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 Wed 10th Mar 2010 | | Arab refining projects may be delayed or cancelled | In its monthly report, the Kuwait-based Organization of the Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) has said that the new oil refinery building and development projects in several Arab countries are locked in obstacles and challenges that could lead to delay or cancellation.
Such challenges primarily involve uncertainty over future rates of demand for oil derivatives at global markets, something which complicates efforts to estimate the economic risks of investment projects.
The second challenge is the fluctuation of construction material costs, especially during the period leading up to the global financial crisis (mid-2008), resulting in a major change in initial estimates of project costs, it added. The third challenge is pressure arising from environmental protection laws that some governments and international environmental organizations seek to enact, given that it usually takes several years to consider the negative impacts of refineries on environment in some countries, the Arab oil cartel said. In spite of great efforts exerted by those who are in charge of Arab refining industry, the pace of development is very slow, it said, pointing out that this industry requires much dynamics and taking the right decision at the right time.
For long decades now, the Arab oil producing countries have been attaching much attention to oil refining industry thanks to its strategic role in the maximization of the added value of oil by exporting its as products on the one hand and fulfilling growing local demand for oil derivatives on the other hand, the organization noted. Oil refining industry began in Arab countries in 1913 when the first Arab oil refinery was opened in Egypt. | | | | Thu 4th Mar 2010 | | DME hits new records in open interest and physical delivery | The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) announced on Thursday that a new record total open interest of 19,867 was achieved in its flagship DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (DME Oman) in February 2010. The DME also achieved a new record for physical delivery of 13.4 million barrels for delivery in April 2010, surpassing the previous high of 11.6 million barrels set in September 2009.
Open interest in DME Oman has been increasing steadily, the latest figure exceeding the previous open interest record in July 2009. The rise in open interest is a leading indicator of the market’s continuing confidence in DME Oman as a transparent and effective mechanism for pricing Middle East sour crude oil.
DME Oman is the largest physically delivered crude oil futures contract in the world with an average of nine million barrels per month delivered through the Exchange in 2009. Since its launch in June 2007, more than 235 million barrels of Oman crude have been delivered through the DME.
The DME recently reported a 69% year-on-year increase in trading volumes for 2009 with average daily volumes approaching 3,000 lots in the fourth quarter of the year and continuing with a similar trend in the first two months of 2010. | | | | Wed 3rd Mar 2010 | | Qatar LNG output may go up by 15% | Qatar Liquefied Gas Company (QatarGas) has said adjustments to its plants producing liquefied natural gas may raise output by more than 15%.
Production of LNG by the gas-rich Gulf state will increase to 77 million tons before the end of the year, and debottlenecking may increase output by an additional 12 million tons a year, Alaa Abu Jbara, marketing director at QatarGas, said at the Flame conference in Amsterdam.
The Qatari government will decide whether to go ahead with the work some time after 2014, he said in an interview. Qatar plans to start supplying Poland with LNG starting in 2014, and an import terminal in Thailand is now 55 percent done, he said. Thailand has an agreement for 1 million tons of LNG a year from Qatar with an option to increase that to 2 million. | | | | Tue 2nd Mar 2010 | | Saudi property sector will see investments worth $640 billion | According to a new strategic plan unveiled by Jeddah Municipality, the Saudi property sector will need around $640 billion in investments over the next 20 years to build five million new housing units.
Jeddah alone will need almost a million housing units over the next 20 years to cope with the increasing number of expatriates and an influx of nationals from more rural areas, said the strategic plan.
This can be achieved through the construction of low-cost housing units, said the plan unveiled on Monday to coincide with the Jeddah International Real Estate, Finance and Housing Exhibition 2010 which opened on Monday at the Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events.
The real estate sector in Saudi Arabia, which has not been hit by the economic downturn like in other GCC countries, plays a vital role in the non-oil economy of the kingdom. Its contribution to the gross domestic product, which stood at of 6.8 per cent in 2004, is expected to rise to 7.2 per cent in 2009.
