OPEC oil output falls to lowest in more than a year as Iran exports dip
Saturday, 05 January 2013
OPEC oil output fell in December to its lowest in more than a year as Iranian exports dipped again because of sanctions, top exporter Saudi Arabia cut output and supplies from Iraq eased, according to a Reuters survey. Crude supply from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries averaged 30.62 million barrels per ... Read More
Turkey will no longer reveal where it buys its oil: official
Saturday, 05 January 2013
Turkey, a major buyer of oil and gas from Iran, will no longer give a breakdown of where its energy imports come from, an official at the country’s statistics office said Friday. The move, as the West tightens sanctions on Tehran over its contested nuclear program, follows a request from Turkey’s refining ... Read More
Lebanon asks for $180 million to aid Syrian refugees
Friday, 04 January 2013
Lebanon, now a haven for 170,000 Syrians fleeing civil war, has asked foreign donors for $180 million to help care for them and said it will register and recognize refugees after a year-long hiatus. The Beirut government has officially sought to “dissociate” itself from the 21-month-old struggle in Syria, nervous about the ... Read More
Digital media boom, the Egyptian revolution aftermath
Thursday, 03 January 2013
Although business across Egypt has suffered since the revolution started, the online and mobile technology company OTVentures has sustained growth throughout the uprising. Online social media played a significant role in expanding the enterprise throughout the Arab world. This has led to a dramatic rise in online traffic ... Read More
Etihad eyes partnership deal to expand fleet
Thursday, 03 January 2013
The state-owned carrier of the oil-rich Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Etihad, is gearing up for strategic rapid international expansion. Perhaps surprisingly, Etihad plans to invest in global carriers at a time when the Gulf aviation industry is crowded. In recent years, Etihad Airways invested in a number of carriers and have ... Read More
Big Spender: Saudi Arabia upholds high budget
Thursday, 03 January 2013
Determined to push past global economic crises and spiraling political unrest in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia’s recently announced all-time high expenditure plan is part of a strategy to bolster the Kingdom’s economic solidity. Saudi Arabia’s council of ministers on Saturday agreed a record budget for 2013 with revenues ... Read More
Turkey inks $12 billion energy project with UAE
Thursday, 03 January 2013
Turkey signed on Thursday an agreement with the United Arab Emirates for the development of coal fields in southern Turkey to generate electricity. The agreement between Abu Dhabi-based TAQA and Turkey's state-run power company EUAS marks the biggest Arab investment in the Turkish energy sector, a senior ... Read More
Emirates begins flights from Dubai superjumbo concourse
Wednesday, 02 January 2013
Dubai’s Emirates Airlines began operations Wednesday from a $3 billion new concourse dedicated to Airbus’ A380 superjumbos at the Gulf city-state’s rapidly-expanding airport. Flight EK003 took off to London Heathrow from Concourse A, which will become “home of the Emirates A380”, and add a capacity to handle 15 ... Read More
Iraq seeks to boost bourse with big telecom listing
Wednesday, 02 January 2013
An advertisement for Iraq’s stock exchange, running in local newspapers over recent weeks, poses the question: “How can I invest in shares?” It then assures readers that the process is easy, advising them to contact brokerages for details. Another ad, by Iraqi mobile telephone operator Asiacell, warns readers: “Be ready, ... Read More
Oman to create 20,000 govt jobs this year: finance minister
Wednesday, 02 January 2013
Oman will continue spending heavily on job creation for its citizens this year, Finance Minister Darwish al-Balushi said on Wednesday at a news conference on the 2013 budget. “Last year we created 36,000 jobs for Omanis by spending 300 million rials ($780 million),” he said. “This year we will create 56,000 jobs, of which ... Read More
Sudan launches major dam to boost agricultural production, investment
Wednesday, 02 January 2013
Sudan launched a major dam project on Tuesday to boost power supply and agricultural irrigation, a plan officials hope will foster farmland exports and attract more Gulf investment to the African country as it battles an economic crisis. Faced with the loss of most of its oil reserves with South Sudan’s secession in 2011, ... Read More
Oman boosts 2013 spending plans: Finance Minister
Tuesday, 01 January 2013
Oman’s 2013 budget raised spending nearly 30 percent over its 2012 plan to 12.9 billion rials ($33.5 billion) on Tuesday as the Arabian Peninsula monarchy boosts outlay on social benefits it promised after Arab Spring protests in 2011. Spending on education, health, housing and social welfare has been boosted by 22 percent ... Read More
Expats who bounce cheques may no longer risk prison in UAE: paper
Tuesday, 01 January 2013
Newspapers printed contradictory reports on Tuesday on whether the United Arab Emirates was ending prison terms for foreign nationals living in the Gulf Arab state who write bad cheques. The UAE’s tough penalties for defaulting on cheques were relaxed for Emirati citizens in October after a royal decree, but the threat of ... Read More
Saudi to develop Midyan gas field in 2013: oil minister
Tuesday, 01 January 2013
Saudi Arabia will develop its Midyan natural gas field in the Red Sea in 2013, Oil Minister Ali Naimi said in comments reported on Tuesday in local media. “The Midyan field will be developed in 2013 and it would start production within a short period. It would boost electric power plants run by gas instead of diesel, and ... Read More
Egypt pound slides again at 2nd central bank currency sale
Monday, 31 December 2012
Egypt’s pound fell further at the central bank’s second auction of foreign currency under its new regime on Monday, with $74.8 million sold to banks at a cut-off price of 6.3050 Egyptian pounds. This was weaker than the Sunday cut-off price of 6.2425. The pound fell on the interbank market to a record low of about 6.30 to ... Read More
Mursi says Egypt’s currency situation will ‘balance out within days’
Monday, 31 December 2012
Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi said Monday that the country’s currency situation will “balance out within days,” stressing that the record fall of the pound “does not worry or scare us.” Mursi made the remarks during a meeting with Arab journalists on Sunday evening, MENA said. Egypt's central bank said it was ... Read More
Huawei partner offered embargoed HP gear to Iran
Monday, 31 December 2012
A major Iranian partner of Huawei Technologies offered to sell at least 1.3 million euros worth of embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran’s largest mobile-phone operator in late 2010, documents show. China‘s Huawei, the world’s second largest telecommunications equipment maker, says neither it nor its partner, ... Read More
Egypt wants to resume talks on IMF loan: PM
Monday, 31 December 2012
Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said on Sunday that Egypt wants to resume talks with the International Monetary Fund in January on a $4.8-billion loan frozen this month because of political tensions and unrest. “We have invited (the IMF) to resume talks during January,” Qandil told a news conference in Cairo. ... Read More
Saudi Arabia to issue bonds for Jeddah, Riyadh airports
Monday, 31 December 2012
Construction work at airports in the Saudi cities of Riyadh and Jeddah will be financed next year by bonds issued by the government, Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf told Al Arabiya's Lara Habib on Sunday. "The bonds for King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah and King Khaled Airport in Riyadh will be issued this (coming) ... Read More
Bahrain Alba gets loans to pay off $169m bond maturing in 2013
Sunday, 30 December 2012
Aluminium Bahrain, or Alba, which owns the world's fourth-largest aluminium smelter, said on Sunday it received two loans from banks to refinance a $169 million bond maturing in March 2013. Alba, 69 percent owned by Bahraini sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat and 20 percent by the Saudi government, said it obtained a ... Read More