“Construction of the Tapline began in 1948 on the orders of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia, and today the remains of the pipeline serve as a reminder of the beginning of the Kingdom’s industrial revolution. The Tapline stretched 1,700km from the eastern coastal city of Dammam, connecting the Kingdom’s petroleum infrastructure to the region’s Mediterranean coast and was an integral part of the global trade of petroleum and the oil industry.”
“$1.031bn was plowed into MENA-based startups in 2020, marking a 13 per cent increase from 2019.”
-In 2020 more capital was deployed but in fewer, larger deals. The UAE ranked 1st and accounted for the lion’s share of total funding and the highest number of deals in MENA. Egypt ranked 2nd for both total funding and number of deals, and the fast-growing KSA ranked 3rd for both. [Magnitt]
“According to Global Media Insight, a Dubai-based research company, 26.25 million Saudis use WhatsApp for instant messaging, making up 71 percent of instant messaging users in the Kingdom. As well as private messaging, WhatsApp is also used for professional purposes in workplaces, schools, and universities.”
-Hala Tashkandi reports on concerns regarding Facebook-owned WhatsApp’s upcoming policy change that will collect more user data. [Arab News]
“The total number of the PoS operations in 2020 amounted to about 2.8 billion, an increase of 75 percent compared with the same period in the previous year.”
-Talat Zaki Hafiz, economist and secretary-general of the media and banking awareness committee for Saudi banks. He added that the value of operations amounted to about $93.7 billion, an increase of nearly 24.1 percent compared with the same period in 2019. [Arab News]
“By removing an extra 60 million barrels from the market, the cut should ensure inventories continue to fall even if the epidemic surges again, vaccine deployment is slow, and international aviation remains restricted. Timing is critical. The cut will help to bridge the difficult first quarter, when consumption is always seasonally low and there is the greatest danger this year from the virus and vaccine delays.”
-John Kemp, Reuters’ analyst, commenting on Saudi Arabia’s unilateral 1 million barrel per day cuts planned for February and March. [Reuters]
“We are the guardian of this industry. We have the responsibility of looking after the market, and we will take all necessary actions. I have said this repeatedly and even advised that no one should bet against our resolve, Those who have listened are now bearing the fruits; the others — good luck with their ouching.”
-Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman discussing Saudi Arabia’s pledge to unilaterally cut 1 million barrels a day in February and March. [Bloomberg]
“OPEC’s Gulf exporters shipped more oil last month than at any time since May, when their current round of output restraint came into effect. The move came before a slight easing of output curbs in January and talks to decide whether to change production targets in February.”
“Tamam is the first entity in the Kingdom and the region to offer consumer micro-loans via a fully digital customer experience, through a mobile app. SAMA’s Regulatory Sandbox licensed Tamam after an eighteen-month testing period where the app and the service was vetted for functionality, security, and compatibility with customer user profiles in Saudi Arabia.”
-Zain Group announced that, Tamam Financing Company, its financial technology (fintech) subsidiary in Saudi Arabia has been officially licensed by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) to provide micro-financing services to consumers across the Kingdom. [Kuwait Times]
“It’s not like people go to Saudi very often to ride in the desert. So I think this really helped make the race more fair and also the desert in Saudi was better than expected. The country in general was really nice to visit and the way they organized the race was amazing and seeing the landscapes there surprised me. It was a really cool race and better than I expected and leaves me excited to race there again this year.”
-Andrew Short, U.S. rider who finished 10th in 2019 (fellow U.S. riders Ricky Brabec and Skyler Howes came in 1st and 9th, respectively), comparing the Saudi Dakar Rally with those held previously in South America. [Yahoo]
“Concerning the importance of this project for Azerbaijan, I would like to stress that in addition to being first ever foreign investment based IPP, the wind power station annually will help to generate 1 billion KWh electricity, saving up to 220 million cubic meters of gas, cutting down on 400,000 tons of emissions annually, create new jobs and new production and service areas.”
-Parviz Shahbazov, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, commenting on ACWA Power’s agreement to execute a 240 MW wind power project that will be located in the Absheron and Khizi regions. [PRNewswire]
