Business

Fortunes of US oil tycoons surge as Ukraine war sparks chaos in crude

Soaring oil prices are padding the fortunes of US shale and gas tycoons, even vaulting one into the ranks of the world’s 500 richest people for the first time.

American oil and gas industrialists on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index now have a collective net worth of $239 billion, a jump of nearly 10 percent since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. The growth is being fueled by near-record high energy prices as sanctions by the US and Europe threaten to choke off Russian exports.

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Brent crude prices have spiked as much as 32 percent since the invasion began and were at about $106 a barrel on Friday. That’s caused markets in everything from airlines stocks to tech shares to gyrate, but it’s been a boon to many companies that make money producing, selling or transporting fossil fuels.

Harold Hamm, 76, co-founder of shale giant Continental Resources, has moved up 28 places on Bloomberg’s wealth index to 93rd and now controls an $18.6 billion fortune.

Richard Kinder’s net worth has grown to $8.5 billion, thanks to his stake in pipeline and energy-storage firm Kinder Morgan, while rising demand for liquefied natural gas has helped Freeport LNG founder Michael S. Smith crack the 500 wealthiest list for the first time.

‘Growing Production’

Even before the Ukraine war, the US oil and gas industry’s revenues had been growing rapidly as demand rebounded from pandemic lows. One segment of the hydrocarbon industry that’s reaping more profits is private companies.

Previous oil booms in places like Texas and New Mexico have been fueled by publicly traded companies, as behemoths such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron consolidated their holdings in a rush to pump more product. That all changed with the pandemic. Public companies that once gorged on cheap debt have been forced to scale back by cautious shareholders, while private companies have seized the moment to boost production.

“On the private side, those pressures from shareholders aren’t nearly as acute,” said Andrew Dittmar, a director at energy-analytics and software firm Enverus. “It makes good economic sense for private firms to invest in growing production.”

It’s also helped boost the fortunes of private operators. Jeffery Hildebrand, 63, the founder and sole owner of Lafayette, Louisiana-based Hilcorp Energy, is now worth more than $12 billion, while Endeavor Energy Resources founder Autry Stephens, 84, has capitalized on his company’s vast holdings in the Permian Basin to expand his net worth to $5.2 billion.

One closely held company that’s done well is liquefied natural gas exporter Freeport LNG, which shipped its first commissioning cargo as recently as September 2019. The sale of a 25 percent stake in November to a Japanese energy company valued Freeport at an implied $9.7 billion.

That has propelled Michael Smith, who owns about 63 percent of the company, into 409th place on Bloomberg’s wealth list with a fortune of $6.2 billion.

Smith’s Houston-based company is poised to benefit if Europe — which currently gets 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia — turns to the US to procure more supplies.

Even if that doesn’t happen, the increased demand would raise prices and help the company’s bottom line. Prices of LNG — gas that’s been chilled into a liquid to make it easier to transport — have surged.

“Michael Smith’s bet on the US gas industry has paid off,” said Talon Custer, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. “And they have options to grow.”

Heather Browne, a spokeswoman for Freeport LNG, declined to comment on Smith’s net worth or the company’s plans.

Freeport LNG has faced delays in recent years expanding its export infrastructure because of difficulty obtaining government permits and low gas prices. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could speed up those plans as government and industry officials reassess their reluctance to ramp up production, Smith told Bloomberg News last week.

“Hopefully this will change the narrative,” he said.

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.