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Risk grades: Abu Dhabi A1, Dubai A2. RAK’s Russian links: A delegation from the Ural region of Russia visited Ras Al-Khaimah in early November, comprising business owners involved in real estate, engineering services, IT development, food production and investment.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister Prince Abdelaziz Bin Salman Bin Abdelaziz  announced in November that Saudi Aramco had discovered two natural gas fields in the Empty Quarter, at the Al-Hiran and Al-Mahakik fields.

Muscat has signed a contract to delivery 1m t/yr of liquified natural gas (LNG) to United Kingdom-based energy major BP. The agreement was signed by Oman LNG on 21 November and will run for nine years, starting in 2026.

Russia's Lukoil signed a supplementary agreement with Iraq’s Basra Oil Company to extend its development and production contract on the West Qurna-2 oil field by ten years to 2045.

Even before the new Gaza war shattered comfortable assumptions about regional security, the global economic climate had been hostile, as shown in analysis of the International Monetary Fund's new reports on the global outlook and regional economic performance.

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.

QatarEnergy has signed a series of long-term agreements with European partners on the North Field expansion projects in recent weeks. Separately, QatarEnergy's agents were also in London agreeing LNG deliveries with brokers. 

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. 

Turkish attacks: Türkiye (Turkey) launched a sustained aerial bombardment of Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) bases in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) in early October, following a suicide bombing at the Ministry of Interior building in Ankara on the opening day of the month, a few hours ahead of the reopening of the Turkish parliament after a three-month summer recess.

A plan by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and British major BP to jointly buy a 50% stake in Israel's NewMed Energy, the largest shareholder in the offshore Leviathan gas field, may yet collapse after a panel set up by NewMed to review their $2bn offer recommended a higher price tag.

Italian major Eni has withdrawn from Block 1, relinquishing a licence it gained in 2019 and casting fresh doubt on Bahrain's ability to exploit its offshore resources. 

QatarEnergy has been awarded the East Port Said exploration block as part of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company's 2022 international bid round. It has also applied for offshore oil and gas blocks 8 and 10 in Lebanon, in a consortium with Eni and TotalEnergies.

Saudi Arabia’s announcement that it would extend its 1m b/d production cut until the end of the year – backed by Opec+ partner Russia’s commitment to extend its 300,000 b/d export cut – moved the price of marker Brent crude back above $90/bbl for the first time since November 2022.

Saudi Aramco said it was buying a minority stake in liquefied natural gas (LNG) company MidOcean Energy for $500m, with an option to buy more shares in the future. It is the Saudi giant’s first international LNG investment.