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Ever more for Aramco trading: Saudi Aramco announced on 18 January that its Aramco Trading Company (ATC) arm had acquired United States-based Motiva Trading and launched a new subsidiary, Aramco Trading Americas (ATA). The latter will be the sole supplier and offtaker for Motiva Enterprises, which owns the 630,000 b/d Port Arthur refinery, the largest refinery in North America. Aramco had taken full control of the refinery in 2017, buying out its partner Royal Dutch Shell.

Gas production started at the Mabrouk North-East field at Block 10 in Oman, according to operator Shell. The international oil company has a 53.45% working interest in the block. Its partners are state-owned OQ (13.36%) and Marsa Liquefied Natural Gas, a joint venture between OQ and France’s TotalEnergies (33.19%).

Emirates Water and Electricity Company (Ewec) issued a request for proposals (RFP) in January for a 1.5GW solar photovoltaic independent power project in the Ajban area of Abu Dhabi. It is the third major solar plant by Ewec, following the 1.2GW Noor Abu Dhabi and the 1.58GW Al-Dhafra projects.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has signed two critical contracts for its Hail and Ghasha sour gas development, paving the way for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts on the multi-billion-dollar scheme to be lined up, possibly before the end of this year.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammad Shia Al-Sudani travelled to Berlin in January for an official visit – his first to Europe since taking office in October. Energy and security issues dominated the agenda, with discussions about potential Iraqi gas supplies to Germany and the ongoing work by Siemens Energy to rehabilitate Iraq’s electricity sector, following a deal with the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity in 2019.

A project to build a port in Al-Mahra governorate to export limestone was approved by the Yemeni government in early January, but has sparked criticism from locals.

Oman's state energy company OQ signed an agreement with Saudi giant Sabic and Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) in late December to develop a jointly-owned petrochemicals complex in the special economic zone at Duqm (Sezad).

For all United Nations special envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg’s efforts at shuttle diplomacy, the continued failure to relaunch the UN-backed ceasefire – which ended in October – has raised the prospect of renewed threats to shipping in the waters around Yemen. This has particular resonance for the UAE, which has often resorted to using commercial vessels as part of its security response.

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) has set up a joint venture with the sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF) to invest in iron ore, copper, nickel and lithium assets around the world

London-headquartered oil and gas company Gulfsands will formally open its new Middle East and North Africa (Mena) office at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) on 16 January. Managing director John Bell told GSN the move to create Gulfsands Middle East reflected its new strategic focus on Mena markets, having divested other assets including acreage in Colombia.

The UAE government said on 12 January that Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) chief executive Sultan Al-Jaber has been appointed president of the 28th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which is scheduled to be held in Dubai on 30 November-12 December.

Accounts of Saudi energy policy are typically laden with caveats, given the inscrutability of decision-making in the kingdom. Saudi industry veteran Ibrahim Al-Muhannah’s new book Oil Leaders, however, offers an intriguing peak behind the curtain into Saudi and Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) oil politics since the late-1980s.

With a new government in place in Baghdad and a new oil minister in the shape of industry veteran Hayan Abdulghani, Iraq is looking to cement recent progress in its oil and gas sector, building on crude production that rose to average 4.5m b/d output at end-2022.

Iran has revived plans to build a nuclear power plant in Khuzestan province. The development comes amid other efforts by Tehran to further develop its electricity sector. Iran had completed an initial synchronisation exercise that was a necessary precursor to linking the electricity grid to Russia, through Azerbaijan and Armenia.

QatarEnergy signed a 27-year deal with China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) to supply of 4m t/yr of liquified natural gas (LNG) to China. The agreement is the first long-term deal from Qatar’s North Field East (NFE) expansion project, which is expected to come online in 2026.