A1SaudiArabia.com

RIYADH – Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery (Sasref) has inaugurated its ultra-low sulfur diesel unit at the refinery in Jubail.

The new line has started commercial production of about 100,000 barrels per day of low-sulfur diesel fuel with less than 10 parts per million sulfur content.

“The start of the ultra-low sulfur diesel unitreinforces our strategy to keep pace with future trends and comply with environmental and marketing requirements, which will help Sasref to maintain its competitiveness as one of the leading refineries in the Middle East and Asia,” said Sasref president Abdulhakim A. Al-Gouhi.

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RIYADH – Saudi Arabia has approved the Gulf Arab states first exchange-traded fund (ETF), which will be accessible to foreigners as part of efforts to open up the biggest Arab bourse.

Saudi financial firm Falcom Financial Services won approval to list the “Falcom Saudi Equity ETF” on the bourse, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) said in a statement on Tuesday.

The worlds top oil exporter has been trying to encourage more foreign money to its bourse, having recently allowed indirect foreign ownership via so-called swap agreements.

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SEOUL – South Korean institutions are showing increasing interest in Islamic financing to diversify capital raising avenues.

This was the view of delegates at a seminar on Korean Sukuk held this week in Seoul by BNY Mellon, a leading provider of corporate trustee and agency services on Islamic transactions and other complex structured finance deals globally.

As the global financial markets recover from the financial crisis, Islamic finance is appealing as an alternative to conventional financial instruments. Sukuk share many features of conventional bonds, such as standardized transactions structures and documents, and similar trading, listing and ratings characteristics.

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PARIS – World oil demand will rise this year due to surging economic activity in Asian countries, especially China, the International Energy Agency said Friday as it bumped up its forecasts.

The Paris-based IEA, which advises oil-consuming countries, predicted in its monthly report that oil demand will average 86.6 million barrels a day this year, or 1.6 million barrels a day more than in 2009.

The IEAs previous report, in February, had estimated daily demand in 2010 of 86.5 million barrels. The estimate for 2009 was revised upwards to 85 million barrels a day.

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GENEVA – Airline industry group IATA on Thursday halved its 2010 loss forecast for airlines to $2.8 billion as a recovery led by Asia and Latin America proves stronger than expected.

“For a change today we have some good news to present. The good news is that were cutting our loss forecast in half,” said Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association.

“You may say its still a red number … its probably too early to have a party … but its something very, very positive for the industry and a good signal for the economy.”

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NEW YORK – To European officials, financial derivatives are dangerous weapons that worsened Greeces debt crisis and should be curbed.

To Wall Street, theyre tools that reduce risk and generate profits and should be left alone.

Now, regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are trying to figure out whos right and what to do about it. At stake are billions in profits that banks say would be threatened by too much regulation. Yet supporters of tougher rules say the global financial system is at risk as long as derivatives remain largely unregulated.

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LONDON – World stock markets traded in a narrow range Thursday amid growing concerns of an overheating Chinese economy and as investors awaited more US economic data over the rest of the week for further insights into the state of the US economic recovery.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 1.19 point at 5,639.38 while the CAC-40 in France was less than a point lower at 3,942.88. Germanys DAX rose 9.09 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,945.81.

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LONDON – Global oil demand will rise more quickly than expected in 2010, OPEC said on Wednesday, increasing the need for crude from the 12-member group which meets to set policy next week.

OPEC joins the US governments forecaster in raising oil demand estimates this week. Still, OPECs outlook remains conservative and it is widely expected to leave output policy steady when it meets on March 17.

Demand will rise by 880,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2010 to average 85.24 million bpd, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in a monthly report. The growth rate is up 70,000 bpd from the previous forecast.

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LONDON – A distinct lack of momentum will drag on the rich worlds economic recovery this year, according to the latest Reuters economic outlook in which economists largely bucked a recent trend of rising forecasts.

Median forecasts from the survey of around 250 economists showed slight downward revisions to 2010 quarterly growth forecasts for the United States, while those for Britain and Japan were mostly unchanged from Februarys poll.

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LONDON – World stock markets traded in a narrow range Wednesday as investors looked for renewed direction, while the British pound continued to founder following unimpressive industrial output figures.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 1.23 point to 5,601.07 while Germanys DAX rose 8.72 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,894.61. The CAC-40 in France was 5.78 points, or 0.2 percent, higher at 3,915.79.

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