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• 
  What IFAD’s wind-down means for Gulf commodity markets

  24 September 2026

  

   

  The wind-down of ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) – the Abu Dhabi-based futures exchange operated by US-based global exchange and clearing house operator Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) – on 31 July 2026 was the end of an era. It was also the opening move in a transformation whose legal consequences will keep the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Courts, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts and London arbitral tribunals occupied for years. 

  One strategy

  On 31 July, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) announced that all four of its crude grades would move from IFAD pricing to a Platts Dubai prompt-month mechanism in November. ICE published its wind-down circular the same day. 

  The Iran war was the catalyst: the official selling price of Murban, Adnoc’s flagship crude grade, surged from $63 a barrel in February to $110.75 in May, and Asian refiners – managing their margins against a crude price set two months ahead of loading – demanded a more straightforward mechanism.

  But the IFAD wind-down must be read alongside three other key decisions. On 1 May, the UAE withdrew from oil producers’ group Opec, freeing Adnoc from quota constraints that had capped production at 3.4 million barrels a day against a capacity of 4.85 million. On 6 July, Adnoc launched a global liquefied natural gas marketing and trading platform in the ADGM, targeting 47 million tonnes a year by 2035. Then, on 22 July, DP World signed a 50-year concession with the Fujairah Ports Authority to develop the Al-Rugaylat and Dibba terminals on the Gulf of Oman coast. 

  Together, these decisions constitute a coherent strategic architecture: a Hormuz-independent, Fujairah-centred, Indian Ocean-facing trade infrastructure designed to serve the markets where commodity demand will be most durable over the next 30 years.

  Force majeure battleground

  The legal consequences of the Iran war are immediate and novel. The most contested issue is force majeure. 

  IFAD was established within ADGM, which applies English common law, and was regulated by the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). Under English law, there is no freestanding right to invoke force majeure, and the threshold is demanding. General disruption or increased costs do not suffice. The question is whether performance has become legally or physically impossible.

  When Iranian strikes damaged the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, the sole IFAD delivery point, and vessel traffic through Hormuz fell from over 100 ships a day to fewer than 14, the impossibility argument strengthened materially. But a critical distinction separates parties whose non-delivery was attributable to the physical closure of Hormuz from those whose non-delivery reflected elevated war risk premiums and unavailable insurance: the latter falls short of legal impossibility under English law.

  The governing law of each contract is therefore significant. Under UAE civil law, statutory provisions address both impossibility and the court’s discretion to reduce obligations. A party whose contract is governed by English law faces a harder test, even on identical facts. 

  This asymmetry is generating an uptick in advisory work as trading houses assess their positions across portfolios of contracts with different governing law provisions. 

  The sanctions picture adds further complexity: the successive reimposition of US sanctions following ceasefire collapses has affected the legality of positions that were fully compliant when established, raising questions for which English law provides no settled answer.

  The legal consequences of the Iran war are immediate and novel

  Legal infrastructure

  The FSRA’s regulatory framework has demonstrated resilience during the crisis. Its Recognised Investment Exchange licensing regime, under which IFAD operated, and its Environmental Instrument classification, making ADGM the first jurisdiction in the world to regulate voluntary carbon credits as financial instruments, remain available to new market entrants. 

  ADGM Courts, applying English common law, has developed a strong body of legal precedent over 11 years. And London-based ICE Clear Europe’s relationship with IFAD provides a model for how future exchange infrastructure in ADGM might access London clearing capability while remaining regulated in Abu Dhabi.

  With the 31st UN Climate Change Conference Cop31 opening in Antalya on 9 November 2026 and Cop32 scheduled for Addis Ababa in 2027, the Article 6 Paris Agreement carbon market framework is developing rapidly. The FSRA’s Environmental Instrument classification positions ADGM as a natural regulatory home for the Gulf-Africa carbon market infrastructure that neither London nor Singapore is positioned to provide. The DP World concession, with its East African port network providing the physical verification layer that carbon credit integrity requires, reinforces that positioning.

  Legal practitioners who develop expertise in this intersection of English common law, FSRA regulation, DIFC financial services law and international commodity trading before the IFAD delivery disputes are resolved and before the replacement infrastructure is announced, will be well placed in a jurisdiction growing at 57% annually by assets under management. The story of what follows IFAD has barely begun.

