The United Arab Emirates and Costa Rica have signed an agreement that will help bilateral industrial and investment relations, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said on Thursday.
“The agreement, which was signed through Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates, and Manuel Tovar, Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica, heralds a new era of bilateral cooperation between the two especially in priority sectors such as logistics, energy, aviation, tourism and infrastructure development,” the UAE’s state-owned news firm (WAM) said. .
The bilateral non-oil industry between the two countries amounted to $65 million in 2023, $7 million more than last year, according to the report published through WAM on the signing of CEPA.
Sheikh Mohamed hailed the agreement as a new economic breakdown between the UAE and Costa Rica.
He underlined the importance of industry for external cooperation, especially in the search for secure and resilient supply chains and responses to pressing global issues such as climate change and food security.
The Biden administration will reimpose oil and fuel sanctions on Venezuela after President Nicolas Maduro failed to follow through on a U. S. -backed agreement to allow flexible and fair elections this year.
Barring last-minute concessions from Maduro, the U. S. has made clear it is unlikely to renew the six-month license that granted the OPEC member partial sanctions relief starting in October, following an electoral deal between the Venezuelan government and opposition. expires just after EST (04:00 GMT on Friday).
Washington has threatened in recent months to reinstate punitive measures against Venezuela’s major oil and fuel sector unless Maduro follows through on his promises, adding that he will allow the opposition to field its selected candidate opposed to him in the July 28 election.
Maduro has fulfilled some of the terms of the agreement signed in Barbados. The Venezuelan president on Tuesday accused Washington of blackmailing over sanctions.
The removal of the maximum detail of U. S. sanctions relief would mark a first step backwards in U. S. President Joe Biden’s policy of reengaging with Maduro’s government.
But the Biden administration is not expected to return to the “maximum pressure” crusade under former U. S. President Donald Trump’s administration at all, according to other people familiar with the matter.
The U. S. resolution was influenced by considerations that reimposing sanctions on Venezuela’s energy sector could simply lead to higher global oil costs and increase the flow of Venezuelan migrants to the U. S. -Mexico border as Biden campaigns for reelection in November.
“We’ve made it very clear that if Maduro and his officials don’t fully put their agreements under the Barbados agreement into effect, we will reimpose sanctions, and I would just say remain vigilant,” U. S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told a news conference. Washington. Mardi. Il He declined to elaborate.
Maduro’s government has reacted with contempt to Washington’s warnings.
“International corporations keep coming to Venezuela,” Venezuelan Oil Minister Pedro Tellechea said in Caracas. “With sanctions, Venezuela will be respected. “
Venezuela’s oil exports hit their highest point since early 2020 in March, as consumers scrambled to finalize purchases ahead of the possible resumption of sanctions, Reuters reported this month.
Deliberations on sanctions options
While deliberating on how to proceed, Biden’s aides discussed a diversity of features before the U. S. Treasury license that allowed Venezuela to freely sell its crude expires, U. S. sources said.
Among the measures being considered are allowing Venezuela to continue sending oil, but reimposing a ban on the use of the U. S. dollar in such transactions.
Failure to renew the existing license would rule out the option that the U. S. could at some point consider a new edition to update it if Maduro begins to give ground on his electoral commitments.
Without a general license, however, most of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, would probably not yet have the option of piling pressure to obtain individual authorizations from the United States, as they have been for years.
First, Biden’s administration resumed diplomatic talks with Maduro as the U. S. sought tactics to get more oil from global markets to offset emerging crude costs resulting from Western sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. These contacts resulted in an agreement to ease some of the harsh sanctions imposed on Caracas during the Trump era.
Earlier, an organization of Republican U. S. senators sent a letter to Biden urging his leadership not to renew the license. “We will not have to cede U. S. influence by lifting U. S. sanctions as long as the Maduro government willfully ignores its obligations,” the senators said.
Japan’s oil refiners do not see any immediate effect of escalating tensions in the Middle East on their crude purchases, but will use the country’s reserves in case of unforeseen events to secure a solid source of oil, Japan Petroleum Association (JPA) President Shunichi said. Kito said.
