The total value of major projects planned or under way in the Gulf fell to $2.928 trillion in the week to 1 September.

The figure represents a drop in MEED’s Gulf Projects Index of about 0.1 per cent from the previous week’s figure of $2.931 trillion. During the same period, the GCC market remained almost flat at $2.29 trillion. Compared with 2009, the Gulf index is now down 11.7 per cent and the GCC index is down 16 per cent

Like the previous week the slight decline in the Gulf Projects Index is the result of several major projects in the GCC reaching completion or being placed on hold, combined with the traditional lull for the summer and Ramadan when few new projects are launched.

The best performing country was Bahrain. The kingdom’s project market grew by 0.59 per cent during the week with the launch of four new projects.

With the exception of Iraq, which has grown by 103.9 per cent since last year, Bahrain has been the region’s best performing market. It has grown 25.7 per cent with $15.62bn of new projects since the 31 August 2009.

Only two other countries recorded positive growth, Oman with an increase of 0.27 per cent and Qatar with a rise of 0.04 per cent. These markets grew because of two new projects launching in Oman and one new project, the $100m Mesaieed Natural Gas Liquids Support Campus, in Qatar.

The worst performing country was Iran, where the value of projects fell by 0.92 per cent. This was a result of two projects – the $2.6bn IGAT 7 Gas Trunkline project and the $350m Kashan Power Plant – reaching completion, and four projects being on hold.

The UAE continued to decline, falling 0.1 per cent, while the other markets, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq remained flat.