Month: May 2020

Oman has ordered state-owned companies to accelerate the process of replacing foreign staff with Omani nationals, especially in senior positions, to create more jobs for its citizens.

The finance ministry gave public sector companies until July 2021 to draw up timetables to appoint Omanis in the place of foreign staff, including in managerial positions.

The ministry said large numbers of expatriates still occupied managerial posts in state-run firms.

Foreigners make up more than 40 percent of Oman’s population of 4.6 million, and have played a major role in the Gulf state’s development for several decades.

Around 25 million foreign nationals, mostly Asians, live and work in the Arab monarchies of the Gulf.

But the oil-rich region has been hit hard by falling crude prices since 2014, and suffered a new blow with the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on world markets.

Faced with an economic slump and a sharp drop in oil revenues, Oman and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have been trying hard to create jobs for their own citizens.

The GCC states of Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain are seeking to diversify their economies and integrate millions of new graduates into the workforce.

All have introduced legislation to give nationals preference over foreigners in both the public and private sectors.

Source:https://www.arabianbusiness.com/politics-economics/445915-oman-orders-state-owned-companies-to-speed-up-replacing-foreigners-with-citizens

Qatar Petroleum, one of the world’s biggest energy companies, plans a new wave of job cuts and spending reductions to cope with the slump in oil and gas demand which has hit global economies, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Economic lockdowns brought on by the coronavirus pandemic look set to cut global energy demand sharply with business activity stalling across much of the globe as the containment measures hammer the world economy, cementing economists’ views of a deep global recession.

Qatar Petroleum’s (QP) Chief Executive Saad al-Kaabi told the company’s employees in an internal memo of the planned staff cuts which would be finalised after Eid-al-Fitr religious holiday for Muslims, which is towards the end of May, the sources said.

“Like all oil and gas companies QP is looking at reducing expenditure due to the market downturn which… will be weak for some time,” one of the sources said, adding that QP’s planned cuts would not impact its energy development plans.

Qatar, a tiny but wealthy country is one of the most influential LNG market players with annual production of 77 million tonnes. It plans to increase its LNG production to 126 million tonnes a year by 2027.

QP will postpone the start of production from its new gas facilities until 2025 following a delay in the bidding process, but is not downsizing the world’s largest LNG project, the North Field expansion, Kaabi told Reuters earlier in April.

The planned job and cost cuts will be the third wave of restructuring by QP over the past 6 years. In 2015, the company said it has reduced its staff numbers in a restructuring and decided to exit all non-core businesses after a plunge in oil and gas prices increased financial pressures on Qatar.

In 2018, it has also merged state-owned LNG producers Qatargas and RasGas into one company.

Kaabi told Reuters in 2018 that QP’s operating costs would be 4 billion Qatar riyals ($1.1 billion) a year lower due to its earlier restructuring, which included cutting as many as 8,000 jobs to create a more streamlined operation.

Source:https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/oil-and-gas/qatar-petroleum-plans-job-and-cost-cuts-amid-market-downturn-sources/75470056

Beirut: Drilling off the Lebanese coast has shown some traces of gas but no commercially viable reserves, Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar said on Monday.

“Initial drilling results showed the presence of gas at different depths in the geological layers” of block 4, he told reporters at a news conference.

But around two months after drilling started “no gas reservoir, no commercial reservoir was found,” he said.

Anticipation had been high in Lebanon for the results of gas and oil exploration, with many hoping a major hydrocarbon discovery could help redress the debt-burdened economy.

A consortium composed of energy giants Total, Eni and Novatek was awarded two of Lebanon’s 10 exploration blocks in 2018 — block 4, and block 9 near the Israeli border.

French oil firm Total has yet to release its full report on the exploration of block 4, with Ghajar saying it would be ready in two months.

Results from that site are needed to finalise a strategy on how best to probe block 9, where Ghajar said drilling would start as soon as possible.

Exploration of block 9 has been more controversial as Israel claims it belongs to it.

Total has in the past said it was aware of a border dispute affecting less than eight percent of block 9 and would drill away from that area.

Lebanon is one of the most indebted countries in the world, with a burden equivalent to 170 percent of its GDP.

It is grappling with its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, now compounded by a nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Source:https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/oil-and-gas/gas-found-off-lebanon-not-commercially-viable-minister/75419416

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Ministry of Industry of Lebanon today launched a new project to develop industrial zones in the country.

The project, funded by the Government of Italy, will focus on helping solve problems relating to business infrastructure, attract investment, foster skilled manpower, and facilitate the growth of local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Lebanon currently faces a range of economic problems, many of which are due to a continuing refugee crisis, with refugees now accounting for more than half the population of country.

Industry Minister, Hussein Hajj Hasan, who spoke at the event, said that “the construction of industrial parks in Lebanon helps local manufacturers minimize the costs of production, while enabling them to compete with neighbouring countries”.

UNIDO will work in close collaboration with the Ministry of Industry and the Association of Lebanese Industrialists to prepare the masterplans for establishing pilot industrial zones in three selected locations and developing a capacity-building programme in industrial zone planning and design.

“Lebanon’s Ministry of Industry asked UNIDO to develop a programme to support the establishment of industrial zones to accelerate economic growth in most marginalized areas of the country and also provide basic infrastructure for Lebanese industry and private sector to develop,” said Philippe Scholtes, UNIDO Managing Director.

“We trust that our technical cooperation with Lebanon will help expand industrial production and create the much needed job opportunities.”

This project is part of the new UNIDO Country Programme for Lebanon for the period 2015-2018 that aims to expand industrial production with a special focus on industrial zone development, energy efficiency for industrial SMEs and support for food safety practices in the agro-industrial sector.

Source:https://www.unido.org/news/lebanon-develop-industrial-zones-stimulate-economic-growth