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RIYADH: In a bid to strengthen the electric vehicle market in Saudi Arabia, Lucid Motors has appointed Turqi Al-Nowaiser as the chairman of its board of directors.
Al-Nowaiser currently serves as the deputy governor and head of the international investments division at the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund.
He was a board member at Lucid Motors and has also served as a member of several companies and committees of the PIF.
Al-Nowaiser worked as a senior adviser at the PIF from October 2015 to September 2016, before which he held several executive roles at Saudi Fransi Capital, a financial services firm in the Kingdom.
Al-Nowaiser has also been on the board of directors of Hapag-Lloyd AG, an international shipping and container transportation company, since February 2018.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in international business from King Saud University and a master’s in business administration from the University of San Francisco.
The sovereign fund owns about 67 percent of the stakes in Lucid Motors, which plans to produce 155,000 units of EVs at its new plant in Saudi Arabia to address the growing demand for the vehicles.
Earlier in March, while talking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Private Sector Forum in Riyadh, Faisal Sultan, Lucid Motors’ vice president and managing director in the Middle East, said that the firm aims to roll out its first fully Saudi-assembled electric car in September in the coastal city of Jeddah.
“Very exciting things are happening at Lucid. If you fly to Jeddah and drive to King Abdullah Economic City, you will find the location of our plant… Pretty soon, we will start putting the equipment there,” said Sultan.
The King Abdullah Economic City plant will be Lucid Motor’s first manufacturing unit outside the US. The Saudi Industrial Development Fund financed the project with SR5 billion ($1.3 billion), and the venture is expected to create over 4,500 jobs in KAEC.
According to market research firm Mordor Intelligence, the Middle East and African EV market was valued at $40.25 million in 2021 and is expected to reach $93.10 million by 2027, registering a compound annual growth rate of more than 15 percent during the forecast period.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s industrial sector is witnessing unprecedented growth, with investments in the Kingdom’s burgeoning manufacturing landscape reaching SR495 billion ($132 billion) in mere seven years since the launch of Vision 2030.
As part of the wider diversification push, the Kingdom issued over 2,000 new licenses for various projects to ramp up its domestic manufacturing capacity. This helped create around 193,000 new jobs within the industrial sector since the launch of the ambitious vision in 2016 to gradually wean itself off oil dependence.
The mining industry witnessed rapid growth in activities, with the Kingdom granting nearly 1,330 new licenses, attracting more than SR120 billion in investments, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources.
Noting that these figures were attained within only seven months since the ministry had launched its first auction for new mining exploration licenses in October last year.
Earlier this month, the ministry shortlisted 13 bidders to receive mining exploration licenses for two of its five exploration sites in the Kingdom.
The new draw will see the shortlisted bidders compete for permission to dig for valuable metals in two of the key exploration sites in Riyadh and Asir.
The Ar Ridaniyah site, located in the Saudi capital, contains zinc and silver deposits and spans over an area of 75 sq. km.
Whereas the Muhaddad site in Asir, located in the southwest region of Saudi Arabia, contains copper, zinc, lead, and gold deposits and covers 139 sq. km.
The announcement comes in line with the ministry’s aims to support investors, enhance investment in the mining sector and encourage national industries.
The Kingdom also upgraded its mining laws to attract more private players.
This saw the number of mining complexes in the Kingdom rising to 377 as of the end of 2022, with an estimated area of 44,365 sq. km, according to the latest government data.
In line with Saudi Vision 2030, the Kingdom aims to transform the mining sector into the third pillar of the national industry and work on exploiting the mineral wealth in the Kingdom valued at around SR5 trillion ($1.3 trillion).
Furthermore, the number of factories in the Kingdom rose 50 percent since the launch of Vision 2030, the Deputy Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Osama bin Abdulaziz Al-Zamil said in March.
His comments came after figures that were released last year showed that the Kingdom had more than 10,000 industrial facilities, with 1,023 factories starting operations in 2022 alone.
RIYADH: The secretary-general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Haitham Al-Ghais, said on Thursday the International Energy Agency should be “very careful” about discouraging investment in the oil industry, which was crucial for global economic growth.