“We don’t think there will be any impediment to Japan’s source of crude oil at this time,” Kito told a news conference on Wednesday, when asked about the effect of Iran’s counterattack on Israel over the weekend.
But he said that if the confrontation were to escalate across the Middle East, it would pose a serious problem.
“In case of a disruption in the source of crude oil, it should be prepared by making flexible use of oil reserves to ensure that the source of oil is not affected,” he said, noting that Japan’s public and personal sectors They have a total oil reserve of 240 billion dollars for one day.
Japan relies heavily on crude from the Middle East and imports more than 95% of its oil from the region.
Kito, who is also chairman of Japan’s second-largest oil refinery, Idemitsu Kosan, said his company is looking into the option of replacing some of the Middle Eastern source with other sources.
“As sources of choice, we focus on crude oil from West Africa and North America, if it can be transported and processed smoothly in our refineries,” he said.
But he noted that most Japanese refineries are designed to process crude from the Middle East and that it would not be easy to transfer it to new materials as they are not suited to their facilities.
Saudi Arabia’s NEOM kicked off the Chinese leg of its “Discover NEOM” global tour in Beijing and Shanghai, which was attended by more than 500 high-level leaders and companies.
The excursion began in Beijing on April 15 and continued in Shanghai on April 17, NEOM said in a statement on Wednesday.
Organized in partnership with CCPIT Beijing and CCPIT Shanghai, the events included a series of presentations from NEOM’s leadership team showcasing progress in the room and milestones achieved to date, as well as key points about NEOM’s economic sectors.
The occasions highlighted the opportunities for Chinese corporations to interact with and invest in NEOM. Several corporations are expressing interest and discussing concrete next steps with NEOM’s management.
The schedule also included a forum exploring the myriad of opportunities Chinese structural corporations have. More than one hundred corporations participated in the forum and were briefed on the progress of the on-site structure at NEOM and its regions.
A personal exhibition, titled “Discover NEOM: A New Future Through Design,” was the focus of the events. It offered visitors immersive pleasure in exploring THE LINE, the 170-kilometer-long city that will be the city’s long-term home. Living; Oxagon, which redefines the classic business model; Trojena, NEOM’s hill station, and finally Sindalah, a luxury island destination on the Red Sea that will open to the public later this year.
Nadhmi Al-Nasr, CEO of NEOM, said: “We are grateful to CCPIT Beijing and CCPIT Shanghai for supporting us in China and giving us the opportunity to deliver NEOM’s vision. “
“To date, NEOM has already engaged with more than 15 major Chinese corporations and invested in a number of Chinese startups for NEOM’s expansion and diversification. Collaboration with China will continue to play a critical role in NEOM’s development, and we look to the future to strengthen our engagement with the country’s business community. “
Guo Huaigang, chairman of CCPIT Beijing, said NEOM and Beijing have excellent prospects for economic cooperation and can push forward the development of new modes of productivity, deepen comprehensive reforms, promote clinical and technological innovation, and work for environmental protection. looks to the role that cooperation can play in Beijing’s long-term prosperity.
Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal Government Zhao Zhuping said, “Shanghai attaches wonderful importance to our relations with Saudi Arabia. Over the years, we have developed extensive cooperation in the fields of commerce, education, culture and much more. to deepen our mutual engagement with NEOM in the infrastructure, renewable energy, and technological innovation spaces. ” The benefits and opportunities of this partnership will only grow.
“Discover NEOM” China is the newest edition of NEOM’s global tour; follows engagements in key overseas markets: Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, New York, Boston, Washington, D. C. , Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris, Berlin and London.
Iraq and the United States signed memorandums of understanding on Monday to capture burned fuel and convert it into electricity, in a bid to solve the chronic shortage crisis, despite Baghdad’s rich fossil fuel resources.
Iraq aims for self-sufficiency in fuel production over the next five years, Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani said last month.
The country has approximately 131 trillion cubic feet of fuel reserves, ranking it 11th globally according to the U. S. Energy Agency. However, weak infrastructure has halved production capacity, recording about 1. 5 billion cubic feet of related fuel.
