News

Bloomberg The world’s first small-scale nuclear power reactor may be just eight years away. NuScale Power LLC, which is leading global efforts to build a so-called small modular reactor, is seeking as much as $120 million in equity investment to accelerate design of a matching power generator. The company has already spent more than $700 million, and has “hundreds of …

Reuters French oil and gas major Total on Tuesday signed a $5 billion dealwith Saudi Aramco to build a giant petrochemical complex at their 440,000 barrels-per-day Jubail Satorp refinery. Saudi Aramco holds a 62.5 percent stake in the refinery, while Total holds the other 37.5 percent. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on the sidelines of a visit by …

Bloomberg The head of China’s largest natural gas importer believes the country’s energy ties with the US are set to deepen, despite trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies that has roiled financial markets. “There is more room for cooperation than confrontation between China and the US,” China National Petroleum Corp. Chairman Wang Yilin said in an interview with …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia wants to get oil prices near $80 a barrel to pay for the government’s policy agenda and support the valuation of state energy giant Aramco before an initial public offering. In conversations with OPEC delegates and oil market participants, Saudi officials had been careful to avoid pinpointing an exact price target. Yet people who have spoken to …

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business The current MENA fintech market is estimated at $2 billion (AED7.35 billion) and expected to witness an annual growth of $125 million (AED459 million) until 2022, according to Mena Research Partners (MRP), a leading research company in the region. Increasingly compelling business models of fintech are expected to drive the market growth further. Going forward, …

CAIRO / WAM The UAE labour market is one of the most flexible markets at the regional and global scale, securing jobs to more than five million people from different nationalities in 2017 and receiving 1.35 million highly skilled workers for the private sector, stated Nasser bin Thani Al Hamli, UAE Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation. According to the …

KHARTOUM / WAM Since it began operations in March 1975, the Arab Bank for Economic Development of Africa (Badea) provided over $5.8 billion in development finance for sub-Saharan African countries, according to a statement on its website. At the end of March, after just over 13 years of operations, BADEA had made commitments of $5,824.77 million, covering finance for 653 …

RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange expects an influx of foreign funds to smooth the listing of national oil firm Saudi Aramco, despite concern among some analysts about whether the market can absorb the huge offer, the exchange’s chief executive said. “Foreign investors are putting in more money — every day we have improved liquidity capacity,” Khalid al-Hussan said …

MANILA / Reuters The Philippines is looking to seal a pact with China within a few months to jointly explore for oil and gas in a part of the busy South China Sea waterway claimed by both countries, a Philippine official said on Monday. In February, the two countries agreed to set up a special panel to work out how …

LONDON / Reuters Oil rose on Monday, recovering some of the decline on the potential impact on global growth from a trade dispute between China and the United States as well as rising US output. Markets were also eyeing the situation in Syria after reports – denied by the Pentagon – that US forces had struck a major air base …