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  • Kuwait plans to award $988m upstream contract within 30 days

    Administrator

    8 June 2026

     

    State-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is planning to officially award a $988m project contract to India’s Larsen & Toubro within 30 days, according to industry sources.

    The contract is focused on developing Jurassic Light Oil (JLO) export facilities and upgrading the existing export network.

    Kuwait’s Central Agency for Public Tenders (Capt) has approved the award of the contract for the construction of export crude storage facilities and upgrades to the country’s oil export infrastructure.

    Now, talks are expected to take place between KOC and Larsen & Toubro to finalise the contract details.

    Just two companies submitted bids for the contract in October last year.

    The bidders were:

    • Larsen & Toubro (India): KD303.5m ($988m)
    • Petrofac (UK): KD310.6m ($1.01bn)

    Following bid submission, state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) discussed the potential cancellation of the contract tender due to the bids coming in significantly over budget and Petrofac becoming ineligible to win contracts in Kuwait.

    The financially troubled engineering company was temporarily banned from participation in tenders in Kuwait’s oil and gas sector in December last year.

    It was given the ban after the company announced that it had applied to appoint administrators, a move that potentially put thousands of jobs at risk and increased uncertainty for projects worth billions of dollars in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.

    Despite holding talks about the potential cancellation of the tender, KPC ultimately decided to proceed with the contract award process because it considered the project a high priority.

    One source said: “Around the same time, projects worth around $8bn were cancelled because of bids coming in over budget, but this one has gone ahead because KPC sees it as an essential project.”

    The project was originally tendered in November 2024, with a bid deadline of 1 December the same year.

    The bid deadline was extended several times before bids were ultimately submitted.

    Kuwait’s oil and gas sector is in turmoil as a result of the ongoing regional conflict that started on 28 February when the US and Israel attacked Iran.

    Amid the ongoing conflict, Kuwait’s Ministry of Finance has stopped publishing its monthly report with details about revenues from oil exports.

    While there are no official figures available, many experts believe that the country failed to export crude oil during April and May.

    This is likely to have a severe impact on the country’s economy, which relies on oil exports for approximately 90% of government revenues.

    READ THE JUNE 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    GCC looks beyond the Strait; Iraq’s reform window narrows as fiscal assumptions shatter; MEED Top 100 companies.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the June 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17143767/main.png
    Wil Crisp
  • Amea Power signs 1.5GWh battery storage EPC contracts

    Administrator

    8 June 2026

    UAE-based Amea Power has signed engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts with China Energy Engineering Corporation (China Energy) for two standalone battery energy storage system (bess) projects in Egypt with a combined capacity of 1,500 megawatt-hours (MWh).

    The contracts cover the 500MWh Horus battery storage project in Zafarana and the 1,000MWh Nefertiti battery storage project in Benban.

    The agreements were signed on 4 June in the presence of Mahmoud Esmat, Egypt’s minister of electricity and renewable energy, Sheikh Hussein Al-Nowais, chairman of Al-Nowais Investments and Amea Power, and Ni Jin, chairman of China Energy.

    The projects are part of Egypt’s wider programme to expand energy storage capacity and support the integration of renewable energy into the national grid.

    According to the Ministry of Electricity & Renewable Energy, Egypt plans to increase battery storage capacity to 14,320MWh by 2028.

    The ministry said the expansion of battery storage is required to support the growing share of solar and wind power generation, improve grid stability and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

    The signing ceremony also included an agreement between Amea Power, China Energy and Chinese battery manufacturer Gotion to establish a battery storage manufacturing facility in Egypt.

    The planned factory will have an annual production capacity of 3,000MWh.

    Amea Power previously signed capacity purchase agreements with the Egyptian government to develop the country’s first standalone bess projects in 2025.

    In March, the government announced it had signed power-purchase agreements for several renewable energy and battery storage projects with a combined capacity of 5.6GW.

    These include a 900MW wind power project in the Red Sea Governorate, along with a 2,000MW solar power plant and a 2,000MWh battery storage facility in the Qena Governorate. 

