmy announced that Egypt was sitting on proven and probable gas reserves of 67 trillion cubic feet (tcf) and 100-120 tcf of unproven reserves. By the end of 2006, the proven and probable figure had reached 70 tcf and, according to the ministry, by 2011, the country will have proved an additional 30 tcf of gas, increasing its core reserves by almost 50 per cent.

  • EGYPTIAN GENERAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION: Falling short

    Despite its best efforts, Egypt's hydrocarbons industry is struggling. While state gas company EGas says that gas production - about 5,000 million cubic feet a day - exceeds demand, analysts believe it is already falling short.

  • Eight bid for Tripoli airport

    The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has received prequalification documents from eight companies to build an airport in Tripoli. The $1,350 million airport will consist of two passenger terminals, each able to handle 10 million passengers a year, and a cargo terminal.The firms are: France's Vinci, Germany's Strabag, Odebrecht of Brazil, Turkey's TAV, Athen's-based Consolidated Contractors International Company, Japan's Taisei Corporation, Parsons Corporation of the US, and another unname

  • El-Tebbine awards due

    Cairo Electricity Production Company will open technical and commercial offers for the mechanical works contract on the 750-MW El-Tebbine power plant on 13 August. Czech Republic's Skoda, Techint of Italy and Spain's Enertec Energia have submitted bids. The company is also evaluating offers for the electrical works and distribution control system contracts.

  • Emirates Bank arranges loan for Sekerbank

    Emirates Bank and Wachovia have acted as co-ordinators for a $165 million dual tranche banking facility for Turkey's Sekerbank TAS.The financing is split between a one and a two-year tranche, priced at 40 and 70 basis points respectively. Sekerbank says it will use the funds for its day-to-day operations.Twelve banks acted as lead-arrangers arrangers of the deal, including American Express Bank, Arab Banking Corporation, and The Bank of New York, meaning the

  • Emirates inflation rises

    Inflation in the UAE in 2006 reached 9.3 per cent, according to the Economy and Planning Ministry. The ministry's consumer price index shows the price of housing units and services, which account for 36.1 per cent of expenditure, increased by up to 15.3 per cent. Transportation and telecommunications rose 9.5 per cent, and food, drinks and tobacco rose 5.6 per cent. Housing prices increased by 95 per cent between 1995 and 2005, while the population increased to 4.1 million from 2.4 million.

  • Emirates plans sports club

    Dubai-based carrier Emirates Airline plans to build a sports club off the Al-Ain road. The airline has been asked by the government to build a new club to replace the existing Dubai Exiles Rugby Football Club and Dubai Country Club, that will be redeveloped as part of the Meydan project. The new facility will be the home of the Dubai Rugby Sevens from 2008 onwards and will host the 2009 Rugby Sevens World Cup (MEED 11:5:07).

  • ETA to build Lifestyle City

    The local ETA Group of Companies plans to build a mixed-use development in Dubailand known as Dubai Lifestyle City. The project will cover a land area of 400,000 square metres and will have 188 Tuscan-themed villas and a 10,000-square-metre shopping mall. US-based Tony Ashai will design the development.

  • Etihad shops for aircraft in Paris

    Etihad Airways is set to announce plans to acquire a number of wide-body aircraft at the Paris Air Show between 18 and 24 June.The Abu Dhabi-based airline already has four Airbus A380s on order and industry observers expect a new order for further superjumbos to enlarge its long-haul fleet. Rather than seek compensation for delays in delivery of the aircraft already ordered, Etihad will get discounts on future orders from the manufacturer.Chief executive officer James Hogan says

  • Etihad talks with Emirates

    Two of the region's largest carriers, Emirates and Etihad Airways, are in talks over possible areas of collaboration.

  • EU optimistic about foreign medics held in Libya

    EU officials say that they have made progress in talks over the release of six foreign medics facing the death penalty in Libya. External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and German Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier were in Libya for two days to press for the release of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of infecting 426 children with Aids in Benghazi. Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son says the t

  • EU to train Palestinian Finance Ministry employees

    The EU is to spend Eur 4 million ($5.3 million) training members of the Palestinian Finance Ministry, to ensure taxpayers' money is spent efficiently and is properly accounted for.The agreement is also understood to be a precursor to reopening channels for direct aid.The EU describes the memorandum of understanding as an agreement to provide 'technical assistance'. The EU has not supplied direct aid to Palestine since Hamas took office in March 2006. Hamas i

  • Experts predict cement glut

    Industry experts have warned that levelling economic growth, together with the glut of cement plant expansions and greenfield production facilities, will result in a cement supply surplus by 2010.

  • EXPLORATION: The best prospects

    Opinion differs on the location of Egypt's best potential gas territories, but the consensus is that with a few exceptions the next big finds are most likely to be made off the country's northern shores. 'The Mediterranean is undoubtedly the place where the vast majority of gas will come from,' says Craig McMahon, North Africa head of UK-based energy consultant Wood Mackenzie. 'There will be more discoveries in the Western Desert and the Nile Delta, but the ones that will make the difference wil

  • Farrell forms joint venture

    Dubai-based KM Properties has formed a joint venture with UK-based Terry Farrell & Partners to develop projects across the region. The venture is already working on a SR 1,000 million ($265 million) mixed-use waterfront development in Jeddah, which will include commercial, residential and hotel components. KM Properties is part of the UAE's Al-Rostamani Enterprises. Its projects include a 19-storey tower known as the B2B tower at Business Bay.

  • Financial close reached on Marafiq

    Financing on the world's largest power and desalination project is complete. A consortium consisting of Belgium's Suez Energy International, Kuwait-based Gulf Investment Corporation and the local ACWA Power Projects completed on 21 June limited recourse financing for the Marafiq independent water & power project (IWPP) to be built in Jubail, in the northeast of the kingdom.A syndicate of 29 international, regional and local banks led by BNP Paribas, Gulf International Bank

  • Firms bid for refinery work

    A German/local team of Hans Huber and Ahmadiah Contracting & Trading Company is low bidder at KD 50.4 million ($174 million) to revamp wastewater facilities at three refineries.The second bid is KD 54.7 million ($187 million) from France's Veolia Environnemen. Europe's ABB is third at KD 61.6 million ($212 million).The contract covers the Shuaiba, Mina al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries (MEED 22:4:06).The client is Kuwait National Petroleum Company.

  • Firms line up for offshore block exploration

    Nearly 80 local and international companies have registered interest in four offshore blocks, which mark Bahrain's entire offshore acreage and the first new exploration on the island in more than 70 years.

  • Firms submit cracker bids

    Commercial proposals were submitted in late May for the ethylene package on a multi-billion-dollar olefins complex in Jubail, planned by National ChevronPhillips Company.

  • First Gulf issues bond

    First Gulf Bank is to make its debut bond issue with the launch of $3,500 million in debt later this year. The bond has been rated A2 by Moody's Investors Service because of the bank's rapidly expanding retail franchise and strong links with the Abu Dhabi government. Moody's said that because the bank is 62 per cent owned by members of the ruling family of the emirate, its credit rating was lifted by five notches.

  • Fitch rates electricity firm

    Fitch Ratings has assigned a senior unsecured and issuer default rating of A+ with stable outlook to Saudi Electricity Company (SEC). Underlying the strong rating was the company's strong market position as the provider of the vast majority of the electricity generated in the kingdom, as well as its good demand growth prospects, says Fitch.

  • Five bid for Esco expansion

    Five joint ventures are expected to bid for a continuous casting project for Esfahan Steel Company (Esco), as Iran seeks to boost its steel production.

  • FL Smidth wins cement deal

    Syrian Cement Company, a subsidiary of Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), in late June signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Denmark's FL Smidth (FLS) for the construction of a greenfield cement plant.

  • Foreigners kidnapped from Iraqi ministry

    Five foreigners have been kidnapped in a raid on the Iraqi Finance Ministry in Baghdad. All are believed to be British.Witnesses said the kidnappers, who were wearing police camouflage uniforms, arrived in up to 40 police vehicles before sealing off Palestine Street in the capital. The kidnappers stormed the ministry and demanded that foreigners in the building should be handed over. Four British bodyguards and a finance expert were then led away.

  • Formosa weighs Jizan refinery bid

    Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corporation is considering bidding for the contract to build and operate an oil refinery in Jizan.

  • Foundation to open medical centre tendering

    The Qatar Foundation is preparing to issue tender documents for its $1,000 million Sidra Medical & Research Centre at Education City. The three prequalifiers are France's Bouygues, Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company and Spain's OHL.The complex will include a nine-storey hospital and accommodation for 350 nurses. The hospital, due to open in 2010, will initially have about 380 beds.It will also serve as the primary teaching hospital of the Weill Cornell Me

  • Fragile democracy under siege

    The week of violence that resulted in Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement being routed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip has opened a deep schism in Palestinian society. Whether the Palestinian president can regain control remains unclear.

  • France prepares Darfur strategy

    French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner will meet Sudanese President Al-Bashir next week as part of a diplomatic initiative by the newly-elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The Foreign Affairs Ministry has drafted plans to alleviate the situation in Darfur. These include holding an international peace conference and securing additional aid for the 400,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad.Meeting in Germany, members of the G8 group of leading industri

  • French sign supply deal

    French power giant EDF has signed a four-year deal with Ras Laffan Natural Gas Company (RasGas) to buy 3.4 million tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Qatar producer. The LNG will be sourced from one of RasGas' existing LNG production trains in Qatar and will be delivered to the Zeebrugge LNG terminal in Belgium.

  • Fuel rationing sparks riots

    Demonstrators set fire to at least a dozen petrol stations in Tehran after the government announced fuel rationing for private vehicles.Under a plan to curb domestic consumption of Iran's limited supply of gasoline, the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad implemented a programme that limits motorists to 100 litres of fuel a month.Windows were smashed and stones thrown at the stations as motorists queued to buy fuel. The proposal had be

  • Full list for Mecca- Medina rail link revealed

    The Saudi Rail Organisation has pre-qualified six consortiums for the right to construct the high-speed rail link between Mecca and Medina.It cut the original list of seven companies by one, excluding a Japanese consortium. Alongside their Saudi partners, five of the remaining six fall loosely into national groups, covering France, Germany, Japan, Spain and Italy. The OHL International Consortium has members from a wider range of countries. The full list of

  • Gaddafi calls African Union a failure

    Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has vowed to forge ahead with plans to form a unified African government. Speaking in the Guinean capital Conakry on 26 June, Gaddafi said the African Union was a failure and reiterated his view that the current arrangement of individual states was unsustainable.He called on African leaders attending the African Union summit in Ghana in July to agree to create a federal government for the continent.'At the Accra s

  • Gaddafi calls for African government

    Zimbabwean President Mugabe and Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi have called on African leaders to create a federal government for the continent, according to state media reports on 14 June.Meeting in Tripoli on 13 June, the two leaders agreed that the 53 members states of the African Union should establish one government at the AU summit in Ghana on 12 July. 'They consulted on the upcoming African Union summit and in relation to this they emphasised the est

  • Galadari invites Alec to bid for Mall of Arabia contract

    The local I&M Galadari Group has taken a U-turn on its Mall of Arabia project in Dubailand by approaching the local Alec to submit a proposal to build the estimated AED 2,500 million-3,000 million ($680 million-817 million) shopping mall.The move has taken the market by surprise as a three-strong joint venture of the local Arabtec Construction, Lebanon's Arabian Construction Company and the local/Belgian Bel Hasa Six Construct entered into negotiations with the client for the contract in

  • Gas set to escape Sonatrach windfall tax

    A controversial windfall tax on profits introduced by state energy company Sonatrach in July 2006 is unlikely to apply to gas production, says a senior industry source.

  • Gassi Touil tender enters final stages

    Japan's JGC Corporation has only a matter of days to convince Sociedad de Licuefaccion to go ahead with its proposals for the main upstream package on the estimated $5,000 million Gassi Touil integrated liquefied natural gas scheme, while the competition is down to two for the downstream element.The joint venture company - a consortium of Repsol and Gas Natural, both of Spain, and Sonatrach Raffinage et Chimie, a subsidiary of state energy company Sonatrach - is set to make a decision by

  • GE appoints regional head

    US-based GE Energy has appointed Joe Anis as its region executive for the Middle East. Anis, who has been with the company for 10 years, formerly led GE Energy's power generation sales activities for the Middle East and Africa.

  • GE secures Das turbine

    Florence-based GE Oil & Gas has been awarded a contract to supply two gas turbine-driven turbo compressor trains to the offshore associated gas project in Abu Dhabi. The equipment will be used for FEED gas service to compress natural gas from the Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company Das island liquefied natural gas complex through a 200-kilometer subsea pipeline to Ruwais and a 100-kilometer onshore pipeline to the onshore Habshan plant, where the gas will be processed (MEED 2:2:07).

  • GE targets Middle East growth

    The US' GE Energy expects its sales in the Middle East to more than double during the next four years, according to GE president Nani Beccalli-Falco. Sales outside the US will be worth up to $130,000 million by 2010 and the Middle East will be the fastest-growing area.'Middle East sales are expected to be about two and a half times greater [than present] levels by 2010,' said Beccalli-Falco to the Dow Jones Newswires on 20 June. He also said the company is s

  • Gecol requests plans for Tobruk project

    General Electricity Company of Libya (Gecol) has called for contractors' to submit proposals by July 19 for the project to build a new desalination plant at Tobruk. The plant will have capacity of 100,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) of water and 640 MW of power.The project is expected to be split into several works packages. The first will cover the desalination element, another will focus on the power island package, while a third will cover the civil and maritime works.The plant

  • Gecol reviews Sirte plant over cost concerns

    The General Electricity Company of Libya (Gecol) is reviewing plans for a 40,000-cubic-metre-a-day (cm/d) desalination plant at Sirte, sources close to the project say. It could now be scrapped because of high costs.

  • General secures orders

    The local General Construction Company has won more than AED 1,000 million ($272 million) in contracts in Dubai. The largest, worth an estimated AED 900 million ($245 million), involves building three 45-storey commercial buildings in Jumeirah Lake Towers. Kuwait's Al-Mazaya Holding Company is the client. Contracts worth an estimated AED 250 million ($68 million) cover three hotels in Bur Dubai, Al-Wasl, and Garhoud, managed by Holiday Inn Express.

  • Genesis wins Berkine Basin engineering work

    Genesis Oil & Gas Consultants, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paris-based Technip, has been awarded a contract to carry out engineering work on Block 405b in the Berkine Basin, operated by Canada's First Calgary Petroleums.

  • Global energy growth slows while Saudi production falls

    World energy consumption rose 2.4 percent in 2006, slowing from an increase of 3.2 percent in 2005, while Saudi Arabia's production fell by more than two per cent, according to BP's annual survey of global energy trends released today.The Middle East's total proven reserves for 2006 were unchanged from the previous year at 742,700 million barrels, equating to 61.5 per cent of world supplies, while the world's proven reserves dropped slightly to 1.208 trillion barrels from

  • Globeleq sells Sidi Krier

    The US' Globeleq is to sell its power assets in Latin America, North Africa and Asia for more than $1,000 million. The assets, including the Sidi Krier natural gas-fired power plant in Egypt, will be sold to a consortium of Malaysia's Tanjong Energy Holdings and Saudi-based Aljomaih Holding Company. Globeleq, which is owned by the UK's CDC Group, acquired the Sidi Krier plant in May 2005.

  • Government offers amnesty to illegal residents

    The cabinet has offered a three-month amnesty to foreign nationals working in the federation, during which they can either formalise their status or leave the country without penalty. It is estimated there are at least 300,000 illegal immigrants in the country and the government is keen to tackle the problem. The cabinet instructed the interior ministry and the labour ministry to work together to implement the decision by fining and imprisoning people who ar

  • Government to issue bond to boost markets

    Cairo will issue a£E 5,000 million ($877 million) 'benchmark' bond in July aimed at boosting the country's bond and mortgage markets.

