Monthly briefing: 14 key developments in the region
21 November 2022
By MEED staff
> Lukewarm Cop27 ends
> UAE and US sign $100bn energy programme
> BlackRock looks to invest in projects with PIF
> Riyadh signs construction deals during Seoul visit
> Middle East outpaces global economic growth
> Riyadh Grade A office occupancy hits 98 per cent
> Dubai developer plans world's tallest residential building
> Saudi Arabia launches national automaker
> Alba reaches Block 4 financial close
> Partners award contracts for $8.5bn US chemicals project
> Investors launch Sohar industrial projects
> Aramco and IBM plan Riyadh innovation hub
COP27
Egypt climate conference ends with agreement on payout
Negotiators from nearly 200 countries at the 2022 UN climate summit Cop27, which took place in Egypt on 6-18 November, have agreed to set up a loss and damage fund aimed at helping vulnerable countries to cope with climate disasters. They also agreed that global greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut nearly in half by 2030.
The agreement also reaffirmed the goal of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. However, a deal to phase out the use of fossil fuels, and not just coal, could not be agreed upon after a number of nations, including China and Saudi Arabia, blocked the proposal. Read more

The Middle East was thrust firmly onto the global stage on 20 November when football’s 2022 World Cup kicked off in Qatar
Region pitches to be global sporting hub
OIL
Opec and non-Opec partners cut 2 million b/d of production
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter, has started to cut its exports as Opec+ begins to reduce its overall target production by 2 million barrels a day (b/d).
Saudi Arabia had cut its crude oil exports by more than 400,000 b/d by the third week of November, while exports from Opec could be on course to drop by 1 million b/d.
In October, Opec+ announced it would slash its collective target by 2 million b/d from November. Although the actual reduction is expected to be about 1.1 million b/d, it is still the biggest cut since the record reduction announced in April 2020, when oil demand plunged at the start of the pandemic.
UAE-US DEAL
UAE and US sign $100bn clean energy partnership
The UAE and the US have signed a partnership that aims to catalyse $100bn in financing and other support, in addition to deploying 100GW of clean energy in the US, UAE and emerging economies around the world by 2035. They also reaffirmed their commitment to climate action, in line with their 2050 net-zero goals.
The two countries plan to stimulate private and public sector support in four areas: clean energy innovation, financing, deployment and supply chains; carbon and methane management; advanced reactors; and industrial and transport decarbonisation. Read more
PIF-BLACKROCK PARTNERSHIP
PIF and BlackRock agree to explore infrastructure projects
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with US asset manager BlackRock to jointly explore infrastructure projects in the Middle East, with a majority of the investment activity focused on Saudi Arabia.
The target projects are in several sectors, including energy, power, utilities, water, environment, transportation, telecommunications and social infrastructure.
BlackRock will look to build a dedicated infrastructure investment team in Riyadh to cover the Middle East region.
In a statement, the PIF said that the aim is to leverage positive Saudi and regional market dynamics to deliver sustainable long-term returns.
The sovereign wealth fund added that the two entities plan to work together to attract regional and international investors to participate in investment projects, and boost foreign direct investment into Saudi Arabia.
This will add value to the Saudi economy and the wider market while facilitating knowledge and skills transfer. Read more
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
IMF predicts economic growth for the Middle East in 2022
The real GDP of oil exporting countries in the Middle East is projected to grow at 5.2 per cent in 2022, up from 4.5 per cent in 2021, according to the Washington-based IMF.
Growth is projected to slow to 3.5 per cent in 2023 as Opec+ production wanes, oil prices ease and global demand slows.
Crude producers are projected to accrue a cumulative oil windfall of about $1tn in 2022−26, which the IMF said oil-exporting countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE could use to continue to invest in projects that support future economic growth. Read more
SAUDI-KOREA PROJECTS
Deals worth $30bn signed during royal visit to Seoul
Agreements totalling an estimated $30bn were signed during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud’s visit to Seoul, South Korea on 17 November.
The biggest deal was a commitment from Saudi Aramco to invest $7bn in building an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex in South Korea through its local affiliate S-Oil.
The new plant will have capacity to produce 3.2 million tonnes a year of petrochemicals.
