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  • Home boom aids Saudi Telecom profit surge
     

    Soaring demand for broadband helped Saudi Telecom Co (STC) post a 60 percent increase in first-quarter profit on Wednesday, with the former monopoly reporting rising revenues in its mobile, fixed line, corporate and wholesale units. The former monopoly, which will pay a quarterly dividend of 0.5 riyals per share, made a profit of 2.52 billion […]

     
  • Saudi tops in job creation in GCC
     

    The Gulf region continued to create jobs despite the impact of Arab Spring in 2011 with the regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia topping the list followed by Qatar and Oman, according to a new survey. The oil and gas industry, healthcare and retail sectors enjoyed the largest headcount expansion in 2011, while banking and construction fared the […]

     
  • Chart of the Day: A Short History of 200 Years of Global Energy Use
     

    If you want to tell the story of worldwide energy consumption over the past 200 years, you need three chapters. Chapter 1: The Coal Age. Chapter 2: The Oil Age. Chapter 3: The China Age. In the early days of industrialization, the use of biofuels such as wood declined as the West learned to live […]

     
  • Saudis Increasing Riyadh Water Supply
     

    With the bulk of Saudi Arabia’s drinking water coming from desalination plants, the country’s sky-rocketing population growth puts enormous demand on water supply. Arab News reports that a new desalination plant in the Eastern Province is gearing up to go online. When it is producing, it will nearly double the amount of water flowing into […]

     
  • Internet in the Middle East Still Short of Its Potential
     

    Last week’s third ArabNet conference for digital entrepreneurs in the MENA region was, by the standard of these things, a modest affair. But nonetheless it showed how the regional digital economy has grown, and how it is poised to take off. As one commentator said: “Jordan for the talent, Lebanon for the creativity, Egypt for […]

     
  • Saudi to maintain oil supply if U.S. draws stocks
     

    Saudi Arabia is likely to maintain high oil production in the event consumer countries release emergency stocks, but it will not seek to lure buyers for more oil by discounting its crude, industry sources said. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday in Riyadh sought an assurance from Saudi King Abdullah that the kingdom […]

     
  • Hillary Clinton: Time running out for diplomacy with Iran
     

    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made clear Saturday that time is running out for diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear program and said talks aimed at preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon would resume in mid-April. With speculation over a possible U.S. or Israel military attack adding urgency to the next round of discussions […]

     
  • Water Brings Green to Saudi Arabia
     

    Over the last two-and-a-half decades, a series of NASA’s Landsat satellites have captured these pictures of the growing agriculture industry in the northern reaches of the Syrian Desert in Saudi Arabia, not far from Jordan. Farmers use a technique called center-pivot irrigation to bring up water from below the desert floor to grow wheat and […]

     
  • U.S. Might Have More Oil Than Saudi Arabia, But…
     

    People are often confused about the overall extent of U.S. oil reserves. Some claim that the U.S. has hundreds of billions or even trillions of barrels of oil waiting to be produced if bureaucrats will simply stop blocking development. In fact, in a recent debate between Republican candidates contending for Gabrielle Giffords’ recently vacated House seat, one candidate […]

     
  • Five short stories from World Energy Outlook
     

    The IEA’s World Energy Outlook (WEO) is an annual tradition, the result of much work, data analysis and presentation. A formative volume is produced for all to read and digest, but few of us have the time to do so in the detail required.  As such we rely to some extent on IEA presentations and summary documents. […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Messi vs. Ronaldo rivalry could be rekindled in Saudi Arabia tournament

    Organizers of the Riyadh Season Cup said Tuesday that Messi’s Inter Miami is expected to play in the three-team event. Miami called the announcement “inaccurate” and said it had been determining its preseason schedule. But the prospect of Messi vs. Ronaldo was already being pushed in Saudi Arabia.