The rest burns into the air, causing a loss of millions of dollars and an increase in emissions related to global warming, in a country threatened by a real crisis due to climate change, according to the United Nations.
The largest fuel production projects are carried out through Basra Gas Company, which is a joint venture between the Iraqi government, which owns 51 percent, Shell (44 percent) and Japan’s Mitsubishi (5 percent). In addition to this vast project, the rest of the production is carried out in a few small stations in the south of the country.
“To enable Iraq to take advantage of the most advanced generation and expertise of the U. S. private sector, the United States and Iraq announced the signing of new memorandums of understanding to capture and process burned fuel and convert it into usable electrical energy for the Iraqi people. Read a set after the U. S. -Iraq Higher Coordinating Committee (HCC) assembly.
The press release mentions a deadline for memorandums of understanding.
Iraq needs 40,000 megawatts of electrical power to satisfy its desires. Lately, it produces 27,000 megawatts in plants that run mainly on gas. But production capacity drops to 17,000 megawatts.
From Iraq to Iran to fill the remaining void. It has been rising by about 50 million cubic meters since 2017.
However, reliance on volatile Iranian gas, in addition to geopolitical complications, such as US sanctions against Tehran, and internal security, such as “sabotage operations” and attacks on the power grid, lead to repeated blackouts in the country, which sparked violent protests. in 2021.
Air traffic in Saudi Arabia recorded a record number of almost 112 million passengers through the Kingdom’s airports in 2023, with an expansion rate of 26% compared to 2022 and more than 8% compared to 2019.
The General Civil Aviation Authority (GASTAT) revealed, on Tuesday in its report on air traffic functionality, that the number of flights transiting through the Kingdom’s airports in the year 2023 reached 815,000, an increase of 16% compared to 2022.
Saudi Arabia has seen a record expansion in terms of the number of passengers and flights over the past year, reaching around 61 million passengers and more than 394,000 flights.
King Abdulaziz International Airport has become the busiest hub in the Kingdom, averaging 30 flights per hour. Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport is a big second with a rate of 27 flights per hour, while King Fahd International Airport ranks third with 11 flights per hour. hour.
Domestic flights also saw a notable increase in the number of passengers and flights in 2023. Passenger volume on domestic routes amounted to 51 million, facilitated by more than 421,000 domestic flights departing from various airports in the Kingdom.
Egypt topped the list of destinations in 2023 in terms of passenger numbers, totaling around 10. 5 million. The United Arab Emirates ranks second among foreign destinations for travelers, with a total of around 9. 7 million passengers, followed by Pakistan in third place. position with around 5. 3 million. Other key destinations include India, with around four . 7 million passengers, and Turkey, with around four million passengers.
Air shipping saw a steady increase of more than 7% in 2023, with total volume exceeding 918,000 tonnes to 854,000 tonnes in 2022.
The mining sector in Saudi Arabia is undergoing a transformation that will make it a key pillar of the country’s economic diversification efforts defined in Vision 2030.
The Kingdom’s abundant mineral wealth, estimated at SAR 9. 4 trillion ($2. 5 trillion), presents an opportunity to expand non-oil resources across the oil and petrochemical industries, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday.
To boost exploration and development, the Kingdom has increased its estimated mineral wealth and invested SAR 682. 5 million ($182 million) in exploration incentives until the end of 2023. This commitment has been reinforced by the issuance of 152 new business licenses through the Department of Industry and Mineral Resources as of January 2024 alone. The licenses include 20 for non-steel mineral products and 19 for activities similar to the manufacture of cast steel products, machinery and equipment.
According to a report by the National Centre for Industrial and Mining Information, the 152 business licences granted since the beginning of 2023 have contributed to raising the total number of plants in operation and structure in the Kingdom at the end of January 2024 to 11,672. The plants constitute a combined investment of SAR1. 539 trillion.
The recent discoveries, which add gigantic gold reserves of more than 100 kilometers in the Mansoura and Masara mines, further underscore the vast untapped potential of Saudi Arabia’s mineral wealth. These mines have a projected annual production capacity of 250,000 ounces of gold.
