Business

Tighter oil market confirmed by IEA demand revision

An upward revision in historical oil demand by the International Energy Agency in its monthly report points to a tighter global market than the West’s energy watchdog had previously estimated.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

“Our balances are now more in line with observed market fundamentals, which underpin the view of traders. We believe the tighter balance for 2021 and 2022 is already reflected in the price of oil and the forward curve,” the IEA told Reuters.

Oil prices have powered toward $100 a barrel in 2022 as fuel demand recovers from a pandemic crash, in a rally that has driven up energy costs worldwide, forcing some businesses to cut output and draining cash from consumers’ pockets.

The IEA on Friday revised up its baseline estimate of global demand by nearly 800,000 barrels per day (bpd), just under 1 percent of the 100 million bpd global oil market, after reassessing the petrochemicals demand in China and Saudi Arabia back to 2007.

Both countries consumed more of the light oil, known as natural gas liquids, that is produced in association with gas. The IEA said the revision helped explain the historical difference between observed and implied inventory changes.

While the Paris-based IEA did not alter its outlook on the pace of economic recovery, the bump in historical assumptions means 2021 demand outstripped supply by 2.1 million bpd.

The change also indicates demand for oil just about recovered to a pre-pandemic high of 100.3 million bpd in the fourth quarter, closer than in the previous forecast. A full demand rebound remains expected in the third quarter of 2022.

“What the demand revision means is that some … looking at the IEA database as input for their analysis will see a tighter oil market, resulting in a different assessment how to position,” Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS, said.

“Emerging markets account for more than 50 percent of oil demand, where data is less transparent and their demand keeps rising faster than in OECD countries. Unsurprisingly all energy agencies have different numbers,” he added.

NET ZERO

A gold standard of energy market forecasting whose figures countries and companies assess in informing billions of dollars of investment decisions, the IEA frequently revises its data.

Errors have occurred in supply and demand predictions in both the positive and negative directions in past years and have reached as high as 2 million bpd.

“It’s hard to make too much of a judgement on the reliability of the data and what it means,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.

“What the reports do tell us though, as with the other data, is that the market is extremely tight and there’s little evidence of that alleviating soon in the absence of Saudi Arabia pumping more or a nuclear deal that brings more than a million Iranian barrels back into the market,” Erlam added.

The IEA last year outlined a groundbreaking new scenario by which the world could meet climate change targets and energy needs without any further investment in new oil and gas fields.

Few countries committed to the IEA’s recommendation to halt new fossil fuel projects and the agency has warned that investments in renewables has yet to meet the pace needed to compensate for falling investment in oil and gas.

On Friday it called on top Middle East producers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to pump more to help alleviate tight supplies and high prices.

“The higher demand baseline does not affect the messages/conclusions from the IEA’s Net Zero report published last year,” the IEA said.

“The amount being spent on oil appears to be geared towards a world of stagnant or falling demand. A surge in spending on clean energy transitions provides the way forward, but this needs to happen quickly or we could be set for tight markets ahead.”

World oil supply will overtake demand in December: IEA

OPEC raises 2022 oil demand forecast, says omicron variant impact to be mild

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.