By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Oil prices jumped 1.5 percent on Monday after the energy ministers of the world’s two biggest producers Saudi Arabia and Russia jointly said that a crude production cut would be extended from the middle of this year until March 2018. Brent crude was at $51.58 per barrel at 0621 GMT, up 74 cents, or 1.46 percent, from its last close and […]
Oil prices jumped after the energy ministers from Saudi Arabia and Russia said they backed extending an Opec-led agreement to cut output until March 2018. Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak met on Monday in Beijing and discussed oil output policy. Russia is the world’s biggest oil producer, while Saudi Arabia is the biggest exporter. The two ministers said in a joint […]
Oil jumped after the energy ministers from Saudi Arabia and Russia said that an OPEC-led agreement to cut output should be extended until March 2018. Saudi energy minister Khalid Al Falih and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak discussed oil output policy in Beijing after which they made a joint statement. Mr Falih said the next round of cuts will be on the same terms as the first […]
Abu Dhabi // Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed will hold talks at the White House with Donald Trump on Monday to discuss enhancing cooperation on counterterrorism, confronting Iran and other core issues in the increasingly close relationship. Over the course of what is expected to be a two-day visit to Washington, Sheikh Mohammed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is also […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The United States is close to completing a series of deals to sell Saudi Arabia more than $100 billion in American arms and related maintenance, a senior White House official said on Friday, as President Donald Trump prepares to visit Riyadh in a week. The official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the arms package could end up […]
Saudi Arabia is preparing to cement ties with President Donald Trump by committing to unprecedented investments in the US. The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund is set to announce plans to deploy as much as $40 billion into US infrastructure, according to people familiar with the matter. The investment may be unveiled as early as next week to coincide with Trump’s visit to the kingdom, said the people, […]
The Equatorial Guinea-Saudi Arabia Economic Forum follows intensive efforts by the Government of Equatorial Guinea to expand relations with countries in the Arabian Gulf JEDDAH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, May 12, 2017 Two global energy powers met today (May 11, 2017) for the first Equatorial Guinea-Saudi Arabia Economic Forum, organized by the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea. The historic event was hosted by the Jeddah Chamber […]
The completion date for the world’s tallest tower has been pushed back to 2019, a Saudi Arabian billionaire said Thursday, almost six years after launching the record-breaking project. Jeddah Tower is to rise more than a kilometre (almost 3,300 feet), placing it above Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. “The project was delayed… but it’ll open (in) 2019,” Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told AFP during a visit to the site […]
King Abdullah II of Jordan, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou are among leaders invited by Saudi King Salman for a summit with US President Donald Trump. The Arab-Islamic-American Summit will be among a series of talks expected to be held in Riyadh on May 20-21, Saudi officials said. Trump has frequently been accused of fuelling Islamophobia but aides described his decision to visit Saudi […]
11 May 2017 With an extensive Gulf and International participation, the Saudi Elenex and Saudi Aircon Exhibitions will kick off during the period between 14 to May 16, 2017 at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Riyadh Exhibitions Co. Ltd, the organizing company, announced that it is looking on the twentieth edition to attract more than 5000 experts, which is held under the diamond sponsorship of […]
Abu Dhabi // The president of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa, has been invited by Saudi King Salman to attend talks in Riyadh later this month with the US president. The ruler of Abu Dhabi was invited to both the US-GCC talks as well as the summit expected to be held a day later, on May 21, between Donald Trump and leaders from more than a dozen of […]
Saudis often liken Aramco, the kingdom’s state oil company, to a fat cow or productive hen. The company has for decades been the bedrock of the economy and the enabler of the government largesse to which Saudis have grown accustomed. Now its future has become a source of concern as disquiet grows over plans by Mohammed bin Salman, the deputy crown prince, to sell a 5 per […]
The world’s biggest oil producers Russia and Saudi Arabia on Monday eyed up extending an output reduction deal ahead of an OPEC meeting later this month. “Russia is in solidarity with the efforts of our partners to rebalance the market and considers that the joint initiative to stabilise the world oil market is currently effective,” energy minister Alexander Novak said, Russian news agencies reported. “We are discussing […]
A UN forum held in Riyadh last week amounted to a “slap in the face” for Saudis jailed in a country which does not allow independent NGOs, a rights group said Monday. Adam Coogle, Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW), was commenting on a two-day UNESCO NGO Forum staged in the Saudi capital. “To host a prestigious NGO event in Saudi Arabia is a slap […]
Saudi women no longer need a man’s consent to carry out certain activities, local media reported on Friday, but activists said the royal order does not go far enough. Saudi Arabia has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on women, and is the only country where they are not allowed to drive. Under the guardianship system a male family member, normally the father, husband or brother, must […]
