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• 
  Chinese contractor completes 70% of Iraq oil project

  6 July 2026

  

   

  The project to develop new crude oil processing facilities at Iraq’s Rumaila field is 70% complete, according to industry sources.

  The project scope for the planned plant in Mishrif Qurainat includes developing two new oil trains, each with a capacity of 120,000 barrels a day (b/d).

  When it was originally announced, the planned plant in Mishrif Qurainat was the first new crude oil processing facility project at the oil field in 10 years.

  In the fourth quarter of 2022, China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation signed a contract for the design, procurement, construction and testing of the crude oil processing facilities.

  The contract was valued at about $386m, and construction was expected to take three years to complete.

  Since 2022, the project has seen significant delays and the date for completion is currently uncertain, according to industry sources, as bringing the new crude processing facility online is no longer a priority for the client.

  One source said: “Work is continuing on this project at a slow pace because the client is not prioritising commissioning the oil trains.

  “The companies that form the joint venture, which operates the Rumaila field, are dealing with a range of other issues right now as a result of the regional war and disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.”

  Rumaila is operated by Rumaila Operating Organisation (ROO).

  ROO is a joint venture formed by state-owned Basra Oil Company; Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation (Somo); and Basra Energy Company, a joint venture owned by UK-based oil company BP and PetroChina.

  PetroChina is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation.

  Oil exports from Iraq have dropped steeply since the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, leading to a regional conflict.

  The conflict has caused significant disruption to Iraq’s oil exports via the Strait of Hormuz.

  This has had a knock-on impact for production in the country, where output from many major oil fields has had to stop or has been significantly lowered.

  One source said: “At the moment, Basra Oil Company is prioritising restoring production, where it is possible, from assets that have seen reductions in output.

  “They are using a lot of resources just to keep existing facilities online and restarting facilities that have stopped due to the crisis.

  “Commissioning a brand new project, like the Mishrif Qurainat facilities, is unlikely to be a priority until Iraq’s oil sector returns to a situation that is more like business as usual prior to the conflict with Iran.”

  Rumaila is the ‎second-largest producing field in the world, and it is estimated to have about 17 billion barrels of ‎recoverable oil remaining.‎

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  Wil Crisp
• 
  Riyadh awards Thumama Road eastern section contract

  6 July 2026

  

   

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  The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) has awarded a contract for the eastern section of the Thumamah Road development project in Riyadh.

  Yuksel Saudi, the local subsidiary of Turkish construction firm Yuksel Holding, won the contract.

  The mobilisation works are expected to begin by mid-July and the project is expected to be completed by 2028.

  The project covers about 8 kilometres (km) and includes three bridges and three tunnels. It is designed to handle up to 200,000 vehicles a day.

  The RCRC is investing in upgrading the road networks in the capital. Earlier in July, it awarded another contract to local firm Sapac for the Jeddah Road development project.

  Covering 29km, the scheme includes 14 bridges and five lanes.

  Designed to handle up to 353,000 vehicles a day, the road is expected to be completed by 2028, with mobilisation works already under way.

  The projects form part of the third package of the RCRC’s Riyadh Main and Ring Road Axes Development Programme, which was announced in January.

  The other schemes include:

  • Taif Road development project: The project stretches 15km and includes four bridges, each with four lanes. It also features two tunnels. It will have a capacity of up to 200,000 vehicles a day and will enhance connectivity between Riyadh’s southern and western districts and the city centre.
  • Thumamah Road development project: The eastern section of the project will cover 8km and include three bridges and three tunnels, linking the northern and eastern parts of Riyadh. The project will have a daily capacity of up to 200,000 vehicles.
  • King Abdulaziz Road development project: The northern section of the project stretches 4.7km and will include four bridges, four lanes and one tunnel, with a capacity of up to 450,000 vehicles a day.
  • Othman Bin Affan Road development project: The northern section will cover 4.3km and include seven bridges and other related upgrades to enhance traffic flow in northern Riyadh. The project will have a daily capacity of up to 500,000 vehicles.
  • Second phase of engineering enhancements for congested areas: This project targets eight locations in the city’s road network, where advanced engineering solutions will be applied to reduce congestion and improve intersection performance, increasing traffic capacity by 40%-60%.

