Related Articles

• 
  Diriyah awards $727m Waldorf Astoria superblock deal

  17 June 2026

  

   

  Saudi gigaproject developer Diriyah Company has awarded a SR2.7bn ($727m) contract for the main construction works on the development’s Waldorf Astoria superblock.

  The contract was awarded to the joint venture of Hassan Allam Construction Saudi and UCC Saudi, the local branch of Qatar’s Urbacon Holding.

  The Waldorf Astoria superblock is a mixed-use development comprising a Waldorf Astoria hotel, Waldorf Astoria-branded residences, commercial and residential facilities, and office space.

  The Waldorf Astoria hotel will feature 200 keys, while the residential component will comprise 47 branded residences.

  The project is located on the Grand Boulevard South and Northern Arterial Road in the Boulevard Northwestern district at Diriyah Gate 2. 

  Diriyah Company tendered the contract in November last year, with submissions due in January, as MEED reported.

  Diriyah Company Group CEO Jerry Inzerillo said: “We are delighted to announce this latest major construction contract for the Waldorf Astoria superblock as we continue to progress at pace across the Diriyah development area. The Waldorf Astoria will be a world-class addition to our growing portfolio of globally renowned hospitality brands, further strengthening Diriyah’s appeal as a globally significant destination that offers world-class hospitality and lifestyle experiences.

  “Together with our partners, we look forward to delivering another landmark development that supports the kingdom’s Vision 2030 ambitions and contributes to the continued growth and success of Diriyah.”

  Hassan Allam, chairman and CEO of Hassan Allam Holding, said: “We are proud to support the development of one of the kingdom’s most ambitious and transformative destinations and to continue our partnership with Diriyah Company in bringing its vision to life.

  “Drawing on more than 90 years of experience across the Mena region, we remain committed to delivering the highest standards of quality and excellence on landmark projects that are helping shape the kingdom’s future.”

  Ramez Al-Khayyat, UCC Holding president and group CEO, said: “Being awarded this contract by Diriyah Company marks another important milestone in our growing partnership and reinforces our shared commitment to delivering world-class developments across the kingdom. This project builds on our ongoing collaboration in Diriyah, including the delivery of four luxury hotels and the Royal Diriyah Equestrian and Polo Club in Wadi Safar.

  “We value the opportunity to contribute once again to one of Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious and prestigious urban development destinations, supporting the vision of creating a world-class cultural, hospitality and lifestyle hub.”

  The latest award follows Diriyah Company’s award of an estimated SR730m ($195m) construction contract for civic quarter buildings within the Diriyah development to local contractor Al-Rashid Trading & Contracting Company (RTCC).

  In April, Diriyah announced a SR1.84bn ($490m) construction contract to build the Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art (SAMoCA) within the Diriyah development. The contract was awarded to a consortium of Egyptian contractor Hassan Allam Construction Saudi and Saudi Arabia’s Albawani.

  In March, Diriyah Company awarded an estimated SR2.5bn ($666m) contract to build the Pendry superblock in the DG2 area.

  The Pendry superblock includes the construction of the Pendry Hotel alongside residential and commercial assets. The package will cover 75,365 square metres and is located in the northwestern district of the DG2 area.

  The previous month, Diriyah Company also awarded a SR717m ($192m) contract for the construction of the One Hotel, located in the Diriyah Two area of the masterplan, with a gross floor area of more than 31,000 sq m.

  The Diriyah masterplan envisages the city as a cultural and lifestyle tourism destination. Located northwest of Riyadh’s city centre, it will cover 14 square kilometres and combine 300 years of history, culture and heritage with hospitality facilities.

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17287718/main.jpg

  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  AHS Properties acquires Shangri-La hotel for $300m

  17 June 2026

  Dubai-based real estate developer AHS Properties has announced the acquisition of the Shangri-La hotel for AED1.1bn ($300m), marking one of the largest single-asset real estate transactions in recent years.

  AHS Properties acquired the hotel from local firm Mismak Asset Management.

  The Shangri-La Hotel is a 43-storey, 200-metre tower located on Sheikh Zayed Road. Completed in 2003, it was among the first five-star hotels to open along the corridor.

  The acquisition expands AHS Properties’ portfolio, which includes AHS Tower, a Grade A commercial development on Sheikh Zayed Road, and AHS City, the company’s master-planned mixed-use community on the same corridor.

  In a statement, AHS Properties said that AHS Tower, AHS City and the Shangri-La hotel form a strategic “vertical corridor” platform, representing a significant portion of the company’s AED50bn development pipeline through the end of 2026.

  “The transaction reflects AHS Properties’ strategy of deploying capital into high-quality, supply-constrained assets,” the statement added.