  • Ground broken on Mazagan

    A groundbreaking ceremony has been held to launch the first phase of the $350 million Mazagan tourist resort in Morocco.It will cover 3.24 square kilometres along the Atlantic coast, and will feature a 500-room five star hotel, a lagoon area, a spa, and an 18-hole Gary Player-designed golf course, and 150 villas.Construction is expected to take 25 months, with a completion date set for the fourth quarter of 2009. El-Jadida is a seaport town an

  • Groups bid for grandstand

    At least two groups have bid for the contract to build the 60,000-capacity grandstand at the Meydan racecourse development in Nad al-Sheba. They include the local/UK Al-Naboodah Laing O'Rourke, and the local Arabtec Construction in joint venture with Malaysia's WCT. The grandstand should open in time for the Dubai World Cup in 2010. The local Meydan is the client (MEED 27:4:07).

  • Groups line up for Ras al-Zour

    Water & Electricity Company (WEC) has prequalified 10 groups and conditionally prequalified a further nine for the concession to develop the Ras al-Zour independent water and power (IWPP) project.Request for proposal documents for the estimated $3,000 million, 20-year build-own-operate contract are due to be released on 15 June, with developer selection scheduled for early 2008. The first unit commissioning is set for the fourth quarter of 2011.The oil-fired Ras al-Zour plant, th

  • GTL: How the process works

    Gas-to-liquids (GTL) conversion is an umbrella term for a group of technologies that can create liquid synthetic fuels from a variety of feedstocks.The basic technology was developed in Germany in the 1920s, and is known as the Fischer-Tropsch process after its inventors.In essence, it uses catalytic reactions to synthesise complex hydrocarbons from simpler organic chemicals. This process can create identical liquids from a variety of feedstocks, although the technical challenges

  • Gulf Air boosts pay to stop poaching

    Gulf Air has responded to a concerted effort by regional rivals to poach its senior staff by boosting the salaries and benefits packages it offers to pilots.The revised employment package has been put to employee representatives at the Gulf Air Trade Union. A second package for pilots is still under negotiation and arrangements are being drafted to improve the terms of engineers and cabin crew.Gulf Air announced a restructure in April in the light of significant financial losses.

  • Gulf Air holds negotiations with pilots over pay

    Gulf Air is negotiating with its pilots over improved salary and benefit terms in an effort to convince them to reject offers from the company's rivals.Bahrain's national carrier, which has launched a wholesale restructuring programme to halt massive financial losses, is attempting to fend off interest in its top professionals from other Gulf airlines (MEED 8:6:07).Improved packages have been put forward to the company's 650 pilots and first officers, with Gulf Air keen to harmon

  • Gulf airlines lead Paris Air Show spending spree

    Middle East airlines confirmed their status as major global players at the Paris Air Show between 18 and 24 June, signing a host of deals and ordering aircraft worth more than $26,000 million at list prices.The region's three biggest carriers - Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways - each announced or confirmed large deals for new aircraft. All three are owed significant compensation by Airbus for delays in delivery of their A380s. No details have been released, but the carriers are underst

  • Gulf Finance House completes share listing

    Gulf Finance House has completed a£276.5 million initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange to raise funds for its expansion plans.The global depository receipts and shares were priced at the bottom end of the price ranges of $25-30 and $2.5-3 respectively. The Bahrain-based Islamic finance firm said 110.6 million shares had been allocated to the London offering, representing 15.3 per cent of the company's issued share capital.Deputy chief executiv

  • Gulf Finance set to launch sukuk

    Gulf Finance House (GFH) has started marketing the first issue from its $1,000 million medium-term sukuk programme. The Islamic bond is the first issued by the Bahrain-based investment bank and is targeted at regional, Asian and European investors.

  • Gulf Finance to list on London Stock Exchange

    Local investment bank Gulf Finance House plans to list 10 million global depository receipts (GDRs) on the London Stock Exchange at the end of June.Its ordinary shares are already traded on three regional stock exchanges, in Bahrain, Kuwait and Dubai. The move to open itself up to investors outside the region should boost the level of trading in the bank's shares.'The bank is exceptionally profitable but the stock is undervalued,' says Bryan Daguiar, head of research at the local

  • Gulf Steel plans increase in manufacturing capacity

    The local Gulf Steel Industries Company plans to add 400,000 tonnes a year (t/y) to its existing steel manufacturing capacity with the establishment of a steel rolling mill at Industrial City Abu Dhabi (ICAD) II in Musaffah.The plant will cover 55,000 square metres and will take the company's total manufacturing capacity to 550,000 t/y from 150,000 t/y.The plant is expected to be fully operational in the fourth quarter of 2008 and will require more than 200 employees.Ital

  • Gunmen target Palestinian cabinet

    Palestinian militants opened fire on a government building in Gaza on 11 June, forcing Prime Minister Ismail Haniya to suspend a cabinet meeting inside. A day earlier, gunmen fired shots at Haniya's house - the first time the prime minister had been directly targeted since clashes between the rival Hamas and Fatah groups broke out in mid-May. More than 50 people have been killed in the fighting.Also on 10 June, Hamas gunmen abducted a member of a Fatah-affiliated security

  • Hayan Petroleum prequalifies firms for Jihar field

    The local/Croatian Hayan Petroleum Company (HPC) is prequalifying companies for the engineering, procurement and construction of a gas treatment plant at the Jihar field on a lump-sum turnkey basis. The plant will process gas from the Jihar and Al-Mahr fields, northwest of Palmyra.

  • Hill to manage zero-carbon tower and Saadiyat hotel

    US-based Hill International has been awarded two contracts to provide project management services for an office tower in Dubai International Financial Centre and a hotel development on Saadiyat island in Abu Dhabi.

  • Hip Hing wins tower

    The local/Hong Kong Al-Ahmadiah Hip Hing has been awarded its first contract, the estimated AED 750 million ($204 million) main construction contract for the HHHR tower in Dubai. The 70-storey mixed-use tower project will comprise 454 apartments, offices and leisure facilities. The consultant is the local Al-Hashemi Planners, Architects and Engineers. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum is the client.

  • Honam and Qatar consider Mesaieed bids

    Bid evaluation is under way for the joint project management consultancy/front-end engineering and design contract on the Mesaieed petrochemicals complex planned by South Korea's Honam Petrochemical Corporation and Qatar Petroleum.

  • Honeywell wins automation order

    The US' Honeywell has won a subcontract to provide its process automation technology at the Saudi European Petrochemical Company (Ibn Zahr) polypropylene project in Jubail.

  • Hydro quashes rumours it is quitting Qatalum

    Norway's Hydro has denied rumours that it is pulling out of the $4,500 million Qatalum smelter project. 'The project is proceeding as planned and we are preparing to start construction after the summer,' Thomas Knutzen, Hydro's spokesperson for aluminium activities, told MEED on 20 June.

  • Imdad looks at plant bids

    The local Imdad is evaluating bids from eight companies for the engineering, procurement and construction contract to build a desalination plant in Umm al-Qaiwain. They are South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, France's Veolia Environnement, the US' GE Energy, Dubai-based AES Oasis, the UK's ACWA, Spain's Acciona, the US' Aquatech and India's Ion Exchange. The plant will have capacity of 16 million gallons a day of water.

  • IMF calls for regulation

    The IMF has joined the US in calling for government-owned investment funds, known as sovereign wealth funds, to be regulated more tightly. Morgan Stanley estimates that $2.5 trillion is held in sovereign wealth funds. The bank said that Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is the world's largest fund with $875,000 million under management. Simon Johnson, chief economist at the fund, said: 'Increasing numbers of financial flows are going through black boxes. We don't know what happens and we should wor

  • India moves to end flight dispute with Kuwait

    Indian officials were due to fly to Kuwait on 28 July for talks to defuse a dispute which has threatened to halt flights between the two countries. The Kuwaiti Directorate of Civil Aviation has notified Air India and Indian Airlines that their aircraft will not be allowed to land at Kuwait's international airport from 1 July, following a dispute over flight scheduling between the two countries.

  • Indian team wins Soha work

    Oiltanking Odfjell Terminals & Company (OOT) has awarded an estimated $110 million contract to a consortium led by Indian Oiltanking Company (IOT) for the first-phase construction of bulk liquid storage tanks and terminals at Sohar port.

  • Indians to build villas

    The joint venture of India's Larsen & Toubro and the local Eastern Contracting has been awarded the AED 558 million ($152 million) villa construction package at Victory Heights in Dubai Sports City. The UK's Mace International is the project manager. The architect is the local Diar Consult (MEED 16:2:07).

  • Initial Public offerings: Going public

    The total value of initial public offerings (IPOs) raised in the region in 2006 reached $10,800 million, according to a new report from consultancy firm Ernst & Young. However, the capital raised in IPOs in Saudi Arabia alone this year is on target to match that. Seven have taken place already and at least the same number are expected.

  • Insurgents kill 14 US troops

    Iraqi insurgents have killed 14 US troops over the last two days, the US military said on 21 June. The US also said it had killed dozens of insurgents in a major surge operation north of Baghdad.The insurgents mounted four separate attacks in Baghdad and a further attack in Suleiman Beg, south of Kirkuk, in which a suicide truck bomb exploded killing 15 people and destroying part of a local council office.The attacks put the death toll of US troops in June a

  • International officials to hold talks on Gaza crisis

    The first meeting of the international Quartet since Hamas militants seized control of the Gaza Strip last week is due to take place in Jerusalem on 26 June, said Miri Eisin, a spokesperson for the Israeli government on 22 June.A meeting of officials from the US, EU, Russia and the UN was due to have taken place in Egypt on 18 June, but was delayed to allow the officials time to assess the impact of the latest developments in Gaza.The meeting is an effort to

  • Internationals express their interest in east coast deal

    International engineering companies submitted expressions of interest on 25 June for a new $7,000 million-8,000 million, 400,000-barrel-a day (b/d) east coast refinery.

  • Iran and Oman sign export deal

    Iran has signed a deal to export one billion cubic feet of gas to Oman from its Hengam field, with the prospect of it being liquefied at a local refinery and sold on international markets.

  • Iran claims uranium enrichment

    Iran has produced more than 100 kilograms of enriched uranium material, the country's interior minister said on 22 June, raising fears it could lead to the production of fissile material for a bomb.Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi commented before crucial discussions on Iran's nuclear programme between Ali Larijani, Iran's top negotiator; Mohammed al-Baradei director of International Atomic Energy Agency; and Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief.

  • Iran goes global with its own Al-Jazeera

    Iran will broadcast its English-language news channel, Press TV, globally from 2 July in an effort to duplicate the success of Qatar's Al-Jazeera television network.The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) says Press TV is needed to counter misinformation and mudslinging about Iran in the international media.The IRIB's International Affairs deputy head, Mohammad Sarafraz, denied that Press TV would be an Iranian version of Al-Jazeera because the Qata

  • Iran offers nuclear help to Gulf

    Iran can help its Gulf neighbours develop peaceful nuclear energy under the supervision of the UN watchdog, the country's Foreign Minister said on Monday.Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking at the 17th International Gulf Conference, made the remarks a week after Gulf Arab states met in Riyadh to begin working on a feasibility study for a civilian nuclear programme. 'Iran, under the supervision of the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency], can co-operate with th

  • Iran stands firm on nuclear plans

    Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said Tehran would not bow to international pressure to halt its nuclear programme. He was speaking on 4 June to a crowd at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, to mark the 18th anniversary of his revolutionary leader's death.'You should not beg others for your right,' he said, according to the official news agency IRNA. 'As long as you retreat and show leniency, the hegemonic nature of the bullying powers is to inc

  • Iran to unveil domestically built fighter jet

    The Iranian military will unveil its first domestically built fighter jet during military exercises expected to take place this summer.Iran's defence minister Mustapha Mohammed Najjar on 21 June said that the country's aerospace industry was booming.He added that the new plane, which is called Azarakhsh, or Thunderbolt, will be followed by more domestically built fighter jets, unmanned aircraft and passenger planes.'Iran is building six brands

  • IRAN: Tehran spreads confusion

    Iran's confused attitude to banking was demonstrated in May when Finance & Economy Minister Davoud Danesh-Jaafari revealed that some state banks in Iran would be privatised later this year. Just hours later, the President made an announcement that was potentially ruinous for private bank, he demanded a cut in interest rates to lower than inflation.

  • IRAN: Tehran's rational solution

    Queues, the universal sign of rationing, stretched hundreds of metres to Iranian petrol stations in early June, as motorists anticipated new limits on subsidised petrol. The government and the Majlis (parliament) have been talking about rationing for two years, but by the time of going to press, they had failed to declare a clear policy.

  • IRAQ NATIONAL OIL COMPANY: Starting from scratch

    If Iraq's draft oil law is approved by parliament later this month, the state-owned Iraq National Oil Company (INOC) will be revived a decade after being abolished by Saddam Hussein.

  • Iraq Sunnis to boycott government

    Iraq's main Sunni Arab bloc says it is suspending its participation in the government because of legal steps being taken against one of its ministers, reports the BBC. 'We have told our six ministers not to attend cabinet meetings until the government halts these legal steps,' the Iraqi Accord Front (IAF) said. Earlier this week, an arrest warrant was issued for Culture Minister Asaad Kamal al-Hashemi, an IAF member. The case concerns the killing of two sons of a Sunni politician in 2005.

  • Iraqi police chief targeted by gunmen

    Three hildren of Iraq's police chief have been kidnapped in Diyala province by gunmen who killed 14 people, including the man's wife, in a raid on his house.Colonel Ali Al Jurani said that his brother and 12 bodyguards were also killed in the raid on Thursday night while he was away from the house. Diyala, a neighbouring province of Baghdad, has seen an increase in violence as the surge in US troops drives militants out of the capital and into the surrounding area.

  • Islamic Development Bank targets fund at Africa

    The Islamic Development Bank has launched a $10,000 million fund to alleviate poverty in 25 of Africa's poorest Islamic countries.The fund will initially invest in education for children in North Africa. The bank has set up an advisory panel to ensure that girls as well as boys benefit from the investment in education.Saudi Arabia has donated $1,000 million to the fund, making it the largest donor. Kuwait has given $300 million, Iran $100 million and Senegal

  • Islamic investment bank launch

    A new Islamic investment bank, called Global Banking Corporation, launched in Bahrain on 26 June. The bank has a paid up capital of $250 million and will initially focus on infrastructure investments.It will also target private equity, venture capital and real estate investments and offer capital markets and corporate finance advisory services.

  • Israel offers peace talks

    Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has invited his counterparts in Jordan and Egypt to visit Israel and discuss an Arab League plan offering peace in exchange for withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967.Livni has written to Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Egypt and Abdul Ilah al-Khatib in Jordan, who have been nominated by the Arab League to liaise with Israel on the plan. Livni previously met them in Cairo in May. The invitation includes any other representatives of the

  • Israel reopens Gaza crossing for UN food aid

    Israel has opened the main commercial crossing into Gaza for the first time since Hamas ousted Fatah from the territory in early June.The Israelis opened a small section of the Karni crossing to allow the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to deliver emergency stocks of food.UNRWA set up a conveyor belt to move sacks of wheat into Gaza where the 1.5 million inhabitants have been without food imports for a fortnight.Christopher Gunness, a spoke

  • Israel told meeting with Saudi Arabia will not happen

    The Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has told Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to 'forget about' a meeting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.Olmert called for a regional conference with Arab leaders, including the king, following the relaunch of the Saudi peace initiative at the Arab League Summit in April. However, Mubarak has warned that Abdulaah's unique position as custodian of the two holy mosques precluded any chance of him meeting an Israeli leader face to face.

