Oil & Gas Adnoc moves its US investments to XRG Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s investments in the US now sit within its new international investment arm, XRG, Adnoc’s CEO said on Tuesday, as the oil giant moves to build up a business focused on lower carbon energy and chemicals. The US investments are in an ExxonMobil hydrogen plant and in NextDecade’s liquefied natural gas […] February 5, 2025
Analysis Markets Trump’s tariffs inject volatility into metal markets President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs have increased uncertainty for global metals and minerals markets. Demand for gold – a traditional safe haven – soared on Tuesday, with the price of international spot gold rising to $2,819.46 an ounce. The precious metal was trading still higher on Wednesday morning at $2,851.21 an ounce. This is despite […] February 5, 2025
Analysis Trade A 10% tariff on China – and a tricky calculation for the Gulf At one minute past midnight in Washington, the United States’ 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports came into effect. Beijing retaliated moments later, announcing even heavier levies on US goods from next week. Canada and Mexico were granted a temporary reprieve after talks on Monday, but there was no last-minute deal for President Donald Trump […] February 5, 2025
Leisure & Hospitality Abu Dhabi’s Modon plans to buy UK events company Modon Holding has announced plans to acquire a global events company. Modon, an investment company that is backed by state-owned Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADQ), announced on Monday that it plans to complete the acquisition of Theta Bidco, a limited company registered in London that owns 100 percent of Arena Events Group (AEG). The […] February 4, 2025
Analysis Trade Trump tariffs ‘pose long-term risk to Gulf’, say economists Gulf economies could benefit in the short term from a tariff-led trade war between the US and some of its major partners, but they face longer-term risks of lower oil prices, tariffs on their own non-oil exports and high interest rates, analysts have warned. Although President Donald Trump delayed tariffs on Canada and Mexico at […] February 4, 2025
Opinion Tech US ambitions are a fork in the road for GCC crypto If Trump follows through on deregulation, the States could be a serious competitor to the Gulf February 4, 2025
Opinion Trade GCC should target tariff-free food deals with Trump US agriculture could be looking for new export markets February 4, 2025
Opinion Oil & Gas Canada oil tariffs could weigh heavily on global markets Most respectable economists believe it is also bad news for the US economy February 3, 2025
Oil & Gas Trump’s tariffs will not move oil prices, says Goldman Sachs The new tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on imports from Canada, Mexico and China are likely to have a limited near-term impact on global oil and gas prices, Goldman Sachs said in a note on Sunday. “Potential tariff-driven decline in US natural gas imports from Canada is too small to significantly raise US […] February 3, 2025
Analysis Mining Tight supply and strong demand pressure silver prices Gulf investors – and romantics – may have to keep a watchful eye on silver in the months ahead as tight supply and strong demand make their impact on prices. This will not only have consequences for those looking for jewellery, but also for industries ranging from solar photovoltaics (PV) to electric vehicles (EVs), and […] February 3, 2025
Analysis Renewable Energy Trump’s climate agenda ‘may push UAE investors away from US’ Masdar and the UAE’s other renewable energy companies may need to rethink their US investments now that President Donald Trump has pulled the plug on new offshore wind projects, industry watchers have warned. “We’re not going to do the wind thing. Big, ugly windmills. They ruin your neighbourhood,” Trump said on his return to the […] February 2, 2025
Opinion Artificial Intelligence DeepSeek shock suggests what goes up must come down GCC sovereign investors view AI as a core segment of their economic diversification strategies January 31, 2025
Mining ADQ joins Orion in $1.2bn metals joint venture The third-largest of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds, ADQ, is setting up a $1.2 billion joint venture with the US investment company Orion Resource Partners to invest in the metals and mining sector. The 50-50 joint venture will be based in Abu Dhabi and will target long-term agreements to source essential metals and minerals, including […] January 30, 2025
Oil & Gas Opec+ to take joint stance on Trump oil policy The Opec+ group of leading oil producers is set to discuss President Donald Trump’s efforts to raise US oil production and take a joint stance on the matter, Kazakhstan said on Wednesday. Trump last week laid out a sweeping plan to help maximise oil and gas production, including by declaring a national energy emergency to speed up permitting […] January 30, 2025
Economy GCC central banks align with Fed to keep rates steady The central banks in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have aligned with the US Federal Reserve to hold their interest rates steady. The Central Bank of the UAE will maintain its base rate on overnight deposit facility (ODF) at 4.4 percent, the UAE state-run Wam news agency reported. No other central banks in the […] January 30, 2025
Analysis Tax GCC weighs impact of Trump’s global corporate tax moves Tax professionals in the Gulf are assessing how President Donald Trump’s pull-back of US support for an international corporate tax framework might affect GCC states’ implementation of it. In a day-one executive order last week, the returning US president repudiated “any commitment” made by the previous Biden administration toward the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and […] January 30, 2025
Analysis Trade Turkey becomes a short-term investor haven from Trump Turkey is being seen as a relatively safe harbour among emerging markets by investors looking to shield their funds from aggressive US trade policies, although Ankara is not immune to Washington’s ire. There has been a recent move back into Turkish debt stock, with local bonds attracting $1.9 billion in foreign capital in the first […] January 29, 2025
Opinion Artificial Intelligence You can’t replace ChatGPT for a few million dollars When I asked the AI tool whether it was better than DeepSeek, its response was 'It depends!' January 29, 2025
Tech Saudi-backed startup aiming to bring back extinct species raises $200m Colossal Biosciences, the US biotech backed by Saudi investor Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed, this month raised $200 million in new funding, which will finance its goal to resurrect extinct species such as the woolly mammoth and the dodo. The newest fundraising round brings the Dallas-based startup’s total raised from investors to $435 million. Based on […] January 29, 2025
Tech UAE secures access to advanced US quantum computer Abu Dhabi’s Quantum Research Center (QRC) has expanded its agreement with IonQ, a US-listed quantum computing company, securing access to IonQ Forte, an advanced quantum computer. The deal places the UAE among a handful of users with access to such advanced systems, reflecting the Gulf state’s push to position itself as a global leader in […] January 29, 2025
Health US fund plans $200m factory in Saudi Arabia US-based fund Akkad Holdings is to invest $200 million to build an intravenous fluid factory in Saudi Arabia. The facility will be based in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Mecca province. “We’re going to break ground hopefully in the next six months,” Dr Steven Shaya, managing director of the fund, told AGBI at the […] January 28, 2025
Opinion Trade Trade policy will be central to Trump’s second term Many of the US president’s fresh executive orders will have substantial ramifications, including in the Gulf January 28, 2025