  The contract for the Thumamah Road development project is the latest of several high-profile deals awarded by the RCRC recently. In May, it awarded an estimated SR5bn ($1.3bn) contract to construct the Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah Road project in Riyadh.

  That contract went to a joint venture of Riyadh-based Al-Rashid Trading & Contracting Company and Turkiye’s IC Ictas.

  Stretching 12km, the project runs from Khurais Road to Al-Thumama Road and is a key component of the Second Eastern Ring Road scheme.

  Works include five interchanges: Prince Bandar, King Abdullah, Imam Abdullah, Dammam Road and Al-Thumama.

  In 2021, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud said the population of Riyadh would double to 15-20 million people by 2030. 

  He directed government entities to work closely with the RCRC to prepare the city’s development strategy.

  As well as several road development projects in the capital, the RCRC’s major projects include Riyadh Metro, Riyadh Art, Sports Boulevard, King Salman International Park and Green Riyadh.

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  PIF’s 2025 results back 2026-30 strategy shift

  3 July 2026

  Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has published its audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025, the first full set of annual results to follow the board’s approval of the fund’s 2026-30 strategy.

  The results show a sharp improvement in profitability last year even as leverage rose and volatility in its listed equity holdings widened. The performance helps explain the strategic shift towards capital discipline and focus on private sector partnerships set out in April.

  In April, PIF’s board, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al-Saud, approved a new five-year strategy structured around three portfolios, the Vision Portfolio, the Strategic Portfolio and the Financial Portfolio, and organised around six domestic ecosystems: tourism, travel and entertainment; urban development and liveability; advanced manufacturing and innovation; industrials and logistics; clean energy, water and renewables infrastructure; and Neom as a standalone ecosystem.

  Project reprioritisation

  The strategy followed a period of reprioritisation across PIF’s gigaproject portfolio and set out a renewed emphasis on private capital, with PIF stating it would “further enable the role of the private sector as an effective partner for sustainable economic development”.

  PIF’s consolidated profit for 2025 rose to SR65.2bn ($17.4bn) in 2025, up 152% from SR25.8bn in 2024. The increase was driven by operating profit more than doubling, to SR78bn from SR34.7bn, as revenue growth outpaced cost of revenue and general and administrative expenses moderated relative to the prior year. Profit attributable to the owner of the fund rose to SR46.4bn, up from just SR1bn in 2024, a swing that accounts for most of the year-on-year improvement.

  Total revenue, comprising SR312bn of operating revenue and SR137.9bn of income from investment activities, rose 8.8% to SR449.9bn. Core operating revenue alone was up 9.9%, from SR284bn in 2024.

  Segment mix                                                     

  The segment breakdown shows where that growth came from, and it lines up closely with the six ecosystems named in the 2026-30 strategy. Banking and financial services remained the largest single revenue line at SR85.3bn, followed by telecommunications at SR76.8bn ($20.5bn), which was down slightly on 2024. Mining revenue rose 19.3% to SR38.8bn, consistent with the strategy’s focus on industrials and logistics, while revenue from electronic gaming and related services held broadly flat at SR15.6bn, an area PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan specifically cited as a sector for strategic investment alongside artificial intelligence and renewable energy. Agricultural and livestock revenue nearly tripled, to SR7.6bn from SR2.5bn, and revenue from events operations rose to SR7.6bn from SR6bn, both pointing to the diversification into domestic ecosystems the strategy describes. Real estate operations revenue and revenue from advanced electronics and aerospace both declined slightly year-on-year.

  Total assets grew 5.1% to SR4.54tn from SR4.32tn, continuing the expansion PIF has reported since 2015, when the strategy document put assets under management at $150bn, against more than $900bn today. The two figures are not directly comparable, since the IFRS consolidated balance sheet captures the full assets of consolidated subsidiaries such as the fund’s banking, telecommunications and mining operations, while PIF’s publicly cited assets-under-management figure uses a different valuation methodology, but both point to the same order of scale.

  Total equity, by contrast, fell 2% to SR2.63tn ($701bn) from SR2.68tn, despite the sharp rise in reported profit. The gap is explained by other comprehensive income, which swung to a loss of SR113.3bn for the year, driven primarily by a SR112.8bn fair-value loss on equity instruments measured at fair value through other comprehensive income. In other words, unrealised mark-to-market losses on part of PIF’s listed equity portfolio outweighed the operating profit improvement, leaving total comprehensive income attributable to the owner of the fund at a loss of SR64.7bn for the year, though this was narrower than the SR154.4bn loss recorded in 2024.