  • Israeli forces kill Palestinian presidential guard

    Israeli special forces shot dead a member of the Palestinian president's official security force in a daytime attack in Ramallah.Mohamed Abdul-Halim was shot in the head, neck and leg in the attack Palestinian information minister Mustafa Barghouti described as 'an extrajudicial execution'.Eyewitnesses said special forces troops gave Abdul-Halim no opportunity to surrender. He was leaving a restaurant at the time.Doctors at Ramallah's Sheikh Z

  • Israeli president agrees plea bargin

    Israeli President Moshe Katsav agreed on 28 June a plea bargain with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to avoid prison charges and a prison term.Under the terms of the agreement, Katsav is expected to get a suspended sentence for sexual harassment and be asked to pay damages to his accusers. The president was previously facing allegations of rape and sexual harassment from women in his office. His presidential term ends in July but he will now resign immediate

  • Italferr signs Algeria deal

    Algerian national railway investment company Anesrif has signed a co-operation agreement with Italy's Italferr, the engineering arm of Ferrovie dello Stato, for assistance on the tender process as well as the design, project management and construction phases of projects to build new railway lines. Anesrif is responsible for managing $10,000 million in railway infrastructure.

  • Ithmar looks for healthcare assets

    Dubai-based private equity firm Ithmar Capital is pursuing investments in the education and healthcare sectors.

  • Jacobs designs unit

    The US' Jacobs Engineering has won a contract to provide a design package for a sulphur recovery unit (SRU) for Saudi Aramco's Khursaniyah gas plant. The contract, whose value was not disclosed, will cover the recovery of sulphur from acid gas feed streams to provide molten elemental sulphur. Jacobs is already carrying out work to build three new SRUs at Khursaniyah, each with capacity of 900 tonnes a day (t/d) which together will recover 3,600 t/d of sulphur during normal operations.

  • Jacobs frontrunner for Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway deal

    An award is imminent for the consultancy contract on a new highway linking Abu Dhabi and Dubai. CRSS International, part of the US' Jacobs Group, is the front runner for the contract that will see the construction of a major new highway connecting Abu Dhabi to the neighbouring emirate.The road will be an extension of the existing Emirates road that runs from Ras al-Khaimah through Umm al-Qaiwain, Ajman, Sharjah and Dubai up to the Abu Dhabi border in the Ghantoot area. It will be paralle

  • Jawwal revenue falls

    Palestinian telecoms operator Jawwal is suffering from decreasing revenue because of the tough economic situation in the Occupied Territories. The firm has 1 million customers. 'The average revenue per user is declining because people do not have money to spend on food,' says Ammar Aker, chief executive officer. He claims the firm is unable to increase mobile penetration rates due to the security situation.

  • Jersey asset manager to expand Middle East assets

    Jersey-based asset management firm Ashburton plans to have $200 million of assets from the Middle East under management by 2010, the equivalent of 10 per cent of its global business.The firm plans to develop sharia-compliant products. 'We have already put together sharia-compliant portfolios,' says Gavin Fraser, Middle East director at Ashburton.'In the next five-10 years, sharia-compliant [asset management] is going to grow.'The firm is a division of South Africa's First

  • Joint venture plans mall

    Bawadi has formed a joint venture with Al-Ghurair Investment to develop an estimated AED 10,000 million ($2,720 million) shopping mall as part of Bawadi's development in Dubailand. Phase one of the project is scheduled to be completed by 2012, and will have a gross leasable area of 400,000 square metres. Al-Ghurair has also invested AED 800 million ($218 million) in the Al-Maghreb Resort & Spa in Bawadi (MEED 18:5:07).

  • Joint venture set to take sewage treatment contract

    The joint venture of the UK's Biwater, Kuwait's Mohamed Abdulmohsin Kharafi & Sons, and the local Al-Qudra Holding has been selected by Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company as the preferred bidder for the build-own-operate-transfer contract covering two greenfield sewage treatment plants. The plants are at Al-Wathba in Abu Dhabi and Al-Saad in Al-Ain.A second-ranked bid submitted by a group made up of France's Veolia Environnement and Belgium's Besix is being held in reserve should negoti

  • KAHRAMAA: Keeping up with demand

    The technical snags at power plants belonging to Ras Laffan Power Company, Qatar Power company and Qatar Electricity & Water Company (Kahraba) that left residents of Doha without power for several hours on 30 May highlighted a growing problem for the state, as it seeks to keep pace with its economic expansion.Demand for water in Qatar grew by more than 15 per cent in 2006 and in the first quarter of 2007, and this pattern shows no sign of slowing. To meet the challenge, Qatar General Ele

  • Khalid wins Subiya work

    The local Khalid Ali al-Kharafi & Brothers has been awarded the KD 14.1 million ($48.6 million) contract to build water tanks at Subiya. It was low bidder for the work, involving the construction of three water tanks, each with capacity of 55 million gallons. The scheme is part of the Subiya water transmission system, which will distribute drinking water from the Subiya desalination complex to Kuwait City. The client is the Electricity & Water Ministry (MEED 24:11:06).

  • Kharafi bids low for upgrade

    The local Kharafi National, with the UK's Costain Oil & Gas as its engineering subcontractor, is low bidder at KD 33.3 million ($115 million) for the contract to upgrade tank farms at the state's three refineries.Kharafi's bid is marginally lower than the next best price of KD 35.9 million ($124 million) submitted by the local Integral Services Company, which has India's Larsen & Toubro as its subcontractor.The only other bidder is Alghanim International Trading & Contracting

  • Kharafi bids low for upgrade

    The local Kharafi National, with the UK's Costain Oil & Gas as its engineering subcontractor, is low bidder at KD 33.3 million ($115 million) for the contract to upgrade tank farms at the state's three refineries.Kharafi's bid is marginally lower than the next best price of KD 35.9 million ($124 million) submitted by the local Integral Services Company, which has India's Larsen & Toubro as its subcontractor.The only other bidder is Alghanim International Trading & Contracting Com

  • Kingdom assets at $24bn

    Saudi Arabia'sKingdom Holding Company, the investment vehicle of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud, has reported that total consolidated assets at the end of 2006 stood at $24,650 million. The prince also confirmed that Kingdom Holdings is waiting for authorisation from the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to list its shares on the Saudi bourse. Earlier this month, the CMA approved the reclassification of Kingdom Holding as a closed stock company, which usually serves as a precursor to an IPO (MEE

  • Kingdom Holding moves closer to stock market listing

    Kingdom Holding has changed its status from a limited liability company to a closed stock company in anticipation of its initial public offering on the Saudi stock exchange, which is expected later this month.The Saudi Arabian Trade Ministry said Kingdom Holding would have a capital of $16,800 million. The change in status from a limited liability company to a closed stock company is usually a precursor to the Saudi stock exchange regulator granting approval

  • Kingdom Holding plans country's tallest tower

    Riyadh-based investment house Kingdom Holding Company is to build the tallest tower in the country as part of a SR 75,000 million ($20,000 million) investment in two mega real estate developments in Jeddah and Riyadh.The Jeddah scheme is a SR 50,000 million ($13,000 million) mixed-use development covering 5.3 million square metres. The project will feature the tallest building in the kingdom, expected to be more than 400 metres high.Canada's HOK has developed the site plans. The

  • Kingdom plans power boost

    Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) is planning three new independent power projects (IPPs) in the kingdom with a total capital investment of SR 21,000 million ($5,599 million) aimed at adding 5,200 MW to the domestic grid by 2015.

  • Kingdom to sell off five per cent

    Kingdom Holding, the investment vehicle run by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud, is to sell five per cent or around $840 million of its shares in an initial public offering (IPO).The IPO will be priced at between 10.5 ($2.80) and 11 riyals ($2.90) per share and would raise 3,460 million riyals ($922.7 million) at the top of the range, according to Reuters.The five per cent stake values the group at around 63,000 million riyals or $18,000 million.

  • KOC heralds new era for Gulf oil

    Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is set to deliver a landmark change in direction for the Gulf's oil industry by launching a pilot project to produce heavy oil with sands.

  • KUWAIT PETROLEUM CORPORATION: Change builds stability

    Given the lackadaisical development of Kuwait's infrastructure over the past five years, the hydrocarbons sector has done comparatively well. Production capacity remains at just under 2.7 million barrels a day (b/d), and while there have been some problems downstream, the state has largely put the disastrous safety incidents in 2001 and 2002 behind it, although fires at several facilities in recent months have again raised safety concerns.

  • KUWAIT: Second chance for Al-Zour

    There can have been few more controversial regional projects than the ambitious 615,000-barrel-a-day (b/d) Al-Zour refinery planned by Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). The scheme has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons: massive cost overruns, errors in planning and political misjudgements.

  • Kuwaiti operator wins third mobile licence

    Kuwait's MTC has won the third mobile phone licence in the kingdom with a bid of SAR 22,910 million ($6,108 million).

  • Lebanese mourn anti-Syrian politician

    Thousands of mourners chanted anti-Syrian slogans at the funeral of a Lebanese MP killed in a bomb blast in Beirut.Supporters of the pro-western government at the funeral procession on 14 June cried out for revenge against Syrian president Asad, and his ally, Lebanese President, Lahoud.In a mounting political crisis, Walid Eido is the sixth high profile anti-Syrian figure to be assassinated since 2005. He was killed with his 35-year-old son and nine other pe

  • Lebanese soldiers kill three Palestinian protestors

    Lebanese soldiers shot dead three protesting Palestinian refugees and injured another 20 on Friday, according to witnesses and hospital staff.The Lebanese army opened fire on a Palestinian demonstration after the protestors tried to force their way into the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in northern Lebanon.The camp has seen fierce fighting between Lebanese troops and the radical Palestinian group Fatah al-Islam over the last six weeks.

  • Lebanese soldiers killed in refugee camp

    Six Lebanese soldiers were killed and four more were wounded in an explosion in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp on 15 June. According to Reuters, the blast occurred in a building booby-trapped by Fatah al-Islam militants. Fighting in the Palestinian refugee camp has now entered its fourth week and has left at least 150 people dead in total. Most of the 40,000 refugees from the camp have fled the fighting and moved to the Beddawi camp nearby. The Fatah al-Isla

  • Lebanon charges militants over violence

    A Lebanese military magistrate has filed terrorism charges against 20 suspected members of the militant Fatah Islam group. The group has been fighting Lebanese troops at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.The charges against the 19 Lebanese and one Syrian, all in custody, carry the death penalty and are linked to fighting around the Nahr al-Bared camp that has killed 79 people, including 34 soldiers, 27 militants and 18 civilians.The Lebanese aut

  • Lebanon suffers renewed fighting

    The Lebanese army and radical Palestinian group Fatah al-Islam continued to trade fire today as the siege of a Palestinian refugee camp in the port city of Tripoli entered its 33rd day.The military responded to bursts of machine-gun fire from Sunni Muslim militants with tank and mortar shells, according to AFP press agency, even as Palestinian negotiators continued to try to mediate an end to the deadly standoff.The remaining pockets of resistance, according

  • LEBANON: Preparing for the worst

    Lebanon's banking sector is proving as much of an icon of national resilience in difficult times as its traditional symbol, the cedar tree. The local financial sector took the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in its stride in February 2005, with negligible capital flight. Similarly, the deposit outflow that followed the July-August 2006 conflict with Israeli forces was fully recovered by the end of the year.

  • Local takes Hilton contract

    The local Construction Technology Contracting has been awarded a AED 300 million ($81 million) contract to build the Hilton Beach hotel in the Al-Muaireed area of Ras al-Khaimah. The hotel will have 325 rooms, including presidential and deluxe suites. The RAK government is seeking to develop the emirate's tourism potential. Its plans include 10-15 hotels at the $5,430 million Mina al-Arab development.

  • Local Target Engineering secures major contracts

    The local Target Engineering has been awarded two building contracts in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

  • Locals to build college

    The local Al-Bawani Company has been awarded two construction contracts totalling SR 191 million ($51 million) covering the first phase of a women's college in Yanbu Industrial City. The contracts include the construction of classroom and laboratory buildings, libraries and clubs, besides other utilities.

  • Locals win emergency work

    Kharafi National and Alghanim International Trading & Contracting Company, both local, are set to win two major contracts, totalling more than $3,800 million, to install emergency electricity generating capacity at the Subiya and Al-Zour south power plants after the Central Tenders Committee approved their bids on 30 May.

  • Lockerbie bomber to appeal

    The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission on 28 June ruled that Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the Libyan intelligence agent convicted for the 1988 Pan Am flight bombing over Lockerbie, has a right to appeal. The Scottish High Court must hear his case.The Commission said it had 'identified six grounds where it believes that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred and that it is in the interests of justice to refer the matter to the court of appeal'.Followin

  • LOW-COST CARRIERS: Runaway expansion

    'Commentators said that low-cost airlines would not work and Saudi passengers would only travel first or business class,' says Andrew Cowen, chief executive (CEO) of Sama, one of two low-cost services launched this year in the kingdom. 'This is abject nonsense. About 97 to 98 per cent of our customers are Saudis. People are quite happy to use low-cost airlines.'

  • Maaden looks at Ras al-Zour bids

    Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) has received bids from at least three groups for the estimated $700 million design and build marine works package on its new industrial zone at Ras al-Zour.The bidders include China Harbour Engineering Company, Belgium's Dredging International with the local Huta Group, and Royal Boskalis Westminster of the Netherlands with Geneva-registered Archirodon Construction (Overseas). The consultant is Worley Arabia.The port will cater for vessels of

  • Maaden signs three fertiliser contracts

    Maaden is to begin construction of the world's largest fertiliser operation in Saudi Arabia in the fourth quarter of 2007 after signing contracts for three new plants.The deals signed with Dragados of Spain, Litwin of France and Outotec of Finland involve the construction of di-ammonium phosphate granulation, phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid plants respectively.Abdullah Dabbagh, president and chief executive of Maaden, said the plants should all be complet

  • Making mobiles pay

    Competition for Saudi Arabia's third mobile phone network operating licence was always going to be fierce. The 25-year licence in the Gulf's largest economy was one of the final opportunities for telecoms operators to grow organically within the region.

  • Malaysians take Reem building contract

    The UAE's Tamouh Investments has awarded the Malaysian joint venture of Pembinaan SPK and Bina Puri Holdings the estimated AED 490 million ($134 million) construction contract for zone B on Reem island.Part of the Marina Square development, the contract involves the construction of two tower blocks with a common podium that will include a ground mosque, parking area, landscaping and shops. Marina Square consists of a shopping arcade, a cinema, branded retail

  • Manama insists single currency will go ahead

    Bahrain's Finance Minister has said that a draft document for the creation of a single currency by 2010 will be prepared by June.Despite widespread scepticism, Sheikh Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Al-Khalifa said that currency union was on track. He added that a meeting scheduled for the June meeting of GCC central banks would decide on the name o the new currency, denominations, and mechanisms for converting to it.Khalifa said: 'The GCC countries are trying to bridge

  • Manama overhauls ports

    Manama has begun a series of projects to overhaul the island's port facilities. The privatisation and redevelopment of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman port is scheduled to be completed by September 2008. The ports will also switch to electronic operation at a cost of BD 800,000 ($2.1 million). Plans have also been put forward to expand and develop the customs area.

  • Manama raises unemployment scheme contributions

    Bahrain has extended mandatory payments for its unemployment scheme to include employee contributions. Expatriate workers must now pay 1 per cent of their monthly salary into the scheme, which is run by the General Organisation for Social Insurance. This is in addition to the 3 per cent supplied by their employer.Employed nationals have to contribute 7 per cent with their employer adding 12 per cent.

