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A contract signed in December has given the well-connected UAE company Primera Group the right to export and process much of Democratic Republic of Congo's artisanal gold, attracting scrutiny and criticism inside and outside the African country.

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".

Budget balance: The government said it is aiming for a budget deficit of less than 1% of gross domestic product in 2024, which will bring it close to the target set out in the amended Fiscal Balance Programme of balancing its books that year. The government originally hoped to break even by 2022, but delayed that by two years during the Covid pandemic.

IAEA report: Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium has risen by over a quarter in three months, according to comments by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi on 5 June. Grossi told a board of governors meeting in Vienna that “some progress” had been made on monitoring and verification. However, it was “not at the level, pace and sustained rhythm that I would expect.

Saudi energy minister Prince Abdelaziz Bin Salman (ABS) has adopted a more prolix and confrontational tone than was often apparent in the many years he has spent as a rare senior Saudi royal energy official – although the 63-year-old official has long been known for having a sometimes-quirky nature.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its Opec+ allies agreed an agenda for H2 2023 at the cartel's 4 June ministerial meeting in Vienna.

Amid a waning consensus over strategy, the Opec+ meeting in Vienna in early June broke up with Saudi Arabia making a unilateral output cut of 1m b/d, reflecting Riyadh’s determination to shape market forces and bolster prices. The UAE was also handed a higher production quota, but several other members were left unhappy at an unwelcome squeeze on their future production.

Russia is providing the bulk of Saudi diesel and fuel oil imports, as power generation and wider growth increase domestic demand according to recent industry reports. Saudi officials have argued this trade predates Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but market data highlight the depth of bilateral relations.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has launched an ambitious project to develop a $17bn transport network linking the north and south of Iraq. The Development Road Initiative will start at the under-construction Grand Faw port in the south and travel northwards via 1,200km of rail lines and roads.

The United Nations launched the operation to recover some 1m barrels of oil from the stricken FSO Safer tanker off the coast of Yemen, but it says it is still some $29m short of its funding target to complete the operation.

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.

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.

Iraq has extended a contract to import Iranian gas by a further five years, following talks in Baghdad between Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani and visiting Iranian oil minister Javad Owji in May.

Algerian foreign affairs and national community abroad minister Ahmed Attaf arrived in the Saudi city of Jeddah on 15 May for bilateral talks and preparations for the planned League of Arab States summit, to be held on 19 May.