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Red Sea crisis

As costs of importing Middle Eastern oil rose, Europe added 162,000 bpd from Guyana and 60,000 bpd from the US

Middle East oil supplies to Europe drop, replaced by US

Middle East oil exports to Europe fell by nearly a quarter in 2024, replaced by US and South American supplies, as geopolitics in the Middle East reshaped transport routes. European oil refineries cut imports from the Middle East as a result of increased shipping prices, triggered by attacks on vessels along the Red Sea route […]

Finance minister Ahmed Kouchouk said Egypt expects to receive $1.2bn from the IMF this month

Egypt targets new $3bn funding despite IMF loan

Egypt aims to raise nearly $3 billion by the end of the current fiscal year, which ends in June 2025, finance minister Ahmed Kouchouk has said. The funding will be secured through diverse issuances, Reuters reported, citing an interview with Kouchouk on ONtv, an Arabic-language channel. Kouchouk said Egypt expects to receive $1.2 billion from […]

The Egyptian government is pressing ahead with modernisation projects for the Suez Canal

Suez Canal revenue drops $7bn amid Red Sea instability

Suez Canal revenue fell 60 percent, or $7 billion, year on year in 2024 as ongoing instability in the Red Sea disrupted global shipping traffic, according to a news report. Despite the significant earnings drop, the Egyptian government is pressing ahead with modernisation projects to enhance the canal’s capacity and maintain its pivotal role in […]

Saudi Red Sea coral

Red Sea coral to get extra protection from tourists

Saudi Arabia has vowed to implement a series of measures to protect its Red Sea coral reef over the next five years as it pushes ahead with major tourism projects in the area. But experts have warned that Saudi coral remains at risk, even with major spending policies.  According to the National Red Sea Sustainability […]

Cargo is loaded onto an aeroplane. The Middle East-Europe route accounts for 5% of global traffic

Middle East-Europe is ‘fastest-growing route for air cargo’

The Middle East-Europe route for air cargo was the fastest growing in the world in October, according to International Air Transport Association figures.  Annual growth in cargo tonne-kilometres stood at 15.3 percent in October, IATA said. The global average is 9.8 percent and the Middle East average is 4.5 percent. The Middle East-Europe route has […]

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, WTO director-general, said the potential escalation of conflicts in the Middle East could lead to further increases in transport and energy costs

WTO predicts Middle East trade slowdown in 2025

Lower oil prices, the potential for conflicts to escalate and the impact of a Trump presidency are factors supporting the World Trade Organization’s prediction that trade in the Middle East will slow down in 2025, experts have said.  In its latest Global Trade Outlook and Statistics report, the WTO said Middle East exports will grow 5 […]

Air freight has been an increasingly important method of transportation since the conflict in the Middle East erupted and shipping routes were disrupted

Saudi Arabia and US expand aviation deal to include cargo

Saudi Arabia and the US have expanded their bilateral aviation agreement to allow seventh freedom traffic rights for all-cargo flights. Seventh freedom allows airlines to carry on flights that originate in a foreign country, bypass its home country, and deposit the cargo or passengers at another international destination. The amendment will allow Saudi Arabian airlines […]

Water, Waterfront, Construction

Suez Canal Economic Zone plans $3bn investment

Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCEZ) plans to invest $3 billion on infrastructure over the next few years to attract new investors, chairman Waleid Gamal El-Dein said. “We have been able to attract more than $6.3 billion of investments in various sectors and logistics and ports,” he told Reuters, expecting the number of projects to […]

Passengers in Terminal 3 at Dubai Airport. The UAE and Saudi Arabia reported respective air traffic growth of 39 percent and 30 percent

Gulf air traffic rebounds but fares still high

Air traffic in the Middle East and North Africa region has rebounded beyond pre-pandemic levels, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE marking the highest gains in volume. Traffic up to the second quarter of 2024 has also surpassed levels seen before 2020, according to a study by Airports Council International (ACI).  Bahrain (+24 percent), Qatar […]

Khalid Al-Falih Saudi Arabia’s investment minister regional conflict Future Investment Initiative

Regional conflict eroding investment openings, Saudis warn

More than a year of regional conflict is eroding investment opportunities across the Middle East, Saudi officials admitted on Tuesday, though they sought to downplay the impact of regional tensions.  Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) global investor conference in Riyadh days after Israel fired missiles at Iran, the officials said that the kingdom, […]

The oil tanker Cordelia Moon is hit by a missile in the Red Sea, off Yemen's Red Sea Port of Hodeida, in this screengrab from a video released on October 1, 2024

Houthis target three ships in Red and Arabian Seas

Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday that they targeted three ships in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, attacks they called part of their efforts to enforce a naval blockade on Israel. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a televised address the vessels were targeted with missiles and drones for attempting to approach ports bound […]

A petrol station in Cairo. Egypt has raised fuel prices three times this year as it aims to comply with IMF requirements

Egypt plans bonds drive and may review IMF measures

Egypt plans to issue new sukuks and green bonds worth between EGP5 billion ($102.9 million) and EGP10 billion ($205.8 million) before June 2025, the end of its current financial year. The country’s finance minister Ahmed Kouchouk told reporters on Saturday of the ministry’s intentions to issue the new bonds. Earlier in the year Kouchouk spoke […]

Saudi air cargo

Red Sea crisis boosts Saudi air cargos by 50%

Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels have resulted in more than a 50 percent rise in air cargo shipments to Saudi Arabia. The country’s airports are expected to process more than a million tons of air cargo in 2024 for the first time ever. A total of 1.2 million tons is […]

A street in Khobar is adorned with flags to celebrate Saudi Arabia's national day. The region has benefited from an influx of PIF money

Real estate picks up in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province

The Gulf city of Dammam and the Eastern Province that surrounds it have long trailed behind Riyadh, Jeddah and Mecca in the push for glitzy development, but real estate activity is picking up across the hospitality, residential and industrial sectors. The province, which has deep pockets thanks to its importance to the Saudi energy industry, […]

construction over-runs delays Asian construction workers working on a building, Kingdom of Bahrain

Middle East crisis further hinders late project delivery

The escalating Middle East conflict involving Israel, Lebanon and Iran is further hindering already stretched construction timelines in the Gulf. Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is threatened, with concerns that Iran will close the waterway. This route is critical to GCC oil and gas exports. Building projects in the Middle East suffered some […]

A US military helicopter escorts a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. The US has facilities at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar

Fears for Strait of Hormuz oil gateway in Iran-Israel face-off

The prospect of a sustained Iran-Israel conflict is raising concerns that Iran could respond by closing the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway critical to GCC oil and gas exports. Last month about 15 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude passed through the Strait of Hormuz, 36 percent of global seaborne oil exports, according to […]