Gulf Business Review

Monitoring the Latest News

May 2009

Dear reader,

Welcome to the monthly Gulf Business Review Newsletter, which offers a concise review of key developments in the region.

In the past few weeks the Gulf continued to feel the impact of the economic crunch. However, the GCC countries are more optimistic about the future with predictions of a stock market recovery by the end of the year. Healthcare continues to be resilient.

The Gulf continues to look eastwards for new business, with Aramco’s Chinese refinery starting trial runs. Kuwaiti conglomerate Al Ghanim Industries is looking at industrial acquisitions in Asia and Qatar and Malaysia sign a trade pact.

If you would like to learn more about this newsletter or forthcoming events, or perhaps would like to suggest an event or article for inclusion in the next edition, please do not hesitate to contact me on projects@meconsult.co.uk

Kind regards

Maya Rusinowicz

Editor

MEC International Ltd

132-135 Sloane Street

London SW1X 9AX

Tel (+44) (0)20 7591 4816

Fax (+44) (0)20 7591 4801

Email: projects@meconsult.co.uk

www.meconsult.co.uk

First Arab uranium exploration firm launched (27/05/2009)

A UAE based private business group has launched the first independent Arab uranium exploration company. Arabian Uranium Ventures, a unit of Thani Holdings, which has a diversified business in oil and gas, mining, real estate and trading, was launched on Tuesday and will be extracting the radioactive metal from the Middle East and Africa. Read More…

Stock markets ‘are set to bounce back’ (22/05/2009)

Activity in the Bahrain and regional stock markets are likely to bounce back towards the end of the year. That is the view of HSBC head of securities for the Middle East and North Africa region Jayant Rikhye.

"Stock market trading volumes in Bahrain are down about 20 per cent on last year and that is reflected in volumes across the region," he said.

"But you have to put that into context with 2008 being a record year for trading in Middle East markets. Read More…

Qatar, Malaysia sign trade pact (21/05/2009)

HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Malaysian Prime Minister Mohamed Najib bin Abdul Razak held a round of official talks. Scopes of co-operation between the two countries and ways of enhancing them as well as a number of issues of mutual concern were discussed during the talks.

Following the talks, the Emir and the Malaysian Prime Minister attended the signing of a trade co-operation agreement between the governments of Qatar and Malaysia. Read More…

Joint venture plant starts trial runs (20/05/2009)

Joint venture between ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco and China’s Sinopec said it had started trial runs at its new Fujian refinery on China’s southeastern coast.

The whole complex, which includes a 240,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery and an 800,000-tonne-per-year ethylene complex, is supposed to enter full operations in the second half of this year. Read More…

UAE-Europe venture to develop Iraq oil fields (18/05/2009)

Two UAE firms announced they had partnered with European firms to develop gas fields in the Kurdish autonomous region of north Iraq in a venture worth an estimated eight billion dollars.

In a statement issued in Sharjah, two private UAE firms, Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum, said the operation will be in partnership with MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Company and Austrian oil and gas giant OMV. Read More…

Kuwait Al Ghanim eyes Asia industry acquisitions (17/05/2009)

Kuwaiti conglomerate Al Ghanim Industries is looking at industrial acquisitions in Asia to help it diversify away from the Gulf region, where its revenues have been flat this year. The company, with annual turnover of $2.5 billion, saw opportunities for long-term investments in Asia after asset prices fell during the global financial crisis. Read More…

Kuwait economy bears brunt of political turmoil (14/05/2009)

Economic development in oil-rich Kuwait has been hit hard by political disputes which have stalled vital projects. Despite its oil-fuelled mega-wealth, Kuwait, which goes to the polls on Saturday, has seen more political turmoil than it has development projects in the past three years, leading to deterioration in services and stagnation in infrastructure programs. Read More…

New push for more affordable housing (13/05/2009)

Bahrain could cut the cost of affordable housing by 40 per cent as a result of a deal the kingdom has struck with China. That is the view of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) director of investment and technology promotion Liang Dan.

The two countries had signed a deal which will see technology that UNIDO has helped develop in China coming to Bahrain with the setting up of a research and development facility in the kingdom. Read More…

GCC consumer spending resilient (13/05/2009)

Despite the global financial crisis hitting the region, GCC residents have maintained their pre-crisis spending levels.

A recent Booz & Company survey of consumers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE found they are relatively untroubled about the region’s economic prospects. Just 28% of consumers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia have reduced spending levels in the past six months, and 26% have increased spending. Read More…

Bahrain’s ABC to push Islamic finance in Europe (11/05/2009)

Bahrain-based bank ABC said it will start to market Islamic financing products to European clients left hamstrung by the sustained gridlock in the credit markets.

The firm has until now only actively marketed mainstream products to clients of ABC International Bank Plc, the London-headquartered European division of Arab Banking Corporation. Read More…

Healthcare poses good business opportunity (11/05/2009)

The healthcare sector in the Middle East and North Africa region presents attractive business opportunities for investors. The GCC’s healthcare sector alone is currently valued at Dh44.1 billion ($12 billion) and is expected to grow to Dh220.8 billion by 2025. Read More…

IMF: Recession threatens Mideast oil exporters (10/05/2009)

International Monetary Fund warned that the economies of Middle East oil exporters are likely to suffer from a possible prolonged global recession as demand for the region’s main export wanes.

Arab states in the Gulf and other oil exporters in the Middle East were previously seen as less vulnerable to financial turmoil as they were cushioned by accumulated windfall revenues from oil. Read More…

Canadian firm announces oil discovery in Iraq (07/05/2009)

Canadian oil exploration firm Heritage Oil announced a major oil discovery in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, estimated to contain up to 4.2 billion barrels.

The company said in a statement that the Miran West field holds between 2.3 to 4.2 billion barrels of oil but the "highly fractured nature" of the reservoir means only 50 to 70 percent of it is recoverable. Read More…

3000 new job opportunities in Abu Dhabi (05/05/2009)

Despite the current global economic crisis, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi continues to enjoy a relatively healthy job market.

Abu Dhabi systems and information Center (ADSIC) reveals that Jobs Abu Dhabi, the recent e-government initiative possess around 3000 new job opportunities in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Read More…