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Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business The Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector in the GCC region presents a potential of $920 billion with 156% growth in the next five years, employing 22 million people, according to a new study by MENA Research Partners (MRP), a leading research company in the region. The study was released on Wednesday, when Sharjah is ...

RIYADH / PARIS / Reuters Toshiba-owned Westinghouse is in talks with other US-based companies to form a consortium to bid in a multi-billion-dollar tender for two nuclear power reactors in Saudi Arabia, three industry sources said. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil producer, sent a request for information (RFI) to reactor builders worldwide last month in a first step towards ...

TUNIS / Reuters Libya’s Waha Oil Co is producing about 260,000 barrels per day (bpd), up more than 100,000 bpd from the company’s output levels this summer, but further gains are complicated by a lack of investment, its chairman said. Ahmed Ammar said Waha was aiming to increase output to 375,000 bpd by the end of next year but was ...

MOSCOW / Reuters Russia’s oil producers and energy ministry discussed a six-month extension to global oil output cuts, TASS news agency repor-ted, citing unnamed meeting participants, shorter than a 9-month extension floated by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Energy Minister Alexander Novak and domestic oil producers held a meeting last week to discuss the deal, which is scheduled to expire on ...

TUNIS / Reuters Poland’s dominant gas firm PGNiG has signed its first mid-term deal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries from the United States, as part of a wider plan to cut its reliance on Russian supplies, it said. State-run PGNiG said that as part of the deal, signed with Centrica LNG Co. Ltd, it will receive nine LNG shipments ...

Bloomberg A relentless flow of natural gas from America’s shale basins is drawing bears to the market — and that’s music to the ears of at least one Asia-backed investor. Kalnin Ventures LLC — an investment company with funding from Thailand’s largest coal miner, Banpu Public Company Ltd. — has spent about $417 million over the past two years snapping ...

Bloomberg One country, two systems has come to the world’s largest steel industry. As China’s great environmental cleanup takes effect during the winter months, the stringent curbs being implemented across the north are hurting mills’ output, while giving free rein to producers in the south. “Southern steel mills unaffected by the output restrictions are generally running at full speed,” brokerage ...

Bloomberg India’s largest transmission utility is shifting its focus to projects within states, where it expects a government plan to provide electricity to all to generate about $25 billion worth of new orders over the next five years. Power Grid Corp. Of India will seek to capture some of the new orders either on its own or through joint ventures, ...

Bloomberg A Pakistan High Court ordered the release of Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in a further blow for Pakistan and Indian relations. Saeed, who was present in court amid tight security, is scheduled to be released on Thursday from house arrest after a three-judge panel in Lahore rejected a plea from Pakistan’s government for ...

Bloomberg Indonesia said Singapore’s travel advisory to avoid parts of the vacation island of Bali following a minor eruption at Mount Agung volcano was “excessive”. The eruption spouted ash clouds reaching up to 700 metres above Mount Agung’s crater, Indonesia’s Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s volcanology agency said on its website. Neighbouring Singapore said its citizens should refrain from non-essential ...