Global Oil and Saudi Aramco: Latest News and Jobs as Prices Hit Revenue - Bloomberg:
Saudi Aramco reshuffled its senior management, putting a top executive in charge of “portfolio optimization,” as the world’s biggest oil producer adjusts to low crude prices.
Aramco appointed senior vice president Abdulaziz Al Gudaimi to head up the new department that will “assess existing assets” and boost access to growth markets, it said in a statement. He previously ran Aramco’s downstream business.
It also named Nasir Al Naimi as acting head of the upstream business -- the exploration and production arm -- while Mohammed Al Qahtani will take over the downstream business, according to people familiar with the situation.
The moves come as Aramco adjusts to the reality of oil at $40 a barrel. It’s slashing spending and investment to try to preserve a $75-billion dividend even as its debt surges past targets set just last year. Most of the dividend goes to the Saudi state, which needs the funds as it faces a major revenue squeeze.
Sunday, 23 August 2020
European, Middle Eastern & African Stocks - Bloomberg #SaudiArabia #Qatar close
European, Middle Eastern & African Stocks - Bloomberg:
Updated stock indexes in Europe, Middle East & Africa. Get an overview of major indexes, current values and stock market data in Europe, UK, Germany, Russia & more.
Updated stock indexes in Europe, Middle East & Africa. Get an overview of major indexes, current values and stock market data in Europe, UK, Germany, Russia & more.
Navigating the storm - Can #Dubai enter the premier league of financial centres? | Finance & economics | The Economist
Navigating the storm - Can Dubai enter the premier league of financial centres? | Finance & economics | The Economist:
The deal to normalise relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced on August 13th, was a diplomatic coup. Might it be a commercial one too? Moneymen in Dubai, the UAE's largest financial centre, are hoping to cash in on increased investment and travel between the two countries. Israelis are expected to join the hordes of well-heeled foreigners who have opened businesses or bought swanky pads in the coastal emirate.
Dubai, one of seven emirates that make up the UAE, will be glad of the custom. Its media may be full of feel-good financial stories—drooling, for instance, over the recent foundation-pouring for the world’s tallest hotel, set to rise to 82 storeys, and the unveiling of “the world’s highest infinity pool”—but closer to earth things look less impressive. Thanks to overbuilding, property prices remain far below peaks reached six years ago. Covid-19 has clobbered an economy built largely on retail and hospitality. Low oil prices have strengthened the headwinds: Dubai is not hydrocarbon-rich but its economy feeds on petrodollars.
Adding to the challenges, Dubai faces increasing international pressure to clean up its act. It has long been less than discerning about the provenance of money flowing in. Its property market is heavily stained with laundered loot. If Dubai is forced to tighten standards, that would dent business in the short term, complicating its efforts to push its way into the premier league of financial centres.
The deal to normalise relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced on August 13th, was a diplomatic coup. Might it be a commercial one too? Moneymen in Dubai, the UAE's largest financial centre, are hoping to cash in on increased investment and travel between the two countries. Israelis are expected to join the hordes of well-heeled foreigners who have opened businesses or bought swanky pads in the coastal emirate.
Dubai, one of seven emirates that make up the UAE, will be glad of the custom. Its media may be full of feel-good financial stories—drooling, for instance, over the recent foundation-pouring for the world’s tallest hotel, set to rise to 82 storeys, and the unveiling of “the world’s highest infinity pool”—but closer to earth things look less impressive. Thanks to overbuilding, property prices remain far below peaks reached six years ago. Covid-19 has clobbered an economy built largely on retail and hospitality. Low oil prices have strengthened the headwinds: Dubai is not hydrocarbon-rich but its economy feeds on petrodollars.
Adding to the challenges, Dubai faces increasing international pressure to clean up its act. It has long been less than discerning about the provenance of money flowing in. Its property market is heavily stained with laundered loot. If Dubai is forced to tighten standards, that would dent business in the short term, complicating its efforts to push its way into the premier league of financial centres.
Viewed over a longer timeline, Dubai’s growth has been spectacular. In the 1950s, as the City of London was about to ride the Eurodollar boom, Dubai was little more than a fishing village, with 20,000 souls and no airport. Today it is a metropolis. Its financial centre, which first began to take off in the 1990s, is a super-regional champion, serving as a gateway for investment from and to the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. Underpinning this is its stable polity and high quality of life: it offers the region’s ritziest penthouses, finest dining and best shopping and entertainment.
European, Middle Eastern & African Stocks - Bloomberg #Qatar #SaudiaArabia mid-session
European, Middle Eastern & African Stocks - Bloomberg:
Updated stock indexes in Europe, Middle East & Africa. Get an overview of major indexes, current values and stock market data in Europe, UK, Germany, Russia & more.
Updated stock indexes in Europe, Middle East & Africa. Get an overview of major indexes, current values and stock market data in Europe, UK, Germany, Russia & more.
MIDEAST STOCKS-Banks lift #Saudi index; #Qatar little changed - Reuters
MIDEAST STOCKS-Banks lift Saudi index; Qatar little changed - Reuters:
The Saudi Arabia stock market rose in early trade on Sunday, led by gains in financial shares.
The Saudi benchmark index firmed by 0.5%, with National Commercial Bank rising 1% and Saudi British Bank advancing 2.6%.
Elsewhere, petrochemicals investor Alujain Holding surged 7.6%, having reported last week that its second-quarter loss narrowed to 46.4 million riyals ($12.37 million) from a loss of 78.7 million riyals a year earlier.
In Qatar, the index slipped 0.1%, with lender Masraf Al Rayan down 0.8%.
The Saudi Arabia stock market rose in early trade on Sunday, led by gains in financial shares.
The Saudi benchmark index firmed by 0.5%, with National Commercial Bank rising 1% and Saudi British Bank advancing 2.6%.
Elsewhere, petrochemicals investor Alujain Holding surged 7.6%, having reported last week that its second-quarter loss narrowed to 46.4 million riyals ($12.37 million) from a loss of 78.7 million riyals a year earlier.
In Qatar, the index slipped 0.1%, with lender Masraf Al Rayan down 0.8%.