   

   

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• 
  Tecnimont breaks ground on Ruwais NGL train 5 project

  24 September 2026

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  Italian contractor Tecnimont has broken ground on the third phase of Adnoc Gas’ Rich Gas Development (RGD) programme, which involves building a fifth natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation train at the Ruwais gas processing facility in Abu Dhabi.

  Adnoc Gas, the gas processing subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc Group), awarded Tecnimont a contract valued at $4.3bn in August to carry out engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on the Ruwais NGL-5 project.

  Tecnimont’s parent company, Maire, previously said its scope of work under RGD phase 3 includes EPC activities for the fifth NGL fractionation unit – which will separate various hydrocarbon components – together with treatment and sweetening systems designed to remove impurities and ensure product quality.

  The scope also includes a regeneration gas treatment unit, a propane refrigeration system, ancillary systems and storage facilities. Once completed in 2030, the plant will have an output capacity of 23,000 tonnes a day (t/d), or about 8 million tonnes a year, Milan-headquartered Maire said.

  The detailed scope of work on the Ruwais NGL Train 5 project covers the EPC of the following units:

  • An NGL fractionation plant with a capacity of 22,000 t/d, including NGL fractionation facilities, downstream treatment units, sulphur recovery units, product storage and loading facilities, and associated utilities, flares and interconnection pipelines with existing facilities
  • Two propane liquefied petroleum gas storage tanks and one paraffinic naphtha storage tank
  • Buildings, including a central control building, outstations, substations and plant amenities
  • Electrical power connections. Power is to be sourced from the nearby Transco substation via a direct underground cable to the plot location

  Adnoc Gas requires the project’s feed to be updated based on the design of Ruwais NGL Train 4, which has an output capacity of 27,000 t/d and was commissioned in 2014.

  Alongside taking the final investment decision (FID) on RGD phase 3 in August, Adnoc Gas also announced it had reached FID on the second phase of the programme, with the two projects requiring a total investment of $8.2bn.

  The second phase of the RGD programme involves constructing a new gas processing train at the Habshan complex in Abu Dhabi. Adnoc Gas awarded the EPC contract for the project, valued at $3.9bn, to China-based Wison Engineering.

  Wison Engineering said the EPC contract for RGD phase 2 is the largest in its history. The total contract value is $4.04bn, the Hong Kong-listed company said, adding that the scope includes gas pipelines; separation and condensate stabilisation units; acid gas removal units; deep NGL recovery units; and a 220kV switch station.

  Phase 2 will add a new natural gas processing train at the Habshan facility, “expanding Adnoc Gas’ natural gas processing capacity, enhancing operational flexibility, and supporting the UAE’s expanding downstream and petrochemical sectors”, Adnoc Gas said.

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  Indrajit Sen
• 
  Hitachi wins Al-Mashaer Al-Muqadasah metro revamp

  24 September 2026

  Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) has signed a contract with Japan’s Hitachi Rail to revamp the Al-Mashaer Al-Muqadasah metro project in Mecca.

  The 18-kilometre line includes nine stations and has a design capacity of about 72,000 passengers an hour in each direction.

  The scope includes upgrades to improve reliability, operational performance and long-term maintainability.

  SAR chief executive Bashar Al-Malik and Hitachi Rail’s Middle East and Africa signalling and rail solutions vice-president, Carlo Piacenza, signed the contract.

  The rail line operates during the Hajj period and transports pilgrims between Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat.

  It was developed to reduce reliance on buses, ease congestion on pilgrimage routes, and improve safety and crowd management during Hajj.

  The Saudi authorities procured the project on a fast-track basis to meet a fixed operational deadline for Hajj. It entered initial operation in 2010, with China Railway Construction Corporation acting as the main contractor for civil works and overall delivery.

  Hitachi Rail supplied key rail systems, including signalling and telecommunications. SAR subsequently assumed responsibility for the asset and has led later improvement and upgrade programmes.

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Contractor wins 6GW data centre campus infrastructure

  24 September 2026

  

   

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  Dammam-based construction firm Al-Yamama Company for Trading & Contracting has won a contract to develop infrastructure for a planned 6GW hyperscale artificial intelligence (AI) data centre campus in Riyadh.