According to projections, the total investment in the kingdom’s real estate sector will exceed the $400 billion barrier by 2010. Real estate experts believe that the upcoming mortgage law would give a further boost to the property sector. The mortgage law will increase the numbers of those who seek to own housing, spurring local developers to increase construction of housing units.
The mortgage law is expected to give lenders more rights including the ability to foreclose on properties in default. The Sharia compliant legislation, which has not been finalised yet, allows lenders to enforce their mortgages by reporting debtors to a central authority and forcing them to either repay their debt or vacate a property, according to property experts. | | | | Thu 25th Feb 2010 | | Bahrain to privatise major public services | According to a top government official, Bahrain is planning to privatize its major public services, including their carrier Gulf Air. The plans are part of government’s efforts to diversify its economy from oil and build up a viable private sector.
The management of the King Hamad Hospital, currently under construction, and of petrol stations owned by Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) could be tendered to the private sector at the end of the year, said Economic Development Board chief executive Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa.
Contracting out management of postal services and waste water treatment is currently under study,. Gulf Air, which said in November 2009 that it expected making an operating loss of about $500 million in 2009, plans to return to profits by focusing on regional routes and cutting costs. Bahrain plans to privatize Gulf Air within about a year, after its turnaround programme bears fruit, he said.
The country is also planning to phase out subsidies in the long run to relieve public finances, a sensitive issue that has sparked protests, said Shaikh Mohammed. Ending petrol subsidies is the biggest bone of contention, and he said these would not be touched any time soon. Fuel prices are not going up any time soon, he said. Bahrain plans to target other subsidies, including on electricity, to only the needy instead of all consumers, but that would be a gradual process taking some years, he added. | | | | Thu 25th Feb 2010 | | Abu Dhabi airport reports growth in passenger traffic | Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) said on Wednesday that passenger numbers were up more than 11% in January 2010, compared to the same month in 2009.
Latest figures also showed that aircraft movements increased by 13.3% and cargo saw a significant rebound, up 25.6% over the same period.
The growth was driven by conferences and exhibitions, such as the recent World Future Energy Summit, as well as Etihad Airway’s expanding network and flight frequencies, ADAC officials said. The increase in cargo came from the large volume of aid sent to Haiti.
One of the world’s fastest-growing airports, Abu Dhabi International is undergoing a multibillion-dirham redevelopment and expansion designed to increase its capacity to more than 20 million passengers a year. As part of this redevelopment, a second runway and third terminal have been completed.
ADAC’s announcement comes a day after Dubai’s airports operator said Dubai International Airport had posted a 17% rise in passenger traffic last month, compared with January 2008, and its cargo activity had increased by 31.5%.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai airports bucked global trends last year by recording passenger growth in an industry hit by the H1N1 swine flu virus and the global economic downturn. | | | | Wed 24th Feb 2010 | | Kuwait posts $27.8 billion in preliminary surplus | The Ministry of Finance, Kuwait said that the gulf state posted a preliminary budget surplus of $27.8 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year on higher oil income.
The ministry said in a statement to AFP that revenues until the end of January reached $51 billion, 82 percent above the $28.1 billion projected for the whole 2009-2010 fiscal year, which ends on March 31st 2010. Spending during the 10 months was $23.2 billion, just 55.2 percent of projected spending for the whole year of $42.1 billion.
The huge surplus is expected to be lower at the end of the fiscal year due to end-of-year accounting adjustments when pledged expenditure not included so far will be added to the closing statements.
Oil income up to the end of January 2010 reached $48.2 billion or double the budget projections for the whole year of $24.1 billion. Oil revenues constituted 94.5 percent of total income.
Kuwait has been projecting a deficit in each of the past 11 fiscal years because it calculates oil income at a highly conservative price. It has projected a deficit of close to $14 billion this year. It however ended 10 of those years with a huge surplus and is headed for a windfall exceeding $20 billion for this year. | | | | Next |
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