  • MARKET IN FOCUS: IRAN: Drowning in IPOs

    The Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) is the government's chosen channel for selling off stakes in national companies. But the close timing of the offerings is draining liquidity from the exchange and dragging down share prices, as investors sell existing holdings to finance new acquisitions.

  • MARKET IN FOCUS: UAE: Recovery begins

    Markets in the UAE are displaying the first signs of recovery and have reached a new peak for 2007.

  • Mashreq calls for securitisation market

    Securitisation needs to be embraced by the Middle East if the mortgage financing market is to develop properly, according to Mashreq Bank.Oman Asghar, marketing director of the retail banking group at Mashreq, says securitisation and credit bureaux will play an important part in risk mitigation to allow new products to develop.'If you look at America, when securitisation was introduced it took the mortgage market into another dimension in terms of product development,' he says.

  • Mauritanian cabinet takes pay cut to soften fall in oil output

    Leading figures in the Mauritanian government have opted to take a cut in salaries to align their pay with other civil servants and to compensate for lower-than-expected oil revenues.President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and his government agreed to take a 25 per cent pay cut following a cabinet meeting on 6 June, according to state press service Agence Mauritanienne d'Information.The country became an oil producer in February 2006 when the offshore C

  • McDermott wins Qatargas North field contract

    Jebel Ali-based J Ray McDermott has won a $100 million subsea pipelines package for the Qatargas 3 and Qatargas 4 projects in the North field.

  • Mecca-Medina rail link prequalifiers are named

    Six international consortiums have been prequalified to bid for the right to build the $6,000 million Makkah-Medina rail link.

  • Mena to launch state-wide wireless network

    Bahrain will get the world's first nationwide wireless network in the third or fourth quarter of 2007 when Mena Telecom deploys Wimax technology in the kingdom.

  • Merrill Lynch enters Gulf

    Merrill Lynch International plans to open an office in Riyadh by the end of the year. The bank is establishing a 100 per cent-owned subsidiary after receiving Capital Market Authority approval for a full investment banking licence on 19 June. It will transfer staff to the office of 20-30 people and hire locally. The bank is also moving some of its Islamic finance activities, which are currently based in London, into the region.

  • Middle East airlines to miss out on alliances

    Middle East airlines will be excluded from industry alliances for the foreseeable future, with the three key industry groupings saying the region's small population make alliances uneconomic.

  • Militant killed in Nablus operation

    Israeli troops shot a Palestinian militant during an operation in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on 29 June.The troops opened fire on the man as he got out of a taxi, according to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is linked to the Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas, claimed the man as one of its members.The IDF said nine Palestinian militants had been arrested and several weapon caches were uncovered duri

  • Militants threaten to expand offensive

    Fatah al-Islam militants threaten to expand their offensive if the Lebanese army does not stop its attacks on the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp.'If the army continues to bomb civilians and pursue its inhumane practices we will move in the next two days to the second phase of the battle,' says an Fatah al-Islam commander.'We will show them the capabilities of Fatah al-Islam, starting with Lebanon and then moving to the whole of greater Syria,' he says, referring

  • Minister sues over news gaffe

    Anti-Syrian Lebanese minister Ahmad Fatfat said on 15 June that he has sued a local television news anchor after she made remarks on air that he could be the next politician to be killed.While covering the bomb blast that killed anti-Syrian lawmaker Walid Eido on 13 June, an anchor on the NBN channel of pro-Syrian Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri ridiculed the incident and said Fatfat, the Sports Minister, would be next.'I sued because there was an incitement

  • Ministry invites bids for Duqm drydock contract

    The National Economy Ministry has invited companies to bid by 30 July for a contract to build a ship repair and drydock complex at Duqm port. It will be the sultanate's first ship repair yard and drydock complex (see Tenders page 68).

  • Ministry requests tenders

    The Oil Ministry is to request tenders for the Anahita refinery in the western Kermanshah province with 150,000-barrel-a-day (b/d) production capacity following registration in mid-June. State-run companies including National Iranian Oil Refining & Distribution Company are expected to take some of the shares, with the rest expected to go to investors such as the Social Security Organisation.

  • Ministry rethinks local bids for Jizan refinery

    The Petroleum & Mineral Resources Ministry is considering allowing local companies to build and operate a multi-billion dollar oil refinery in Jizan without the assistance of international oil companies (IOCs).MEED has discovered from several local companies prequalified to bid for the contract that there is a lack of interest from IOCs, which are wary of the project's remote location and the potential for cost escalation.The grassroots export refinery, in a remote Red Sea city i

  • Ministry signs port deal

    The Public Works Ministry has signed a KD 118 million ($409 million) contract with the local/Chinese joint venture of Gulf Dredging & Contracting, Shaheen Alghanim Roads & Bridges and China Harbour Engineering Company for the first phase of the multi-billion-dollar Bubiyan port project. The contract calls for the construction of a 34-kilometre-long road, a 1.4-kilometre-long road bridge, landfill. soil improvement works and a railway embankment.

  • Mitsui to build Shuaiba North

    An international consortium led by Japan's Mitsui & Company is set to win the contract to build the Shuaiba North power and desalination plant after the Central Tenders Committee approved its offer of KD 366 million ($1,262 million).

  • Mobile group to float at $3.7bn

    The consortium that won Saudi Arabia's third mobile phone licence in early June will be valued at SR14,000 million ($3,732 million) when it floats on the Riyadh Stock Exchange later this year.

  • Mobily signs up 20,000 subscribers

    Mobily has signed up more than 20,000 customers for its broadband internet access service, which uses its 3G mobile network, in the two weeks since it was launched.

  • Mobitel secures funds to increase coverage

    Kuwaiti mobile operator MTC has secured $362.6 million worth of funding to increase the coverage of its Mobitel network in Sudan to 80 per cent of the population by the end of 2007.MTC is using a murabaha facility provided by four banks to pay for a contract with a network equipment manufacturer. The deal will extend mobile coverage to remote areas of Sudan including the south of the country.Mobitel will spend more than $500 million in total on expanding its network. The developm

  • Move against speculators leads to rate drop

    The decision by the Central Bank of Kuwait to stop banks placing excess liquidity with it, intended to stop currency speculation, has led to a fall in inter-bank interest rates of over 1 per cent.However, the drop is likely to boost inflation. If it does, the central bank's move to end the dollar peg will have failed to keep it down. Speculators have invested up to $5,000 million in the dinar since September 2006.'If currency speculation slows down, liquidity in the economy will

  • MP building tender opens

    Selected companies have been invited to bid for an estimated $100 million contract to build and operate an information centre and buildings for members of parliament in Kuwait City. Twenty-one companies have prequalified for the tender. The client is the Ministry of Public Works. The consultant is the US/local architectural team of HOK and Seif Engineering Consultants.

  • Multiplex wins Emirates hotel contract

    The local/Australian Nasa Multiplex has been awarded the estimated AED 2,100 million ($572 million) main construction contract for the Emirates Park Towers Hotel on Sheikh Zayed road.The project involves the construction of a 40-storey, 350-metre-high tower, which when completed, will be one the world's tallest hotels. It will have 650 rooms, some of which will be cantilevered. It will also have a 25,000-square-foot health club, a spa and 15 food outlets.

  • Municipality appoints city consultants

    The local office of KEO International Consultants has been appointed by Abu Dhabi Municipality to provide programme and construction management services on the estimated $7,100 million Mohammed bin Zayed City project in Abu Dhabi.The project involves the construction of 349 residential towers with a total built-up area of 5 million square metres opposite the Mussafah industrial area. The scheme will be divided into five sectors with shopping areas, parks, restaurants, shaded walkways, un

  • Murabaha signing

    National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (NSCSA) has arranged a SR 1,640 million ($430 million) murabaha facility set up by BNP Paribas, Gulf International and Samba Financial Group. The funds are 60 per cent of the amount required by the company to build six new oil tankers, with the balance being supplied by company resources. The deal was signed on 25 June. It is the third sharia-compliant financial deal by the company this year.

  • MZ to design Lusail towers

    The local MZ & Partners has been appointed to design and market an estimated QR 1,000 million ($274 million) office tower cluster in the Lusail development's Marina district for local developer Salam Bunyan. The four towers will be built on four adjacent plots facing Doha Golf Club.

  • Naftogaz secures rights for Oman blocks

    Naftogaz Middle East, the joint venture of Ukraine's state-owned Naftogaz and Abu Dhabi-based Al-Jazeerah Enterprise for Development & Trading, has secured two new concessions in Oman and is moving ahead with the development of its concession in Fujairah.

  • Nakheel scales new heights

    UAE developer Nakheel has launched a new residential community located between its Jumeirah Islands and Jumeirah Lake Towers.Known as Jumeirah Heights, the 200,000 square-metre development involves the construction of 2,300 residences that will house an estimated 11,000 people. The development will also include a series of small lakes and water features. Completion is scheduled for 2010.It will be divided into three distinct areas - The Village Centre, Frond

  • Nakheel starts on Yathrib

    Local property developer Nakheel has invited selected companies to prequalify for the construction of apartments and a club house for the Yathrib Central district on the Lost City project in the Jebel Ali area of Dubai. Spread over 5.6 square kilometres, the masterplan for the Lost City includes a series of villages under the titles of Hotel, Souk, Gateways, Gardens and Hilltop. The US' DMJM carried out the overall concept design (MEED 4:2:05).

  • Nakilat opens bidding for Ras Laffan work

    Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat) has invited at least eight companies to bid by 29 July for the estimated $250 million marine works package for phases 1 and 2 of the ship repair yard project at Ras Laffan.

  • NAS Air builds up fleet

    National Air Services (NAS) has set aside SR 15,500 million ($4,133 million) for the purchase of 98 new aircraft over the next five years. Chairman Ayed al-Jeaid said arrangements to purchase the new planes were being put in place with Airbus, Boeing, Gulfstream, Dassault and Raytheon. The aircraft will increase NAS' fleet to 142 by 2012.

  • Nass wins Manama work

    The local Nass Contracting has been awarded the BD 10 million ($27 million) contract to build an interchange in Manama. The contractor is also the low bidder for the Issa Town Gate interchange project with a price of BD 38 million ($100 million). The Works & Housing Ministry is the client (MEED 13:4:07).

  • National Bank restructures

    National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) is reorganising its corporate structure to form 13 divisions from eight in a bid to drive profits.NBAD is being advised by McKinsey on the restructure, which will involve divisions such as retail banking and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) being split into separate cost centres. Each division will then be given profit targets to drive overall income at the bank.Michael Tomalin, chief executive officer, says: 'People assume that all bankers

  • NATIONAL IRAN OIL COMPANY: Struggling to produce

    Despite being one of the world's leading oil exporters, Iran has struggled to expand oil production capacity.In 2005, it produced 3.9 million barrels-a-day (b/d) of crude, which was less than the quota assigned by Opec. That led analysts to claim the National Iranian Oil Company's (NIOC) aim of reaching 5.4 million b/d by 2010 and 8 million b/d by 2020 was a fantasy.Part of the problem lies with the limited amount of control that NIOC has been prepared to hand to international oi

  • NATIONAL OIL CORPORATION: Playing catch-up

    Libya's National Oil Corporation has come a long way since the lifting of international sanctions in 2004, but not far enough. While the intention to upgrade its facilities and invest in new ones exists, bureaucracy has resulted in limited gains.

  • National Petroleum set to launch $6bn fuels tender

    State refinery operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) is preparing to launch the tendering process for its $6,000 million clean fuels project (CFP), aimed at upgrading the state's refineries.

  • Neal reviews its energy portfolio

    State-owned New Energy Algeria (Neal) will need to review its portfolio of projects after the government asked it to expand its renewable energy programme. The aim is to reach 5 per cent of total generating capacity from renewable energy by 2015.

  • New head of capital markets appointed

    Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif issued a decree on 6 June appointing Ahmed Saad as the chairman of the Capital Market Authority. The decree will be implemented on 28 June when Saad will take over from Hany Sary el-Din. The prime minister also renewed the contracts of Majed Shawky, chairman of the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange and Osama Saleh, chairman of the Mortgage Finance Authority. Ahmed Saad previously held the position of deput

  • Nicico to boost lime kiln capacity

    National Iranian Copper Industries Company (Nicico) has issued a tender to increase its lime burning capacity before embarking on a major expansion of copper production.A prequalification notice has been issued for two lime shaft kilns of 250 tonnes a day (t/d) each at the Sarcheshmeh plant. The company is preparing tender documents to raise total copper ore production to 2,500 t/d.Project sources say they want bidders to use melt furnace technology owned by Switzerland's Maerz f

  • Oasis invests in sports

    Local developer Dubai Oasis plans to invest AED 1,000 million ($272 million) in real estate projects at Dubai Sports City. Foundations work has already started for the project, the 18-storey Oasis Tower One. The local Dutch Foundation is the contractor. Other projects include Oasis Tower Two and two other serviced apartment buildings.

  • office space: Commerce catches up

    As Dubai has ploughed ahead with residential projects, office space has lagged behind, leading to soaring rents that have made Dubai's central business district one of the most expensive in the world.

  • Oger goes for virtual status operator

    Having missed out on the kingdom's third mobile phone operating licence (see Cover Story), the local Oger Telecom is hoping to enter the Saudi Arabia mobile phone market as a virtual network operator (VNO), marketing and selling branded services for existing network operators.Oger aims to distribute mobile subscriptions in the kingdom and Jordan using either the Oger brand, which is well known in Saudi Arabia, or through a new brand designed for the local market.'We hope to be on

  • Oger hits out at Jordan over broadband fee

    Oger Telecom subsidiary Cyberia has blamed the prices Jordan Telecom charges for access to its network for the kingdom's tiny number of broadband subscribers.Jordan Telecom charges JD 20 ($28.20) a month for each broadband subscription and a further 60 JD ($84.70) to set up a new line. There are 67,000 broadband customers in the kingdom, just 1.2 per cent of its estimated 5.7 million population.Speaking at a media and telecoms conference in Amman, Imad Ayoub, chief executive offi

  • Oger to struggle in Riyadh

    The local Oger Telecom will struggle to make large profits in Saudi Arabia if it wins a licence as a virtual network operator (VNO) selling mobile subscriptions for an existing operator, say analysts.

  • Oger wins King Abdullah road

    Saudi Oger has been awarded a SR 698 million ($186 million) first phase construction contract on the King Abdullah road scheme in Riyadh.

  • Oil & Gas: Three shortlisted for In Salah installation

    Three companies have been prequalified for the estimated $300 million contract to install gas compression facilities to maintain plateau production on the In Salah gas field (MEED 2:2:07).The In Salah joint venture, a consortium of state energy company Sonatrach, the UK's BP and Norway's Statoil, has shortlisted three companies for the 36-month engineering, procurement and construction contract: the Milan office of Europe'sABB; Italy's Snamprogetti, a subsidiary of Eni; and UAE-based Pet

  • OIL MARKETS: Beyond the blame game

    'It is difficult to explain the current level of crude oil prices based on upstream fundamentals alone,' said OPEC in its latest monthly report, which also revealed that the average price of the OPEC basket hit a new record high of $64.44 a barrel in April. Defensive denials of blame by producers are nothing new, with political tension and downstream bottlenecks the preferred culprits. But in this case, consumers appear to agree.

