A1SaudiArabia.com

JEDDAH – The current oil price is helping make renewable energy available to all, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Assistant Minister for Petroleum Affairs, said here Monday.

He was addressing media personnel after the first session of the Gulf Environment Forum (GEF) organized by Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME).

Commenting on the demand for Organization of Petrol Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase the oil quota to lower the existing prices, the Prince said nobody can dictate terms to the oil group. OPEC, he said, decides its course of action according to the needs of the market. “Generally what we are looking forward here is to stabilize the prices because we believe that this is the main factor of the real development,” he said.

Read More

RIYADH: The Saudi economy is expected to improve in 2010. Growth will pick up, credit will become more readily available and the government budget will return to surplus. High government spending will be the main engine of growth, with the private sector making a greater contribution as credit conditions improve. A reviving global economy should keep oil prices around their current levels and will increase demand for the exports.

Lack of confidence was an important factor holding back the Kingdom’s economy in 2009. This was reflected in a fall in bank lending, restrained corporate and consumer spending and a subdued stock market. Economic data suggest that confidence has begun to improve and Jadwa Investment expects a virtuous circle in which this feeds into higher spending, boosting corporate performance, lifting share prices and encouraging banks to lend. As a result, real growth of the non-oil private sector is forecast to rise to 3.8 percent total real GDP growth is projected at the same level.

Read More

KUWAIT CITY – Kuwait plans to invest KD2.21 billion ($7.7 billion) in the oil industry during the fiscal year starting April 1 and KD4.7bn in the non-oil related economy, Adel Al-Wuqayan, secretary general of the countrys supreme planning council, said in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday. The country plans to spend about KD16 billion ($56bn) in the fiscal year starting April 1, one-third more than the current year as oil prices rise, it was reported last week.

According to Bloomberg, Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shimali announced the figure in the parliament, declining to give a number for the projected deficit. Next years budget will be based on an oil price of $43 a barrel, compared with $35 this year, Al Shimali said on Feb. 1. – SG

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose above $72 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as a weakening US dollar offset concerns about the strength of the global economic recovery.

Benchmark crude for March delivery was up 38 cents at $72.27 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 70 cents to settle at $71.89 on Monday.

Traders often buy commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation and a weaker dollar and sell them when the US currency rises. Oil, which is priced in dollars, become less expensive in other currencies when the greenback weakens.

Read More

MANAMA: While the financial crisis in Dubai during November took many fund managers in the Middle East by surprise, most are still positive on the regions prospects according to a report by Standard & Poor's Fund Services.

The news came as a surprise to just about everyone, said S&P Fund Services lead analyst Roberto Demartini.

Read More

LONDON: World oil demand will be slow in the early part of 2010, stocks are high and there is plenty of unused capacity, Royal Dutch Shells chief executive said on Thursday, suggesting downside risks for oil prices.

The cautious outlook suggests Shell, which vies with BP PLC as Europes largest oil company by market value, expects little immediate help from the outside environment in boosting profit and follows similar comments from other industry leaders on the weak prospects for oil demand.

Read More

KUWAIT CITY: OPEC member Kuwait posted a preliminary budget surplus of $25.2 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year on higher oil income, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry said on its website that revenues until the end of December reached $45 billion, 60 percent above the $28.1 billion projected for the whole 2009-2010 fiscal year, which ends on March 31.

That income is, however, far below the $64.4 billion earned in the first nine months of the previous fiscal year when oil prices shot above $147 a barrel.

Read More

Global energy outlook too has been under the hammer at Davos and despite the freezing cold temperatures outside the huge auditorium the debate was enough to keep adrenaline flowing. A battle was on with the crusaders arguing that peak oil was just round the corner. And there were defenders, warning, and rather forcefully, that its this buzz that would keep the demand supply balance stretched in the coming years and not any lack of resources.

Indeed many in this part of the world, including this writer strongly believe that the worries over oil production peak have at least been relegated to a back burner, if not totally discarded. Yet the debate in Davos once again reminded us that the peak oil pundits are not going to give up despite some recent setbacks.

Read More

DAVOS, Switzerland – The head of Saudi Aramco said Thursday peak oil prices were a fear of the past.

The whole issue that came to the surface and created a lot of concern, peak oil, is behind us, I hope, Khalid Al-Falih, the head of Saudi Aramco, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Fears raised in the lead up to the peak price of around US$150 a barrel in mid 2008, contributed to volatility and rise in prices.

Read More

JEDDAH: The Saudi private sector is being urged to continue their spending plans in line with Saudi Arabias 2010 budget, which sends a clear signal that the country is committed to continuing its state spending program without resorting to debt financing.

The budget projects a 14 percent increase in state expenditure this year to a record level of SR540 billion. The government has stepped up to the plate in terms of generating momentum behind an economic recovery in hopes the private sector will reciprocate, according to John Sfakianakis, group general manager and chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF), who addressed an elite group of BSF customers in Jeddah this week.

Read More