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.
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Exclusive from Meed
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Adnoc plans new offshore-to-onshore oil transport pipeline20 August 2026
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Contractors confirm Al-Maktoum airport people-mover award20 August 2026
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Saudi Arabia awards estimated $1bn phosphate rail deal20 August 2026
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UAE cuts trade and financial links with Iran19 August 2026
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Adnoc plans new offshore-to-onshore oil transport pipeline
20 August 2026
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is moving ahead with an ambitious plan to build an oil pipeline network that will transport oil from its main offshore oil processing islands in the Gulf to its onshore crude export terminal in Jebel Dhanna, Abu Dhabi.
The planned pipeline network will source crude from Zirku Island and Das Island, where Adnoc gathers and treats oil produced at Abu Dhabi’s offshore fields, among other processing hubs, and transport those volumes across 300 kilometres inland to the Jebel Dhanna terminal.
According to sources, the proposed pipelines will eventually connect to the West-East crude pipeline network currently being built from Abu Dhabi’s Jebel Dhanna to the emirate of Fujairah, and is expected to be commissioned in 2027.
The Abu Dhabi energy giant has awarded a contract for concept studies and front-end engineering and design (feed) to Abu Dhabi-based NT Energies, a joint venture of Abu Dhabi-based contractor NMDC Energy and France’s Technip Energies, sources told MEED.
NT Energies is expected to carry out the concept studies and feed on a “fast-track basis”, with the work anticipated to take seven months, sources said.
A kick-off meeting between the client and the appointed consultant took place on 6 July, sources added.
Additionally, Adnoc has appointed Australia-headquartered Worley to provide project management consultancy (PMC) services, sources further said.
West-East oil pipeline
In May, Adnoc said it was accelerating work on the West-East crude transport pipeline project from Jebel Dhanna to Fujairah, upon directions from its board.
The West-East pipeline project involves constructing a cross-country pipeline to transport crude from Adnoc’s export terminal at Jebel Dhanna to the Fujairah terminal, covering a distance of about 520km.
The pipeline will double Adnoc’s crude export capacity through Fujairah on the Indian Ocean coast and enable shipments to bypass the geopolitically volatile Strait of Hormuz.
Crude will be sourced from Adnoc’s offshore processing centres at Das, Zakum and Umm Lulu islands before being stored at new storage facilities to be built at the Jebel Dhanna terminal.
The pipeline will be segmented into three sections:
- Jebel Dhanna to Habshan main pumping station (MPS) – 115km
- Habshan MPS to Sweihan depot – 254km
- Sweihan depot to Fujairah terminal – 153km
Adnoc awarded Egyptian contractor Engineering for Petroleum & Process Industries (Enppi) an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) contract for the project in February 2024.
Adnoc’s total spend on EPCm works could be as high as $3bn, MEED previously reported.
Sources have told MEED that Adnoc has, in turn, appointed state-owned China Petroleum Pipeline (CPP) and locally based Bin Asheer to carry out construction works on the three segments of the West-East pipeline network.
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Contractors confirm Al-Maktoum airport people-mover award
20 August 2026
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A team of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation and Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has confirmed that it has won a design-and-build contract for the automated people-mover (APM) system for phase one of Al-Maktoum International airport in Dubai.
In a statement released earlier today, L&T classified the contract as large, a term the company uses to denote an order value of $261m-$523m.
MEED exclusively reported in July that Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP) had selected a contractor to deliver the APM system as part of the first phase of the $35bn expansion of the airport.
The APM system will serve as a critical facility for operations at Al-Maktoum International. The system will run under the apron of the entire airfield and the airport’s terminals. It will consist of several tracks, taking passengers from the terminals to the concourses.
Four underground stations will be built as part of the first phase. The overall plan includes 14 stations at the airport.
The firms submitted the bids for the project in July last year, as MEED exclusively reported.
The contract is the latest in a series of awards signed by DAEP recently. It has awarded contracts valued at about AED13bn ($3.5bn), with construction works currently under way on several airport packages.
These include enabling works, the second runway and the initial structural foundations for passenger terminals and gates.
Upcoming awards
In June, DAEP said that it will award contracts worth over AED55bn ($15bn) by the end of this year for construction works at Al-Maktoum International airport.
The projects slated for contract awards include the substructure works for the western passenger terminal, the fourth aircraft concourse building and the baggage handling system, in addition to the superstructure works for the western passenger terminal and the first, second and third aircraft concourses.
The packages also encompass long-span structural frameworks for buildings covering about 1.5 million square metres (sq m), infrastructure works for the southern airfield area and power generation and district cooling plants supporting the construction programme.
The award of the facade and roofing packages is also planned for this year.
Construction progress
In May last year, MEED exclusively reported that DAEP had awarded a AED1bn ($272m) deal to UAE firm Binladin Contracting Group to construct the second runway at the airport.
The enabling works on the terminal were awarded to Abu Dhabi-based Tristar E&C.
Construction on the project’s first phase is expected to be completed by 2032.
Construction of substructure works began in November last year, when DAEP formally selected a contractor to deliver the package.
The government approved the updated designs and timelines for its largest construction project in April 2024.
In a statement, the authorities said the plan is for all operations from Dubai International airport to be transferred to Al-Maktoum International within 10 years.
According to an official description on DAEP’s website, the expanded airport’s West Terminal will be a seven-level, 800,000 sq m facility with an annual capacity of 45 million passengers.
It will be the second of three terminals at the airport.
In September 2024, MEED exclusively reported that a team comprising Austria’s Coop Himmelb(l)au and Lebanon’s Dar Al-Handasah had been confirmed as the lead masterplanning and design consultant on the expansion of Al-Maktoum.