    > Be recognised among the best in the industry at the MEED Projects Awards 2026 …

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17143364/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • Opec+ approves fourth consecutive oil output quota hike

    Administrator

    8 June 2026

    The Opec+ alliance of oil producers has agreed a fourth increase in its oil output targets in as many months, even though the conflict involving Iran, the US and Israel is still preventing several members from pumping more crude.

    The war has disrupted oil flows via the Strait of Hormuz, creating a severe supply crisis. Key Opec+ members, including Saudi Arabia, have been unable to supply customers in full since the end of February. The crisis for Opec+ deepened when the UAE left Opec after almost 60 years of membership.

    Seven core members of Opec+ – which comprises Opec countries and a group of non-Opec states led by Russia – raised their output quotas from April to June by almost 600,000 barrels a day (b/d).

    In practice, however, the group’s production has fallen sharply due to export cuts by Gulf members, averaging 33.19 million b/d in April compared with 42.77 million b/d in February, according to Opec figures.

    At the latest meeting of Opec+ oil ministers on 7 June, the seven members agreed to increase targets by 188,000 b/d from July, Opec said in a statement. This matches the June hike, which was adjusted down from monthly increases of 206,000 b/d in April and May to take account of the UAE’s exit.

    Iraq’s oil output quota will rise by 26,000 b/d from July under the agreement, an oil ministry spokesperson told Iraq’s state news agency.

     

    On 5 June, oil prices fell to about $93 a barrel as traders gained confidence that renewed conflict between the US and Iran was becoming less likely. Prices were close to $72 before the war began on 28 February.

    Brent crude rose sharply at the start of this week after Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel on the night of 7 June, heightening fears that US-Iran peace talks might once again collapse. Israel has since retaliated with strikes in western and central Iran, despite calls from US President Donald Trump not to respond to the Iranian missiles.

    Brent crude jumped by around 4.5% early on 8 June and was trading at $97.52 a barrel as of 11am GST.

    The seven key Opec+ members are increasing production as part of the gradual unwinding of a 1.65 million b/d production cut agreed in 2023 by the coalition, which at the time included the UAE.

    From July, the seven have about 567,000 b/d of the original cut left to return to the market – taking into account the UAE’s exit from 1 May – according to Reuters calculations.

    That would imply the remainder of the cut will be unwound by the end of September if Opec+ maintains monthly hikes of about 188,000 b/d in August and September.

    The seven of the 21 Opec+ members who met on 7 June were Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Russia and Oman. In recent years, only these seven – plus the UAE when it was a member– have been involved in the group’s output-policy decisions.

    In a separate meeting on Sunday attended by all Opec+ members, ministers made no change to the group-wide output policy in place until the end of 2026, Opec+ said in another statement.

    Opec+ is also reviewing members’ oil production capacity to use as a reference for 2027 production baselines, from which quotas are set. On Sunday, the group reaffirmed the importance of completing the assessment, the statement said.

    ALSO READ: UAE to continue working with Opec, energy minister says

     

    READ THE JUNE 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    GCC looks beyond the Strait; Iraq’s reform window narrows as fiscal assumptions shatter; MEED Top 100 companies.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the June 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17143267/main.jpg
    Indrajit Sen
  • Deme wins dredging work for Tunisian ports

    Administrator

    8 June 2026

    The Office de la Marine Marchande et des Ports (OMMP) has awarded Belgium’s Deme a contract to carry out dredging and marine works at three ports in Tunisia.

    The project covers works at Sousse, Menzel Bourguiba/Bizerte and Rades/La Goulette. Deme will first construct containment dykes at the ports of Menzel Bourguiba and Sousse. The two ports are located more than 200 kilometres apart, which the contractor says will require careful planning, coordination and optimised logistics.

    The second phase involves extensive dredging works at all three locations, for which Deme will deploy a trailing suction hopper dredger.

    The project will use three distinct approaches to sustainably and efficiently manage dredged material, tailored to the characteristics of each location.

