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Gulf

The PwC Tower, or Libeskind Tower, Milan, March 12, 2021.

Analysis

Can Gulf states slash costly reliance on Western consultancies?

A one-year ban on PwC acquiring work in Saudi Arabia has highlighted the Gulf states' dependency on Western firms and the need to develop local consultancies and talent.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Employees of Aramco oil company work in Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq oil processing plant on September 20, 2019.

Analysis

Can Saudi Arabia afford giga-projects with oil prices under $75 per barrel?

Riyadh could soon run a current account deficit as oil revenue declines amid huge spending commitments toward ambitious Vision 2030 projects. Saudi-led OPEC has also deferred an output increase plan to allow more time to reach desired oil prices.

Jennifer Gnana

Samuel Wendel

By Jennifer Gnana , Samuel Wendel

GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images

UAE's final unit of Barakah nuclear reactor hooked to grid: What we know

The Emirates is the only Gulf country with a nuclear power program, though neighboring Saudi Arabia also has atomic power ambitions.

United Arab Emirates

A cargo ship is docked at the port of Yemen's Huthi-held city of Hodeida on July 28, 2024. Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Saudi entity denies its ship hit as Houthis claim attack on Greek tanker

Saudi Arabia's national shipping company Bahri denied reports that its tanker Amjad came under attack by the Houthis, the Yemeni armed group that has stepped up attacks on oil tankers in the Red Sea.

Latest News

Analysis

Telegram CEO's arrest spotlights UAE’s investment-based citizenship laws

MUNICH, GERMANY - JANUARY 24: Pavel Durov of Vkontakte speaks during the Digital Life Design conference (DLD) at HVB Forum on January 24, 2012 in Munich, Germany. ence and culture which connects business, creative and social leaders, opinion-formers and investors for crossover conversation and inspiration. (Photo by Nadine Rupp/Getty Images)

Jennifer Gnana

By Jennifer Gnana

In Dubai, reporting on Gulf energy policy and politics

Heavy floods hit Dubai, airport as Oman toll rises to 18

Dubai's roads were badly hit by the heavy downpours

Agence France-Presse

Oman launches $5 billion 'Future Fund' in sign of economic progress

HAITHAM AL-SHUKAIRI/AFP via Getty Images

Al-Qaeda attack in Yemen kills 2 members of southern forces

Security forces deploy near Aden International Airport in Yemen's southern city on April 14, 2023 during a prisoner exchange between the internationally recognised-government and the Sanaa-based Huthi rebels.

TOPSHOT - A Saudi man talks on his mobile under the shade of solar panel at a solar plant in Uyayna, north of Riyadh, on March 29, 2018. On March 27, Saudi announced a deal with Japan's SoftBank to build the world's biggest solar plant. / AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)

The future of renewable energy generation in the Gulf

There is a global race to build clean energy infrastructure, and the Gulf states are excelling as key competitors in this race.

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional energy

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 11: Chief Operating Officer of the PGA Tour Ron Price arrives for a Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations hearing examining the business deal between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia's LIV Golf on Capitol Hill July 11, 2023 in Washington, DC. In early June, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf announced plans for a framework agreement to create a new global golf entity, which will be heavily funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. (Photo by Dr

Congress grills PGA Tour on relationship with Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf

US Senator Richard Blumenthal, who led the hearing on the deal between the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the US golf circuit, told Al-Monitor that many questions remain unanswered.

Turkish minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Simsek,(L) speaks with minister of Energy and Natural Resourcesand Alparslan Bayraktar,(R) during the group meeting of Justice and Development (AK) Party at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara, on June 21, 2023. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey's finance, banking chiefs to visit Saudi Arabia in search of foreign funds

The Saudi visit of Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek and Central Bank Governor Gaye Erkan is expected to be followed by the Turkish President's Gulf tour.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (2R), Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi (L) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary General Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi (2L) arrive for a joint press conference following a meeting of Sergei Lavrov with his counterparts of the GCC member states in Moscow on July 10, 2023. (Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / POOL / AFP) (Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

In Moscow, Russia's Lavrov welcomes Gulf states' rapprochement with Iran

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia and GCC countries will expand their cooperation together in areas of economic trade, defense, security, energy and politics.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboats cruise past an oil tanker off the port of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, on July 2, 2012. Iran has come up with several methods to foil the European insurance embargo on ships loaded with its crude, a sanction which may harm its vital exports as much as the EU oil embargo itself. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/GettyImages)

US confirms Iran’s IRGC seized tanker smuggling fuel in Gulf

The seizure by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came just a day the US Navy thwarted attempts by Iran's navy to seize two commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

A picture taken on October 13, 2021 shows Kuwait's largest oil refinery at the Al-Ahmadi complex, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the capital Kuwait City. - A fire broke out on October 18, 2021 in Al-Ahmadi refinery, with no interruptions to site operations or petrol exports. The fire was reported at the site of Mina al-Ahmadi, located on the Gulf coast just opposite Iran, according to an AFP photojournalist. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait's gas dispute with Iran tests recent detente

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia consider the Durra gas field to be theirs, but Iran claims a part of it. The issue shows disagreements remain between Riyadh and Tehran following the resumption of diplomatic relations.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L), UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (C) and Manchester City's Emirati owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan (R) attend the UEFA Champions League final football match between Inter Milan and Manchester City at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, on June 10, 2023. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey's Erdogan revs up diplomacy with focus on Syria, Gulf funds

After the president's reelection, Turkish diplomacy has found a new impetus in cementing ties with the Arab world, driven in part by Ankara’s hopes of attracting Gulf funds to prop up its ailing economy.

A Qatari trader prepares before the opening of the stock market at the Qatari stock exchange in Doha on July 31, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / STRINGER (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)

Qatar joins Gulf IPO spree as post-World Cup economic plans advance

Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

This photo illustration created in Washington, DC, on July 6, 2023, shows an image of Elon Musk reflected in the opening page of Threads, an Instagram app. Twitter threatened to sue Meta just hours after the Instagram parent company launched Threads, an app it hopes will beat out the struggling site owned by Elon Musk. In a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, published by online news outlet Semafor on July 6, 2023, Musk lawyer Alex Spiro accused the company of "unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade s

Arab users flock to Meta's Threads as it takes on Twitter

Threads has seen a variety of new users from the Middle East since its launch Wednesday including influencers and even heads of state.

Iraqi children gather at a playground in the old city of Mosul on June 30, 2023 during the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP) (Photo by ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq's Mosul rises from Islamic State ashes to rebuild minarets, museum

As Mosul makes a slow revival from the remnants of war, a host of challenges remain, including corrupt officials and institutional weaknesses in Iraq.

A bulldozer clears the rubble along a street in the occupied West Bank Jenin refugee camp on July 6, 2023, following a large-scale Israeli military operation that lasted for two days.

UAE pledges $15 million to rebuild Palestinian city of Jenin after Israeli raid

The UAE has criticized the Israeli government several times this year, including over its raids in the West Bank, though cooperation between the two countries is continuing.

OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al Ghais

OPEC on hunt for new members, secretary-general says

The oil cartel currently has 13 members, and 10 more countries form the OPEC+ group.