Responding to the latest IEA comments criticizing OPEC and OPEC+, Al-Ghais said such comments could lead to oil market volatility in the future.
The OPEC chief said the oil producers’ group and its allies “are not targeting oil prices” but focusing on market fundamentals.
“The IEA knows very well that there is a confluence of factors that impact markets. The knock-on effects of COVID-19, monetary policies, stock movements, algorithm trading, commodity trading advisors and SPR releases (coordinated or uncoordinated), geopolitics, to name a few.”
Finger-pointing and misrepresenting the actions of the oil exporters and their allies were “counterproductive,” he said.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol has been critical of the OPEC+ group’s announcement earlier this month of production cuts of 1.66 million barrels per day from May until the end of 2023.
If anything will lead to future volatility it is the IEA’s repeated calls to stop investing in oil.
Oil prices rose above $80 a barrel on the back of the decision, having fallen as low as $70 per barrel last month.
Brent crude was trading at $77.99 a barrel at 0947 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $74.52.
Birol, in an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, said OPEC should be careful about pushing oil prices up as that would translate into a weaker global economy.
On Thursday, Al-Ghais said blaming oil for inflation was “erroneous and technically incorrect.”
“If anything will lead to future volatility it is the IEA’s repeated calls to stop investing in oil, knowing that all data-driven outlooks envisage the need for more of this precious commodity to fuel global economic growth and prosperity in the decades to come, especially in the developing world.”
OPEC+ and the IEA have jousted in recent months over their outlooks for global oil supply and demand.
OPEC+ decided last year it would stop using data from the West’s energy watchdog when assessing the state of the oil market.
RIYADH: Oil prices rose slightly on Thursday, finding some support after heavy losses in the previous two sessions driven by fears of a US recession and an increase in Russian oil exports.
Brent crude was trading at $77.93 a barrel, up 24 cents, or 0.31 percent at 10:30 a.m. Saudi time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude added 13 cents or 0.17 percent to trade at $74.43.
Oil prices dropped almost 4 percent on Wednesday, extending sharp losses from the previous session with recession fears overshadowing a bigger-than-expected fall in US crude inventories.
As of Wednesday’s close, Brent is down 4.9 percent for the week while WTI has lost 4.6 percent.
Russia says OPEC+ sees no need for further oil output cuts
Russian Deputy Prime Alexander Novak said on Thursday that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, saw no need for further oil output cuts despite lower-than-expected Chinese demand, but that the organization can always adjust policy if necessary.
He said Russia reached its targeted output this month after announcing cuts of 500,000 barrels per day, or 5 percent of its oil production, until the year-end.
Russia is part of the OPEC+ group of oil-producing countries that announced a combined reduction of around 1.16 million bpd earlier this month, a surprise decision the US described as unwise.
Novak said Russian oil and gas condensate production is expected to decline to around 515 million tons this year from 535 million tons in 2022.
Novak said OPEC+ did not expect oil shortages in the global oil market after the production cuts, even though the International Energy Agency said they risked exacerbating a supply deficit expected in the second half of the year.
“My opinion is that now the market is balanced, taking into account the decisions made earlier, taking into account our reduction, the reductions that we saw in other countries,” Novak said.
Following severe Western sanctions against Moscow over Ukraine, Russia has maintained its oil production and exports by increasing sales of its energy products outside Europe, its traditional supply market for oil and gas.
Novak said that Russia will this year divert to Asia 140 million tons of oil and oil products that previously would have headed to Europe. He also said Russia will supply between 80 million tons and 90 million tons of oil and oil products to the West in 2023.
Repsol’s Q1 net profit shrinks on lower oil, gas prices
Spanish oil company Repsol said on Thursday that its first-quarter net profit fell 20 percent from the same period a year ago as oil and gas prices shrunk from the first three months of 2022.
The company said its net profit was €1.11 billion ($1.23 billion).
