Good morning, friends. The news cycle is showing no signs of slowing down, leaving us with an issue full to the brim as we head into the weekend. Leading today’s issues are IPO and M&A updates from Saudi and Turkey. PLUS: PMI reports from UAE, Qatar, and Lebanon — and all remained in expansion territories. Shall we?

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HAPPENING TODAY-

The Adipec Maritime and Logistics Exhibition and Conference is on its last day today in Abu Dhabi. The event is part of the larger Adipec Exhibition and Conference, featuring 10 parallel conferences. The event brings together over 250k attendees, including high-level officials and executives from governments and the private sector, representing multiple industries like energy and logistics.

The Air Cargo Forum is on its last day today in Abu Dhabi. The forum — hosted by Etihad Cargo — will bring together air freight industry leaders, policymakers, innovators, and stakeholders to discuss industry solutions, tech, strategies, and collaborative initiatives for global air logistics.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Morocco launches public tender for Casablanca airport terminal: Morocco’s National Airports Authority (ONDA) has launched a public tender for the construction of an air terminal at Casablanca’s Mohammed V International Airport for roughly MAD 10 bn (c. USD 1.1 bn), Moroccan outlet Hespress reports, citing a statement it has seen. The terminal’s capacity is initially expected to handle 20 mn passengers — expandable to 30 mn — and span 600k sqm. Construction progress by Moroccan engineering firm Stam — awarded a contract by ONDA back in May to lay some pre-construction groundwork — has now reached 40%, the news outlet reported.

ON A RELATED NOTE FROM MOROCCO- Moroccan flag carrier Royal Air Maroc (Ram) is working on finalizing a mega jet-order for up to 200 aircraft, with 2028 targeted for the beginning of deliveries, Reuters reports, citing comments made by CEO Abdelhamid Addou. The airline expects the deliveries to comprise some 15 new aircraft annually by 2028.

More details: The carrier launched a tender for the order back in April 2024 and is currently mulling orders from Boeing, Airbus, and Embraer, the newswire reported. Roughly one quarter of the order will consist of wide-body aircraft, with the rest comprising narrow-body planes. The order targets the addition of up to 200 aircraft by 2037.

For now, Ram will lease jets: Ram will mainly rely on leased aircraft for one-third of its fleet until 2028, as the aviation industry grapples with delivery delays and supply chain woes, Addou told Asharq Business. Through leasing arrangements, the carrier is looking to add 13 jets per year, Addou reportedly said.

#2- PIF-owned Aircraft lessor AviLease began marketing for an issuance of five-year USD-denominated bonds, according to a regulatory document seen by Reuters. The initial price for the benchmark issuance was set at 140 basis points above US Treasuries. The aircraft lessor could raise at least USD 500 mn from its initial bond under its larger USD 2 bn program, reports suggested last September.

Who’s in: The aircraft lessor picked Citigroup and Mitsubishi UFJ as joint global coordinators. They will also act as active bookrunners and lead managers for the issuance, alongside Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, BNP Paribas, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, and Mizuho Financial Group.

Passive bookrunners will include Kuwait’s Ahli United Bank, Saudi Fransi Capital, Crédit Agricole, Emirates NBD Capital, GIB Capital, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Natixis, Riyad Capital, and SNB Capital.

AviLease has big ambitions: Launched three years ago, the company aims to be one of the top 10 in the leasing industry by more than doubling its balance sheet to USD 20 bn by 2030, CEO Ted O’Byrne said in August. With USD 8 bn portfolio, of up to 200 aircraft leased to 50 airlines in 30 countries, it targets expanding its footprint to include the US, India, and Asia, focusing on Saudi Arabia, which holds 20% of its booked aircraft.

#3- Saudi Telecom Company (STC) is among bidders in Syria’s SilkLink data cables, a project set to connect Saudi Arabia to Europe via Syrian territory, Semafor reported yesterday, citing people it says are familiar with the matter. The USD 500 mn project is expected to allow data to bypass the Red Sea, which is the primary route for internet traffic between the Middle East, Europe, and the US, the sources added. Syria is set to award the project this month to one of the bidders, which includes STC as well as consortia backed by Jordanian, Kuwaiti, Omani, and UAE firms.

The rationale: The proposed SilkLink will reduce dependence on the concentrated Red Sea’s submarine cables, which saw repeated failures, including most recently in September, when it disrupted internet access in the region and Asia for days. The new cables will also reduce latency and provide an alternative connection to Europe through Jordan, Syria, and potentially Israel.

#4- Turkey might still be in on Russian nat.gas: Turkey’s state-owned Botas is in talks with Russian energy giant Gazprom to maintain the supply of natural gas via pipeline agreements, as deliveries of roughly 22 bn cbm per year are set to expire at the end of 2025, Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources. Ankara and Moscow are reportedly aiming to keep incoming supplies at around the same level, the sources said.

