Author: OBG Admin

Nhon Luc Ly-CEO-AIA Myanmar; Son Nguyen-Country President-Chubb Life Insurance Myanmar; Daw Zarchi Tin-CEO

Tap in: A new gas development is poised to increase capacity and help meet growing demand around the world

Posted OBG AdminPosted in Uncategorized

  Natural gas looks likely to play an increasingly important role in Saudi Arabia’s economy in the years ahead as the Kingdom begins to tap into new reservoirs that are poised to satisfy the growing demand from the power generation, desalination and industrial sectors. Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, the minister of energy, hinted that the development of new sources may create a surplus, enabling Saudi Arabia to become a gas exporter in the near future. Jafurah In February 2020 the Ministry of Energy

Mohammed El Etreby-Chairman-Banque Misr

In good hands: Shift towards privatisation underscores investment opportunities in water and power production

Posted OBG AdminPosted in Uncategorized

  Saudi Arabia’s government has indicated it wants to raise as much as $200bn through the privatisation of state-owned assets, with one of its largest desalination plants among the first targets for disposal. The Ras Al Khair cogeneration plant has the capacity to produce more than 1m cu metres of desalinated water daily, and in 2018 the authorities announced it would be included in privatisation efforts. Indeed, it is anticipated that the plant will generate $7bn of the $10bn that is expected to be raised

Stuart Tait-Regional Head of Commercial Banking-Asia Pacific

Solar powered: Diversifying the energy mix through solar and wind projects

Posted OBG AdminPosted in Uncategorized

  Saudi Arabia has significant potential in renewable energy, and has worked in recent years to harness the power of the sun and wind to generate electricity. These efforts are not only environmentally friendly, but they also preserve valuable supplies of oil and gas that can instead be converted into value-added products or exported abroad. Broadening the electricity mix is also important, given that energy consumption rose 60% in the decade leading to 2019. Demand is expected to increase further, from 62.7 GW in 2019 to 120 GW in 2030. As of 2020 there were signs that the implementation of renewable energy plans were picking

Amin Al Husseini-CEO-Oman Arab Bank

Blueprint for success: The National Industrial Development and Logistics Programme lays the foundation for Saudi Arabia’s economic vision

Posted OBG AdminPosted in Uncategorized

  Saudi Arabia is not unfamiliar with the idea that if it wants to build a thriving society for generations to come it must not only make the most of its vast hydrocarbon resources, but also look beyond the oil and gas sector to build a multifaceted industrial economy. The launch of Saudi Vision 2030 in April 2016 galvanised the nation with a bold reimagining of how Saudi people could transform the way they live and work. In order to create a clear route to

Stuart Tait-Regional Head of Commercial Banking-Asia Pacific

Buried treasure: Mining clusters support expansion, while new opportunities emerge for private firms

Posted OBG AdminPosted in Uncategorized

  As part of the Kingdom’s broader economic diversification strategy, billions of dollars in public and private investments have been allocated to develop the mining industry in recent years. The driving force behind the sector’s expansion is the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden), which is majority owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) – the country’s sovereign wealth fund – and listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). The diversified business, which is active in the gold, phosphates, industrial minerals and copper concentrates segments, has emerged as one of the largest and fastest-growing companies of its type in the MENA region. Under the National Industrial

Azzan Al Busaidi-CEO-Public Authority for Investment Promotion and Export Development (Ithraa)

Catalysed diversification: Industrial clusters are identified as the vehicle to bring benefits to strategic manufacturing segments

Posted OBG AdminPosted in Uncategorized

  A key objective in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 national development strategy is the creation of a sustainable, competitive and diversified manufacturing ecosystem driven by private sector activity. The achievement of this objective is underpinned by the National Industrial Strategy (NIS), which outlines a programme to boost domestic manufacturing and exports by nurturing the development of strategic industries through the creation of specialised manufacturing clusters. Clustered Development A multi-agency approach is being taken to achieve these objectives. Targets have been established under the National Industrial

Mark Geilenkirchen-CEO-Port of Sohar

Chemical reaction: Domestic consolidation and international partnerships provide support to the petrochemicals industry

Posted OBG AdminPosted in Uncategorized

  Saudi Arabia is making efforts to consolidate and expand its petrochemicals industry through a series of new mergers and partnership deals. By far the biggest development in the sector was the finalisation of an agreement in March 2020 for the purchase by Saudi Aramco of a 70% stake in SABIC. The proceeds from the deal, which stand at $69bn, will go to the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF). This comes in conjunction with the $25.6bn the PIF is set to

Ahmed Zaki Abdeen-Chairman-New Administrative Capital for Urban Development

New streams: Funding to industry is increased and extended to the nascent mining and mineral extraction sector

Posted OBG AdminPosted in Uncategorized

  The Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) was formed in 1974 and has played a key role in supporting the Kingdom’s industrial development, providing soft loans that helped the country’s manufacturing pioneers through the hard first years in business and subsequently supported their growth. In January 2019 SIDF’s focus was realigned more closely with Saudi Vision 2030, the national development blueprint, and the National Industrial Development and Logistics Programme (NIDLP). The fund is set to play a pivotal role in enabling the NIDLP to deliver

Nhon Luc Ly-CEO-AIA Myanmar; Son Nguyen-Country President-Chubb Life Insurance Myanmar; Daw Zarchi Tin-CEO

Forward march: A new framework for international contracts and local research funding supports greater localisation of the defence industry

Posted OBG AdminPosted in Uncategorized

  Efforts are under way to significantly expand domestic military and aerospace manufacturing capacity and foster a localised defence ecosystem. The country is pushing for greater localisation of its defence industry in order to reduce military hardware imports and stimulate the Kingdom’s industrial base. While still in its preliminary stage, the localisation drive is expected to accelerate growth in sectors ranging from ICT to industrial equipment, with the aim of generating sustainable employment. Although streamlining military spending costs stands as a core motivation in a

Daouda Coulibaly-Managing Director-Société Ivoirienne de Banque

In the cloud: Data centres emerge in the push for localisation, as large-scale projects drive next-generation innovation

Posted OBG AdminPosted in Uncategorized

  Managed services such as cloud computing have seen significant growth in Saudi Arabia in recent years. This was reflected in the Kingdom’s jump of 16 places in the ICT adoption pillar of the World Economic Forum’s 2019 global competitiveness index, with the country ranking 38th out of 141 countries, up from 54th in 2018. Both the public and private sector have a strong interest in managed services, as they can allow businesses and departments to outsource operations and reduce in-house operational costs. In turn,