Most sectors in the Middle East are likely to adopt a “wait and see” policy on hiring during 2017 as companies monitor market conditions, according to a new report. Recruitment agency Michael Page Middle East said real estate firms are most likely to buck this trend, with signs that hiring activity is returning as liquidity enters the market. The report added that, following a move to reduce […]
Business conditions in Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector continued to improve at the start of the second quarter, with rates of expansion in new work and business activity gathering pace, according to a new survey. Data from the Emirates NBD Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed that firms were encouraged to engage in purchasing activity, which in turn led to the strongest accumulation in stocks of […]
By Mike Stone | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Washington is working to push through contracts for tens of billions of dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia, some new, others in the pipeline, ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trip to the kingdom this month, people familiar with the talks told Reuters this week. Saudi Arabia is Trump’s first stop on his maiden international trip, a sign of his […]
Donald Trump on Thursday confirmed his first foreign trip as president will include stops in Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Vatican. Trump will add the three stops to an already announced visit to NATO and G7 summits in Brussels and Sicily later this month. “My first foreign trip as president of the United States will be to Saudi Arabia, then Israel, and then to a place that […]
Saudi Arabia should urgently review its definition of terrorism under a law used to prosecute non-violent journalists and human rights defenders, a United Nations special rapporteur said on Thursday. After a visit to the kingdom, Ben Emmerson told reporters that a 2014 counter-terrorism law contains an “unacceptably broad definition” of the crime and does not comply with international rights standards. “I strongly condemn the use of counter-terrorism […]
Saudi Arabia is seeking foreign investment in its healthcare industry as it plans to turn hundreds of government-owned hospitals and thousands of primary care centres into better-run corporations, Health Minister Tawfig Al-Rabiah said. Nearly 80 percent of health care in Saudi Arabia is provided by the government, Al-Rabiah said in an interview in Boston. But the kingdom “is trying to move the private sector to invest more,” […]
Photo Gholamali Khoshroo, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, speaking at a U.N. Security Council meeting in February. Credit Mark Lennihan/Associated Press Iran responded angrily on Thursday to criticisms by Saudi Arabia’s defense minister, accusing him of acts that violate the United Nations Charter and calling his kingdom an instigator of “dangerous ambitions in the region and beyond.” The Iranian response came in a formal protest letter […]
White House officials said foreign leaders would be more willing to help the United States if disagreements over human rights and other issues were aired in private. They cited the recent release of an Egyptian-American aid worker detained in Egypt, which was negotiated in quiet talks with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Continue reading the main story “Obama’s approach was to build support with the Arab public through […]
May 4, 2017 by: Katrina Manson in New York Donald Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Vatican on his first foreign trip as US president in an effort to unite a coalition against Islamist terrorism and Iran and extract more from traditional allies. The travel plans mark a departure from US foreign policy norms, which usually see new presidents visit neighbouring Canada or Mexico within a month of taking office. […]
Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that it will issue a quarterly budget progress report for the first time as part of efforts to boost transparency while diversifying its oil-dependent economy. The world’s biggest oil exporter is wooing investors as it tries to reduce budget deficits caused by a collapse in energy revenues. “We will for the first time in Saudi announce, possibly in a couple of weeks or […]
Saudi-Iranian relations hit a low in 2016 when the Saudis severed diplomatic relations with Iran after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was stormed by Iranian rioters, outraged over the Saudi execution of an outspoken Shiite cleric. Continue reading the main story Signs of a Saudi-Iranian thaw emerged a few months ago when the Saudis said Iranians would be able to participate in this year’s hajj, the pilgrimage […]
GENEVA The United Nations is continuing to receive signals that the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen could attack the key port of Hodeidah, causing humanitarian suffering and loss of life, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein said on Monday. A Saudi-led military coalition backing the internationally-recognised government in its war against the Houthi rebels has been preparing an assault on Hodeidah. “The U.N. is concerned about […]
DUBAI Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it had arrested 46 members of a militant cell responsible for a deadly suicide bombing attack on the Prophet’s Mosque in the holy city of Medina last summer widely blamed on Islamic State. The suspects, which included foreign and Saudi citizens, were detained in the Western port city of Jeddah, state news agency SPA quoted the interior ministry as saying. (Reporting […]
Hotels in Saudi Arabia suffered during the first quarter of 2017 with occupancy, rates and revenues all showing double-digit decreases, according to new figures. Data released by hospitality analysts STR revealed that hotel occupancy across the Gulf kingdom averaged 58.3 percent in Q1, down 10.4 percent on the year-earlier period. STR also said that average daily rates (ADR) in Saudi Arabia slumped by 12 percent to SR578.09 […]
. 240 modern gas stations across the country set for completion by 2020 · Strong support is required to encourage organized companies to step in to the service field. 26 April 2017 Riyadh – Petromin, the leading lubricants and automotive services company in Saudi Arabia, outlined plans to build 240 gas stations across the Kingdom at the 10th edition of the Saudi Travel and Tourism Investment […]