  • Oil price increases as cyclone batters Oman

    The price of oil passed the $70-a-barrel mark on 5 June due to concerns over the impact that a major cyclone would have on exports of Middle East oil and gas.The tropical cyclone is producing winds of up to 260 kilometres an hour and 12 metre-high waves and is due to hit the Omani coast.Tropical cyclone Gonu, which is expected to be more destructive than the hurricane that struck the sultanate in 1977, has forced the closure of the country's oil-exporting fa

  • OIL PRICES: Forecast points to growth in demand

    Oil prices backed off last week's $70-plus highs caused by a combination of bad weather and refinery outages, as traders focused on a range of industry predictions for the year ahead.

  • OIL PRICES: Oil softens as political tensions ease

    Oil prices dropped back into sub $70-a-barrel territory as positive developments with major producers Iran and Nigeria helped to ease pressing geopolitical concerns.

  • OIL PRICES: Opec issues annual world outlook

    Oil prices remained above the $70- a-barrel mark with traders shifting positions after US weekly oil statistics showed a surprise drop in fuel inventories, renewing concern about supply and offsetting an improvement in the outlook for Nigerian export operations.

  • OIL PRICES: Stock shortage threatens supply

    A combination of bad weather and refinery outages have led to an increase in oil prices above $70 a barrel. As markets brace themselves for a steep increase in demand as the summer driving season gets under way, many are lobbying Opec for an increase in production.Brent crude broke through $70 a barrel on 5 June in anticipation of a tropical storm that hit Oman the following day, causing a two-day closure of its main oil terminal, which is responsible for shipping 650,000 barrels a day (

  • OIL PRICES: Tensions push oil above $70 a barrel

    Oil surged through the $70-a-barrel mark during the week because of mounting geopolitical developments. Brent crude prices stormed through $70 a barrel to hit an intraday high of $72.25 on 18 June, the highest price since 28 August 2006, ending at $71.42 on 20 June.

  • Oil production costs show steep increase

    The cost of producing oil in the state has increased sharply over the past five years, according to a report published by the local Al-Shall Consulting.According to official data released in the 2007/08 state budget, oil production costs rose from KD 0.4 ($1.38) a barrel in 2000 to KD 1.27 ($4.38) a barrel this year, a compounded annual growth rate of 18 per cent.The steep increase means Kuwaiti crude is among the most expensive to produce in the Middle East - far higher than in

  • Olmert considers handing back the Golan Heights

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has indicated for the first time he would give up the Golan Heights as part of a peace deal with Syria.Israeli officials say Olmert is exploring re-opening peace talks with Damascus. The prime minister asked a third party to find out what Syria might offer in return in any deal involving the Heights, which were seized during the Six-Day War in 1967.Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, would not comment on report

  • Oman Air buys up Gulf jets

    Oman Air is launching its long-haul operation by buying up aircraft discarded by Gulf Air as part of the Bahraini airline’s restructuring.

  • Oman and Kogas to develop gas trade links

    The government of Oman and South Korean government-controlled Korea Gas Corporation (Kogas) have formed an estimated $10,000 joint venture to promote the trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG) between the two countries.The agreement will result in the development of storage facilities for LNG in Oman and the formation of a joint commercial unit for marketing and selling the gas.Kogas and the Omani government will each hold 50 per cent stakes in the new company.South Korea i

  • Opec warns US over energy bill

    Opec president Mohammed al-Hamli has warned US lawmakers they were taking a 'really dangerous step' in attempting to pass legislation to sue the oil cartel.The US Senate is to allow Washington to sue Opec over price manipulation, prompted by spiralling petrol prices. However, the White House is expected to object to the bill, saying the move might disrupt supplies and lead to even higher costs for consumers.'It's a really dangerous step. We are in the proces

  • Operator in growth drive

    Jordan Telecom has completed an 18-month programme to standardise business processes so it can sell more services to its customers. The network operator, which is owned by France Telecom, wants to sell its mobile, internet and content services to its fixed-line customers to allow it to continue to grow. The programme to integrate its mobile business, internet service and software development into its fixed-line business began in early 2006.

  • Operator opens gas tender

    State upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company has issued tender documents for a contract to provide gas compression services for gathering centre 16 and gas reinjection services at the Minagish field (see Tenders, page 50).

  • Opic puts Sohar deal on hold

    Oman Petrochemical Industries Company (Opic) has notified the bidders for its multi-billion-dollar Sohar olefins complex that the project has been put on hold indefinitely. The move comes after prices for all of the packages were submitted in early May.'We have not been given any reason, but we suspect that the decision was made because bids came in too much over budget,' says a bidder.In mid-May, John Dearborn, president, India, Middle East and Africa at the US' Dow Chemical Com

  • Oqyana starts in 2008

    Construction work on the $5,000 million Oqyana project, which will be built on the islands of Australasia on The World development, is now expected to start in summer next year. Reclamation of the project's 20 islands is now 80 percent complete. The client Oqyana Real Estate, a subsidiary of Kuwait's Investment Dar, had planned to sell all or part of the project but will now develop the project itself (MEED 9:2:07).

  • Orascom plans 3G licence bid

    The local Orascom Telecom is planning to bid for a 3G mobile phone licence in its home market before the end of 2007. In a statement, Alex Shalby, chief executive officer for Orascom Telecom, says the move is necessary to provide the company's local subsidiary, MobiNil, with extra bandwidth to continue providing services to a growing number of customers.

  • P29 lead Consumer confidence hits a record high in Egypt

    Consumer confidence in Egypt has reached a record high, powered by a growing economy and rising incomes, according to a new survey.'The average Egyptian over the last six months is very confident because the things that matter to him are all improving,' said Denzil Lawson, general manager of Mastercard Worldwide, which carried out the research.According to the latest edition of the twice-yearly survey of Middle East countries, consumers in Egypt are more positive about the next s

  • Palestinian Authority close to $1bn gas deal

    The Palestinian Authority expects to agree a gas deal by September that would see it earn up to $1,000 million over the next 10 to 15 years.Under the deal, the UK's British Gas would supply Israel with gas from the Palestinians' offshore gas fields. British Gas would pay an investment fund controlled by the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas for access to the field. This means the Palestinian Authority would avoid the international boycott against Hamas, be

  • Palestinian cabinet proposes ceasefire deal

    The Palestinian government today called for a truce to end the ongoing clashes between the Israeli government and Palestinian militants. The government said that the terms of a ceasefire proposal have been agreed by all factions in the Hamas-led Cabinet.The ceasefire plan, which is due to be put to Israel, aims to bring about the simultaneous cessation of cross-border attacks by both Israel and militants in Gaza.The plan calls on Palestinian f

  • Palestinians killed in Israeli raids into the Gaza Strip

    At least 12 Palestinians have been killed during Israeli raids into the Gaza Strip.Palestinian medical officials claim militants and civilians, including a 12 year-old boy, were killed as Israeli tanks moved into Gaza City. A further three militants were killed during clashes in Khan Younis to the south.Israel confirmed it had launched military operations in Gaza and said that its troops had been fired upon. The army said it was checking reports of casualtie

  • Palestinians postpone talks with Israel

    Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on 6 June postponed a meeting scheduled to take place in Jericho the next day with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.Officials said the meeting would not take place until Olmert agrees to release tax revenues withheld from the Palestinian Authority and to ease travel restrictions in the West Bank.The funds have been held back since Hamas won parliamentary elections in early 2006.'Abbas will not me

  • Palm Water selects preferred technology supplier for Jafza

    The local Palm Water has selected GE Water & Process Technologies, a business unit of US-based General Electric, as the preferred provider of water and wastewater technology and long-term operations and maintenance, for the AED 2,000 million ($550 million) Jebel Ali free zone (Jafza) utility project.

  • Parliament calls on oil minister to resign

    Kuwait's energy sector is facing a fresh crisis after members of parliament (MPs) demanded that Oil Minister Shaikh Ali al-Jarrah al-Sabah resign. The calls have come over recent comments he made to the press that suggested he was taking advice from a former oil minister who is facing court proceedings for alleged corruption.

  • Pars in talks with Asian banks over Dubai fund

    State-owned Pars Oil and Gas Company is in talks with several Asian banks over setting up an investment fund in Dubai to finance several failing projects in the South Pars gas field.

  • Petrochemicals: Maaden converts to lump-sum for Ras al-Zour

    Three of the four main process packages on the multi-billion-dollar Ras al-Zour fertiliser complex, planned by the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden), are due to be converted to lump-sum by the end of June.The engineering, procurement and construction packages cover the 3 million-tonne-a-year (t/y) diammonia phosphate, the 1.4 million-t/y phosphoric acid and 4.5 million-t/y sulphuric acid plants at the complex. They were each awarded last summer on a cost-reimbursable basis, with a vi

  • Petrofac set to take water injection contract for Illizi

    UAE-based Petrofac International is in line for the contract to install water injection facilities on the Zarzaitine oil field in the Illizi basin, operated by China's Sinopec, following the public opening of bids on 11 June (MEED 24:11:06).

  • PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT OMAN: Stopping the drop

    It has been a tough five years for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). Last year, the sultanate produced more than 740,000 barrels a day (b/d) of oil, down 5 per cent on the year before. Output is predicted to drop to 690,000 b/d by 2008.PDO, which is responsible for 90 per cent of the country's production, has been unable to prevent the decrease even though it has met its production targets - last year producing just under 590,000 b/d. 'There is no question that the past few years have b

  • Petroleum Development set to boost output at Mabrouk

    Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) plans to proceed with the full development of its Mabrouk field. Production from the field will be increased to 15,000-20,000 barrels a day (b/d) up from 8,000 b/d.

  • Pgesco consults on plant

    West Delta Electricity Production Company has selected the local/US Power Generation Engineering & Services Company (Pgesco) as consultant on the extension of the Abu Qir plant. The estimated£E 7,500 million ($1,340 million) project will involve the installation of two steam turbines with capacity of 650 MW. The firm aims to sign the contract for steam turbines by April 2008 and for the boiler in June 2008 (MEED 29:9:06).

  • Phone firms face little competition

    Middle East telecoms companies make 20 per cent more money than their European equivalents because they face little competition, according to a report by UK consultancy firm Analysys.

  • PIC: Moving beyond the Gulf

    It is 40 years since Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) marked its presence in the region with the opening of the Middle East's first fertiliser complex in the Shuaiba industrial area. Since then it has not looked back, cementing its position as Kuwait's pre-eminent industrial firm. Now, with its home base secured, it is looking to international as well as local markets for its future expansion plans.

  • Pioneer gets marina deal

    The local Pioneer Construction has been awarded the estimated AED 130 million ($35 million) contract to build a 34-storey residential tower at Dubai Marina known as Sky View. The local National Engineering Bureau is the consultant and the local Halcon Real Estate, also local, is the client.

  • Plastic ambitions

    John Dearborn firmly believes National Geographic should cover Saudi Arabia's giant Ras Tanura integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex on its Megaprojects TV series.

  • Power projects move ahead

    Two key power projects in the Cairo's electricity generation masterplan have moved forward. The state Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) has signed a contract with France's Alstom for the supply of a 250-MW steam turbine for the 750-MW Nuberiya 3 combined cycle power plant.

  • Power shortfalls plague projects

    A lack of availability of power equipment suppliers is expected to lead to bottlenecks on major projects in the kingdom over the next 18 months, according to power developers in the country.'The main challenge facing the Saudi market is the availability of equipment suppliers,' says one developer. 'Some projects may not be able to attract bids over the next 18 months. We are aware of a lot of suppliers who are booked for the next 3 to 4 years, with projects for 2009 onwards likely to str

  • POWER: Riyadh struggles to keep pace with rising demand

    The government-owned Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has a capital investment programme of $50,663 million during the next 10 years. And it will have to deliver if it is to keep up with demand. By 2024, the kingdom's population of about 23.7 million is set to increase by 110 per cent. In turn, the demand for power at 29.9 GW will increase by 134 per cent to 70 GW over the same period, according to SEC.

  • Prequalification for Al-Zour to start again

    State refinery operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) is to restart the prequalification process for the main engineering, procurement and construction packages on its planned 615,000 barrel-a-day refinery project at Al-Zour.

  • Prices drive record inflation

    Inflation soared to record levels in the first quarter of 2007, up nearly 15 per cent year-on-year, driven by surging rents and energy bills.The lastest data released by Doha's Planning Council shows the state's consumer price index rose by 14.8 per cent for the first quarter of 2007 compared with the same period in 2006, with an increase of 3.81 per cent in the past three months.Rapidly rising rent, fuel and energy prices were largely to blame. They rose by a combined 34.8 per c

  • Prince Bandar denies arms contract allegations

    Prince Bandar bin Sultan has vigorously denied allegations he took more than£1,000 million from the weapons manufacturer BAE Systems for helping to broker Britain's biggest arms contract.The prince, formerly Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, has said that claims made by The Guardian newspaper 'are not only untrue but are grotesque in their absurdity'.Prince Bandar is alleged to have received about£30 million each financial quarter for at least a decade fo

  • Printer shares sale opens

    Institutional investors will be allocated more than two-thirds of the shares in Saudi Printing & Packaging Company offered to the public. The initial public offering of 30 per cent of the company will start on 30 June priced at SR 22 ($5.9) a share, with 12.6 million shares allocated to investment funds and the remaining 5.4 million to individual investors. The company is a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group which is listed on the Tadawul, the Saudi stock exchange.

  • PRIVATE BANKING: A wealth of opportunity

    The number and wealth of millionaires worldwide is growing. In the GCC, the growth rate is faster than the global average, and in the UAE it is faster still. More banks are competing to offer products and services to UAE-based high net worth individuals (HNWIs) with assets of $1 million or more.

  • Private equity fund announces first transactions

    Corecap, the Dubai-based Islamic private equity fund, has said it will announce its first transactions in the next month. The deal is likely to be in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector.

  • Private equity investment to alleviate unemployment

    Private equity investment in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) can 'play a significant role' in job creation and the development of management talent, says a joint report released on 18 June by Dubai-based private equity firms Ithmar Capital and Dow Jones Private Equity.The Impact of Private Equity on the GCC report says investment in private companies can contribute to the creation of the 47 million jobs required in the next 10 years.'Private equity can support different b

  • Private Equity: Lost for ideas

    Capital raising for private equity funds in the GCC reached $10,000 million in 2006, according to a joint report published by Dubai-based Ithmar Capital and Dow Jones Private Equity. The figure was almost double the $5,700 million raised the year before.

  • Production to begin at Alam rebar plant

    The local Alam Steel Industries is preparing to begin production at one of the largest plants in the world for cutting and bending steel products, with a capacity of 300,000 tonnes a year.The AED 30 million ($8 million) facility, in Dubai Investments Park, will cover an area of 25,000 square metres and will open on 21 June.It will produce pre-cut and pre-bent steel products for the construction industry using machinery supplied by Germany's Stema Pedax, which can process steel re

  • Qatar Airways to buy 80 Airbus aircraft

    Qatar Airways has signed a memorandum of agreement to buy 80 of Airbus' new A350 aircraft. The deal makes the company the manufacturer's largest customer for the wide-bodied model and the first in the Middle East.The agreement was signed at the Elysée Palace in Paris in the presence of Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, along with the chief executives of the airline and Airbus.

  • Qatar denies poaching

    Qatar Airways has distanced itself from reports it has been seeking to profit from the financial difficulties at Gulf Air by poaching senior staff. The company admits it has held interviews with about 400 Bahrainis in recent weeks but Ali al-Rais, general commercial manager at Qatar Airways, says the Doha-based carrier was merely taking advantage of the availability of young, educated Bahrainis in the labour market.

