Regional News

Riyadh / Emirates Business With retail sales continuing to increase, this could be the first sector to recover in Riyadh real estate market, highlights JLL’s Q3 market overview report. As the government launched the $2.6 billion entertainment company in September, Shoppertainment remains a key concept in the retail industry among entertainment, leisure and F&B tenants. The growing participation by women …

Bloomberg Oil extended a two-year high above $60 a barrel in London amid growing signs that OPEC and Russia will press on with supply curbs, and as pipeline flows from Iraq were disrupted. Brent crude futures added 0.3 percent. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last week backed extending production cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and …

Bloomberg Saudi authorities plan to keep selling local bonds every month as they seek to finance the bud- get deficit and deepen a nascent debt market, according to the official overseeing the kingdom’s borrowing strategy. Fahad Al-Saif, head of the debt management office at the Ministry of Finance, said local issuance makes up about 65 percent of the kingdom’s sales …

Bloomberg Ghana is extending the issuance of non-sovereign bonds that the country needs for settling the legacy debts of state-owned energy utilities after demand for the securities fell short of the 6 billion cedi ($1.4 billion) target. While the West African nation allocated 2.4 billion cedis in seven-year bonds at 19 percent after receiving 2.5 billion cedis in bids, it …

RIYADH / Reuters Saudi petrochemicals firms should merge to boost their competitiveness and look to expand abroad, the head of major industry player SABIC told Reuters on Monday. The firms have enjoyed decades of cheap feedstock prices. But Saudi authorities began slashing subsidies in 2016, as a collapse in oil prices cut into state finances, prompting a search for efficiencies …

Bloomberg Puerto Rico plans to cancel a $300 million contract to rebuild the hurricane-ravaged electrical grid that went to a tiny company based in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s Montana hometown, the head of the island’s power utility said. Ricardo Ramos, executive director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or Prepa, said he will request permission from the utility’s board …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is considering a more expansionary budget than planned for 2018, Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said. Authorities were already planning an expansionary budget, “and we are considering even a potential further expansion,” Al-Jadaan said in an interview at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh. “We think the economy requires that support and development requires that support.” The drive …

Bloomberg Total SA posted the highest earnings from pumping oil and gas in more than two years, illustrating the improving fortunes of an indus- try that’s endured the deepest downturn in a generation. Total’s earnings followed surprisingly strong profits from ConocoPhillips and Statoil ASA, driven by a combination of higher crude prices and deep cost cuts. Exxon Mobil Corp. and …

Bloomberg Even for wind farms, middle age is a time for nips, tucks and sometimes replacement surgery. At least 600 megawatts of US wind farms have already undergone significant upgrades, primarily in California, and NextEra Energy Inc., the largest producer of North American wind power, said it expects to invest as much as $3 billion to upgrade or replace aging …

Bloomberg After years of being sidelined by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, wind farm developers are dusting off plans for massive offshore turbines that may someday generate more electricity than a nuclear reactor. Christie, a Republican whose term ends in January, effectively blocked wind farms off his state’s coast by never fully implementing a program that would subsidize the projects. …