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Adnoc signs E&P agreement with Shell; Bahrain invites IOCs for deep onshore gas exploration and signs a memorandum of understanding with Iran for gas supply. Iran state company offers 14 fields for development

New structures are required, and participating bank numbers may be reduced, but the GCC’s syndicated loan market should hit its stride again in 2009, according to project financiers canvassed by GSN.

Dubai has been exceptionally aggressive in opening up to foreign investment. With little oil wealth, and now evidently in a lot of debt, it has developed real estate, tourism and financial services to drive the boom. Observers have long noted this model is vulnerable to anything that might cause foreign investors to run away, perhaps a terrorist attack.

Dubai Investments (DI), a Dubai Financial Market-listed investment vehicle in which the government has an 11% stake, has acquired a 5% stake in …. Geneva and Riyadh-based investment bank Swicorp has agreed to provide funding to a privately-owned Algerian oil products marketer, Petroser, through its $250m private equity vehicle Intaj Capital.

The government’s alternative energy arm is teaming up with foreign players to lead the way in sustainable development. With Abu Dhabi’s enormous petrodollar wealth and its enthusiasm for renewable energy, its strategy to partner with foreign companies who can offer technical expertise looks set to create powerful partnerships that will bring

As the crisis spreads, sovereign wealth funds are being called on to help rescue ailing institutions abroad and at home. Many have already done so: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) invested in Citibank last year, followed by the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), which invested $5bn in Citi and Merrill Lynch. Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has invested in

Gulf financial institutions have been exposed to US defaults, but on a relatively small scale. Worst-affected have been Dubai and Bahrain, with Qatar and Saudi Arabia apparently the least-affected. Foreign banks have slowed down their lending dramatically and local banks are having their international credit lines pulled, causing them to freeze inter-bank lending.

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum’s daughters, Sheikha Latifa; Yorkshire press; purchase of champion Arab gelding

Recent data from the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund shows that Arab stock markets lost some $158bn in September, with the GCC’s bourses taking the brunt of the loss. A new Standard & Poor’s (S&P) report argues that the tightening in liquidity conditions in the UAE is only tangentially related to the global credit crunch and is being driven mainly by a host of country-specific factors.

The UAE has announced its first female ambassadors with the appointment of Sheikha Najla Bint Mohammed Bin Salim Bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi to Sweden, and Dr Hassa Al-Otaiba to Spain.

Cosmo buys into Block 11, Taqa acquires North Sea acreage, green plans

Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas investment arm is talking tough as it seeks to exponentially increase its already substantial portfolio with acquisitions at home and abroad. International Petroleum Investment Company is showing itself to be a tough negotiator in its talks with Spain’s Banco Santander

John Leonard Monterona, Middle East co-ordinator for Migrante, a leading independent organisation representing Filipino expatriate workers, told GSN his group would like to see sponsorship completely abolished.

A growing international underwriting presence in Dubai, Qatar and other GCC countries has begun to transform the Middle East insurance market, participants told GSN. Credit crunch jitters are starting to affect the region, but there remains huge potential in several financial sectors, including the Gulf insurance market.

Sharjah deal ‘not in Iran’s interest’; Oman deal could be reached by year-end; Iran ‘plans $4bn gas pipeline to Europe’