  • Qatar fund increases stake in Sainsbury's

    Qatar's royal family has spent $1,400 million on an additional seven per cent stake in UK supermarket group J Sainsbury’s to take its overall holding in the retailer to 25 per cent.Delta, the vehicle owned by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), did not reveal its reason for the purchase, which drove J Sainsbury’s shares to a record high on speculation it could face a new takeover approach. The Qatari

  • Qatar Islamic Bank

    Qatar’s first shaira-compliant bank, it focuses on three core business groups: the domestic business group, QIB Capital and International

  • QATAR PETROLEUM: The new gas giant

    Although the country only started to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 1997, Qatar Petroleum's (QP) gas export revenues are set to eclipse its crude oil income by 2010.With the government approving a large increase in QP's capital in 2005, the company has proceeded with a number of projects that should push production to 77 million tonnes a year (t/y) by the end of the decade.In many ways, QP has been lucky, with almost all its reserves in a single offshore structure: the Nor

  • Qatar prepares labour reform law

    Doha says it is preparing a new labour reform law, which will include minimum wages and insurance cover for workers.The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Abdullah al-Mahmoud, said a separate Labour Ministry would be announced after 1 August to examine a number of ongoing issues affecting migrant workers.Mahmoud made his comments after a meeting with Nepalese Minister of State for Labour, Transport and Management Ramesh Lekhak in Doha on 17 June.

  • Qatar to study La Skhira before finalising deal

    Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) is to commission a feasibility study for the planned 150,000-barrel-a-day La Skhira refinery prior to a final project agreement, say sources close to the project. The US' Foster Wheeler is understood to be in line to carry out the three-to-six-month contract.

  • Qatari Diar set to develop industrial zone near Cairo

    Qatar has signed an agreement to develop an industrial zone near Cairo, which is expected to produce goods worth $10,000 million in the next 10 years. The deal follows a similar agreement between Jordan and Egypt.Cairo's Industrial Development Authority and the Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company signed a memorandum of understanding on 29 May for a 9 million-square-metre zone at Borg el-Arab that is expected to attract£E 16,000 million ($2,812 million) worth of foreign direct inve

  • Qtel pursues Wataniya cash

    Telecoms company Qtel could force Kuwait Projects Company (Kipco) to repay a substantial proportion of the $3,700 million it invested in the acquisition of Wataniya Telecom in March.When Qtel bought Wataniya, it included a clause in the deal that would force Kipco to return some money if Wataniya's subsidiary in Iraq proved to be worth less than was expected. A senior industry executive source close to the deal said: 'There are warranties with Kipco, but Qtel is not at that stage yet.'

  • Quartet join forces

    Four Abu Dhabi-based companies have established a AED 500 million ($136 million) joint venture company to develop projects in Abu Dhabi and across the region. The partners in Inshaa Properties are First Gulf Bank (FGB), Aldar Properties, Sorouh Real Estate and Reem Investments. FGB holds a 40 per cent stake, and the three developers will hold 20 per cent each.

  • Quartet meet to discuss Middle East post for Blair

    Envoys of the US, EU, UN and Russia met in Jerusalem today to consider naming UK Prime Minister Tony Blair for a top peacemaking post, according to diplomats. Blair, who is leaving his post as Prime Minister on 27 June, would be charged with leading efforts in support of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.The job has been vacant since James Wolfensohn, the former chief of the World Bank, left the post in April 2006. Blair w

  • Questions of diplomacy

    Just two months ago, Saudi Arabia was being lauded for its efforts to bring about a lasting peace settlement in Palestine by prompting concessions from Arab states that could serve as the basis of talks to end the dispute between Israel and Palestinians. Now, with the Palestinian unity government collapsed amid a bitter internal power struggle, Saudi Arabia's dramatic return to regional diplomacy is looking increasingly ill-fated. Events in Palestine will also call into question King Abdullah's

  • Rabat and Beijing seek closer ties

    Morocco could become a production and export platform for China in the Mediterranean, Prime Minster Driss Jettou said on 5 June.Jettou said he would 'establish partnerships in many fields, mainly in the industrial sector' during a five-day visit by a Chinese delegation to the kingdom. The prime minister said that Rabat's existing trade agreements, including a free trade deals with the US and a partnership agreement with the EU, made the kingdom the perfect l

  • Rail office changes status

    The local state railways authority Office National de Chemins de Fer (ONCF) will become a limited company in January 2008. The move will help it finance planned extensions to its 1,907-kilometre long network. ONCF aims to increase the number of passengers using its trains to 30 million a year by 2010.

  • Raith wins well work

    The local Raith Engineering & Manufacturing Company has been awarded the $20.8 million contract to provide well completion, equipment and associated services for Kuwait Oil Company. The firm was low bidder for the work when bids were submitted earlier in the year (MEED 9:2:07).

  • RAK loses its chief - again

    RAK Airways has lost its second chief executive officer in four months, just days after the launch of the airline's maiden flight.Kishu Teckchandani has departed the Ras al-Khaimah-based carrier only weeks into the job and three days after the company began charter flights to Turkey after months of delays. Previous chief executive, Jack Romero left the company in February after persistent setbacks to the airline's launch.The company declined to give details about Teckchandani's d

  • Rakeen plans free zone

    Local real estate developer Rakeen plans to build a new financial district in Ras al-Khaimah. Known as Ras al-Khaimah Financial City, the development will have 12 towers and will be the base for RAK Investment Authority's RAK Offshore Free Zone initiative. New York's Hey Detina is the architect. Rakeen's other projects include RAK Gateway and Al-Marjan island (MEED 25:5:07).

  • Ras Issa loan moves ahead

    Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) has been appointed as the mandated lead arranger and sole underwriter on a $180 million International Finance Corporation (IFC) loan for the grassroots Ras Issa refinery on the Red Sea.

  • Ras Laffan extends tender

    The bid deadline has been extended by a month to the end of July for the developer contract on the Ras Laffan C independent water and power project (IWPP). Four developer groups are understood to be preparing proposals for the concession, which covers the development of an IWPP with 2,600 MW of electricity generating capacity and 55 million gallons a day of drinking water capacity. (MEED 25:5:07).

  • Ras Laffan project takes next step

    A world-scale petrochemicals complex at Ras Laffan, planned by Qatar Petroleum and the US' ExxonMobil Chemical Company, took an important step forward in late May after tender documents were issued for the project co-ordination and construction services (PCS) package.Three international firms - Australia's WorleyParsons, and Foster Wheeler and Fluor Corporation, both of the US - have been invited to submit bids by mid-July for the contract, which is due to be awarded in the third quarter

  • Ras Tanura upgrade to include a power element

    The giant Ras Tanura refinery upgrade and integrated petrochemicals complex will contain a power element, according to its project director.

  • RAS TANURA: A giant in the making

    The development of the Ras Tanura refinery and integrated petrochemicals complex is set to break all records. In fact, with an estimated cost of $22,000 million-26,000 million, even its co-sponsors cannot put an exact price on it.

  • Rate cut threat causes alarm

    President Ahmadinejad caused something approaching panic in an already stretched Iranian banking sector when, on 25 May, he demanded a cut in interest rates to 12 per cent. The move was aimed at generating employment, but could increase inflation and hit banks hard.

  • Realty plans Dubai tower

    The local Realty Capital is to build an office tower in the third phase of Dubai technology, e-Commerce & Media Free Zone (Tecom). Known as i-Rise, the 37-storey tower will have a built-up area of about 100,000 square metres. Completion is scheduled for late 2009. Lebanon's Khatib & Alami is the consultant. Bahrain-based Projacs International is the project manager.

  • Rebuilding a nation

    After all the anticipation, the eventual exchange between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Manouchehr Mottaki at the Iraq neighbours conference in early May was limited to a single sentence of greeting apiece.

  • REGIONAL PIPELINES: An alternative route

    Every day, between 20 and 30 oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea channel that separates Iran from the UAE and Oman at the mouth of the Gulf. The tankers account for about 88 per cent of all petroleum exported from the Gulf - about 20 per cent of the world's total oil supply.

  • Reluctant reformerreformer

    Qatar's influential foreign minister stepped up to take the prime minister's mantle in early April with the minimum of fuss.

  • Renewed bribery claims over defence contract

    The UK's BAe Systems is facing renewed allegations it made secret payments of more than£1,000 million ($1,981 million) to Saudi officials in connection with the massive Al Yamamah defence contract.The BBC claims that the British aerospace and defence group channelled£30 million ($59.4 million) every three months to the former Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan for more than a decade, via a US bank account.It says the payments were made

  • RESERVES: An unconventional strategy

    The depths of Saudi Arabia's oil reserves are these days rarely called into question, much to the annoyance of peak oil theorists. However, demand is increasing fast and national oil company Saudi Aramco has a production target of 12 million barrels a day (b/d) to reach by the end of 2009. With the era of easy-to-extract oil subsiding, Aramco has recognised that a greater chunk of production will have to be drawn from harder-to-access fields. So, along with its massive programme of conventional

  • RESERVES: Figures in disputein dispute

    Cairo's rapid rise in the world gas market is impressive, and today it is a significant player. In the past few years, it has transformed itself from a country in the twilight of its years as an oil producer to the world's sixth largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. BP's 2006 review of world energy puts Egypt's reserves at 66.7 trillion cubic feet (tcf), ranking it 18th worldwide.The government's own figures highlight the rapid rise of Egypt as a gas province. Official figures for p

  • Revenue-sharing agreement for Iraq's oil

    A fund will be established through the Central Bank of Iraq for all oil revenue.An international accounting company will be appointed to audit the fund.After deducting federal government expenses, oil and gas revenues will be divided up among the country's regions and governorates.The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will take 17 per cent of the net revenue, with the balance to be divided across the rest of the country.The KRG will have accounts at the cent

  • River authority considers bids for pump stations

    The Great Man-made River Authority (GMRA) is evaluating bids from five comapnies for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build three pump stations on the third phase of the great man-made river project.

  • Riyadh arrests terrorist suspects

    Three suspected Al-Qaeda militants have been arrested in the kingdom as part of a government crackdown on terrorism.The trio were involved in publishing 'misleading media that seeks to spread deviant ideology,' according to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry. The ministry named two of the men, both Saudi nationals, as Abu Osaid Al Falluji and Abu Abdullah Al Najdi.In a statement the ministry said Falluji was involved in: 'Preparing te

  • Riyadh fails to curb telephone calls over the net

    Efforts to curb internet telephony in the kingdom appear to be failing, with almost a quarter of all international calls made over the internet.Saudi Arabia is the biggest market in the region for internet telephony, known as voice over internet protocol, according to a survey by Arab Advisors Group.About 24.6 per cent of international calls being made in the kingdom are over the internet, despite the technology being illegal. The large expatriate population is the main user of t

  • Sabic to keep credit rating after $28bn debt raising

    Saudi Basic Industries Corporation's (Sabic) plans to issue $28,000 million worth of debt over the next three-to-five years, but the move is unlikely to significantly affect the company's credit ratings, according to agency sources.

  • Safari underbids Binladin in Jeddah airport retender

    Saudi Binladin Group is set to miss out on the latest contract to renovate King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah after aviation authorities insisted the award be re-tendered.Safari Group is now the lowest bidder on the contract to build new concrete load centres at the airport - part of the Rush programme to overhaul the north and south terminals.Binladin Group was the only remaining bidder for the contract after three other original bidders dropped out. Almabani General Contractors a

  • Saipem scoops $1bn Hassi Messaoud job

    Italy's Saipem has won the Eur 950 million ($1,277 million) contract to build a crude oil treatment and stabilisation plant at Hassi Messaoud, the country's largest oilfield.State energy company Sonatrach awarded the contract on 31 May to a consortium of Saipem and Lead Contracting. The only other bidder was UAE-based Petrofac.The 37-month engineering, procurement and construction contract calls for three trains, each with capacity of 100,000 barrels a day o

  • Sakhir tendering begins

    The Works & Housing Ministry has invited companies to prequalify for an exhibition fit-out contract at the Bahrain Monument at Sakhir. The works involve fabrication and installation of a permanent museum exhibition which includes audio and visual equipment, and sculptural glass and steel. US-based Ralph Appelbaum Associates is the designer (see Tenders, page 52).

  • Salalah in venture with US

    The local Salalah Medical Supplies Manufacturing Company has formed a joint venture with US-based Ascent Capital Management to manufacture medical equipment in the sultanate. The production lines will be operational early next year and will include guide wire products and surgical kits.

  • Salam junctions go to Nurol

    Turkey's Nurol has been awarded the estimated AED 620 million ($169 million) contract to upgrade two junctions on Salam street in Abu Dhabi.The 900-day contract involves the construction of two interchanges on Salam street. The first, at the intersection of Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed street, will involve two bridges and a tunnel; the other, in front of the sea palace, will include two tunnels.The consultant is De Leuw Cather International, part of US-based Parsons International. Abu

  • Sama sets up firms to deliver projects

    Local developer Sama Dubai has established two new companies to deliver its projects in Dubai and the GCC. It is the latest sign that developers are struggling to attract independent contractors in what is a highly competitive market.In 2006, Sama received limited interest in a series of infrastructure tenders that threatened to delay its Lagoons project in the Ras al-Khor area.The new Sama Contracting will act as the prime contractor for all its projects in Dubai. The second com

  • Samsung to build Ruwais olefins unit

    South Korea's Samsung Engineering Company won its third major engineering, procurement and construction contract in as many weeks on 12 June when it received a letter of intent for the contract to build the world's largest olefins conversion unit (OCU) at the Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge) expansion in Ruwais.The $300 million lump-sum turnkey contract covers the construction of an OCU with capacity of more than 750,000 tonnes a year. It will be the region's second OCU.The f

  • Samsung wins $1.4bn in deals

    South Korea's Samsung Engineering Company won two major engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts in the space of a week in late May, totalling more than $1,400 million.The larger of the two contracts, worth almost $1,000 million, covers the construction of the world's largest ammonia plant for Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) at its Ras al-Zour fertiliser complex.The lump-sum contract covers the construction of an ammonia unit with capacity of 3,300 tonnes a

  • SAUDI ARAMCO: Investing in expansion

    Saudi Aramco has continued to defy expectations. Over the past few years, it has unleashed its largest ever string of upstream and downstream investment plans in an effort to meet increasing world demand.

  • Saudi Electric wins long-term credit rating

    Standard & Poor's (S&P) has assigned an A+ local and foreign currency long-term corporate credit rating to Saudi Electric Company (SEC). The rating comes as SEC plans an estimated SR 190,000 million ($50,663 million) 10-year capital expenditure programme.

  • Saudi inflation falls for first time in 2007

    Inflation in Saudi Arabia has dropped for the first time in nine months, falling to 2.86 per cent at the end of March.The decrease means inflation is presently below the level recorded at the end of December of 2.9 per cent, and below the recent peak of 3 per cent at the end of February.Inflation has been on a steady upward trend for more than a year as high oil prices boost money supply in the economy. The latest figures from the central bank also show mone

  • Saudi Kayan to complete financing in June

    The $6,000 million Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company debt financing is expected to be completed by mid-June, according to senior banking sources.The tenor of the debt will be 15 years and will include an Islamic tranche, the size of which is yet to be decided. The deal is in the documentation phase and is set to go to market soon, when allocations and spreads will be decided, although the state's Public Investment Fund will take on $1,000 million of the debt.A source close to the

  • Saudi Telecom secures first international expansion

    Saudi Telecom has invested outside Saudi Arabia for the first time by spending $3,050 million on a 25 per cent stake in Malaysia's largest mobile phone operator Maxis.The kingdom's incumbent telecoms company is the junior investor in a $12,200 million takeover of Maxis by its largest shareholder Malaysia's Binariang GSM.Under the deal, Saudi Telecom will also get 51 per cent of Maxis's Indonesian subsidiary NTC, giving the Saudis operational control of a mob

  • Security boost at airports

    UAE airports are gearing up for new security measures limiting the quantity of liquids carried on flights in hand luggage. From 30 June, passengers will only be allowed to carry liquids in 100-millilitre containers in re-sealable plastic bags. The new code was first introduced in the UK following a security scare in August last year and has been spreading worldwide.

