Wednesday 5 April 2017

Shares in First Abu Dhabi Bank surge | The National

Shares in First Abu Dhabi Bank surge | The National:

"Shares in the merged National Bank of Abu Dhabi and FGB – now known as First Abu Dhabi Bank – jumped on Wednesday as investors welcomed its forecast of higher profitability and a doubling of cost savings. The bank said in an investor presentation published on its website that cost synergies are forecast at Dh1 billion, twice the initial estimate of Dh500 million. They would occur over a period of three years and would be driven by a reduction in branches and headcount. At the same time, the bank said it was targeting a higher-than-expected return on equity, a measure of profitability, of 16 to 17 per cent by 2020."



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Oil eases off one-month high on surprise U.S. crude build | Reuters

Oil eases off one-month high on surprise U.S. crude build | Reuters:

"Oil prices settled a shade firmer on Wednesday, easing from one-month highs, as support from an outage at the largest UK North Sea oilfield was offset by a surprise increase in U.S. crude inventories to a record high limited price gains. News of the unplanned outage of the 180,000-barrels-per-day Buzzard field in the North Sea had already began to support prices on Tuesday. Sources said the repairs would take one to two days. Prices, however, turned lower briefly on Wednesday after the U.S. government reported a rise in crude inventories of 1.6 million barrels last week."



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MIDEAST STOCKS-Abu Dhabi jumps ahead as confidence builds in blue chips, Saudi up on oil rally | Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Abu Dhabi jumps ahead as confidence builds in blue chips, Saudi up on oil rally | Reuters:

"Stock markets in the Middle East firmed on Wednesday with Abu Dhabi outperforming its peers for a second day as institutional investors targeted blue chips, while crude oil near a one month high boosted Saudi Arabia. Abu Dhabi's index climbed 2.0 percent on the back of a 4.1 percent jump in shares of newly merged lender First Abu Dhabi Bank. It has now soared by 10.7 percent since Sunday, when the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank tie up became official in very high volumes. Farid Samji, head of asset management at Dubai-based Daman Investment, attributed the exceptionally high volumes to the inflow from the change of weighting in the emerging market indexes, including the MSCI Emerging Market index and the FTSE secondary emerging market index."



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MIDEAST STOCKS-Oil rally boosts petrochemical shares, lifting Saudi | Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Oil rally boosts petrochemical shares, lifting Saudi | Reuters:

"Petrochemicals lifted Saudi Arabia's stock market on Wednesday as crude oil prices climbed to near a one-month high above $54.50 a barrel, with other markets slightly higher.

All 13 Saudi petrochemical producers rose, with heavyweight Saudi Basic Industries adding 1.0 percent. The index was up 0.6 percent.

In Doha, the index was up 0.1 percent, supported by a 1.5 percent climb in Barwa Real Estate and a 0.6 percent rise in Islamic lender Masraf Al Rayan which said it had formed a committee to manage its merger with Barwa Bank and International Bank of Qatar."



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Adnoc chief targets downstream partnerships amid gas glut | The National

Adnoc chief targets downstream partnerships amid gas glut | The National:

"The chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is targeting downstream natural gas investment partnerships in a bid to take advantage of a prolonged natural gas glut.

"Gas supply is not the issue," Sultan Al Jaber, Adnoc’s chief executive, said on Tuesday at Gastech, the annual gas industry gathering in Tokyo.

"Today, what is needed is better infrastructure that efficiently links producer to end user," he said in the opening keynote speech at the four-day event. "This will require nearly US$3 trillion in investment" globally over the next couple of decades, which in turn will require gas suppliers and buyers to form creative investment partnerships.


"



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UPDATE 1-Saudi Arabia picks hybrid structure for debut dollar sukuk - prospectus | Reuters

UPDATE 1-Saudi Arabia picks hybrid structure for debut dollar sukuk - prospectus | Reuters:

"Saudi Arabia has chosen a hybrid structure for its debut international sukuk, the prospectus for the offer showed, a format widely used in the Saudi local debt market, but not the most popular for sovereign issues. The Islamic bond, expected to go up to $10 billion, will be the country's second international debt sale after a $17.5 billion conventional bond in October last year. That bond issue, the largest ever sold across emerging markets, was part of an effort to diversify Saudi Arabia's funding sources to plug a budget deficit caused by lower oil prices. Saudi Arabia will start meeting fixed income investors for the sukuk, a dual-tranche Islamic bond with five- and 10-year maturities, early next week. "



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Qatar's Bold Move to Reassert Its Grip on Natural Gas Market - Bloomberg View

Qatar's Bold Move to Reassert Its Grip on Natural Gas Market - Bloomberg View:

"Half of the world’s biggest natural gas field is back in play. The Qatari moratorium on development of the North Field has been lifted, ending a frustrating 12-year wait for gas companies and customers. This move challenges rivals around the world and across the Gulf and broadens the tiny emirate’s political footprint, but it also speaks of domestic imperatives. Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, the chief executive of state-owned Qatar Petroleum, announced the plans for new development of the North Field on Monday. The southern part of the field, largely untouched, and which runs just to the country’s onshore, will be developed to produce 2 billion cubic feet per day gas, about 10 percent of the field’s current output. With 135 years of gas reserves at current production rates, Qatar can certainly afford to step up output. Doha shares the giant field with its neighbor Iran, where it is known as South Pars. Iran allowed Qatar a head-start in development, and only has about a third of the combined field reserves within its waters. But after lengthy delays due to sanctions and management problems, South Pars production is set to overtake that from the North Field by next March. The French oil company Total SA, involved on all sides, signed a preliminary agreement to develop a further phase of South Pars in November. Doha and Iran have diligently developed lines of projects along their shared border, to capture as many resources as possible. In Iran, though, the perceived loss of gas to Qatar has been a sensitive political issue. "



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Britain Offers to Help to Wean Saudi Economy Off Oil Dependency - Bloomberg

Britain Offers to Help to Wean Saudi Economy Off Oil Dependency - Bloomberg:

"U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May plans to help Saudi Arabia lower its dependency on oil exports and increase the participation of women in the workforce as the Gulf kingdom seeks to modernize its economy. Britain will help reform the Saudi Ministry of Defense, and foreign and trade ministers from both nations will hold six-monthly meetings under an agreement to be sealed in Riyadh on Wednesday when the premier is due to meet King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. U.K. tax and privatization experts will also advise Saudi officials on how to diversify the country’s economy away from oil, according to a statement from May’s office."



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