  Total liabilities rose 16.7%, to SR1.91tn from SR1.64tn, driven mainly by loans and borrowings, which climbed 27.2% to SR725.3bn from SR570.4bn. Property, plant and equipment grew 6.3%, to SR429.6bn, reflecting continued capital spending across PIF’s real estate and gigaproject portfolio, including the stadium, hospitality and urban development programmes.

  Strategy context

  The scale of PIF’s investment activity in the run-up to 2025 is set out in the April strategy announcement rather than the financial statements themselves. Between 2021 and 2025, PIF says it invested more than $199bn in new projects in Saudi Arabia, contributed $243bn to real non-oil GDP and spent more than $157bn with the local private sector, alongside growing assets under management six-fold and delivering an annualised total shareholder return of more than 7% since 2017. Read against the 2025 results, the rise in mining, gaming, agricultural and events revenue is an early indication that this domestic ecosystem investment is beginning to show up in operating performance, even as the wider balance sheet shows the cost of that expansion in higher borrowing and greater sensitivity to listed equity markets.

  The results reinforce a theme demonstrated by PIF’s ongoing award of construction contracts for Expo 2030, the 2034 Fifa World Cup and other gigaprojects in the kingdom. Growth is increasingly funded through a combination of retained earnings, debt and, with the new strategy, private co-investment, rather than balance-sheet expansion alone. The explicit retention of Neom as a named ecosystem in the 2026-30 strategy, despite the cancellation of several Trojena contracts and the loss of the Asian Winter Games over the past year, suggests PIF intends to continue funding the project, but within a more disciplined framework most likely centred on industrial development around the Port of Neom, which is also known as Oxagon.

  The 2025 results and the 2026-30 strategy point to a fund entering a new phase: profit generation has improved markedly, but leverage has grown and comprehensive income remains exposed to swings in listed markets, both factors consistent with a strategy that emphasises capital efficiency, institutional excellence and a larger role for private capital rather than a further scaling-up of gigaproject spending on PIF’s own balance sheet.

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  Colin Foreman
• 
  UAE to add Ajman to its Etihad Rail passenger network

  3 July 2026

  

   

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  As part of ongoing procurement for the UAE’s national passenger rail rollout, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Rail is adding Ajman to the planned network, extending coverage to five of the seven emirates.

  Etihad Rail tendered a design-and-build contract in late June to construct a section of the network to Hamriyah in Ajman, branching off from its existing freight network.

  The scope includes civil and track works, the construction of a passenger station and other associated infrastructure.

  Contractors have until 27 July to submit their proposals.

  The extension to Ajman brings Etihad Rail’s passenger network closer to the wider Northern Emirates, where Umm Al-Quwain and Ras Al-Khaimah still sit outside the current rollout, despite lying along the existing freight corridor, which currently terminates at Al-Ghail dry port in Ras Al-Khaimah.

  The sequencing of the Ajman section could pave the way for further extensions if this section proves successful.

  The latest development follows Etihad Rail’s start of passenger rail operations on 30 June 2026, with an introductory operational phase on the Abu Dhabi-Fujairah route.

  The passenger roll-out marked a major milestone for Etihad Rail, which was established in 2009 and tasked with delivering a roughly 900-kilometre railway linking key cities, ports and industrial hubs from Ghuwaifat to Fujairah on the eastern coast.

  The launch came less than five years after the UAE announced its ambition to create a national passenger railway under the country’s “Projects of the 50” programme, aiming to support economic diversification and sustainable development.

  According to Etihad Rail, passenger services will be introduced in planned phases through 2026 and 2027:

  • 23 June 2026: Passenger tickets went on sale via the Etihad Rail app and a dedicated booking website (as well as the contact centre for certain fares)
  • 30 June 2026: Introductory operational phase begins with services between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah only
  • 30 September 2026: Passenger rail services formally commence and expand to include Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Al-Dhaid and Fujairah
  • 30 December 2026: Services extend to Al-Dhafra stations
  • 30 March 2027: Services expand further to include Sharjah

  In response to MEED’s request for comment on the Ajman section, Etihad Rail said:

  “Etihad Rail remains committed to supporting the UAE’s vision for an integrated, efficient and sustainable transport network that enhances connectivity between communities and supports the nation’s long-term economic and social development.