  • Seven militants surrender in Lebanon

    A senior member of the Palestinian Fatah party in Lebanon has said that seven militants engaged in fighting the Lebanese army in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp have now surrendered. The Fatah al-Islam militants gave up their weapons on 4 and 5 June.'We can confirm that men from Fatah al-Islam turned themselves in and handed over their weapons,' said the Fatah member, Khaled Aref. The fighting in the camp has left more than 100 people dead. The

  • Seven win taxi franchises

    Seven UAE-based companies have been awarded the franchise to manage and operate Abu Dhabi's new taxi network. Tawasul Transport, Cars Taxi, Al-Ghazal Transport, National Taxi, Emirates National Group and a joint venture of Arabia Taxi and Al-Masaood Q-Link were appointed following a tender issue last year. Each franchise company will launch a fleet of 1,020 vehicles in phases over five years. The first taxis will apear later this year.

  • Shalit message goes online

    An audio recording allegedly of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped by Palestinian militants a year ago, has been posted on the website of Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.The group's television station also aired footage of an Israeli soldier being captured by two men dressed in Israeli uniforms.The man is heard speaking Hebrew in the audio message as he calls on Israel to meet the demands of his kidnappers.

  • Sharia bank to open investment arm in Indonesia

    Kuwait Finance House (KFH) is expanding further into South-East Asia. The sharia-compliant bank plans to establish a subsidiary in Indonesia and will launch an asset management company in Singapore by the end of the year.The Singapore subsidiary will undertake private equity, infrastructure and real estate investments and structure funds targeted at GCC investors. It will be managed by the bank in Malaysia.'The Kuwait market is small. There is a lot of liquidity that can't be inv

  • Shaw joins with Sofcon

    The US' Shaw Group and Saudi Arabia's Sofcon Consulting Engineering Company have formed a joint venture company to be known as Shaw Sofcon. The new business will provide technology and engineering, procurement and construction services, initially in Saudi Arabia and then throughout the region. Shaw Group's most recent project win in the region was its selection for the cracker contract on the Jubail petrochemicals complex planned by Ineos Enterprises and Delta Oil Company (MEED 16:2:07).

  • Shell rethinks Marsa el-Brega

    UK/Dutch Shell Group is considering plans to combine the two phases of its $500 million project to upgrade the Marsa el-Brega liquified natural gas (LNG) plant. The move is to accommodate the concerns of contractors, say senior industry sources in Tripoli.The changes are understood to be designed to reduce contractor risk during the construction phase. Industry sources say that they may involve combining the estimated $150 million phase 1 modernisation of the LNG plant with the estimate

  • Siemens bids low for substation

    Germany's Siemens is low bidder at SR 340 million ($91 million) for the contract to build the 380-kV substation covering the PP9 power station expansion in Riyadh.

  • Siemens takes Tebbine

    Germany's Siemens has been awarded the£E 145 million ($26 million) contract to build a substation at El-Tebbine (MEED 23:3:07). Siemens is also bidding for the contract to build a gas-insulated switchgear substation at Bahteem. Other bidders include Germany's ABB, France's Areva and the local Egemac. Companies have until 18 June to submit offers.

  • Siemens wins substation

    First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting and the local Bayan National Trading Company are low bidders for two contracts, totalling nearly $200 million, to build water storage tanks in the state. Bayan is low bidder at KD 33.9 million ($117 million) for the larger of the two contracts covering tank work at Mina Abdulla.

  • Singapore initiative leads to joint ventures

    Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Company and Aldar Properties have entered into joint venture partnerships with Singapore-based companies to develop projects in Abu Dhabi. The agreements follow the establishment of a business forum to promote investment co-operation between the two cities.Mubadala and Singapore's CapitaLand have formed a $300 million joint venture company to develop residential, retail, sports and leisure buildings on the land surrounding the existing Zayed Sports Ci

  • Smidth to build cement plant

    Denmark's FL Smidth has been awarded the estimated QR 810 million ($223 million) contract by the local Gulf Cement Company to build a new cement plant in the Umm Bab industrial area.The contract calls for the supply of all machinery and equipment for the plant which will produce 5,000 tonnes a day (t/d) of cement. Capacity will be about 10,000 t/d of Portland cement and derivatives.Gulf Cement has also awarded India's Simplex Infrastructure a QR 542 million ($149 million) contrac

  • SNC Lavalin wins carbon capture and storage study

    Canada's SNC Lavalin has won the contract to conduct a feasibility study for the multi-billion-dollar carbon capture and storage programme planned by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Adfec) under the Masdar initiative.

  • Sonatrach buys LNG carrier

    Algerian state energy company Sonatrach has moved a step closer to achieving its long-term hydrocarbons shipping targets after acquiring a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier.The company bought the vessel, known as Medmax I, or Cheikh el-Mokrani, in a joint venture partnership with three other companies: Itochu Corporation and Mitsui & Company, both of Japan, and Sonatrach shipping subsidiary Hyproc. Each firm will hold a 25 per cent stake.The carrier, b

  • Sonatrach extends Arzew bid deadline

    State energy company Sonatrach is set to extend the deadline until the end of June for commercial bids on the estimated $700 million greenfield methanol plant at Arzew. The extension is being granted to give the six prequalified bidders more time to prepare their bids, say sources close to the project (MEED 13:4:07).Commercial bids were originally due in July 2006, but were delayed to enable feasibility studies to be carried out (see Special Report).The deadline had also been pos

  • Sonatrach issues tenders

    State energy company Sonatrach has issued tenders for the contract to carry out front-end engineering and design studies for an estimated $200 million-250 million crude oil processing project on the Rhourde Nouss field. Interested companies have until October to submit technical bids for the contract. The scheme involves the revamp of crude processing units as well as the addition of new facilities. The Rhourde Nouss field is the country's second-largest gas producer and has estimated reserves o

  • Sonelgaz awards plant deals

    State energy company Sonelgaz has awarded the US' General Electric (GE) the contracts to build gas-fired power plants with two 35-MW turbines each at Annaba and Port Alger. A consortium of Germany's Siemens and France's Entrepose also submitted bids.

  • SONOTRACH: State of confusion

    Sonatrach has had a momentous year. Hydrocarbons production rose to 174 million tonnes of oil equivalent (TEP), from 153 million TEP in 2002, a record-equalling 17 discoveries were made, and exploration and development drilling surpassed 750,000 metres. Partnerships with international oil companies delivered 37 per cent of the country's total production.

  • Sorouh invites Reem Island bids

    Local developer Sorouh Real Estate has invited 10 companies to bid for the roads and utilities package for the Shams Abu Dhabi development on Reem Island.They are: Admac, Admak General Contracting Company, Al Geemi & Partners Contracting Company, Al Harbi Emirates Company, Al Jaber Group, Bin Hafeez General Contracting Transport Establishment, National Projects & Construction, all local, Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries, Greece's Terna, and Italy's Todini Construction.The

  • Sounding a death knell for reform

    Four years ago in Tehran, in March 2003, the promise of reform was still in the air. People were voicing opinions in public and in the press they could not have imagined revealing a few years earlier.

  • South Asia in line for polyester deal

    Negotiations are under way between India's South Asian Petrochemicals and state-owned Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (Echem) on the formation of a joint venture company for the estimated $100 million project to build a polyester plant at Damietta.

  • Spanish aid fund provides loan for wind farm

    Spain's Development Aid Fund has agreed to provide a Eur 135 million ($182 million) loan to build a wind farm in Tangier.The 140-MW farm will consist of 165 wind turbines, each with capacity of 850 kW.Gamesa of Spain was awarded the contract to build the wind farm in February.Civil works have started and the project will take two years to complete.Germany's Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) has contributed Eur 50 million ($60 million) to the project and a l

  • State changes weekend

    The Council of Ministers has announced that the official weekend in Kuwait will now be Fridays and Saturdays, joining the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain in aligning the two-day break with the Saturday/Sunday weekend in most other parts of the world. From September all schools, ministries, government departments and companies will adhere to the new rule, which is aimed at increasing the amount of time firms in Kuwait can do business with other parts of the world.The

  • State completes Sur financing

    Financing for the Sur desalination plant, which has the longest tenor of any project finance in Oman, has been completed.The 22-year financing has been arranged by Societe Generale and Royal Bank of Scotland, with the French investment bank also acting as financial adviser.In total, $173 million has been arranged, including $155 million worth of senior debt, a cost overrun facility of $15 million, and a working capital facility of $3 million.Previously, the longest tenor

  • Steg plans combined-cycle electricity plant in Bizerte

    Societe Tunisienne de l'Electricite & du Gaz (Steg) is planning a 400-MW combined-cycle power plant at Bizerte, in the northeast. Tenders will be launched by the beginning of 2008 and the plant is due to be commissioned in 2012.

  • Steg studies power export

    The local Societe Tunisienne de l'Electricite & du Gaz (Steg) and Italian state power company Gestore della Rete de Trasmissione Nazionale are carrying out feasibility studies on a subsea cable to export 800 MW of power to Italy. It is due to be completed by the end of June. Energy Minister Abdelaziz Rassaa says a meeting between Tunis and Rome will then decide on the next phase. The cable will export power from the planned 1,200-MW plant at El-Haouaria (MEED 13:10:06).

  • Stehwaz to list shares

    Stehwaz Holding, an Islamic investment firm, is considering listing shares in London or Dubai, ahead of listing them on the Kuwaiti bourse, according to Dherar al-Rabahhe, its chief executive officer. The business has a share capital of $250 million. Stehwaz is also rumoured to be bidding up to $385 million for a stake in Al Madar Finance & Investment Company which is currently held by Kuwait's Investment Dar.

  • Stock exchange board holds talks with Kurdistan

    The board of the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) is in discussions with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) about establishing a stock exchange in northern Iraq.The two held meetings in Irbil in early June involving private sector representatives. The ISX expects to receive a decision from the KRG in two months.'We would like to have a trading hall in the Kurdish area connected to the ISX,' says Taha Abdulsalam, chief executive officer at ISX. 'But if they want a new market, we wil

  • STOCK MARKET: Bringing business back to the market

    The Saudi bourse entered an unusual phase in early summer. With investor anticipation levels whetted by the looming float of a chunk of Kingdom Holdings, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's diversified holding company. The market appeared transfixed.

  • Sustainable development

    It is probably the most asked question in Dubai: when will the property market crash? For the past three years, the question has been ubiquitous, from boardrooms and dinner parties, to radio talk shows and coffee shops. The answers range from boundless optimism to cynical pessimism.

  • Syrian Pearl moves ahead

    Syrian Air has signed a memorandum of understanding with two companies to set up its new airline, Syrian Pearl, which is due to launch this year. Syria's national carrier will hold 25 per cent of the new company with the remaining 75 per cent shared between the local private equity group Cham Holding and the Kuwait-based Al-Aqeelah Finance & Investment Company.

  • Tabreed signs with Aldar

    The local National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) has signed two agreements with local developer Aldar Properties to provide cooling services for Al-Raha beach and Yas island. The two agreements will result in A&T Cool, Tabreed's joint venture with Aldar, providing a total of 1 million tonnes of refrigeration from cooling plants on Yas island and Al-Raha (MEED 23:3:07).

  • Tadawul falls as investors prepare for Kingdom IPO

    The Saudi stock exchange (Tadawul) fell by more than 2 per cent in the last week of May as investors held back for the flotation by Kingdom Holdings, expected to occur before the end of June (MEED 25:507).Bryan D'Aguiar, head of research at Securities & Investment Company, says: 'Kingdom will be a monster initial public offering [IPO] in terms of size and typically you find in the Saudi markets that investors build up a pool of liquidity ahead of such a significant flotation.'The

  • Takreer invites bids for green diesel project

    Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer) has issued invitation to bid documents for the main package on its green diesel project at Ruwais.

  • Takreer looks at bids for Ruwais cooling system

    Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer) has received technical bids for the contract to expand the seawater cooling system at Ruwais.

  • Tameer awards Elite Residence tower contract

    The local/Lebanese Arabian Construction Company (ACC) has been awarded the estimated AED 605 million ($165 million) main construction contract on the Elite Residence tower project at Dubai Marina.

  • Tameer signs Tripoli deal

    The UAE's Tameer Holding has signed an agreement with the US' Monitor Group to carry out market research and financial and analytical studies for its Madinat al-Hana project. The $20,000 million project, located 25 kilometres from Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast, will include residential, commercial and tourism facilities. Madinat al-Hana is being developed by Tatweer Property, a joint venture of Tameer and the local Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.

  • Taqa purchases Northrock

    The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) has acquired Canadian oil firm Northrock Resources in a cash deal worth $2,000 million.The purchase gives Taqa a foothold in the Canadian upstream sector, with an average production of 37,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day and 142 million barrels of proven reserves.'Canada is a good investment-grade country, while Northrock has a proven management team with long-term assets,' says Peter Barker-Homek, chief executive officer of Taqa. '

  • Taqa sukuk to list on Dubai and London stock exchange

    Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) will list the first sukuk issued under its $9,000 sharia-compliant bond programme on the Dubai International Financial Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.

  • Technip enters talks with Shell

    Paris-based Technip has entered negotiations with the UK/Dutch Shell Group for a contract to provide technical assistance on the phase 1 scheme to upgrade the Marsa el-Brega liquefied natural gas plant. The move is understood to be part of Shell's plans to revise its strategy on the implementation of the scheme (MEED 8:6:07).

  • Tehran holds 4th US citizen

    Iran says it is holding a fourth Iranian-American on security-related charges, according to the Iranian Students News Agency on 8 June.Ali Shakeri of California is the fourth dual Iranian-American citizen detained in recent months. He is being investigated by the security department of the Tehran prosecutor's office.Shakeri is a founding board member of the University of California's Center for Citizen Peacebuilding. He was supposed to have left Iran on 13 M

  • Tehran insists Iraq talks should be linked to nuclear issue

    Iranian senior nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani has said that talks between the US and Iran on the future of Iraq cannot be separated from the issue of Iran's nuclear programme.Larijani is due to meet European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on 31 May to discuss Iran's nuclear programme. It comes after Iranian diplomats meet US officials on 28 May for talks on the security situation in Iraq.'We have said the nuclear issue and the Iraq talks are two d

  • Tehran lines up Sonatrach via Pars 12 fund

    Iran is in talks with Algeria's state energy company, Sonatrach, to use a proposed investment fund based outside the republic to encourage development of the hamstrung phase 12 of its South Pars gas field.A project director at the state-run Petropars, the lead contractor for the project, says it has begun talks with Sonatrach, which he says is interested provided the investment does not contravene current sanctions on Iran.The client, Pars Oil & Gas Company, the subsidiary od Nat

  • Tehran plans bank sell-off

    Iran plans to sell shares in some state banks on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) in the next few months, according to Economy & Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari.

