Regional News

  REUTERS National Bank of Oman (NBO), the sultanate’s third-largest lender by assets, beat analysts’ expectations on Thursday despite posting flat growth in second-quarter net profit, according to Reuters calculations. The lender made a net profit of 15.46 million rials ($40.2 million) in the three months to June 30, Reuters calculated based on previous financial statements in lieu of a …

  REUTERS Italy’s state railways company expects to sign a contract to build the first stretch of a high-speed rail line in Iran in February 2017, its chief executive said on Thursday. The contract for the roughly 100 km-stretch between Qom and Arak is worth about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion), Ferrovie dello Stato <IPO-FERRO.MI> chief Renato Mazzoncini said at …

  WAM The British-based mining company Savannah Resources has announced that it has appointed two new directors to reflect a 1.7 million pound investments made by Al Marjan Limited. According to Mozambique News Agency, AIM, Savannah has rights to three blocks in the copper-rich Semail Ophiolite Belt in the Sultanate of Oman. Its strategy is centred on building a copper …

  BAGHDAD / Reuters Iraq, pressured by lower-than-expected oil prices, will cut non-oil spending in its 2016 budget by 15 percent and take on several billion dollars in international debt, it said in a memo which the International Monetary Fund released on Thursday. OPEC’s second-largest producer, which relies on oil exports for nearly all its revenue, has sought donor support …

  Riyadh / TNS Saudi Arabia, represented by the Ministry of Education and the King Abdul Aziz Foundation for Talent and Creativity (Mawhiba), is due to participate in three international competitions in mathematics, physics and chemistry from the fourth to the 27th of Shawwal 1437 AH in Hong Kong, Switzerland and Georgia. Saudi Arabia is competing in the International Olympiad of …

  WAM The total revenues of Saudi Customs in the last fiscal year 1436 AH (2015 AD) amounted to SR 29.8 billion, an increase of 9 percent compared to 2014, including SR3.06 billion incurred by the state as part of the support for some imported goods. According to the Saudi Press Agency, SPA, the recently issued annual report of the …

  Reuters Kuwait is considering privatising its oil services sector, a senior finance ministry official said, although any plans would not include its production capability. The finance ministry and state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation are studying which sectors and services may be privatised, Undersecretary Khalifa Hamada told a news conference. Gulf governments are being forced to consider measures such as privatisations, …

  Bloomberg Crude oil will rise to a range of $50 to $60 a barrel until at least 2018 as demand increases and markets absorb an oversupply that’s led to lower prices over the last two years, according to the acting oil minister of OPEC member Kuwait. OPEC should stick with its policy of pumping at near record levels as …

  Bloomberg Libya’s government of national unity is working to reopen four of the OPEC country’s biggest oil ports after securing a deal to unify the fractured nation’s state energy company. Four ports accounting for about 860,000 barrels a day in crude-exporting capacity have been shut due to political turmoil and fighting. A July 2 deal to unify rival administrations …

  Bloomberg Kuwait is taking steps to sell minority stakes in as many as four units of the state oil producer as the Middle Eastern government plans to tap global capital markets for funds and improve efficiency in its most important industry. The government has a four-year plan to organize and execute sales of shares in the international units and …