The ongoing transformations in the mining sector reflect the progress made towards achieving the comprehensive strategy for the sector defined in Vision 2030, which aims at the complete foresight of the sector, boosting economic and social growth, in line with the Kingdom’s ambitious goals for 2030.
The Deputy Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources for Mining Affairs, engineer Khalid Al-Mudaifer, detailed the government’s plans to advance the mining sector. Initiatives include the implementation of systems to create a business-friendly environment for mining development, and the enactment of the Mining Investment Law to streamline the permitting process, minimizing the environmental impact of mining operations, maximizing benefits to local communities, and launching a comprehensive program of geological surveys to collect vital data.
The Saudi Industrial Development Fund plays a role in financing complex exploration and mining tasks, further covering up to 75% of eligible allocation costs, Al-Mudaifer said.
The fund also provides financial responses for mid- and low-level manufacturing, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), digitalization efforts, renewable energy projects, and projects to develop local sector content.
The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has released its monthly report, which offers key trading signals highlighting the state of trading activity in Saudi Arabia.
The report highlights significant adjustments in new business investments and presents similar data for the mining sector through December 2023. It includes the number of factories in operation, which increased by 10% in 2023, to 11,549, to 10,518 in 2022.
The report also shows a backlog of new business licenses (1,379 in 2023) with a total investment of more than 81 billion SAR. In addition, 1,058 new factories were produced last year, representing investments of forty-five billion SAR.
To achieve economic transformation in mining, Saudi Arabia is moving forward through a comprehensive three-phase approach:
Phase 1: Mining activities
It includes exploration and research operations for mineral quantities, conducting economic feasibility studies, mine development, and raw material processing.
Phase 2: Midstream Industries
It includes refining and smelting operations to produce base materials, such as aluminum alloys and forged metal blocks.
Phase 3: Converting Industries
It includes the manufacture of semi-finished products, such as iron and aluminum sheets, as well as finished products, such as iron tubes and bars.
The ministry has implemented other projects in the sector, adding accelerated exploration systems that employ reliable methods, thus expanding investment opportunities. These systems are expected to produce significant results, adding increased spending and investment in mineral exploration, acceleration and expansion of exploration activities, progression of a physically powerful exploration sector, creation of interesting investment opportunities for local and foreign investors, empowerment of small and medium-sized enterprises. Large companies, to help them participate in the exploration process and develop national expertise in exploration and drilling.
The ministry has further boosted the mining sector with the launch of the Saudi Mining Services Company (ESNAD) initiative. ESNAD supports the expansion of mining investments by aiding mine control and creating physically powerful procedures and monitoring in mines through the use of complex tracking equipment. and fashion technologies, as well as supporting revenue collection and fines.
The benefits of this initiative are manifold. The mining sector will see a significant improvement in companies’ compliance with environmental, health and protection standards. This will ensure the well-being of the sector’s staff and neighbouring communities, while increasing the efficiency of resource exploitation and consequently expanding state revenues.
The Saudi Geological Bureau has developed a national geological data program that aims to provide geological data and maps at other scales, and conduct aerial and geochemical surveys for the entire Arabian Shield region to boost investment in mineral exploration.
The programme is expected to have an impact on the sector by providing high-resolution geological data that will help attract and increase investment in the mining sector so that it becomes one of the basic pillars of the Kingdom’s economy, boosting confidence. in exploration, identify evidence of the presence of promising mineral deposits and reserves in the Arabian Shield and expand the skills of national geological surveys.
The logistics sector also contributes to the empowerment of the mining sector by increasing investments in it by providing shipping services for raw materials and processed minerals to smelters and factories in commercial cities at competitive prices.
All these successful efforts will maximize the mining sector’s contribution to GDP, helping it reach SAR 176 billion by 2030. They will also help the balance of the industry, ensure the sustainability of the sector, its legislative and investment capacities, create more jobs. create new exports, increase non-oil revenues, and localize manufacturing.
Abu Dhabi’s TAQA said on Wednesday it was in talks with the three main shareholders of Spanish power company Naturgy, adding Criteria and two private equity funds, with a view to a possible full takeover bid for the Spanish utility.