  • Tehran prepares telecoms sector for privatisation

    Tehran is to begin selling off the country's state-run telecommunications companies as it accelerates its privatisation programme.Restructuring of the telecommunications sector is under way in preparation for the sell-off, with the government establishing supervisory bodies for data, landline and wireless services with state run companies being unbundled into autonomous business units. The process is expected to be completed by March 2008.Local press reported in early June that s

  • Tehran reacts positively to further Iraqi talks

    Tehran has said it will take a positive view of Iraqi proposals for a fresh round of talks with the US. 'Iraqi officials have proposed this', said Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki 'We will review it with positive point of view after America's response to the proposal.' Iraq's President Jalal Talabani arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders on 26 June. Talks between Washington and Tehran over Iraqi security were last held, at

  • Tehran threatens to use oil as weapon

    Tehran said on 19 June that it would not rule out using oil as a weapon if Washington resorts to military action against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme, an Iranian oil official said in remarks published in the local Sharq newspaper.'When the Americans say that military action in regard to the nuclear issue has not been put aside, Iran can also say that it will not put aside oil as a tool,' Iran's OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, told the newspape

  • Tehran warns against further UN sanctions

    Iran has warned the UN Security Council against imposing further sanctions on it over its nuclear programme.Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told journalists in Tehran:'We advise them not to play with a lion's tail. Iran's [nuclear] move has passed the point where they [western countries] could stop it.'The warning came as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani met with Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on 5 June in

  • Tekfen takes second phase of North road development

    Turkey's Tekfen has been awarded the estimated QR 2,081 million ($572 million) contract to build the second phase of the North road scheme. The contract is one of the largest road contracts awarded in the state to date.

  • Telecoms market grows

    Iraq is set to be the fastest growing market for Kuwait-based telecoms operator MTC, according to Saad al-Barrak, chief executive. 'Iraq has challenging conditions, but it is the most promising opportunity in the Gulf during the next five to seven years,' he says. 'In Iraq, we do not regret at all investing as much as we did as we look at the long term.'

  • Telecoms to be privatised

    Lebanon is preparing to privatise its fixed-line telecoms assets and issue mobile phone licences four years after it first promised to overhaul its telecoms sector.

  • Third licence auction breaks up mobile phone duopoly

    Kuwait will auction a third mobile phone licence in September, breaking the duopoly that MTC and Wataniya share in the country.

  • Tiaret refinery feasibility studies set for approval

    Feasibility studies for a 300,000-barrel-a-day refinery at Tiaret are set for final approval in the summer, according to sources close to the project.The studies, which include a proposed configuration for the new facility, were submitted by a consortium of HSBC and the UK office of the US' Jacobs Consultancy in late 2006.Their approval has been delayed by rounds of questions from the client, state energy company Sonatrach.Once the studies are approved, Sonatrach is expec

  • Tihama seeks finance

    Calyon and Banque Saudi Fransi have been appointed as lead arrangers on the $550 million Tihama power refinancing. They are now seeking interest from local institutions wanting to join the syndicate. Tihama is thought to want to use only Saudi banks due to the nature of the project, which will see ownership of the plant transfering to Saudi Aramco at the end of the term.

  • Tildamarine takes Al-Fajer

    Malaysia's Tidalmarine Engineering has been awarded the estimated AED 600 million ($164 million) dredging and reclamation contract for the Mina al-Fajer development in Fujairah emirate. When completed in 2009, the development will have a marina, 61 villas, 80 apartments, and a 200-room hotel that will be operated by the US-based Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. Lebanon's Erga Group is the consultant. The local Mina al-Fajer is the client.

  • Toro begins work on uranium study

    Australia's Toro Energy has started work on a study that it says could result in the discovery of the most promising source of uranium in the Middle East. Following the study, the company hopes to develop at least one uranium mine in the kingdom.

  • Total renews consultancy deal

    France's Total has renewed its technical services agreement with state upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) for a further two years.

  • Total to triumph in Block B dispute

    The National Petroleum Commission (NPC) is set to uphold the rights of France's Total to explore acreage in Block B in the south, say industry sources. Possible reserve estimates on the frontier field, which at 118,000 square kilometres is three-quarters the size of Tunisia, have been as high as 6,000 million barrels of oil.

  • Tripoli commissions study for petrochemicals plant

    State-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) has commissioned a team of South Korea's LG Chem and the UK office of the US' Jacobs Consultancy to examine the feasibility of a major new petrochemicals facility at Melitah.The consortium will advise Tripoli on the most effective way to exploit its hydrocarbons, in particular its gas assets. 'At this stage we are just looking at possibilities,' says a senior source at NOC.'We do not know whether we will be going ahead with a project.'

  • Tripoli gives UK access to suspected killer of police officer

    Libya has allowed British detectives to interview the suspected murderer of Yvonne Fletcher for the first time in another step towards political reconciliation with the UK.Fletcher, a British policewoman, was shot dead while policing an anti-Gaddafi demonstration outside the Libyan embassy in London's St James's Square in 1984.The British government suspended relations with Libya when Revolutionary Leader Muammar Gaddafi failed to co-operate in the search fo

  • Tripoli shortlists five firms for $1.35bn airport work

    The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has prequalified five international companies for construction packages on its $1,350 million project to build a new international airport at Tripoli.

  • Tripoli to rethink Ras Lanuf

    Tripoli's plans for a major upgrade of the Ras Lanuf refinery, expected to cost about $2,000 million, may be significantly scaled down.

  • Turkish troops gather on Iraqi border

  • Twelve die in cyclone

    Government officials confirmed that 12 people were killed when Cyclone Gonu struck the Omani coast this week.The storm was the strongest to hit the Gulf in decades, closing the sultanate's oil and gas export facilities, ports and airports, interrupting electricity and water supplies, and damaging buildings.About 20,000 people were evacuated from islands and coastal areas, and police warned people in Muscat to stay indoors during the storm.The

  • Two compete for Bab work

    Two groups are competing for an estimated $300 million deal to install new gas compressors at the Bab field.

  • UAE admits single currency could be delayed

    The governor of the Central Bank of the UAE says the GCC single currency could be delayed beyond the official 2010 deadline.Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi also says he sees no need to change the dirham's peg to the US dollar. 'At this point it does not make sense to change the peg,' he says.Suweidi says the path to monetary union would be in three stages, and hopes the first two would be achieved by 2010. He says: 'If we achieve the first two stages of monetary un

  • UAE and Qatar co-invest

    The UAE and Qatar have signed an agreement to establish a $1,000 million investment company. The joint venture will acquire real estate and stakes in companies among other activities.

  • UAE COMPANIES LAW: Lowering barriers

    Local investors' hold over business ownership in the UAE is being relaxed under revised rules contained in the country's long-awaited companies law.Economy & Planning Minister Shaikha Lubna bint Khaled al-Qassimi said in early June that the draft law will be presented to the cabinet by the end of the summer and will include provisions for 100 per cent foreign ownership of businesses in some service sectors.Currently, local business owners are shielded from foreign competition by

  • Uhde to build Arzew fertiliser plant

    Sorfert Algerie, a joint venture between Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries and state-owned energy company Sonatrach has signed an agreement with Germany's Uhde to design, develop and construct a fertiliser complex at Arzew. The estimated cost of the project is Eur 1,170 million ($1,575 million) plus $160 million. It will consist of an ammonia/urea production unit of 1.1 million tonnes a year (t/y) and a second ammonia production unit with a capacity of 0.77 million t

  • UK and Japanese firms set for Fujairah 2 award

    The UK/Japanese group of International Power (IP) and Marubeni Corporation has been declared the first-ranked bidder on the Fujairah 2 independent water and power project (IWPP).The decision by Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (Adwea) paves the way for the project's power and water purchase agreement to be signed in mid-July.The IP/Marubeni group was the frontrunner to act as foreign partner on the IWPP, having offered the most competitive tariff when proposals were submit

  • UK and Libya sign defence deal

    Tripoli and the London signed a defence co-operation agreement on 29 May during a visit by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to the country.The deal was signed by Blair and Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi.'Libya will buy missiles and air defence weapons in addition to [making arrangements for military] training and local manufacturing,' said Al-Mahmoudi. Representatives of a number of UK defence firms, including Bae Systems, are understo

  • UK to launch sukuk

    The UK government looks increasingly likely to issue a sovereign sukuk in 2008, making it the first country outside the Middle East to do so. 'There are about three dozen groups actively lobbying the treasury (finance ministry) to go ahead with this as soon as possible,' says Neil Miller, partner at law firm Norton Rose and a member of the government's Islamic finance advisory panel. The UK launched a feasibility study into issuing a sovereign sukuk in May.

  • UN hoodwinked by Khartoum, say reports

    After months of negotiations, Khartoum has finally accepted a UN peacekeeping force in the war-torn region of Darfur in the east. But analysts are already pointing to what are described as key weaknesses in the accord.Within 48 hours of the agreement being signed on 13 June, it has come under fire from analysts who say that it will be weakened by a compromise allowing for the 20,000-strong force to be commanded by the African Union and for most of the troops to be African.

  • UN report criticises Middle East Quartet

    A UN report written by the organisation's former envoy to the Middle East has heavily criticised the UN, the US, Israel and the Palestinians for failing to make progress on the Middle East peace process.In particular, the report singled out American pressure and subservience to Israel as having 'pummelled into submission' the UN's role as an impartial negotiator in the region.In the confidential report issued just before his resignation, Alvaro de Soto said

  • UN will fund 25,000 troops for Darfur

    The UN announced it will fund a 25,000-strong multinational force to bring order to the Darfur region of southwest Sudan.The Security Council decided to back a force of African Union and UN peacekeepers after Sudanese President Al-Bashir gave into international pressure on 17 June.Al-Bashir said he would allow the force into Darfur during a meeting with South African ambassador Dumisani Kumalo. 'We expect that this will happen within the month,' said Kumalo.

  • Understanding Tehran

    The first lesson to be learnt is that Iranian politics has a terminology all of its own, which does not work in other countries and is often misleading.

  • Upgrade goes to Bemco

    Saudi Aramco has awarded a lump-sum turnkey contract to Jeddah-based Arabian Bemco for the upgrade of wastewater treatment facilities at the Juaymah gas plant. The work, estimated to be worth $47 million, covers a membrane bio-reactor system, oily wastewater system, caustic storage and related facilities. The facilities are expected to take about two years to complete.

  • US companies compete for Ras Tanura contract

    Three US firms - Fluor Corporation, Foster Wheeler and KBR - have submitted bids for the world's largest front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract, covering the massive Ras Tanura refinery upgrade and integrated petrochemicals complex.

  • US does not want war with Iran, says Rice

    US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on 1 June that Washington is open to looking at new ways of encouraging Iran to end its nuclear activities, but denied that military action was an option.Rice was responding to comments made to the media by Mohammed el-Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog.'I have no brief other than to make sure we don't go into another war or that we go crazy into killing each other,'

  • US firm bids low for well work

    The US' TIW Corporation has submitted a low bid of $69.5 million for the contract to provide liner hanger services to state upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).

  • US launches major Iraq offensive

    The US military has led a major ground and air offensive involving 10,000 US and Iraqi troops against militants linked to Al-Qaeda.Early on 19 June the troops began attempts to secure the city of Baquba in Diyala Province, north of Baghdad, which has been the site of some of Iraq's worst violence. The US says 22 militants have been killed so far.Troops were brought into the province by helicopter, along with tanks and armoured vehicles, accompanied by helico

  • Vienna university to manage Al-Ain hospital

    Abu Dhabi's Health Authority and Austria's Medical University of Vienna have signed a partnership agreement covering the management of the central hospital in Al-Ain'Bringing the world's finest healthcare institutions and professionals to the emirate will ensure we are well positioned to meet our evolving healthcare needs,' says Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.The hospital has 425 beds and treats 250,000 patients a year. A new hosp

  • Violence breaks out at Egyptian elections

    Elections for Egypt's upper chamber of parliament were marred by violence as one man was killed in clashes between ruling party supporters and independents in the northern Nile Delta region a few hours after the first round of voting started.Police have named the man killed as Ahmed Abdel Salam Ghanim, a supporter of the independent candidate running in the elections.In Cairo, heavy police security meant voters were unable to get to a polling station, accord

  • Violence in refugee camp threatens to spread

    The two-week battle between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared is threatening to spread into other parts of the country, after clashes were reported in the south.Two Lebanese soldiers and a militiaman were killed in the southern camp of Ain al-Hilwe near Sidon on 4 June. The killings resulted from an attack by militiamen apparently seeking revenge for the killing of one of their leaders at the northern camp, where a 16-da

  • Vodafone and MTC to win Wimax race

    A joint venture of Kuwait's MTC and the UK's Vodafone is set to win the competition to launch the world's first nationwide wireless network.The partnership expects to offer the new network, which uses Wimax technology, to both business and consumer users in the kingdom from September this year.The local Mena Telecom, which won a licence to set up a wireless network at the same time as Vodafone, has said its own Wimax network will launch in the fourth quarter.Once the netw

  • Wade wins bypass work

    The local Wade Adams Contracting has been awarded the AED 289 million ($78 million) contract for the fourth phase of the Dubai bypass. The 16-month contract involves the construction of a highway with three underpasses between the Jebel Ali-Lehbab road and the Dubai/Abu Dhabi border, inland from Emirates road. The road will serve developments including Dubai Industrial City and Dubai World Central, formerly known as Jebel Ali Airport City. The Roads & Transport Authority is the client (MEED 25:5

  • Warning over power cuts

    The Ministry of Electricity & Water announced on 28 May a programme of planned power shutdowns to last three months from June as demand for electricity exceeds supply.The blackouts will last for an hour during the early afternoon peak demand period. Electricity & Water Minister Mohammed al-Olaim said that peak consumption will hit 9,500 MW, almost 1,000 MW more than the state's total generating capacity. The planned power cuts were inevitable as the governme

  • Wataniya forfeits Asiacell network

    A group of Kurdish businessmen has taken over the Asiacell mobile phone business run by Kuwait's Wataniya Telecom.

  • Water agreement signed

    Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has signed an agreement with Qatar Electricity & Water Company to buy 45 million gallons a day of desalinated water for 25 years. Supplies will start entering the Kahramaa network in April 2009, with full capacity expected by summer when the Ras Abu Fontas A-1 station extension project reaches completion. Italy's Fisia Italimpianti has the engineering, procurement and construction contract (MEED 6:10:06).

  • Wealth growth continues

    The rate of growth of wealth belonging to millionaires in the region is slowing but still growing faster than the global average, according to research by Merrill Lynch International. The bank estimates that the wealth of high net worth individuals in the region will grow annually by 8 per cent to 2010, down from almost 20 per cent growth from 2004-2005.

  • Western Sahara talks fail

    Talks aimed at resolving the dispute between Morocco and the Polisario Front over the Western Sahara ended on 20 June, having failed to produce a significant outcome. The UN-brokered talks were held in New York and lasted for two days. It was the first time in seven years that the two parties had held direct talks. In April, Morocco proposed a plan which would give the Polisario autonomy over the disputed territory, while the Polisario proposed a referendum

  • Western Sahara talks under way

    Talks began in Long Island in the US on 18 June to try to resolve the dispute over the status of the Western Sahara region of Africa that has been deadlocked for more than 30 years. The talks are sponsored by the UN.It is the first time in the history of the dispute that the two sides - the kingdom of Morocco and the Laayoune-based Polisario Front - have had face-to-face talks.Rabat claims sovereignty over the region was ceded to the kingdom following the de

  • WorleyParsons to provide consultancy for Mostorod

    Australia's WorleyParsons has been awarded the project management consultancy contract for a planned $1,500-2,000 million refinery project in Mostorod, an industrial area 10 kilometres north of Cairo.Local investment house Citadel Capital was granted approval to set up a new refining company in late 2006 by the General Authority for Investment & Free Zones.A consortium of investors led by Citadel will take an 85 per cent stake in the company, with the balance held by state oil co

  • Yamamah revelations can usher in a new era for the Middle East

    After years of allegations, missing facts about the UK's Yamamah deal with Saudi Arabia, originally signed in 1985, seem at last to be in the public domain.

  • Yamasaki designs HQ

    International Bank of Qatar has appointed US-based Yamasaki as the design consultant for a new headquarters building in the West Bay area of Doha. The brief involves the design of an iconic and prestigious high-rise tower that will be a distinctive landmark in the area.

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