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Recent stories from sustg

  • 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

  • Saudi Arabia unveils lineup for 5th Winter at Tantora

    As winter approaches, anticipation is building for the fifth Winter at Tantora, a month-long cultural extravaganza presented by AlUla Moments. Running from Dec. 21 to Jan. 27, the festival has become the region’s premier event, blending culture, art, and music against the backdrop of AlUla’s stunning desert landscapes.

  • Ancient 20-inch-long hand ax discovered in Saudi Arabia may be world’s largest

    Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia have discovered what may be the world's largest prehistoric hand ax. The stone tool measures 20.2 inches (51.3 centimeters) long and, despite its size, is easily held with two hands, according to a statement. An international team of researchers found the basalt hand ax on the Qurh Plain, just south of AlUla, a region in northwest Saudi Arabia. Both of the hand ax's sides have been sharpened, suggesting that it could have been employed for cutting or chopping. However, it's still unclear how the stone tool was used and which species, for instance Homo erectus or Homo sapiens, crafted it.

  • Economic Diversification Efforts Paying Off in GCC Region but More Reforms Needed

    The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region is estimated to grow by 1% in 2023 before picking up again to 3.6 and 3.7 % in 2024 and 2025, respectively, according to the recently published World Bank Gulf Economic Update (GEU) report. The weaker performance this year is driven primarily by lower oil sector activities, which is expected to contract by 3.9%, to reflect OPEC+ successive production cuts and the global economic slowdown. However, the reduction in oil sector activities will be compensated for by the non-oil sectors, which are expected to grow by 3.9 % in 2023 and 3.4 % in the medium term supported by sustained private consumption, strategic fixed investments, and accommodative fiscal policy.

  • World Bank: Saudi Arabia’s Non-Oil Sectors Continue to Grow, Women’s Participation in Workforce Doubles

    The World Bank (WB) report titled "Structural Reforms and Shifting Social Norms to Increase Women's Labor Force Participation" revealed the latest economic developments in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The report indicates that the efforts towards economic diversification in the region have started to show positive results, but there is still a need for further reforms. According to the report, the number of workers in the Saudi private sector increased by approximately 153,300 by the end of the first half of 2023 compared to the end of the first half of 2022, with the total number of workers being around 2.3 million. The report also highlights that the participation of Saudi women in the workforce has doubled within six years, rising from 17.4% in early 2017 to 35.3% in the second quarter of 2023.

  • GCC States and the War on Gaza: Positions, Perceptions, and Interests

    There is not, and may never have truly been, a single ‘Gulf-wide’ position on Israel (or Palestine for that matter). Instead, the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states straddle a spectrum of positions toward Israel from no ties (Kuwait) to pragmatic coexistence (Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia) to full normalization (Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates). Initial statements by Gulf governments in response to the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel echoed these positions, as the UAE and Bahrain condemned Hamas for the eruption in violence while the other four states, including Saudi Arabia, placed greater focus on the Israeli occupation as a contributory factor.

  • White House grapples with internal divisions on Israel-Gaza

    The previously unreported meeting of officials underscores how Biden’s handling of what is arguably the biggest foreign policy crisis of his presidency is dividing a White House that has prided itself on running a disciplined and united operation. The Israel-Gaza war has roiled the administration more than any other issue in Biden’s first three years in office, according to numerous aides and allies inside and outside the White House, as staffers agonize over their positions on highly emotional issues.

  • White House grapples with internal divisions on Israel-Gaza

    Earlier this month, a group of about 20 distressed White House staffers requested a meeting with President Biden’s top advisers, as Israel’s war in Gaza entered its sixth week.

    The diverse group of staffers had three main issues they wanted to discuss with White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, senior adviser Anita Dunn and deputy national security adviser Jon Finer: They wanted to know the administration’s strategy for curbing the number of civilian deaths, the message it plans to send on the conflict and its postwar vision for the region.

  • US-based Saudi doctor is first winner of Great Arab Minds awards

    A US-based Saudi surgeon has been named as the first award winner of the Great Arab Minds initiative.

    Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said Dr Hani Najm won the Great Arab Minds Award in Medicine because he innovated new ways of performing operations on patients with complex heart conditions.

    The Great Arab Minds initiative was set up by Sheikh Mohammed in January last year, to identify the brightest minds in the Arab world and harness their ideas.

  • Middle East broadcaster MBC receives approval for Saudi IPO

    Regional broadcaster MBC Group has received approval from Saudi Arabia’s market regulator for an initial public offering amid the listing boom in the Gulf.

    The Capital Market Authority has granted approval for MBC to sell 33.25 million shares in the float, amounting to 10 per cent of the company's share capital, it said in a filing to the Tadawul on Tuesday.

    “The CMA’s approval on the application shall be valid for six months from the CMA Board resolution date,” it said.

    The approval shall be “deemed cancelled” if the offering and listing of the company's shares are not completed within this period.

  • MBC Group Announces Plans To Float 10% Stake On Saudi Stock Exchange

    Saudi Arabian media giant MBC Group has announced its intention to float a 10% stake in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Saudi Exchange, known as Tadawul, in the coming months.

    The announcement follows a decision on Tuesday by Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority to allow MBC to float 33.25 million shares, which is equivalent to 10% of the company’s share capital. The approval is valid for six months.

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