Friday 11 November 2016

Mubadala shows appetite for Russian deals | The National

Mubadala shows appetite for Russian deals | The National:

"Mubadala Development Company, the Abu Dhabi strategic investment company, said yesterday that it is weighing two investments for a total of up to US$300 million in Russia’s food sector.

The investment would be with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a Russian government-backed strategic fund with which Mubadala set up a $2 billion fund three years ago to make long-term investments across a range of industries in Russia, as well as with other unnamed investment funds.


The investments under consideration include one of up to 9bn roubles (Dh510 million) in AFG National, the result of a 2013 merger between AF Group, the country’s largest rice grower and distributor, and Angstrem, the largest packaged cereals company."



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French oil giant Total to continue to invest in the UAE | GulfNews.com

French oil giant Total to continue to invest in the UAE | GulfNews.com:

"French oil giant Total will continue to invest in the UAE for the development of oilfields and hopes to be part of offshore concessions which will expire in 2018, a top executive of the company told Gulf News in an interview.
“We will continue to invest in the UAE in the coming years. There are fields to be developed and there is production to be developed. We will continue to invest and plan to be part of offshore concessions of Adma-Opco which will expire in 2018,” said Hatem Nuseibeh, President of Total, exploration and production in the UAE.
The company has 13 per cent share in Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (Adma-Opco) which will be merged with Zakum Development Company by early 2018."



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Rosneft profits continue to slide

Rosneft profits continue to slide:

"Rosneft, the world’s largest quoted crude oil producer, became the latest energy major to report a difficult third quarter, as weak oil prices continued to drive down revenues and profits.

Net income at the state-controlled group more than halved in the first nine months of the year, to Rbs129bn ($2bn), as net income margins dropped from 7.6 per cent to 3.7 per cent. Profit margins were hit particularly hard due to a lag between changes in export duty charges in response to higher global oil prices, and the average prices received by the company.

The average oil price in the period as a whole was 26.8 per cent lower than last year, at $40 per barrel, but it picked up in the third quarter, to an average of $44."



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Protracted oil slump exposes Saudi Arabia’s economic vulnerability

Protracted oil slump exposes Saudi Arabia’s economic vulnerability:

 "As Opec prepares to meet at the end of the month, there has been a role reversal among the cartel’s heavyweights.

Saudi Arabia and arch-rival Iran are among producer countries discussing terms of a supply deal that could — if they can pull it off — be the first output cut since the financial crisis. The kingdom, it seems, is on the back foot.

By agreeing to even engage in such discussions to reverse a pump-at-max strategy of the last two years, some oil industry analysts say Saudi Arabia has already buckled as the oil price plunge creates economic havoc. Iran, meanwhile, is reaping the rewards of the lifting of sanctions against its oil industry."



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Many Middle Eastern countries will welcome Trump’s victory. Here’s why | Jane Kinninmont | Opinion | The Guardian

Many Middle Eastern countries will welcome Trump’s victory. Here’s why | Jane Kinninmont | Opinion | The Guardian:

 "Despite Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric, talk of banning Muslims from America, and open hostility towards Syrian refugees, he has some supporters in the Middle East. Authoritarian governments see him as a strongman figure who will make deals with other strongmen like themselves.

Some of the Gulf elites hope that, as a tough-talking Republican, he will be harder on Iran than Barack Obama. Trump called the deal struck by Obama on Iran’s nuclear programme a “disaster” and “the worst deal ever negotiated”.

Conversely, the revolutionary establishment in Tehran welcomes Trump’s election because it thinks this will accelerate what it sees as inevitable US decline. For many others – probably the majority of Middle Easterners – there is simply a sense that neither candidate had much to offer the region, and that US leaders are all largely the same."



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