Business

Qatar has not approached Asian buyers over gas diversions to Europe

Qatar has not approached its Asian customers over diverting gas to Europe, QatarEnergy chief and Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters, adding that if Russia does not supply the region the gap could not be filled by one country.
The United States, the world’s top producer of natural gas, has asked Qatar and other major energy producers to examine whether they can supply Europe should Russian flows be disrupted as a result of tensions with Ukraine.
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Earlier this week, a source told Reuters that Qatar would need US help persuading its buyers to divert gas to Europe, where some 30 percent to 40 percent of gas needs are met by Russia.
“No discussions have taken place…this has not happened,” Kaabi told Reuters in Doha when asked if Qatar had approached any of its Asian buyers. Qatar sells most of its LNG to Asia on long-term oil-indexed contracts.
Industry sources and analysts say only 8 percent to10 percent of Qatar’s LNG is available for diversion to Europe, and even this will need time as it takes longer to ship to Europe than to Asia.
On the prospect of sanctions taking Russia out of Europe’s gas market, Kaabi reiterated that no single country could fill that gap: “No one can supply Europe alone, not us alone … you need many more suppliers to fill the gap.”
Any disruption to Europe would worsen an already existing energy crisis caused by a global shortage of oil and gas.
Kaabi said global “energy poverty” was a real possibility should investments in hydrocarbons continue to lag.
“Globally, the industry is not investing enough in the oil and gas sector, and gas especially,” Kaabi said, adding that he would not have predicted prices rising as high as they have.
“The energy situation will remain like this for a while unless the narrative changes to acknowledge that gas will be a necessary part of the energy transition,” Kaabi said, adding: “Otherwise, the world won’t have enough supply…there will be energy poverty for sure.”
The comments from one of the world’s top LNG exporters come as many countries are battling soaring energy costs with Britain announcing a 54 percent jump in energy bills from April.
LNG prices have lurched from record lows of below $2 per mmBtu to all-time highs of $56 in the last 20 months, as markets struggle to keep pace with global economies recovering from COVID-19. Benchmark prices are around $23 currently.
Global prices are also soaring, with European futures at more than $30 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu), compared with just $5.4 in the US.
Many producing countries have blamed the spike in oil, gas and coal prices on poorly calculated energy transition policies by developed countries which discouraged investment in fossil fuels at a time when they are not fully ready to switch to renewables.
QatarEnergy's expansion plans, which will boost global supplies over the coming decade, are on track with the North Field East (NFE) expansion set to produce gas in 2026 and joint venture partners to be announced in June, Kaabi said.
Qatar aims to expand LNG production to 127 million tons annually by 2027 from 77 million tons.
“We have international companies as JV partners, and the new thing is we have certain buyers that are also coming in. For some selected buyers, we are giving them the opportunity to also be partners in the venture,” Kaabi said.
“We are still in the final stages of finalizing commercial-partners selections, and we are still having discussions.”
Kaabi would not name the selected buyers.
Read more:
Kremlin urges US to ‘stop escalating tensions’ over Ukraine
Germany eyes new LNC terminals as alternative to Russian gas
Gas flows to Europe via Yamal pipeline halted again after short resumption

Business

Almarai signs multiple agreements to localize jobs through training and recruitment programs

Almarai signed a cooperation memorandum with the Food Industries Polytechnic, the
Transport General Authority, and the Saudi Logistics Academy to localize jobs in the
food and beverages sector through training and rehabilitation programs ending in
employment. This came within the first international conference on the labor market,
organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on 13 – 14
December 2023 at the King Abdulaziz Convention Center in Riyadh.

‘These agreements are part of Almarai’s corporate program for the social responsibility
to achieve localization in the food industry sector, which is one of the top priorities of the
comprehensive strategic plans in Almarai, especially since the company is one of the
largest working environments in the kingdom, with more than 9,000 Saudi employees,
including more than 900 Saudi female employees.”Fahad Aldrees, Chief Human
Resources Officer of Almarai, said.

He added that the agreements signed to train and qualify young people are part of the
integrated initiatives and training and rehabilitation programs for national human
resources in Almarai. He pointed out that the company provided about half a million
employee training hours during 2022, raising its retention rate to 90% during 2022.

It is worth mentioning that Almarai is the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy
company, and the largest food and beverage producer and distributor in the Middle
East. Almarai was ranked among LinkedIn’s top 15 Saudi companies for professional
career development for 2022.

