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Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors active in the GCC's oil and gas sector are gearing up for the long haul. And as yet more projects in the marathon list [...]

Abdulkareem al-Othman, general manager, engineering and planning of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), was in demand when he attended an industry conference in Bahrain in early March. No sooner had [...]

In late June, Qatar petroleum (QP) sent out a letter in five leading international contractors involved in the Middle East's oil and gas sector. The correspondence from QP's contracts department [...]

It has taken some time, but the worst seems to be over for the original Asian tiger. South Korea is well on the road to recovery from the economic crisis [...]

A recent suggestion to ward off a US attack on Iraq and provide a safe exile for Saddam Hussa in may not have received the backing of the Arab League. [...]

The majority of Gulf states are not in favour of a US-led attack or Iraq. But in Kuwait, a country that has experienced Baghdad's aggression at first hand, the mood [...]

The UAE, which is preparing to celebrate its 31st birthday in early December, has reasons to feel proud. Despite the looming threat of a US attack on Iraq, the Gulf [...]

Dubai has rarely shied away from taking on challenges--from the construction of the Middle East's largest port at Jebel Ali in the 1980s to the dredging of the world's biggest [...]

With total proven reserves of just over 2,500 trillion cubic feet (tcf), the Middle East is home to 40 per cent of the world's gas reserves. Yet increasingly; oil companies [...]

Pedco, the drilling arm of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), and Romanian rig operator Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP) have been at loggerheads recently In mid-August, drilling activities at Iran's Hengam [...]

Risk and reward are equally balanced in the oil and gas industry--and no-one knows it better than seismic surveyors. 'We can only give indicators and deliver the best information,' says [...]

It has not been an easy relationship. For more than 30 years, the national oil companies (NOCs) of the Middle East have jealously guarded their territory, home to nearly two-thirds [...]

Nearly three decades ago, Man Kay--the inventor of the laptop computer and architect of the modern Windows system--said: 'The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Smart [...]

These are busy times for Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and its operating firms. With oil prices tiding high and the emirate's production forecast to increase by nearly 6 [...]

In late May, a Dubai-based Kuwaiti mountaineer, Zed al-Refai, successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest and hoisted his country's flag on the top of the world. His achievement was [...]

In early July, the UAE signed with Oman a final agreement to settle a long-standing border dispute. Later this year, the UAE's strained relations with Iran will be put to [...]

In every one of the six GCC states, major new airport projects are in progress or getting under way. Leading the field is Dubai International Airport, whose achievements and ambitions [...]

Japan's Administrative Reform Minister Nobuteru Ishihara is clearly under pressure, as he prepares a final report on the future of the state-owned Japan National Oil Corporation (JNOC). On 20 November, [...]

IT IS a surprise to some that the GCC cables industry has survived as long as it has. Whether it will continue to do so in its current shape is [...]

* ADIA headquarters, Abu Dhabi Work is under way on the excavation package for the construction of underground parking and offices at the new Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) headquarters. [...]

* Fujairah power and desalination The project promoter, Abu Dhabi-based UAE Offsets Group (UOG), is expected to complete bid evaluation by end-June. Three international companies have tendered for the desalination [...]

CONTROVERSY is raging in Kuwait over the future of the country's oil and gas sector. The argument is one of sovereignty versus necessity. Project Kuwait -- the scheme to allow [...]

HOPES are running high right across the Gulf construction sector that 2001 will be the year resurgent oil prices finally fuel a significant upturn. In Kuwait, those expectations are not [...]

KUWAIT has been the exception rather than the rule in the Gulf power sector over the past 10 years. Unlike most GCC states, it has not had to embark on [...]

In the past few years, oil producers have been united on one issue: high oil prices are not due to a scarcity of barrels of crude. Instead, they argue, the [...]

Dhahran-based Eastern Gas Company (EGC) is a relative unknown in Saudi Arabia's hydrocarbons industry. Yet slowly but surely it is bringing about a strategic change in the role of the [...]