    In Sousse and Menzel Bourguiba, the material will be reused for land reclamation. In Bizerte, a combined approach will be adopted, with part of the material used for reclamation at Menzel Bourguiba and the remainder disposed of offshore. In Rades and La Goulette, all dredged material will be pumped ashore to a designated area.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17143268/main.jpg
    Colin Foreman
  • Egypt firm wins South Med desalination design contract

    Administrator

    8 June 2026

    Cairo-headquartered Engineering Experience Group (EEG) has won a design and engineering services contract for the planned South Med seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant in Al-Dabaa, Egypt.

    The South Med project will have a production capacity of 160,000 cubic metres a day.

    Located in Egypt’s Matrouh governorate on the Mediterranean coast, it is being developed for the Engineering Authority of the Armed Forces’ Water Management Department.

    Local firm Elsewedy Electric Infrastructure previously announced it was the main engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project.

    In a company publication, Elsewedy indicated that project activities are expected to run from 2026 to 2028, suggesting commercial operations could begin around 2028.

    As MEED understands, Elsewedy has engaged EEG to provide engineering services. The scope includes detailed design, shop drawings, as-built documentation, project coordination and 3D building information modelling services.

    The company said the work will cover electrical, instrumentation and control systems, architecture, structural and steel works, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, wet and dry utilities, roads and landscaping.

    According to company data, the desalination sector accounts for about 25% of EEG’s water projects portfolio. The company said it has completed about 72 projects in the water sector to date, including wastewater treatment, industrial wastewater treatment, water treatment and desalination schemes.

    READ THE JUNE 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    GCC looks beyond the Strait; Iraq’s reform window narrows as fiscal assumptions shatter; MEED Top 100 companies.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the June 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17143025/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • Israel strikes Iranian petrochemicals complex

    Administrator

    8 June 2026

    Israel has hit Iran’s Mahshahr petrochemicals complex in the country’s Khuzestan province, according to the Israeli military and reports in Iranian news outlets.

    The Israeli military said that it was targeting Karun Petrochemical Company.

    In a separate statement, Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Economic Zone said that workers at the site had been evacuated.

    Karun Petrochemical Company produces a range of products.

    It has the nameplate capacity to produce 40,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and 40,000 t/y of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI).

    It also has the capacity to produce 30,000 t/y of aniline and 92,300 t/y of nitric acid (HNO3).

    TDI and MDI are both used primarily as building blocks to create polyurethane products.

    TDI is mostly used to make flexible polyurethane foams and MDI is usually used to create rigid foams, adhesives, sealants and elastomers.

    Aniline is also used to make urethane polymers, as well as being used in the dye industry, where it is a precursor to indigo, which is used to dye jeans blue.

    Nitric acid is a highly corrosive mineral acid and its main industrial use is to produce fertilisers.

    The Mahshahr petrochemicals complex is one of the most important petrochemical complexes in Iran. It was previously hit by Israel in strikes in April, forcing evacuations.

    On 4 April, Israeli forces targeted at least eight major petrochemical complexes in the Mahshahr region, along with critical supporting infrastructure, including power plants that supply electricity to the industrial zone.

    Mahshahr accounts for approximately 28% of Iran’s petrochemicals production.

    Iran’s petrochemicals industry is the country’s second-largest source of export revenue after crude oil.

    The country has a nominal production capacity of about 95 million t/y of petrochemicals, although actual output prior to the latest conflict was significantly lower due to persistent shortages of electricity and natural gas.

    Iran has invested tens of billions of dollars in developing its petrochemicals infrastructure, and if facilities are severely damaged, rebuilding would pose a major financial and technical challenge.

    READ THE JUNE 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    GCC looks beyond the Strait; Iraq’s reform window narrows as fiscal assumptions shatter; MEED Top 100 companies.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the June 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17142886/main.jpg
    Wil Crisp
  • Ora awards Unec a $517m UAE construction deal

    Administrator

    8 June 2026

    Egypt’s Ora Developers has awarded local contractor United Engineering Construction (Unec) a AED1.9bn ($517m) main works contract for the first phase of the Bayn mixed-use development in Ghantoot, between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

    The 31-month construction contract covers 614 residential units, including townhouses and standalone villas, across Cluster B (Y Waterway), Cluster C (Y Lagoon) and Cluster D (Y Lagoon 2). The scope also includes associated infrastructure and landscaping works.