Five South Korean companies – Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), Korea Southern Power Company, Korea National Oil Corporation, Posco Holdings and Samsung C&T Corporation – have also signed agreements with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to build and operate a green hydrogen and green ammonia production facility in Saudi Arabia. Read more
RIYADH REAL ESTATE
Riyadh Grade A office occupancy hits 98 per cent
Occupancy levels for prime office space in Riyadh have risen by four percentage points to 98 per cent according to a report by property consultancy Knight Frank.
Average lease rates for prime office space have increased by 18 per cent over the past 12 months to about SR1,775 ($473) a square foot. The company said there is unprecedented demand for Grade A office space.
“As the kingdom’s economic transformation plan unfolds, business activity is rising at an extraordinary pace. Seventy firms have now committed to relocating their regional headquarters to Riyadh, including Aldeham Education Group and French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom,” Knight Frank said. Read more
UAE
Dubai developer plans world’s tallest residential building
Local real estate developer Binghatti and jewellery brand Jacob & Co have announced plans to build the world’s tallest residential structure in Dubai’s Business Bay district.
Known as Burj Binghatti Jacob & Co Residences, the tower will comprise more than 100 storeys and will offer two- and three-bedroom apartments. Amenities in the building will include an infinity pool, a spa and a gymnasium.
Companies recently moved onsite in Business Bay to work on a 116-storey tower for Binghatti. The contractor is Granada Europe Construction. The consultant is Silver Stone Engineering Consultants. Read more
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Saudi Arabia launches electric vehicle manufacturer
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud has announced the launch of Ceer, the first Saudi electric vehicle brand. Ceer is the first Saudi automotive brand to produce electric vehicles in Saudi Arabia.
The company is a joint venture of Saudi sovereign wealth entity the Public Investment Fund and Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Company, which trades as Foxconn internationally.
Foxconn will license component technology from BMW for use in the vehicle development process, with the first vehicles – sedans and sports utility vehicles – expected to be available in 2025.
Foxconn will develop the electrical architecture of the vehicles, which will feature infotainment, connectivity and autonomous driving technologies.
Ceer is expected to attract over $150m in foreign direct investment and create up to 30,000 direct and indirect jobs. Read more
Further reading
Alba agrees Block 4 financing
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) has reached financial close on the 681MW combined-cycle gas turbine plant that comprises Block 4 of the smelter’s Power Station 5. China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure) will provide a $225m facility.
Contracts awarded for US plant
QatarEnergy and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company have reached final investment decision on the Golden Triangle Polymers Plant, an $8.5bn integrated polymers facility in the US. The plant will include the biggest ethylene cracker in the world with a capacity of 2.1 million tonnes a year.
Investors launch Sohar projects
Investors have launched two non-oil industrial projects in Sohar Freezone in Oman. The sultanate’s first petroleum coke calcining facility will be built at a total investment of about $155.9m, while a titanium dioxide production facility will be established at a cost of $112m.
Aramco plans innovation hub
Saudi Aramco and US technology company IBM plan to establish an innovation hub in Riyadh. The hub will support tech-driven economic growth in Saudi Arabia with the help of emerging technologies in hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
Exclusive from Meed
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Egyptian contractor wins Abu Dhabi Ramhan Island deal4 September 2026
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Dubai sets deadline for Jebel Ali waste-to-energy PPP4 September 2026
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Egypt to invest $4.5bn in refinery upgrades4 September 2026
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North Field West platform bidders get extra time4 September 2026
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Contractors prepare Dubai Metro Gold Line prequalifications4 September 2026
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Egyptian contractor wins Abu Dhabi Ramhan Island deal4 September 2026
Egypt-headquartered contractor Rowad Modern Engineering has been awarded the main works contract for the Marina Apartments project on Ramhan Island, Abu Dhabi.
The contract was awarded by the local firm Eagle Hills, which is led by Mohamed Alabbar, the founder and chairman of Emaar Properties.
Rowad’s scope includes structural and architectural works, finishing, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.
The company will also deliver infrastructure works, including utility connections to external networks, testing and commissioning.
The development comprises two residential towers offering 187 residential units.
The works will be carried out under the consultancy supervision of local engineering firm Mirage Leisure & Development.
The latest contract award follows Eagle Hills awarding the local firm Arabian Construction Company (ACC) an estimated AED2.5bn ($680m) construction contract to build about 500 villas at the Ramhan Island development, as reported by MEED previously.