Riyadh is keen to encourage local companies to participate in the oil sector, and is looking abroad for examples. Research by the Petroleum & Mineral Resources Ministry to this end [...]

Dhahran-based independent consultant Yahya al-Zaid has a reputation to defend. With a career spanning more than three decades with Saudi Aramco --where he rose through the ranks to the position [...]

The 30-year-old trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Middle East is about to see some major changes. While LNG trade has traditionally been conducted on a long-term contractual [...]

Giving up a monopoly can't be easy. Particularly so for Saudi Aramco, which since 1980 has had absolute rights to oil exploration, drilling, production and pipeline transmission in the kingdom. [...]

The East-West (E/W) pipeline--running from the central oil processing facility at Abqaiq in the Eastern Province to Yanbu on the Red Sea--is the backbone of Saudi Aramco's mammoth 15,000-kilometre multi-products [...]

At a time when most captains of the global hydrocarbons industry are talking about unconventional oil, Saudi Aramco is bucking the trend. In the summer of 2009, 1.2 million barrels [...]

On 1 September, Masoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan regional government (KRG), ordered the removal of the Iraqi flag from all public buildings in Irbil. In its place the [...]

The UAE has proven gas reserves of 213 trillion cubic feet, nearly 90 per cent of which are in Abu Dhabi emirate. But oil has been the mainstay of the [...]

'You can't manage what you can't measure,' is a basic rule of thumb for oil geologists. The notion is particularly apt for the world's largest oil field, Ghawar, which recently [...]

It started with a bang, but the construction boom could end with a whimper. In late July, Peter Voser, chief financial officer (CFO) of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, publicly admitted [...]

In late May, South Korean shipyards once again underlined their dominant position in the Middle East oil and gas carrier market, when the three biggest- Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), Hyundai [...]

The first flush of Qatari gas is due to land at Taweelah in Abu Dhabi emirate next year. The arrival of Dolphin gas will be a seminal moment for the [...]

Talk to brokers at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) about major new entrants on the bourse and Punj Lloyd (PLL) will feature prominently in the conversation. 'On the first day [...]

Ali Naimi had a cryptic message for delegates to a February oil industry conference in Houston. 'Whoever travels without a guide, will need 200 years for a two-day journey,' he [...]

Recent months have been hectic for Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and its subsidiaries. With oil prices remaining well above $50 a barrel and the coffers overflowing, more than [...]

Samer Arafa has two spreadsheets on his desk. The first is the bid slate highlighting the tendering schedule for various upcoming civil and infrastructure tenders in the kingdom, while the [...]

If there were any doubts about Saudi Arabia's ability to produce more oil, the kingdom plans to put them to rest this year. As soaring energy demand pushes smaller Gulf [...]

Feast and famine, Samwhan Corporation has seen them both. Riding the wave of high oil prices, the South Korean civils and plant contractor made its Middle East debut in 1973 [...]

Steady progress has been at the heart of Abu Dhabi's oil policy in recent years. Despite sitting on almost 10 per cent of world oil reserves, the emirate has maintained [...]

As a vertically integrated utility with proven technical capabilities, a total generating capacity of about 60,000 MW and an annual net profit of $2,800 million, it is a wonder that [...]

Lee Chang Keun of Daewoo Securities--an independent Seoul-based financial analyst--is upbeat about the future of Samsung Engineering Company, and with good reason. In early October, the share price of the [...]

In 1975, a little piece of history was made in the Gulf's energy sector when King Faisal instructed Saudi Aramco--then Arab American Oil Company--to design, build and operate a master [...]

On a Friday morning, Raju Goyal is waiting for a bus to take him from Jebel Ali to Jumeirah beach. 'They say Dubai has good beaches and everyone goes out [...]

It is an all-too familiar tale among engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors. Rapid expansion in the early 1990s followed by equally rapid retrenchment led to mounting losses on big-ticket [...]