  • The Evolution of Entertainment in Saudi Arabia

    When I curiously asked some of my Saudi friends about their fondest memories growing up across the Kingdom, many of them mentioned ‘Kashtah’ – a family picnic in the desert. “We used to go a day earlier to scout the best location in the desert for our family to drive to the next day – a space away from the city lights and animals and close to a water source. It used to be the most awaited overnight gathering of the year when the weather was not too cold or too hot.” These days it’s common for Saudi families even during weekdays to pitch a mini tent right next to their cars off the roads, hang cute fairy lights and bring out their coffee and tea pots to have a little chill time.

  • Saudi Arabia’s landmark new Civil Transactions Law

    Articles 461 to 478 of the CTL now contain detailed provisions dealing with contractors and employers’ obligations, subcontracting and termination of construction contracts. Other key principles included elsewhere in the CTL will also be relevant to construction contracts and claims.

  • Beyond the bottom line: How PIF is finding value in operational efficiency

    “If you go back 20-plus years in the private equity arena, value is mainly driven by financial leverage. I buy it at a multiple of X and sell it at a multiple of Y,” says Raid Ismail, Head of Direct Investments for the Middle East and North Africa at PIF. “Fast forward to where we are today, and value creation is driven by operational enhancements – improving systems and processes and culture.”

  • Biden welcomes deal to free hostages from Hamas

    Biden thanked Qatari Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi “for their critical leadership and partnership in reaching this deal,” as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government “for supporting an extended pause to ensure this deal can be fully carried out and to ensure the provision of additional humanitarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of innocent Palestinian families in Gaza.”

  • Israel, Hamas agree four-day truce, 50 hostages to go free

     Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire in Gaza for at least four days, to let in aid and release at least 50 hostages captured by militants in exchange for at least 150 Palestinians jailed in Israel.

    The first truce in a brutal near seven-week-old war, reached after mediation by Qatar, was hailed around the world as a sign of progress that could ease the suffering of Gaza's civilians and bring more Israeli hostages home. Israel said the ceasefire could be extended further, as long as more hostages were freed.

  • The secret negotiations that led to the Gaza hostages deal

     Shortly after Hamas militants took hostages during their deadly assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, the government of Qatar contacted the White House with a request: Form a small team of advisers to help work to get the captives freed.

    That work, begun in the days after the hostages were taken, finally bore fruit with the announcement of a prisoner swap deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt and agreed by Israel, Hamas and the United States.

  • ‘We’re staying away from Gaza’: Palpable silence at the Dubai Air Show

    Two major Israeli companies—Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems—left their booths empty on the first day of the show. On the second day, a few representatives manned IAI’s booth, but they wouldn’t comment on the extent of the company’s presence at the show. There is “sensitivity” surrounding the conflict, said Eric Fanning, CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, which convenes industry and government officials at international trade shows.

  • Despite public outrage, Iran moves to raise retirement age

    The Iranian parliament has voted to increase the retirement age. The move has been strongly criticized by both the media and the public. Lawmakers insist that details of the plan have been misrepresented. Meanwhile, the labor minister has argued that the measure will help “stabilize” the crisis-hit retirement funds in the country. Though passed by the parliament, the plan needs to be vetted by the Guardian Council before becoming law.

  • SAMI exec on Saudi Arabian localization push, Turkish deal prospects and future plans

    A top executive for Saudi Arabia’s state-owned defense conglomerate told Breaking Defense that the kingdom has managed to localize about 15 percent of its defense production so far, in what he says will be a springboard for hitting the nation’s goal of 50 percent localization by 2030. For instance, Walid Abukhaled, CEO of Saudi Arabia Military Industries (SAMI), pointed to a recent deal with Turkey’s Baykar Technology to first directly purchase the company’s Bayraktar Akinci drones, but then domestically produce them in the kingdom beginning in 2026. Abukhaled sat down with Breaking Defense during the Dubai Airshow to discuss SAMI’s wider localization efforts, prospective cooperation agreements, and the organization’s plans for the upcoming second edition of World Defense Show that will take place in Saudi Arabia in February 2024.