Infrastructure 
MENA+ Edition 
Egypt Edition 
UAE Edition 
Saudi Edition 
AI + Innovation (MENA) 
Share
Read Full Issue 
TERMS + TALKS
#1- Adnoc looks for tankers: The company is in talks with US officials about licenses to buy or lease sanctioned tankers, alongside Trafigura, Vitol, and Mercuria, as a shortage of vessels pushes freight rates to records and oil to around USD 100 a barrel. The Trump administration is reviewing roughly 50 applications out of about 1.6k sanctioned ships.
#2- New Delhi in Fujairah: India is exploring holding part of its strategic petroleum reserve in Fujairah, where tankers can load outside Hormuz. The UAE is India’s fourth-largest crude supplier and its second-largest for LNG and LPG, according to India’s Foreign Ministry.
#3- Fertilizers in containers: AD Ports Group and Fertiglobe signed an MoU at Adipec to explore containerized transport and warehousing for Fertiglobe, which bills itself as the world’s largest seaborne exporter of urea and net ammonia combined.
#4- QatarEnergy is buying into Namibia: The company has agreed to buy a 25% interest in Namibia’s offshore Petroleum Exploration License 0082 (PEL82) from Chevron Namibia Exploration II, a Chevron subsidiary. The companies didn’t disclose the price, and the agreement still needs regulatory approval.
OPEN + PENDING
#1- Bahrain’s LNG imports restart: Bahrain could resume LNG imports next year at levels close to the eight cargoes it took in 2025, as industry recovers from war-related disruption. The Kingdom has received just one LNG cargo in 2026, with no more expected before year-end, after the March attacks and trade restrictions disrupted industrial operations and cut gas demand. A return to last year’s levels depends on the pace of the industrial recovery.
#2- Terminal groundwork: Tenders are out for infrastructure works at King Salman International Airport. King Salman International Airport Development Company (KSIADC), the Riyadh giga-airport’s developer, has tendered the roads, bridges, and utility networks for Zone C1+C2 — the civil infrastructure underpinning the new Terminal 6 and its links to the existing Terminals 1-5. The tender went out on 26 October, with bids due 6 December.
DEALS + LAUNCHES
#1- GCC railway moves: GCC transport ministers signed the legal framework for the GCC Railway Project. The agreement organizes rail transport across member states and supports a single interoperable network. The planned 2.1k-km railway would connect Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Oman, giving freight a rail route between ports on both sides of Hormuz.
#2- XRG first sale: Abu-Dhabi’s Adnoc has signed a 10-year sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with India’s Gujarat Energy to supply up to 4 mn tons of LNG starting in 2028. That’s an average of 400k tons annually, by our math.
#3- Borrowing power for chips: Saudi Arabia’s National Infrastructure Fund (Infra) has signed two financing facilities worth SAR 2.5 bn (USD 667 mn) with the AI company. SAR 1.4 bn will fund substations, transmission infrastructure, and grid connections designed to support up to 1 GW of future data center capacity. The remaining SAR 1.1 bn or so will finance GPUs for about 25 MW of IT load.
#4- Gulftainer acquires trucks: UAE ports and logistics operator Gulftainer has signed an agreement with United Al Saqer Heavy Equipment to acquire 1k trucks and develop a 100k sqm automotive logistics park in Al Dhaid. The first 450 trucks are expected before the end of November and the remaining 550 in 1Q 2027.
#5- Land for cars: Sohar Freezone has signed six land-lease agreements covering more than USD 163 mn in planned investment across about 440k sqm. The largest is a USD 100 mn automotive and advanced-industries park that EW Partners will set up on 317k sqm, with a first phase of around 180k sqm of manufacturing plants, workshops, and warehouses.
#6- Lending then flying: The Saudi Fund for Development has signed six concessional loans worth more than USD 403 mn with Syria’s finance ministry, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa present at the signing. The loans cover energy, water, health, housing, infrastructure, and digital government.
#7- Adnoc Drilling heads offshore in Kuwait: The company has secured letters of award from Kuwait Oil Company for two offshore jack-up rigs, worth a combined maximum of KWD 96.6 mn (c. USD 313.6 mn) over a four-year firm term. It’s Adnoc Drilling’s first offshore rig operation outside the UAE. It plans to deploy one of its own jack-ups and bareboat-charter the second. Work starts in 4Q 2027, with the first full-year contribution landing in 2028.
#8- SLB will drill Sharjah’s next gas phases: Sharjah National Oil Corporation (Snoc) has awarded SLB an expanded framework agreement for underbalanced coiled tubing drilling at its Moveyeid gas storage field and Hedebah gas field. The campaign starts in 2027 and is roughly twice the size of SLB’s first one at Moveyeid in 2024, which Snoc says exceeded its drilling and production targets.