Located off the coast of Abu Dhabi, the Ramhan Island development spans an area of over 4 million square metres.
The overall development includes the construction of 1,800 villas, 900 residences, a hotel and retail facilities.
Mohamed Alabbar launched the Ramhan Island development in May 2024.
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Dubai sets deadline for Jebel Ali waste-to-energy PPP4 September 2026

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Dubai Municipality has set a 27 September deadline for developers to submit expressions of interest (EOIs) for its planned Jebel Ali waste-to-energy (WTE) public-private partnership (PPP), according to a source.
The greenfield facility is planned to treat up to 6,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste a day.
The municipality is seeking international and local developers to develop, finance and operate the facility. It is planning to prequalify developers later this year before issuing a request for proposals (RFP) in the first quarter of next year, a source said.
The Jebel Ali facility is intended to support Dubai’s waste-management strategy and its target of reducing reliance on landfill.
Dubai Municipality is being advised by a team led by Abu Dhabi’s Tribe Infrastructure Group, with UK-headquartered Ashurst and Germany’s Fichtner also involved.
It was confirmed to MEED that the project is separate from the planned second phase of the Warsan WTE facility, for which Dubai Municipality issued a consultancy tender in February.
That facility will be located in Warsan 2, next to the Al-Aweer sewage treatment plant. The expansion is expected to increase waste-conversion capacity at the existing Warsan site with an estimated budget of $500m. The consultancy contract has a duration of six years.
The original Warsan WTE plant, Dubai’s first major WTE public-private partnership (PPP) project, reached full commercial operations in 2024.
Located in the Warsan area, the AED4bn ($1.1bn) facility treats 1.9 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, generating up to 220MW of thermal energy that is fed into the local grid.
In February 2023, state utility Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) and Dubai Waste Management Company signed the power-purchase agreement (PPA) for the project.
Dubai Waste Management Company, the special-purpose vehicle implementing the scheme, reached financial close in June 2021 for the project.
The Warsan project was developed under a 35-year PPP concession by a consortium comprising Dubai Holding, Dubai Aluminium, Tech Group and Itochu Corporation.
The main contractor was a joint venture of Belgium’s Besix Group and Hitachi Zosen Inova of Switzerland.
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Egypt to invest $4.5bn in refinery upgrades4 September 2026
Egypt is planning to invest $4.5bn in refinery upgrades, according to the country’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Karim Badawi.
Egyptian refineries are operating at 80% of capacity compared with 66% two years ago, according to Badawi, who wants further increases in utilisation of existing facilities.
“We aim to invest around $4.5bn to develop existing refineries and build new units to reduce imports and achieve self-sufficiency in refined products,” he said in a statement.
In May, Egypt said that it had increased its fuel import budget by almost 40% for the 2026-27 fiscal year amid higher global prices driven by the Iran war, which started when the US and Israel launched an attack on Iran on 28 February.
Brent crude prices are up about a third since the conflict started, trading at more than $90 a barrel for most of this month so far.
Badawi said a decline in Egypt’s oil and gas production between 2021 and 2024 occurred because foreign companies were reluctant to invest in the country’s energy sector due to unpaid government debts.
He said: “We have settled all the debt, which reached $6.1bn in June 2024. As a result, hydrocarbon exploration and production activity grew by nearly 20% this year.
“We are now moving in the right direction to increase oil and gas output gradually.”
Despite the ongoing push to develop projects in the country’s oil and gas sector, several key projects have seen significant delays in recent years.
These include a $2bn hydrocracking complex package that forms part of the wider Assiut oil refinery upgrade project.
Earlier this month, MEED revealed that mechanical completion of the hydrocracking package is now unlikely to be reached until early next year due to complications in the final stages of construction.
The hydrocracking complex package has experienced extensive delays over several years.
In April this year, Badawi called for work to accelerate on the Assiut oil refinery upgrade project, saying it is important for reducing the country’s spending on imported refined products.
At the time, the oil ministry said the project was 88% complete, with trial operations planned by the end of the year.
Assiut Oil Refining Company (ASORC), a subsidiary of state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, is the project operator.
France’s Technip Energies is the main contractor, performing engineering, procurement and construction work on the Assiut hydrocracking complex under a $2bn contract awarded by ASORC in February 2020.