  The project will be delivered on an early contractor involvement (ECI) basis. Under the ECI process, selected contractors are required to submit methodologies and design proposals, after which one team will be selected to deliver the construction works.

  Saudi Arabia’s AI company Humain, owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), tendered the contract in May, as MEED reported.

  The scope of infrastructure work covers:

  • Construction of 380kV/132kV/33kV electrical distribution network, two substations with a capacity of 500MVA and 200MVA, bulk supply point (2,000MVA)
  • Water network and fire protection systems
  • Sewage treatment plant and wastewater network
  • Stormwater systems
  • Roads
  • Underground cable and fibre optic networks
  • Landscaping works

  The client is being supported by Canadian engineering firm Hatch, France’s Egis and US-based firm JLL.

  The development will be built on a 24-square-kilometre site in the Al-Saad area in east Riyadh. It will be delivered in two phases across six plots, each with a capacity of 1GW.

  Humain was launched in May last year to operate and invest across the AI value chain.

  Humain is building full-stack AI capabilities across four core areas: next-generation data centres, hyper-performance infrastructure and cloud platforms, and advanced AI models, including Allam.

  Also in May 2025, Humain signed preliminary deals with US chipmakers AMD and Nvidia to build multibillion-dollar advanced digital infrastructure in the kingdom.

  AMD said it will invest up to $10bn to deploy 500MW of AI compute capacity in Saudi Arabia over the next five years.

  In October 2025, PIF and Saudi Aramco signed a non-binding term sheet setting out key terms under which Aramco would acquire a minority stake in Humain, with PIF retaining majority ownership.

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Algeria officially launches major phosphate project

  24 September 2026

  Algeria’s Minister of State and Minister of Hydrocarbons, Mohamed Arkab, has officially launched the construction of the country’s Integrated Phosphate Project (IPP) during a visit to the province of Annaba.

  This major phosphate project spans the provinces of Annaba, Souk Ahras, Tebessa and Bir El-Ater.

  The scope of the IPP includes:

  • A raw phosphate extraction and beneficiation complex at the Bled El-Hadba site (Bir El-Ater): designed for 5.5 million tonnes a year (t/y) of ore extraction and 3.2 million t/y of phosphate concentrate production
  • An industrial complex at the Oued Keberit site: to include several production units, with the capacity to produce 2.4 million t/y of phosphate fertilisers as well as 570,000 t/y of nitrogen fertilisers
  • Port facilities at the port of Annaba: for exporting surplus fertiliser production
  • Utilities and auxiliary infrastructure

  In a statement, the Ministry of Hydrocarbons said that Arkab’s official visit was taking place “within the framework of periodic field monitoring of the project’s implementation stages”.

  It said: “The project stands as one of the most significant strategic and structural initiatives for the national economy; it aims to develop and exploit national mineral resources and to process and add value to phosphate locally, thereby boosting value-added output and increasing non-hydrocarbon exports.”

  It added: “The integrated phosphate project is part of a comprehensive vision to valorise national mineral resources and develop associated downstream industries.

  “This initiative aims to boost national production of fertilisers and high-value-added chemical products, support food security, create jobs, and contribute to diversifying the national economy and increasing non-hydrocarbon exports.”

  On 12 August, Algeria’s national oil and gas company Sonatrach and the Algerian Chinese Fertilisers Company (ACFC) signed two engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for the project.

  The contracts were part of the Bled El-Hadba phosphate development project, which is expected to be worth $7bn.

  The contracts were signed by Italy’s Saipem and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) as part of the first phase of the integrated phosphate project.

  Saipem’s contract was worth about €500m ($577m), according to a statement from the Italian company.

  It focuses on constructing fertiliser processing and production facilities.

  The contract with CHEC focuses on constructing port facilities at the Port of Annaba.

  ACFC was created in March 2022 by Algerian companies Asmidal and Manadjim El-Djazair (Manal), which own 56% of the company, and Chinese groups Wuhuan and Tianan, which own the remaining 44% stake.

  Manal and Asmidal are both subsidiaries of Sonatrach.

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  Wil Crisp