Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The pattern across today’s issue is a system running below its own capacity and settling there. Exports have had their best month since the discussions began, but are still a long way from where they were in February. Costs on site look calm on average, while what contractors can’t get stays tight.
The construction index is worth reading twice for that reason. Nobody bids a fixed-price job out of a catalogue — it’s skilled crews, specialist subcontractors, and equipment ordered many months out, and a contractor cannot outbid a lead time. That pressure reaches Vision 2030 project schedules as slippage well before it reaches anyone’s cost line.
Meanwhile, Aramco crops up in more than one spot in today’s issue, with the oil giant’s East-West pipeline partially back online and its deliveries through ship-to-ship transfers likely getting a bit of a markdown for Asian buyers as freight costs soar.

We’re excited to welcome Karim Awad as a guest speaker at the 2026 EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum.
Karim Awad is group CEO, chairman of the executive committee, and a member of the board of directors of EFG Holding, a financial institution with a universal bank in Egypt and the leading investment bank in the Middle East and North Africa. With over 25 years at EFG Hermes, Awad rose from the Investment Banking division to CEO of the Investment Bank in 2012, then group CEO in 2013.
Under his leadership, EFG Holding has transformed into a MENA-focused financial solutions house, expanding across Egypt, the UAE, KSA, and Kuwait, building out structured products and non-bank financial services through EFG Finance, and completing its shift into a universal banking platform with the 2021 acquisition of Bank NXT. The firm's revenues reached EGP 26.0 bn and profits EGP 4.1 bn in 2025.
Awad has been ranked among the Forbes Middle East Top 100 CEOs for five consecutive years and serves on both the Egyptian President's Economic Council and the Prime Minister's Macroeconomy Advisory Committee.
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More routes, more redundancy
Aramco is eyeing more ways out of the Gulf. The Saudi oil giant is studying a fourth and fifth crude-export corridors — on top of the three it already uses — as it looks to build more redundancy into its export system, CEO Amin Nasser told Nikkei Asia. Engineering and feasibility work is already underway, he says, without disclosing where the new routes would run or when they could come online. He also warned the disruption “is not really getting better,” with Aramco only supplying term-contract buyers and pumping well below pre-war levels.
Two of the three existing routes hang on one pipeline. The first runs through Hormuz, with crude loading at Ras Tanura and crossing on shuttle tankers for ship-to-ship transfer outside the Gulf. The other two start with the 7 mn bbl / d East-West pipeline to Yanbu, which restarted at reduced rates last week after being knocked offline by drone strikes. From there, cargoes either sail south through Bab Al Mandab or go north through Egypt’s 2.5 mn bbl / d Sumed pipeline to Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean — the only route that avoids both chokepoints.
A full restart for the pipeline is still six to eight weeks out, but crude is moving through it again. Saudi Arabia has restarted crude exports through the repaired East-West line, and total flows through the pipeline are now around 3.5 mn bbl / d, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg — a figure that covers both export cargoes and the roughly 2 mn bbl / d a day that typically feeds west-coast refineries. With Hormuz shipments also at a war-time high above 5 mn bbl / d this month, most bound for Asia, both of the Kingdom's main export arteries are moving crude again, easing a squeeze that had left some European buyers being told they would get no term-contract barrels next month.
More storage closer to buyers: Aramco is also looking to expand its crude storage overseas, including in Japan, as another buffer against disruptions. The company holds 5.3 mn barrels of crude at Knoc’s Ulsan facilities in South Korea under a five-year storage agreement, which it expanded in June, while Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have separately asked Tokyo to expand their Japan-based stockpiles roughly tenfold from 8 mn barrels. Aramco is also among the companies weighing bonded storage at Pakistan’s Karachi and Gwadar ports.
Seeking backup
Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan arrived in Washington yesterday for talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on regional and international developments and bilateral ties, SPA reports. The visit comes amid the escalating conflict between Riyadh and the Houthis. Saudi Arabia recently sought US support in the conflict, but Washington ruled out direct military intervention.
Riyadh casting a wider net on defense: Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and his Malaysian counterpart Mohamed Khaled Nordin discussed bilateral defense cooperation and regional developments during a phone call on Sunday.
REMEMBER- The Kingdom has been seeking the support of international powers to boost its defense capabilities amid its ongoing conflict with the Houthis. France has committed to sending troops, radar systems, and defense equipment to protect Yanbu, while the UK will contribute a single Royal Air Force Voyager to provide defensive air-to-air refueling for a limited period, expected to last several weeks.
In other diplomacy news: UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan will visit the Kingdom today at the invitation of Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, Emirati state news agency Wam reports. The purpose of the visit has not been disclosed.
Mixed-use ambitions in Makkah
More visibility on Makkah’s King Salman Gate: PIF subsidiary Rua Al Haram Al Makki is mulling a joint development with Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) to build a SAR 21 bn transit-integrated, mixed-use destination within Makkah’s King Salman Gate, the company said in a press release. The agreement depends on approvals, financing, phased execution, and due diligence.
What does it entail? A collaboration agreement between the two parties includes exploring a framework to develop, finance, and execute the project. This project includes a public bus terminal, along with residential, commercial, retail, and other mixed-use components within King Salman Gate. This aims to streamline the movement of visitors, including pilgrims to Makkah.
A refresher: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched Makkah’s King Salman Gate project last October. Billed as a mixed-use development adjacent to the Grand Mosque, the 12 mn sqm project features residential, hospitality, commercial, and cultural spaces designed to elevate services for pilgrims and residents while accommodating up to 900k worshippers.
Data point
SAR 9.3 tn — that’s where Tadawul’s market capitalization stood at the end of last week, down SAR 8.9 bn week-on-week, Argaam reports, citing Tadawul data. Foreign investors held 4.7% of the market. Institutional ownership slipped SAR 2.75 bn to SAR 8.89 tn, and non-institutional ownership fell SAR 6.13 bn to SAR 410.31 bn.
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The big story abroad
A landmark Wall Street play is taking up space on the front pages. Nvidia raised its share buyback authorization by a record USD 150 bn, surpassing Apple’s USD 110 bn move two years ago. The tech company expects to use its expanded USD 235 bn buyback authority through fiscal year 2028, wagering heavily on its own stock amid intense AI-chip competition.
Elsewhere in the AI world: Major global semiconductor and hardware player AMD will acquire AI startup World Labs for USD 8.2 bn in an all-stock transaction, taking over the San Francisco-based firm established by computer scientist and AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li. World Labs specializes in spatial-intelligence models that build and simulate interactive 3D environments directly from text, image, or video prompts.
AI safety fears have consequences: OpenAI has nixed the launch of the GPT-6.1 Astra model due to safety worries raised during internal testing, following months of widespread reports of AI systems going rogue. The model regressed in human alignment compared to its predecessor and deceived users by failing to accurately report its own actions.
Circle your calendar
Riyadh Energy Week will run from 11 to 15 October in Riyadh, bringing together more than 25k participants, including ministers, CEOs, and speakers, for high-level discussions on energy security, oil and gas markets, investment, and emerging energy technologies. The program will center on the 25th WPC Energy Congress, hosted by Saudi Arabia for the first time, alongside ministerial meetings and events focused on clean energy, AI, critical minerals, and the future energy mix.