    In a statement, Ora said mobilisation started immediately, with construction commencing on 1 June. The programme includes interim milestones for each cluster.

    In December last year, NMDC Group won a AED142m contract to execute enabling works for the Bayn masterplan.

    UK-based firm Mace has been appointed to lead the overall project management. Canadian firm WSP will serve as the masterplan, infrastructure, landscape and water bodies design consultant.

    US-based Aecom will provide construction supervision services. Hong Kong’s 10 Design is the project’s architectural concept design consultant. Local firm Dewan Architects & Engineers is the project’s design consultant and architect of record. The UK’s Currie & Brown is the cost consultant.

    MEED reported in April that Ora Developers signed a land acquisition agreement with Abu Dhabi-based developer Modon Holding to acquire an additional 4.8 million square metres (sq m) of land in Ghantoot. The acquisition will increase the Bayn masterplan from 4.8 million sq m to 9.6 million sq m.

    Ora added that total investment in the masterplan is expected to reach AED30bn on completion.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17142916/main.jpg
  • Israeli offensive leaves Beirut in limbo

    Administrator

    5 June 2026

     

    Lebanon is being held in economic and political limbo by Israel’s open-ended offensive in the south, which has killed more than 3,500 people since March and is characterised by strategic objectives that offer no clear end in sight.

    Political leaders in Tel Aviv are justifying the operation on the grounds of eliminating Hezbollah – a far‑fetched goal against a dispersed guerrilla organisation, as with Hamas in Gaza – while ignoring overtures from Lebanon’s leadership for a ceasefire.

    The recently formed Lebanese government, meanwhile, continues to look impotent: unable to secure its territory from Israeli incursions or Hezbollah activity, and unable to deliver on promises of stability, reform, IMF funding and reconstruction.

    Echoes of the past

    The overarching shape of Israel’s military campaign is ominously familiar, echoing the 1978, 1982, 1985 and 2006 Israeli invasions of southern Lebanon – all entailing creeping encroachment without strategic resolution.

    Since fighting resumed on 2 March 2026, Israeli forces have gradually pushed north, crossing north of the Litani for the first time since the 2006 Lebanon war and seizing Beaufort Castle above Nabatieh on 31 May.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has framed the goal as establishing a “security zone” – the same term and concept Israel used to justify the occupation of a roughly 800-square-kilometre belt of southern Lebanon from 1985 to 2000.

    That occupation was a debacle for Israel’s military and ended in unilateral withdrawal.

    Israeli analysts are already drawing the modern parallels as the cost of holding ground in southern Lebanon rises, driven by Hezbollah’s deployment of cheap fibre‑optic first‑person‑view (FPV) drones that inflict a steady drip of Israeli casualties and losses.

    As with Russia in Ukraine, Tel Aviv is being tactically embarrassed by the advent of these fibre‑optic drones, which are immune to jamming and – of particular concern to Israeli forces – are too small to be reliably detected and intercepted by conventional counter‑drone systems.

    This leap in Hezbollah’s operational threat – based on cheap technology that can be locally assembled – has sharply raised the price of maintaining a military presence in the country.

    In an attempt to exact a retaliatory price, Israel’s air strikes rose by 110% between 19-22 May and 23-26 May as Hezbollah’s drone successes accumulated, according to conflict monitor Acled. But the underlying tactical dilemma remains.

    Israeli politicians, irate at the situation, have demanded escalation and intensified strikes on civilian areas, including in Beirut  – only to face US pushback.

    Tehran as the lever

    Planned strikes on Beirut, including on 3 June, have been held off in recent weeks under pressure from Washington after Tehran made Lebanon a bargaining chip in its wider negotiations with the US, repeatedly suspending talks following Israeli escalation in the Levant country.