Business

SEBA Bank rebrands to AMINA Bank and continues to write its success story

a fully licensed Swiss crypto bank, announced today its new brand identity: AMINA Bank AG. The group operates
globally from its regulated hubs in Zug, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, offering its clients traditional and crypto banking services.
SEBA Bank made history in 2019 by becoming one of the first FINMA-regulated institutions to provide crypto banking services. This rebrand marks a new chapter for the company, which has proudly been in operation for more than four years. AMINA Bank is inspired by the same trailblazing ambition to lead the way for its clients and to write its own future as a Swiss-
regulated crypto bank offering services to its traditional and crypto savvy clients around the globe. The name ‘AMINA’ stems from the term ‘transAMINAtion’, meaning transference of one compound to another. AMINA is a brand driven by perpetual change, bringing together the various ‘compounds’ of traditional, digital, and crypto banking to unlock new potential and
growth for our clients. This vision of change represents the transformation of our clients’ financial future. Franz Bergmueller, CEO of AMINA, said: “We are delighted to introduce the world to our new brand identity. While we say goodbye to the SEBA name, we remain forever proud of the achievements made by the group under the former brand. “Our brand signifies a new era in the company’s growth and strategy; we are a key player in crypto banking and are here to define the future of finance. With our client-focused approach, our years of traversing traditional and crypto finance, we offer a platform for investors to build
wealth safely and under the highest regulatory standards.” “We are grateful to be encouraged by our supportive and committed investors who have been very helpful, supporting the growth of the company. We thank our employees in all the regions
for their dedication and client focus. As we look forward to 2024, our ambition is to accelerate the growth of our strategic hubs in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi, and to continue our global expansion, building on all the successes we have laid down over the past years.” Current clients of AMINA Bank (formerly SEBA Bank) will be unaffected by the rebrand other than encountering the new name; all operations will be business as usual across the board. The branch office based in Abu Dhabi and the subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Singapore will subsequently apply for a name change to align with the head office in Zug.

Business

Uptime Appoints Mustapha Louni Chief Business Officer

Uptime Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Mustapha Louni to the position of Chief Business Officer, a role specifically created to drive strategic leadership and client success. In this new role, Mr. Louni will assume responsibility for the global Uptime sales and marketing organizations and drive overall business value for all Uptime clients. He will retain his existing responsibilities overseeing operations in the Middle East, India, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. In this elevated capacity, Mr. Louni is poised to play a pivotal role in driving Uptime’s next phase of global expansion through strategic initiatives to enhance market awareness of the dramatically expanding global service lines and delivery capabilities of Uptime that uniquely support the global data center industry in its pursuit of ever higher performance through elevated availability, resiliency, sustainability, and cyber-security of digital infrastructure. Louni’s appointment renews and expands Uptime

Institute 39;s 30-year commitment to advancing excellence in the data center sector on a global scale. “Today we are experiencing the next phase of the one-time, planetary transformation from analog to digital. This unprecedented, once-in-a-generation growth in data center demand is primarily driven by continuing cloud adoption, the new promise of AI, and the demonstrable fact
that hybrid digital infrastructure is here to stay for the foreseeable future,” said Martin McCarthy, CEO, Uptime Institute. “These complex and nuanced market demands require a visionary talent like Mustapha Louni. He is someone who cannot only deftly manage specific aspects of the business but also remain ahead of accelerating changes and trends. He continues to earn client
trust and respect by timely delivery on demanding commitments while he also inspires and energizes colleagues and clients alike. I am delighted to announce Mr. Louni’s new position and know that he will continue to expand the impact that he has already brought to Uptime since his arrival.” In 2014, Mr. Louni joined the Uptime organization in the United Arab Emirates, leveraging his extensive experience from roles at Panduit and Schneider Electric in Paris and Dubai. As the company’s first commercial resource in the Middle East and Africa region, Mr. Louni played a pivotal role in expanding Uptime’s presence. Within a year, he successfully established what became and remains Uptime’s fastest growing regional office. Under his leadership, Uptime has
extended his impressive trajectory of growth in MEA to the Asia-Pacific regions, augmenting the Uptime workforce with dedicated team members spanning more than a dozen countries across these regions. A new Uptime office has been inaugurated in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) this year, further fortifying the company’s ability to meet its commitment to sustained
growth and excellence and serve clients in critical, accelerating markets for digital infrastructure.

Uptime Institute began development of its proprietary and now globally recognized Tier Standards and its Tier Certifications 30 years ago to ensure that the mission critical computing needs of all organizations could be met with confidence and understood by executive management. Since that time, Uptime Tier Certification as well as other Uptime offerings including assessments and awards in digital infrastructure for ensuring business performance in areas of management and operations, risk and resilience, sustainability, and more recently cyber- security have gained global adoption. Uptime’s expanding success is based on delivering a
unique business service that is based upon unparalleled engineering excellence and technical mastery, while remaining vendor independent and technology agnostic.