Is Qatar trying to squeeze Egypt on LNG? Qatar reportedly refused to sell LNG to third-party traders the statelet thought were buying on Egypt’s behalf, according to Reuters. Since the diplomatic rift between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain came to a head, requests by at least two companies to ship additional LNG from Qatar to Egypt have been rejected without explanation, according to trade sources who feel Qatar is reluctant to expand LNG trade with Egypt in light of the Quartet’s blockade. A Qatar Petroleum spokesman denied this, saying that Qatar will “continue to honor all their commitments and to actively engage with all counterparties, regarding mutually beneficial LNG market opportunities." Other traders believe that the restrictions, if proven true, would only hurt those with open positions. Long term contract traders have mostly secured their LNG.

…Government sources tell Al Mal that if Qatar did reject traders’ request for LNG it would likely be for short-term contracts only. The source gave reassurances that Egypt has no direct contracts with the Qatari government to import gas and that all LNG imports are contracted to third parties. It is worth noting that Qatar supplies around 60% of Egypt's LNG through trading houses such as Trafigura, Glencore, Vitol and Noble Group, according to Reuters.

The UAE has the right idea: Not willing to take a chance and be backed into a corner, the UAE has begun importing condensates from the US in a bid to reduce its reliance on Qatari imports — its normal supply avenue — Reuters reports.

CBE delays plans to sell United Bank to next year: The Central Bank of Egypt has delayed plans to divest its 99.9% stake in the United Bank of Egypt until next year to allow the lender time to improve its returns and attract a better offer, senior banking officials tell Amwal Al Ghad. The CBE had announced earlier this year that it would be selling the bank to a strategic investor later in 2017.

The scale of Egypt’s wheat purchases in July was “unprecedented,” Ehab Farouk writes for Reuters’ Arabic service. Egypt bought 20% of its target for FY2017-18 in just under a month, he says, and domestic supply decreased. A Supply Minister source told Farouk the increase was to compensate for the drop in supplies domestically as the government tightened control over the wheat delivery processes to avoid inflating delivery figures. This resulted in a 1.8 mn tonne drop compared to last year, he says. The source added that the point of expanding the purchases that significantly was to secure a minimum of five months’ supply of the grain and avoid any delivery disruptions that could occur during the winter months. A trader told Farouk Egypt’s increased purchase volumes drove up wheat prices on the international market.

What the [redacted] are “flying geese?” “North Africa is unlikely to produce its own flying geese in the short term,” Riccardo Fabiani writes for the FT (paywall). North African economies are poised to enter a development stage akin to Asia’s in the 1990s, but only if countries are willing to tackle their political and economic challenges head, he says. With wages in eastern Europe rising in recent years, many companies have begun looking elsewhere for their labor intensive business needs and focus seem to be shifting toward North Africa, where the labor is cheap and both physical and human capital are gradually improving. But Fabiano argues that despite them being attractive destinations for FDI, countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco “do not seem to enjoy the political conditions that enabled the Asian economies to take off … competent bureaucracies dedicated to economic growth and industrialisation.”

Ten solar power companies have signed power purchase agreements with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company for solar photovoltaic projects under phase two of the feed-in tariff program, Electricity Ministry sources tell Al Mal. Each project is in the 50 MW range, with a total investment value across all projects of about USD 700 mn. The companies reached financial close with various international institutions, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation. Thirty other companies that qualified for projects under phase two of the FiT program are currently on the street lining up funding, for which they face an end-of-October deadline.

Meanwhile, Empower, Oceania, and FMC have presented financial proposals for waste-to-energy projects to the Environment Ministry at rates ranging from EGP 1.35-1.40 per kWh, Assistant Environment Minister Fatma Mohsen tells Al Borsa. Look for a tender for further contracts down the road. The Electricity Ministry had previously announced it would not be issuing a set feed-in tariff rate for waste-to-energy projects and would instead set the fees based on the offers investors present. The ministry had initially settled on an FiT of EGP 1.45 per kWh last month.

Arabic news portals are increasingly reliant on social media channels for distribution— the same plague that is eating up profits at western outlets — according to the 1Q2017 Digital Media Index report. The report, which studied 672 news portals in 18 Arab countries, notes that sports news is the most published type of content on Arabic portals at 62%, followed by local news at 59%, and economic content 50%. News portals are also using social media platforms more extensively, the report showed, with Facebook being the most popular. In Egypt, approximately 100% of the estimated 35 mn internet users use Facebook and there are 0.56 online news portals for every 1 mn people. Those platforms each have an average of 3.30 social media channels and 0.49 mobile apps. 83% of all online newspapers in Egypt have presence on Twitter and 89% of them are on Facebook. The complete report from Digital Media Index can be downloaded here and users can also access their eNews Intelligence Dashboard. H/t Wamda.

EARNINGS WATCH-

• Juhayna reported an 8.4% y-o-y decrease in consolidated net profit to EGP 27.3 mn in 2Q2017, according to an EGX filing. The company’s consolidated revenues rose 15.8% y-o-y in 2Q2017 to EGP 1.57 bn.
• Oriental Weavers reported a 28% y-o-y increase in second quarter net profit to EGP 204 mn, according to the company’s earnings release. The company also reported a 54% y-o-y increase in its sales revenues to EGP 2.4 bn during the quarter.
• Eastern Tobacco reported a net profit after tax of EGP 1.7 bn in FY2016-17, up 17.97% y-o-y, according to a bourse filing.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed the security situation in Libya the country’s eastern commander General Khalifa Haftar during a meeting in Paris yesterday, according to a ministry statement. Shoukry stressed the importance of reaching a political solution in Libya — an existential issue for Egyptian security — and lauded the French-brokered agreement that saw Haftar and rival leader Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj pledge to bury the hatchet this past Tuesday. The two promised to institute a conditional ceasefire and hold national elections come spring. Shoukry also discussed developments in the spat with Qatar during a meeting with French National Assembly President François de Rugy.

This comes as internationally backed Libyan House of Representatives — supporters of Haftar and allies of Egypt — reportedly broke off diplomatic ties with Sudan. Sudan’s diplomatic mission in East Libya was apparently given 72 hours to leave the country, a Libyan official tells Al Wasat. The stated reason was that members of the mission were engaged in “activities in breach of diplomatic protocol.” The Libyan National Army had accused Sudan, Qatar and Iran of last month of fostering terrorism in Libya.

The Czech woman who was among the victims of this month’s stabbing attack in Hurghada is effectively brain-dead, Egyptian doctors concluded yesterday, Reuters reports. The woman is “on the verge of death after suffering multiple organ failure” and her deteriorating condition has prevented her from being transferred back home from Cairo.

UN report accuses anti-Houthi coalition of attacking migrant boat: A UN report accused the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition fighting in Yemen, and which includes Egypt, of carrying out a deadly March attack on a Somali migrant boat off Yemen, killing 42, Reuters said in an exclusive. The report added that the alliance had become a cover for some states to avoid individual blame. The UN report added that the attack violated international humanitarian law and threatened the peace, security and stability of Yemen.

The UAE is building a pipeline of IPOs that could come in ahead of the Aramco listing next year, getting a shout in Bloomberg. Gulf sovereign IPOs are the flavour of the month and story goes through the potential listings that could come out of the UAE and their estimated worth. The list includes Abu Dhabi Ports, ADNOC service stations, Emirates Global Aluminum, Emaar, Senaat and GEMS Education.