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North Field West platform bidders get extra time4 September 2026

QatarEnergy has granted contractors additional time to prepare bids for a key tender for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of large platforms for the giant North Field gas field in Qatari waters.
The tender, issued earlier this year, forms part of the wider North Field West (NFW) project, the third and last phase of the state enterprise’s North Field liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion programme.
The core scope comprises the EPCI of four production deck modules (PDMs) and associated structures. The new PDMs will increase gas production from North Field reservoirs and provide additional gas feedstock for the NFW LNG development.
QatarEnergy has set 15 September as the deadline for technical bid submissions, while commercial bids are due on 10 November, according to sources.
The previous deadlines for submission of technical and commercial bids were 30 August and 25 October, respectively, MEED previously reported.
The following contractors, among others, are understood to be bidding:
- China Offshore Oil Engineering Company (China)
- Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)
- McDermott (US)
- Saipem (Italy)
Before issuing the PDM tender, QatarEnergy awarded McDermott a contract for the EPCI of four offshore jackets that will also support gas feedstock supply for the NFW LNG project. The contract is estimated to be worth about $200m, MEED reported in January.
North Field LNG expansion
QatarEnergy is advancing the three phases of its estimated $40bn North Field LNG expansion project. EPC works on all three giant projects are progressing.
QatarEnergy is understood to have committed nearly $30bn to the first two phases – North Field East (NFE) and North Field South (NFS) – which will lift Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77.5 million tonnes a year (t/y) to 126 million t/y by 2028.
QatarEnergy awarded the main EPC contracts for NFE in 2021. The project was intended to raise LNG output to 110 million t/y by 2025. The $13bn EPC package – covering the EPCI of four LNG trains, each with a capacity of 8 million t/y – was awarded in February 2021 to a consortium of Japan’s Chiyoda and France’s Technip Energies.
In May 2023, QatarEnergy awarded the $10bn main EPC contract for NFS to a consortium of Technip Energies and Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC). The contract includes two LNG trains, each with a capacity of 7.8 million t/y.
Once fully operational, the first two phases are expected to add 48 million t/y of LNG supply to the global market.
QatarEnergy took the final investment decision on NFW this year, awarding an EPC contract estimated at $8bn to a joint venture comprising Technip Energies, CCC and Gulf Asia Contracting (GAC) in February.
Chiyoda carried out the front-end engineering and design (feed) work for the NFW LNG project.
The NFW scope covers the EPC of two LNG trains with a combined capacity of 16 million t/y, as well as associated facilities for gas treatment, natural gas liquids recovery and helium extraction.
In addition to LNG, NFW is expected to produce about 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day of condensate, ethane and LPG.
With all three phases now under EPC execution – and NFE scheduled for commissioning later this year – QatarEnergy is positioning itself to remain one of the world’s largest LNG suppliers over the long term.
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Contractors prepare Dubai Metro Gold Line prequalifications4 September 2026

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Contractors are preparing to submit their prequalification statements on 7 September for a contract to build the new Gold Line as part of the Dubai Metro network’s expansion.
Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) issued the request for qualification notice for the project in June, with an initial submission deadline of 17 August, as MEED exclusively reported.
This followed the RTA’s invitation to contractors to express interest in building the new Gold Line in May.
Dubai officially announced the launch of the new Gold Line in April.
In a post on social media site X, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, said the project will cost about AED34bn ($9.2bn).
The Gold Line will increase the Dubai Metro network’s total length by 35%.
The project is scheduled for completion in September 2032.
The Gold Line will be a fully underground network covering more than 42 kilometres, with 18 stations.
It will pass through 15 areas in Dubai, benefiting 1.5 million residents.
The project is expected to provide connectivity to over 55 under-construction real estate development projects.
The Gold Line will start at Al-Ghubaiba in Bur Dubai and end at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
It will connect to Dubai Metro’s existing Red and Green lines and integrate with the Etihad Rail passenger line.
The contractor will be responsible for the design and build of all civil works, electromechanical equipment, rolling stock and rail systems.
The selected contractor will also be required to assist in the systems maintenance and operations during an initial three-year period.
In October last year, MEED exclusively reported that the RTA had selected US-based engineering firm Aecom to provide consultancy services for the Dubai Metro Gold Line project.
Stage one covers concept design, stage two covers preliminary design, stage three covers the preparation of tender documents, stage four encompasses construction supervision, and stage five covers the defects and liability period.
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