  “As previously announced, Etihad Rail’s passenger services are being introduced in phases, with further expansion planned over time. We do not comment on market speculation, commercial discussions, procurement activity, or projects that have not been formally announced.

  “Any updates regarding future developments will be communicated through official channels in due course.”

  

  Passenger rail operations

  Tickets for the Abu Dhabi-Fujairah route are already on sale through the operator’s digital platforms.

  Customers can book tickets up to four weeks before travel. Tickets for new destinations will be released in line with the phased roll-out.

  At this point, Etihad Rail’s passenger service will officially connect 11 cities and regions across the UAE, supported by a station network that links key urban and economic centres. The station list includes:

  • Abu Dhabi – Mohamed Bin Zayed City Station
  • Dubai – Al-Yalayis Station
  • Sharjah – University City Station
  • Fujairah Station
  • Al-Dhaid Station
  • Al-Dhannah Station
  • Madinat Zayed Station
  • Liwa Station
  • Al-Mirfa Station
  • Al-Sila Station
  • Al-Faya Station

  Construction history

  The first phase of Etihad Rail comprised a 264-kilometre freight line spanning Shah, Habshan and Ruwais. This was primarily delivered by a consortium of Italy’s Saipem and Maire Technimont, alongside UAE-based Dodsal Engineering & Construction.

  Stage 2 of Etihad Rail comprises four major packages.

  India’s Larsen & Toubro worked with Chinese state-owned PowerChina International on the design and construction of freight facilities for Stage 2 under a AED1.87bn contract.

  A joint venture comprising China State Construction Engineering Corporation and South Korea’s SK Engineering worked on the first of four civil and track works packages for the 139km line between Ghuwaifat and Ruwais. The contract, worth AED1.5bn, was confirmed in March 2019.

  Packages B and C of Stage 2 were awarded to a joint venture of Beijing-based China Railway Construction Corporation and local Ghantoot Transport & General Contracting in June 2019.

  Both packages are understood to have a combined value of AED4.4bn and cover 310km of the rail network.

  In December 2019, a joint venture of CRCC and local National Projects & Construction was formally confirmed for the AED4.6bn Package D.

  Package D will link the ports of Fujairah and Khorfakkan to the network at the Dubai-Sharjah border and stretches over a distance of 145km.

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  IHC deepens India links with $11.5bn aluminium venture

  3 July 2026

  Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company (IHC) has struck its third major partnership with India’s Adani Group in a year, signing an agreement to co-develop an $11.5bn greenfield aluminium complex in the eastern Indian state of Odisha.

  Under a memorandum of understanding signed with the Odisha state government on 2 July, Adani Enterprises (AEL) and International Resources Holding (IRH), the natural resources investment platform IHC operates through its 2PointZero subsidiary, will form a 50:50 joint venture to build an integrated alumina and aluminium complex. The project comprises a 4-million-tonne-a-year (t/y) alumina refinery, a 2 million t/y aluminium smelter, a 4,000MW captive power plant and a 1 million t/y downstream manufacturing park.

  The deal marks Odisha’s largest foreign direct investment proposal to date and what the partners describe as India’s largest single foreign investment in the metallurgy sector. It is expected to create about 53,500 jobs, split between roughly 35,000 during construction and 18,500 in ongoing mining, refining, smelting and manufacturing operations once the complex is running.

  The tie-up extends a fast-growing relationship between IHC and Adani that began with a renewable energy joint venture between IHC subsidiary ePointZero and Adani Green Energy earlier this year. For IHC, which has built a $233bn portfolio spanning more than 1,300 subsidiaries across technology, infrastructure, financial services and consumer sectors, the Odisha project deepens a strategy of using IRH as a vehicle to secure positions across the minerals value chain underpinning the energy transition, moving beyond passive investment into direct industrial development.

  Odisha holds some of India’s largest bauxite reserves and is already a significant alumina and aluminium producer. State officials cast the project as central to plans to position the region as a global manufacturing hub, tying it to the state’s Samruddha Odisha 2036 development programme and the national Viksit Bharat 2047 agenda.

  The project will proceed in two phases. Following the MoU signing, AEL and IRH said they would move to land acquisition, statutory approvals and infrastructure planning alongside the Odisha government.

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  Colin Foreman