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Petroleum minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh travelled to Baghdad for talks on energy co-operation with his Iraqi counterpart Jabar Al-Luaibi on 20 February, a month after the last Iranian energy delegation visited. Talks centred on a series of initiatives including gas exports from Iran to Iraq, and co-operation on the Parviz/South Naft Khaneh and Khorramshahr/Sindbad oil fields, shared by the two countries. An agreement was signed in 2013 for Iran to provide gas to three power plants in Baghdad and Diyala, starting with 4 mcm/d and rising to 35 mcm/d. However, the arrangement has yet to move ahead – the sticking point appears to be agreeing to financial terms.

Russia and Kuwait have held talks on building a nuclear power plant in the emirate, according to comments by Russian energy minister Alexander Novak to the Rossiya-24 television channel on 22 January. The discussions, held in Vienna on the sidelines of a meeting to discuss the recent deal between oil producing countries to cut output, also touched on co-operation in gas and petroleum services. Novak held separate talks with Saudi officials on the sidelines of the meeting.

Riyadh is planning to launch a $30bn-50bn renewable energy investment programme in the near future, according to comments by energy, industry and mineral resources minister Khalid Al-Falih on 23 January. The programme is designed to result in 3.5GW of clean energy generating capacity by 2020 and 9.5GW by 2023. Significant investment in nuclear power is also on the cards, he said.

Federal Vice President and Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum unveiled a new set of green energy targets on 10 January. By 2050, the UAE aims to increase the contribution of clean energy in the total mix from 25% to 50% (including 6% from nuclear energy); it also envisages cutting the power generation sector’s carbon footprint by 70% and reducing average residential energy consumption by 40%. The UAE is expected to invest Dh600bn ($163bn) by 2050 to meet rising energy demand.

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation subsidiary Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has switched on the emirate’s first utility-scale solar power facility, the 10MW Sidrah 500 plant, to supply the national electricity grid and Umm Gudair oilfield. The solar photovoltaic plant reportedly cost KD30m ($99m), representing an expensive step forward for Kuwait, which remains carbon-dependent but in 2015 unveiled plans to meet 15% of its energy demand from renewables by 2030.

Egyptian parliament has approved the agreement to connect the Egyptian and Saudi electricity grids, signed by King Salman Bin Abdelaziz and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in November 2015. The vote in August will pave the way for work to start on an interconnection to exchange of up to 3GW of power at peak hours. The project is financed by a KD30m ($99.5m) loan from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.

The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Investment 2016 (WEI 2016) report “shows the electricity sector leading a broad reorientation of energy investment”, as upstream oil and gas spending has slumped. The Paris-based agency’s data show an impressive rate of acceleration in renewable energy (RE) investment – not least in leading Middle East economies such as the UAE. However, oil will continue to play an essential role in both the Gulf region and the global economy.

Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (Adwea) has opened world record low bids for the Sweihan solar photovoltaic (PV) project, and analysts were quick to observe that this latest bid underscores the UAE’s status as a world leading renewable energy (RE) market. A consortium led by Japan’s Marubeni Corporation with China’s JinkoSolar submitted a sale price of $0.0242 (2.42c)/kWh for the electricity. It was followed by bids of 2.53c/kWh from a grouping of led by Abu Dhabi’s Masdar with EDF and PAL, and 2.59c/kWh submitted by Tenaga and Phelan Energy Group – which also broke previous records.

Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy developer Masdar has been selected to lead the consortium that will develop phase three of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa)’s Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum solar project. Dewa in May said it had received a low bid of $0.0299/kWh – a global record low price for a solar photovoltaic (PV) scheme. Masdar has announced that it will develop the project, structured on an independent power producer (IPP) model, at a world record low tariff, in consortium with GranSolar (Spain) and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (also Spain, owned by Saudi Arabia’s Abdul Latif Jameel).

King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa on 3 June moved energy minister Abdul Hussain Bin Ali Mirza from the hydrocarbons portfolio, naming National Oil and Gas Holding Company (Nogaholding) chief executive Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa – a member of the royal family – as oil minister in a minor government reshuffle. Under royal Decree 45/2016, Mirza – who had been energy minister since 2006 – was named water and electricity minister. Sheikh Mohammed faces a tough agenda, which includes finding new operators for the onshore Awali oil field, whose expansion plans had stalled well before Occidential Petroleum Corporation and Mubadala Development Corporation announced they were handing back their stakes in the Tatweer joint venture.

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 Power & Water Procurement Company has handed the contract to develop and operate the 3,219MW Ibri Sohar-3 project to a consortium of Mitsui & Co, Acwa Power and Dhofar International Development & Investment Holding. The deal covers construction and operation of two natural gas-fired combined cycle plants of 1,509MW and 1,710MW, at Ibri and Sohar, for 15 years. An official signing was held on 15 May in Muscat. Once up and running in early 2019 the plants will supply 30% of electricity demand in Oman.

Two days before his favoured son Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) was due to launch his Vision 2030 for the kingdom, King Salman issued a royal decree relieving electricity and water minister Abdullah Bin Abdulrahman Al-Hussein of his duties. Agriculture minister Abdulrahman Bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli will run the portfolio on an interim basis, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on 23 April.

Egyptian international co-operation minister Dr Sahar Nasr and Saudi Fund for Development chairman Dr Ibrahim Assaf signed a $100m financing agreement for the Cairo West power plant. This 650MW gas-fired steam turbine plant is being developed by state-owned Egyptian Electricity Holding Company at an estimated $700m cost. Other sources of funding are National Bank of Egypt, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic Development and the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank. The plant is expected to start operation in November 2019.

Expressions of interest were expected by end-September to install 800MW of photovoltaic power at Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park under a 25-year power purchase agreement, with commissioning expected from 2018. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) plans for the park’s capacity to reach 3GW by 2030. This is the third tender for the project: the 13MW phase one went online in April 2013, and work by Saudi-based ACWA Power and Spain’s TSK, using First Solar modules, is under way on the 200MW phase two.