    Tehran has also gone further than walkouts, warning it could respond directly if Israel strikes Beirut – adding an explicit threat of retaliation to diplomatic pressure.

    With a Gulf ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz both riding on the outcome, Washington is strongly motivated to keep Israel from striking Beirut.

    In this way, Iran is one of the few powers wielding any leverage over Israel’s actions in Lebanon – even if that leverage is a source of discomfort for Lebanon’s leaders, for whom Tehran’s clout contrasts starkly with their own lack of influence.

    That protection nevertheless remains narrowly tied to the Lebanese capital, with Washington turning a blind eye to Israel’s ongoing destruction of civilian infrastructure in Lebanon’s south.

    Within the border belt that Tel Aviv has dubbed the “yellow line” – amounting to about 7% of Lebanese territory – Israeli forces have accelerated the demolition of villages since the April truce and barred residents from returning.

    More than a million people, overwhelmingly Shia from the south and the Bekaa, have been displaced since March, and UN human-rights experts have pointed to the blanket evacuation orders and levelling of housing as mirroring Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

    The Lebanese state remains trapped in inaction, partially of its own making. Beirut was initially close to indifferent to renewed strikes on Hezbollah, whose unilateral re-entry into the war it had condemned for endangering the state.

    But as the strikes have shifted methodically towards civilian areas, Beirut’s restraint satisfies no one: the domestic audience wants protection, while Israel and the US want decisive Lebanese army action against Hezbollah.

    Yet the Lebanese army – still adhering in spirit to the November 2024 ceasefire framework and loath to move seriously against Hezbollah for fear of stoking civil war – has remained aloof from the conflict.

    Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who is close to Hezbollah and maintains dialogue with the group, says it would honour a genuine ceasefire if only Washington could deliver one.

    But repeated attempts to shore up the ceasefire have remained conditional on the Lebanese army stepping up to rein in Hezbollah, while failing to guarantee an end to Israel’s destruction of civilian structures in areas it is occupying.

    On 3 June, a fourth round of US‑mediated trilateral talks produced a fresh ceasefire announcement, hailed in Washington as a step towards comprehensive peace.

    Yet its conditions – a complete halt to Hezbollah fire, the group’s withdrawal south of the Litani and Lebanese army control of undefined “pilot zones”– merely reiterate past failed protocols. The declaration was unsigned by Hezbollah and unenforceable by Beirut.

    Within hours, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the declaration, stating that any ceasefire must cover the south and begin with Israeli withdrawal, not Hezbollah’s.

    Both Israeli strikes and Hezbollah attacks have continued since the ostensible deal.

    Recovery on hold

    The economic cost to Lebanon, meanwhile, compounds by the day. The country entered 2026 already in crisis: cumulative GDP down close to 40% since 2019, the pound down 98%, public debt at 150% of GDP, and reserves as low as $11bn as of June 2025.

    The government of President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam staked its credibility on a long‑deadlocked IMF programme finally unlocking external support. The war has upended this, driving away investment and delaying reform.

    The World Bank’s November 2024 assessment – covering only the previous round of fighting, before the March resumption – placed the economic cost at $14bn and recovery needs at $11bn, figures that the current war is now inflating by the day.

    Lebanon’s Bank Audi has warned of zero growth this year if the war continues, versus a pre‑escalation projection of reconstruction‑led recovery. Tourism, historically a fifth of the economy and the engine of the 2024 rebound, has been the biggest casualty.

    Looking ahead, no reconstruction can be financed while the destruction continues, and no IMF programme can advance while the state cannot ensure stability.

    Iran’s leverage may be keeping the bombs off Beirut, but the south’s entrenchment as a war zone is only deepening – with hopes for recovery receding further with every village levelled.

    While the costly occupation is imposing a rising political price on the Israeli government that may, in time, bring it to an end, this will be little consolation for those displaced – many of whom now have no communities to return to, and homes built over decades that are gone.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17120249/main.gif
    John Bambridge
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