  According to the Dubai Land Department, Dubai’s real estate sector recorded AED252bn in transactions in Q1 2026.

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17310101/main.jpg

  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Libya signs three oil deals after licensing round

  17 June 2026

  Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) has signed three production-sharing agreements with several international energy companies following the country’s first licensing round in nearly two decades.

  The three agreements have been signed with the following consortiums:

  • Block O1 – offshore – Eni (Italy; 60%) and QatarEnergy (40%)
  • Block O7 – offshore – Repsol (Spain; 40%), Turkiye Petrolleri A O (TPAO; Turkiye; 40%) and MOL Group (Hungary; 20%)
  • Block C3 – onshore – Repsol and TPAO

  The contracts are three of the five announced as awarded in February this year as part of the 2025 licensing round.

  The three contracts were signed on 15 June.

  It is not known why the remaining two awarded contracts have not been signed.

  The remaining two contracts are:

  • Block M1 – onshore – Aiteo (Nigeria)
  • Block S4 – onshore – Chevron (US)

  Libya is seeking to attract investment and raise oil production capacity to 2 million barrels a day (b/d) from around 1.4 million b/d currently.

  The chairman of NOC, Massoud Suleman, said that the agreements reflected growing confidence in Libya’s oil and gas sector and would support exploration, development and production growth.

  The 2025 licensing round was Libya’s first licensing round since 2007.

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17297353/main.jpg

  Wil Crisp
• 
  Petrofac seeks to reclaim lost ground in UAE projects market

  17 June 2026

  Commentary
  Indrajit Sen
  Oil & gas editor

  Petrofac has turned a corner. The completion of sales transactions for its Asset Solutions business in April and the UAE-based unit Petrofac Emirates in late May, mark the end of a tumultuous period for the UK-headquartered company that started in at least 2019. They are also the beginning of a new chapter.

  Since the start of the decade, Petrofac has been rattled by problems cascading from a corruption scandal that led key clients in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region to suspend the company from project tendering. It also caused widespread layoffs, saw the company's shares delisted from the London Stock Exchange in May 2025 and, ultimately, forced the firm to file for administration in the UK in October due to mounting financial challenges.

  In the midst of these legal and financial struggles, the Covid-19 pandemic dealt further blows to Petrofac's operations.

  Yet despite the troubles of its besieged parent company, Abu Dhabi-based Petrofac Emirates continued to win oil and gas contracts from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc Group).

  Petrofac Emirates, which was established in Abu Dhabi in 2008 and operates a major base in the emirate of Sharjah, won approximately $6.4bn-worth of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts in the Mena region in the first half of the decade, according to data from regional project tracker MEED Projects. Nearly half of the company's total contract awards in 2020-25 was generated in the UAE.

  Petrofac Emirates won major contracts for the third tranche of the first phase of Adnoc Gas’ Rich Gas Development programme in June 2025, valued at $1.2bn. The contracts cover engineering, procurement and construction management services and overseeing the procurement and construction contracts for the building of a new inlet facility; two new gas dehydration and compression trains, each with a capacity of 420 million cubic feet a day; and associated infrastructure at the Das Island liquefaction facility.

  Petrofac Emirates is also a key contractor within Adnoc Gas’ larger scheme to upgrade its sales gas pipeline network across the UAE. The firm has won two out of eight EPC packages for the project, which is also known as Estidama. 

  Separately, Adnoc Gas awarded Petrofac a $615m EPC contract in October 2023 for the carbon dioxide (CO2) recovery project at the Habshan complex. The planned Habshan carbon capture, utilisation and storage facility will have the capacity to capture and permanently store 1.5 million tonnes a year of CO2 within geological formations deep underground.

  Looking ahead, Petrofac Emirates is expected to thrive under its new ownership – a consortium of financial investors. The group is led by New York-headquartered hedge fund Mason Capital Management and UK-based asset management firm Pearlstone Alternative, and is expected to make significant investments to improve Petrofac Emirates’ core capabilities and increase the company's workforce.

  The management change at Petrofac Emirates also comes at an opportune time, as Adnoc strives to achieve an oil production capacity of 5 million barrels a day by 2027 – in a campaign known as Accelerated Integrated Programme 5 – and attain gas self-sufficiency by the end of the decade.

  With its financial stability secured under the new owners, a resurgent Petrofac is likely to compete to regain its lost share of the UAE projects market – as well as for Adnoc Group’s recently announced AED200bn ($54.45bn) capital expenditure budget for new project awards in 2026-28.