On an adjusted base, Repsol booked a quarterly profit of €1.89 billion, which compares with €1.06 billion a year earlier and expectations of €1.51 billion, according to an average forecast provided by the company.
The uncertain economic outlook weighed on oil and gas prices, with crude oil prices down by an average of 20 percent compared with the first quarter of last year, when the war in Ukraine sparked a sharp increase in oil prices.
The sale of a 25 percent stake in its oil and gas exploration division helped the company cut its net debt to €880 million at the end of March. It was €2.26 billion at the end of last year
(With inputs from Reuters)
RIYADH: Silicon Valley Bank’s former owner may need to take out a bankruptcy loan amid uncertainty about the US Federal Deposit Insurance Company’s seizure of $2 billion in cash from the company, its attorney said Wednesday.
SVB Financial has about $180 million on hand and is not in “imminent danger” of running out of cash attorney James Bromley said at a court hearing before US Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan, who is overseeing the company’s Chapter 11 proceedings.
SVB Financial filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 17 after California regulators shuttered Silicon Valley Bank in early March and appointed the FDIC as a receiver, making it the largest collapse since Washington Mutual went bust during the financial crisis of 2008. The company replaced its CEO and chief financial officer with turnaround specialists last week.
The company has been forced to consider taking out a bankruptcy loan because the FDIC has not yet said whether it will return any of the $2 billion seized at the time of the bank failure, Bromley said. The FDIC has also not fully explained why the cash was seized, Bromley said.
“There is something fundamentally wrong with taking the money and not saying why,” Bromley said.
FDIC’s attorney, Derek Baker, told Glenn that SVB Financial’s bank accounts were properly seized as part of FDIC’s takeover of the failed bank.
The cash is being held as a set-off against the regulator’s costs in stepping in to protect SVB customer deposits, and FDIC is working to provide more detail about its claims against SVB Financial, Baker said.
Glenn said he needed more information about the FDIC’s authority to seize cash and how disputes related to the seizure should be resolved. He directed Baker to report to the court on those topics within a week.
SVB Financial is also still waiting for the full return of financial records that were seized as part of the bank takeover.
First Citizens BancShares, which bought the failed bank, said that it has hired a specialized financial adviser to speed up the transfer of information necessary to SVB Financial’s bankruptcy case.
RIYADH: Saudi firms are increasingly playing an important role in driving the economy, with the share of local content continuing to rise in various sectors as the Kingdom’s diversification efforts gain momentum, revealed an annual report tracking the Vision 2030 blueprint.
This comes as Saudi Arabia has achieved 59.5 percent of local content in the oil and gas sector as opposed to the targeted baseline of 37 percent in 2022.
Local content refers to the percentage of goods, services, and skills sourced from local suppliers and the workforce within the Kingdom.
The aim of promoting local content is to increase the participation of local businesses and citizens in the industry’s supply chain, which can lead to economic growth, job creation and technology transfer.
According to the report, the Kingdom also surpassed its targets for the share of non-oil exports for non-oil gross domestic product by 6.3 percentage points.
While the target set for the share of non-oil exports in non-oil GDP was 18.7 percent, the Kingdom achieved 25 percent in 2022.
Small and medium enterprises loans as a percentage of bank loans also outscored the baseline target of 2 percent last year by attaining 8 percent.
This helped the Kingdom reduce its unemployment rate to 8 percent among locals against the intended target of 12.3 percent.
Women’s participation was also brought to fruition, with their percentage reaching 34.5 percent compared to the planned 22.8 percent in 2022.
The report further revealed that the percentage of university graduates joining the labor market within six months of graduation touched 32 percent against the targeted 13.3 percent.
The Kingdom also excelled on the UN E-Government Development Index, securing 31st rank last year. Its target for 2022 was 44.
“The future of the Kingdom is blessed and promising. Our country deserves more than what has been achieved. We have capabilities; we will double their role and increase their contribution in making this future,” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is quoted as saying in the report.
King Salman added: “Our history records the greatest and most successful collection of directed purposes to building a modern state whose foundation is the citizen, its pillar is development and its goal is prosperity.”