This comes after Turkey rallied LNG supply pacts from Western players, in a bid to replace Russian imports that the country was reported to be letting go amid US pressure on buyers of Russian energy products. Earlier in September, Turkey sealed agreements for more than 15 billion cubic metres (bcm) of LNG for 2026 through 2028, and two other long-term supply pacts for some 10 bcm.

#5- Iraq’s state-owned Somo has cancelled three crude oil cargoes from Russia’s Lukoil, amid concerns over US and UK sanctions on the firm, two market sources told Reuters. The cargoes were scheduled for loading this month.

Background: The US Treasury Department sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil firms Rosneft Oil Company and Lukoil last month. Subsequently, the US Treasury Department has given firms until 21 November to cease transactions with Lukoil.

SOUND FAMILIAR? Lukoil moved its regional trading business from Litasco Middle East DMCC (LME) to a newly formed Dubai entity, Alghaf Marine DMCC, back in August. The move followed UK sanctions on LME and EU measures against its shipping arm, Eiger Shipping, in July after it reportedly considered sanctioning LME itself back in May.

MARKET WATCH-

#1- Oil prices went up this morning as concerns of oversupply dissipate, Reuters reports. Brent crude futures increased by USD 0.17 to USD 63.69 / bbl as of 04:55 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose USD 0.18 to trade at USD 59.78 / bbl. The surge came after signs of weaker demand brought rates to a two-week low during a previous trading session.

Meanwhile, Opec+ crude output rose in October to some 28.43 mn bbl / d, around 30k bbl / d above September’s figures, according to a Reuters survey. The increase was driven mainly by Saudi Arabia and Iraq and comes even as Opec+ started implementing additional curbs on select members to offset previous overproduction.

Mixed signals: Five Opec producers — Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — were expected to collectively boost supply by 86k bbl / d in October before accounting for 140k bbl / d in compensation cuts from Iraq and the UAE. The survey found their actual combined increase hit 114k bbl / d, with production estimates for Iraq and the UAE remaining disputed.

Some fluctuation: Opec secondary-source data suggests adherence to quotas, while other trackers, including the International Energy Agency, see materially higher flows.

REMEMBER- Opec+ had agreed on a 137k bbl / d increase for October, unwinding the 1.65 mn bbl / d voluntary cuts layer, after they initially unwound the full 2.2 mn bbl / d layer by end-September. It is set to pause hikes in 1Q 2026 after following through with a supply increase in November and December.

IN THE LONG RUN- Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco is expecting oil and gas demand to keep growing for decades to come, buoyed by consumption in developing markets, particularly in Asia, CEO Amin Nasser said in an interview with CNBC. Demand will grow by 1.1-1.3 mn bbl / d this year and almost the same next year, he said.

A chunk of capital spending is also going towards AI champion Humain, amid efforts to transform the Kingdom into a global leader in the field, Nasser told CNBC. Aramco is targeting capital expenditures of USD 52-58 bn this year.

#2- Baltic index continues to rise: The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index — which tracks rates for the capesize, panamax, and supramax vessel segments — rose 2.3% to 2,003, buoyed by bigger segments. The capesize increased by 4.7% to 3,084, while the panamax index gained 0.3% to 1,739. The smaller supramax index shed 0.3% to 1,307.

DATA POINTS-

#1- A total of 229 ships “returned” to the Suez Canal in October — marking the highest monthly traffic since ships began diverting the bottleneck in late 2023, according to a statement. The canal recorded a nearly 1.7% rise in transits to 4.4k ships — with a total of 185 mn tons — between July and October 2025.

#2- Saudi Arabia Railways freight operation transported over 7.5 mn tons of goods and minerals in 3Q 2025, according to a statement. The freight operations resulted in the diversion of 359k truck trips from the Kingdom’s roads during the period, leading to a decline of 32 mn liters of fuel consumption and cutting down over 84k tons of carbon emissions annually. The state-owned operator also carried over 2.8 mn passengers during the same period.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Egypt will host the TransMea Expo on Sunday, 9 November until Tuesday, 11 November in Cairo. The expo will host regional and international players in the transport industry to explore tech, new smart solutions, and products for transport and logistics services.

The UAE will host the Dubai Airshow on Monday, 17 November until Friday, 21 November in Dubai. The event will host over 1.5k exhibitors and 148k industry experts from over 150 countries, to discuss air mobility, new MRO breakthroughs, sustainable aviation, startups, and new tech for aircraft simulations.

Saudi Arabia will host the ShipTek International Conference and Awards on Tuesday, 18 November in Al Khobar. The conference will host policymakers, organizations, suppliers, and experts on maritime, offshore, and oil and gas.

Egypt will host the International Procurement Supply Chain Conference on Saturday, 6 December in Cairo. The event will gather over 1k delegates, more than 400 organizations, and over 30 global speakers to discuss the future of trade through keynotes and panel discussions. The discussions will center on Egypt’s transformation in the logistics sector, the future of smart ports and supply chains, as well as digital ecosystems.

Check out our full calendar at the bottom of this email for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers.

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