The airport’s construction is planned to be undertaken in three phases. It will cover an area of 70 square kilometres south of Dubai and will have five parallel runways and 430 aircraft gates.
It will be five times the size of the existing Dubai International airport and will have the world’s largest passenger-handling capacity of 260 million passengers a year. For cargo, it will have the capacity to handle 12 million tonnes a year.
READ THE AUGUST 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDFSaudi Arabia builds for the global stage; Rising uncertainty creates fresh set of challenges in the Maghreb; Gulf banks remain robust in the face of geopolitical tensions.
Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the August 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
> WORLD CUP: What the 2026 World Cup means for Saudi Arabia 2034> MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge> INDUSTRY REPORT: GCC banks prove resilient amid turmoil> LEADERSHIP: Private capital and the GCC infrastructure inflection> INTERVIEW: Developers look beyond standalone solarTo see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/18884056/main.png -
Saudi Arabia awards estimated $1bn phosphate rail deal
20 August 2026
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Saudi Arabian Railways (SAR) has awarded an estimated SR4bn-plus ($1.1bn) contract to add another track to the first section of the existing phosphate transport railway network in the kingdom’s Eastern Province.
The contract was awarded to local firm Alomaier Trading & Contracting Company.
The scope includes track doubling, alignment modifications, utility bridges, culvert widening and hydrological structures, as well as the conversion of the AZ1 siding into a mainline track.
The scope also covers support for signalling and telecommunications systems.
The existing railway line runs from the Waad Al-Shamal mines to Ras Al-Khair. The new project will cover about 100 kilometres (km), connecting the AZ1/Nariyah Yard to Ras Al-Khair.
Switzerland-based engineering firm ARX is the project consultant.
The project is the first of four packages for the phosphate railway line that SAR is expected to award imminently.
In 2023, MEED reported that SAR was planning two projects to increase its freight capacity, including an estimated SR4.2bn ($1.1bn) project to install a second track on the North Train freight line and construct three new freight yards.
Formerly known as the North-South Railway, the North Train is a 1,550km-long freight line running from the phosphate and bauxite mines in the far north of the kingdom to the Al-Baithah junction. There, it diverges into a line southward to Riyadh and a second line running east to downstream fertiliser production and alumina refining facilities at Ras Al-Khair on the Gulf coast.
Adding a second track and the freight yards will significantly increase cargo-carrying capacity on the network and facilitate growth in industrial production. Project implementation is expected to take four years.
State-owned SAR is also considering increasing the localisation of railway-focused materials and equipment, including the construction of a cement sleeper manufacturing facility.
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Libya and Tunisia reschedule joint oil and gas licensing round
19 August 2026
The Libyan-Tunisian Joint Oil Exploration, Exploitation & Petroleum Services Company (Joint Oil) has rescheduled its planned licensing round for offshore exploration and development projects in a zone spanning the waters of both countries.
The bidding process is now due to open on 7 September 2026, with bid submissions due by 8 January 2027.
Previously, in May, Joint Oil said it planned to open the bid round on 1 August 2026.
The upcoming round will offer two oil and gas packages. The first is an exploration package across the 3,000-square-kilometre Joint Oil Block, in water depths of 80-120 metres.
Significant data is available on the geology of this area, including 6,500km of 2D and 1,900 square kilometres of 3D seismic data. Data also exists from a run of legacy wells dating to 1976.
The second package covers development of the Zarat discovery specifically. This is a gas-condensate reservoir straddling the boundary between Tunisia’s national acreage and the jointly-held Joint Oil Block.
Joint Oil is equally owned by Tunisia’s national oil company, ETAP, and OLA Energy Holdings, a subsidiary of the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio (LAIP).
LAIP is a subsidiary of Libya’s sovereign wealth institution, the Libya Investment Authority.
Joint Oil was established under a bilateral agreement between Libya and Tunisia in 1988 to explore and develop hydrocarbons in offshore areas shared by the two countries.
The key dates from the new schedule for the licensing round are:
- 7 September 2026: Bid round opens; qualified offshore operators can apply for access to the Virtual Data Room
- 9 September 2026: Joint Oil presents the opportunity at the MMEA Scout Group meeting in London
- 29-30 September 2026: Joint Oil presents at the World Energy Summit in London
- 31 December 2026: Bid round closes
- 8 January 2027: Bid submissions due
- 26 February 2027: Winning bidders notified
- 30 April 2027: Formal awards expected
Texas-based Moyes & Co is acting as a strategic adviser on the licensing round.
Houston-headquartered Marathon discovered the Zarat field in 1992. It is estimated to hold around 0.4 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas and 50 million barrels of liquids.
A previous development project concept centred on a mobile production unit, worth around $1bn, tied back to the nearby Miskar platform.
Despite this, the field has remained undeveloped for over three decades.
One of the key challenges to developing the reserve is its high carbon dioxide content.
Joint Oil has run bid rounds for the acreage before without success, including as recently as late 2023.
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UAE cuts trade and financial links with Iran
19 August 2026
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The UAE has halted all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran until further notice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on 19 August.
The suspension has been imposed in light of escalations that undermine regional and international peace and security, the ministry said. It did not specify a timeframe for any resumption.
The ministry rejected allegations regarding the status of the economic relationship between the UAE and Iran, and restated the UAE's commitment to dialogue, cooperation and regional integration as means of advancing peace, stability and prosperity in the region.
It said the UAE remains committed to safeguarding the integrity of the financial system, in line with international law and global standards.
The suspension covers the full range of commercial and financial links between the two countries. The UAE has historically been one of Iran's most significant trading partners, with much of the relationship built on re-export trade routed through Dubai to Iranian ports across the Gulf.
The ministry statement did not detail the mechanism for enforcing the halt, the sectors affected, or arrangements for existing contracts and in-transit cargo.
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