  

   

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17292276/main.JPG

  Indrajit Sen
• 
  Retirement creates multibillion-dollar opportunity for region

  16 June 2026

  The GCC has long relied on government pension schemes and employer gratuity payments to provide for retirement. As workforces expand, demographics shift and expatriate communities put down longer-term roots, those arrangements are coming under growing strain. A new report from BlackRock argues that addressing those pressures represents one of the region’s more consequential economic policy opportunities – not only for individuals, but also for the depth and sophistication of its financial markets.

  The asset manager’s recently published Read on Retirement: GCC 2026 study, based on a survey of 1,000 working individuals across the UAE and Saudi Arabia, depicts a workforce that is motivated but structurally underserved.

  In the UAE, the survey finds that 78% of workers feel positive about their current financial position. Yet 59% say financial worries prevent them from planning for the future, and 58% worry about outliving their savings. Retirement preparedness stands at 67% among UAE nationals, underpinned by public pension provision, but falls to 46% among expatriates.

  Three-quarters of respondents say they have begun preparing for retirement. Yet only 24% are contributing to a pension or long-term savings plan. The remainder are saving through cash, gold and property – assets that may preserve value but are not designed to generate sustainable retirement income. The survey indicates that 49% of respondents hold savings in cash, 40% in gold and 18% in property, suggesting a substantial share of potential long-term capital is held in short-term or non-productive forms.

  “What we see in the data is a clear retirement knowledge gap, not an intention gap. People are doing the right things in principle, but they don’t yet have access to the types of investment frameworks that can deliver sustainable retirement outcomes,” says Kashif Riaz, head of Middle East financial markets advisory at BlackRock.

  Good timing

  Several factors have converged to make retirement reform a timely priority. The UAE’s population is young compared with other developed markets, which provides a wide window for building long-duration savings pools.

  “It is a sweet spot right now – a very young population – and like all other geographies in the world, populations age over time,” Riaz says. “It is best to solve the problem structurally when the population is young and you have more workers than retirees.”

  The character of the expatriate workforce is also changing. A growing proportion of overseas workers is making long-term residency decisions, shifting their financial planning accordingly.

  “The demand for retirement solutions has grown much broader as expatriates make this their home for the long term,” Riaz notes. “Rather than conducting their banking, investing and primary real estate activity in their home countries with the intent to return, that is all happening here.”

  Reform is already under way. The UAE has introduced an alternative end-of-service benefit framework allowing employers to shift from the traditional, unfunded gratuity model – where liabilities sit on employer balance sheets and assets remain uninvested – to funded, defined-contribution structures managed by licensed providers. The Dubai International Financial Centre’s (DIFC’s) Employee Workplace Savings scheme is the most developed operational example. The private sector is beginning to follow.

  “Historically, in this region, only the largest or most multinational employers offered employee savings funds, but that is spreading,” Riaz says. “More insurance companies and asset managers are looking to develop the infrastructure to offer retirement solutions. We expect that to accelerate.”

  Financial markets

  For stakeholders in the region’s financial centres and for institutional investors, the big opportunity is what a well-established retirement system would mean for regional markets. The DIFC, Abu Dhabi Global Market and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Financial District have each invested substantially in regulatory and institutional capacity to attract and manage long-term capital. A domestically generated pool of retirement savings would provide durable demand for the instruments and markets they host, spanning listed equities, sukuk, private credit and infrastructure funds.

  “The bigger and more vibrant a retirement system in a country, the bigger and more vibrant that country’s financial markets will also be,” Riaz says.

  There is a precedent. Australia’s superannuation system, built over three decades, is widely credited with transforming the depth and sophistication of Australian capital markets.

  For regional fixed income, a domestic retirement pool would create a durable base of long-duration buyers for government and corporate sukuk issuances that currently depend heavily on international appetite. For listed equities, it would deepen liquidity on bourses in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. And for infrastructure, it would provide precisely the patient capital the growing regional PPP pipeline requires.

  Favourable conditions

  The retirement survey findings suggest unusually favourable demand conditions for reform. More than 90% of both UAE nationals and expatriates find defined-contribution workplace savings schemes appealing, with similar proportions indicating they would participate if such schemes were available. The main barriers are structural and informational rather than attitudinal. Only 13% of expatriates and 21% of nationals report confidence in understanding the retirement savings options available to them, while 92% say they would save more if given better incentives.

  With 56% of respondents planning to increase their retirement savings, the case for directing that capital into more productive long-term channels is clear.

  “By expanding access to funded, professionally managed workplace savings schemes, the UAE can not only strengthen financial outcomes for individuals, but also mobilise significant pools of domestic capital, allowing people’s savings to grow alongside the economy they are helping to build,” Riaz says.

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17289382/main.gif

  Colin Foreman