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A joint venture of Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp) and China’s Jinko Power Technology has won a contract to build, own and operate the 500MW Manah Solar II independent power project (IPP) in Manah, under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP).

Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (Nedaja) forces took control of the Marshall Islands-registered tanker Advantage Sweet in the Gulf of Oman late April, while it was sailing from Kuwait to Houston, Texas.

Saudi Aramco appointed Nasir Al-Naimi as president of its upstream business and Mohammed Al-Qahtani as president of its downstream activities, in a shake-up. Both men will report to group president and chief executive Amin Nasser once they assume their newly-created positions on 1 July.

Dubai-based Emirates group reported record results, with an 81% increase in revenues to AED119.8bn ($32.6bn) for the 12 months to end-March 2023 and a record annual profit of AED10.9bn. The airline contributed almost all of the group’s profits.

There are many reasons for environmentalists to be suspicions about the UAE's stewardship of the upcoming UN Climate Conference COP28, but it could prove a historic mistake for the mostly western critics to underestimate the summit's president-designate Sultan Al-Jaber. While detractors fear the event is morphing into a vehicle for hydrocarbons industry lobbying, the UAE claims it is serious about renewable energy and is recruiting a potentially powerful southern alliance to its side.

The former chief executive of Syria-focused Gulfsands Petroleum is targeting upstream oil and gas assets in Oman, as well as solar power opportunities. A return to Syria remains off the table for now, but Sajjad told GSN that "if the door opens again, we’ll be knocking".

Emirates Water and Electricity Company (Ewec) said it had received four bids to develop the 1,500MW Al-Ajban solar PV plant as an independent power project (IPP). It is Ewec’s third major PV project in Abu Dhabi and will bring the state-owned Abu Dhabi Power Corporation subsidiary's total solar capacity to around 4GW.

As the UAE extends its interests in mining and other sectors across Africa, state minister for foreign affairs Sheikh Shakhbut Bin Nahyan Al-Nahyan has been meeting leaders around the continent.

While the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) suffers from its Turkish pipeline closure, the federal Government of Iraq (GoI) is also in an uncomfortable situation when it comes to energy trade – despite the good news that TotalEnergies and its partner QatarEnergy have finalised their headline $27bn deal to develop a roster of major hydrocarbons and renewables projects.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani laid the foundation stone of the North Field Expansion Project in Ras Laffan early October. The project will raise Qatar's liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity from 77m t/yr to 126m t/yr by 2026. 

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has upheld the conviction of France's TotalEnergies and Switzerland-based Vitol for bribing Iraqi officials during the United Nations-run Oil-for-Food (OfF) programme between October 2000 and March 2003.

Iran has discovered its largest-ever dry gas field at Lamerd, in the south of Shiraz province, petroleum minister Javad Owji announced during a visit to provincial capital Fars. The discovery is estimated to contain reserves of 623bcm of natural gas.

Regional elections are expected, with further delays: A polling day for the long-delayed sixth set of elections to the Kurdistan Parliament has yet to be announced. In August 2023, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) President Nechirvan Barzani issued a decree scheduling the elections for 25 February.

UAE state minister for foreign affairs Sheikh Shakhbut Bin Nahyan Al-Nahyan has been on another African tour in January, visiting the capitals of Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, as well as Angola’s Cabinda province, as the UAE look to continue recent momentum for investments and wider engagement in Africa.

Energy and foreign affairs reshuffles: Several rounds of government reorganisation started in late August, as Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) has sought to inject more life into his economic reform programme and prepare for Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO). A big loser was Khalid Al-Falih, who was replaced as Aramco chairman by Public Investment Fund head Yasir Al-Rumayyan. Falih also lost control of the industry and mineral resources ministerial portfolios and on 8 September was replaced as energy minister by Prince Abdelaziz Bin Salman.