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US-based Bechtel has been awarded a contract to help set up and operate the National Project Management Organisation (NPMO), intended to support government agencies in delivering complex infrastructure projects. NPMO’s establishment is seen as a key part of efforts to boost the projects market’s efficiency. Two other US firms, Aecom and Parsons were shortlisted for the contract, according to Dubai-based projects tracker MEED.

The idea of Saudi Arabia importing liquefied natural gas has cropped up regularly, often in concert with a mooted LNG import terminal on the Red Sea coast. Time and again it has been dismissed, not least because of the cost of importing gas at the full market price while providing it to domestic users at heavily subsidised rates. However, the kingdom’s need to ramp up energy output and its ambitious plans to industrialise could mean it has no choice but to import the fuel – and further cuts to energy subsidies could make it easier, assuming they go ahead as planned.

Kuwait Airways staff staged a sit-in outside the company’s headquarters in Dajeej on 9 January, in protest at alleged plans to cut staff numbers and benefits. Among those present was MP Mohammed Al-Khodair and former employee Ahmed Al-Randi, who told the Kuwait Times that some retired members of staff had been deprived of rights such as annual free tickets.

Specialist projects tracker MEED Projects says the net value of projects underway around the region fell in 2016 by $61bn, the first time the figure has fallen since it began collecting data in 2004. While $105bn of contract awards were made in 2016, this was outweighed by the $166bn of contacts completed during the year. Almost all markets saw activity decline last year, with the one exception being Bahrain, the smallest market. Saudi Arabia performed worst, with a net loss of $30bn.

As competitive pressures mount up on a variety of fronts, it seems the days of relentless expansion may be coming to an end for several giants of Gulf – and global – aviation. On 18 December, Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad confirmed that it was “undertaking a process of managed, controlled restructuring”. This would involve a “measured reduction of headcount in some parts of the business” – thought to mean the loss of anywhere between 1,000 and 3,000 jobs. Eithad has trimmed its route network over the past year, cutting the number of cities it serves from 116 to 112.

National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) has been unable to escape from European sanctions, despite the positive impact of the nuclear deal (see GSN view). In September, the European Court of Justice’s general court comprehensively rejected an NITC application for the dismissal of a European Council (EC) order from February 2015, which included it on the list of sanctioned entities. NITC had won a court victory in mid-2014 removing its name from the listing

Saudi authorities have charged two individuals in connection with a bribery case involving the purchase by Saudi Aramco of three business jets worth $93m from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. The Brazilian company announced on 24 October that it had agreed to pay fines totalling $205m to US and Brazilian Authorities, ending an investigation into bribery and corruption involving aircraft sales to Saudi Arabia, Mozambique, India and the Dominican Republic.

A 500 mcf/d floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) chartered from US-based Excelerate Energy was delivered to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) in August, in a move to ensure gas-to-power supply by state utility Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company (Adwec) during the peak summer season for electricity demand. The UAE’s second LNG import facility was moored off Ruwais, after it was filled at the Das Island plant operated by Adnoc’s Adgas subsidiary – which for years had sought not to divert LNG cargoes to meet domestic demand.

Alubaf Arab International Bank is facing a multi-million dollar pay-out, after losing a case at the High Court in London involving an aircraft financing deal with Bahamas-incorporated Novus Aviation Ltd.The case dates back to March 2013, when Bahrain-based Alubaf contacted Novus saying it was interested in aircraft acquisition and financing deals. After discussing a couple of possible transactions, Alubaf – which is majority owned by Libyan Foreign Bank (LBF) – agreed to join a deal for an Airbus A330-300 to be delivered to Malaysian Airlines in July 2013.

The Mosul dam in northern Iraq is “more likely to experience failure than it is not,” according to a sobering new report, and the consequence will be a biblical inundation along the Tigris river valley – comparable to those described in 4,000 year-old epics such as the Legend of Gilgamesh. Should the dam collapse, the resulting flood will kill an estimated 500,000 Iraqis, rising to as many as 1.47m if evacuation plans fail, according to a report issued on 13 June by Peace Ambassadors for Iraq (PAFI), an NGO founded in 2015 to promote progress towards a more united Iraq.

While the Dubai property market shows marked signs of cooling down (see below), investors in the UAE and other Gulf states show little sign of losing their enthusiasm for buying property in London, which along with New York and a very few other locations is an acknowledged global safe haven for parking assets out of potential harm’s way. (A variety of sources report that the UK’s heated ‘Brexit’ debate over possible departure from the European Union has elicited barely a murmur from Gulf investors, who see business continuing more or less as usual in London whatever happens.)

The European Commission (EC) is to start negotiations with Qatar and the UAE on a new EU-wide aviation agreement, following approval by the bloc’s 28 transport ministers on 7 June. European transport commissioner Violeta Bulc said a new deal would bring more routes and lower fares. Passenger traffic between the EU and the six Gulf Co-operation Council states has tripled over the past decade, from 12m in 2005 to 39m in 2015. The EC has suggested a new deal could bring economic benefits worth €8.4bn ($9.4bn) over the first eight years and deliver 8,300 new jobs by 2025.

With the Dubai property market going through one of its periodic downturns, the authorities are keen to contain pessimism, lest it upsets investor sentiment. Some local market players have put a positive spin on the past year’s 10% price slump, by suggesting there should be a recovery in H2 2016. Not everyone is convinced, however, with the market confronted with a twofold problem: the strong US dollar, which has made property more expensive for international buyers, and low oil prices, which mean regional investors have less money. That has opened up a gap between supply and demand.

General Electric has said it could invest up to $3bn “to develop and localise industrial value chains” in the kingdom. This is in line with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS)’s Vision 2030. The US industrial giant’s tie up is with Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Company (Saiic), which was established in 2014 by MBS’s favoured Public Investment Fund (50%), with Saudi Aramco and Sabic (both 25%). The partners said they would roll out joint investments of $1bn by 2017 along with an aggregate potential investment of $2bn) to “drive projects in water, energy, aviation, digital and other sectors from 2017”.

Oman Environmental Services Holding Company (Be’ah) has awarded French giant Veolia Environnement’s Veolia Middle East subsidiary and local partner Al-Ramooz National a seven-year contract to establish wastewater services across Al-Dhahirah and Al-Buraimi governorates, restructure municipal waste collection services in the north-west and improve public awareness of waste management. It is Veolia’s first such contract in Oman, where it has been present since 2006; its projects include a recently announced extension of the Sur desalination plant, to supply drinking water to almost 600,000 residents.