Good morning, wonderful people. We have a business-heavy issue for you this morning, with updates on ADNOC L&S’ IPO and an M&A in the oil and gas rigging and chartering sector. Let’s dive in.

We’re only four days away from meeting with some of you at the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum, taking place at the Four Seasons at the Nile Plaza on Monday, 15 May.

We’re proud to announce that our friend Hossam Abou Moussa, partner, Apis, is joining us for the forum. Are you? Hossam Abou Moussa is going to be telling us what foreign investors are looking for and how we can appeal to them. He is joined on stage for that discussion by Hassan Massoud, associate director and head of private equity (Southern Mediterranean) at EBRD, who, together, will illustrate how to align what investors are looking for and what local businesses want or need.

Who else is speaking? Among the CEOs, top execs, bankers, and development finance folks speaking at the conference are (in no particular order): Tarek Kamel, CEO of Nestle Egypt; Omar Elsahy, general manager of Amazon Egypt; Khaled Morsy, CEO of DB Schenker; Shady William, managing director of IDG; Mohamed Talaat Khalifa, CEO of Concrete; Mark Wyllie, CEO of Beyti; Kareem Abou Ghaly, chairman and CEO of Pasta Regina; Yasmine Khamis, chair of The Orientals Group, Cheick-Oumar Sylla, director for North Africa and Horn of Africa at IFC; Hossam Sallab, CEO and vice-chairman of Sallab Group and Royal Ceramica; Tarek Hosny, head of investments and projects at Fertiglobe; Helmy Ghazi, deputy CEO of HSBC Egypt; Shams Eweis, corporate affairs director, Egypt, North Africa and Levant at Mars; Nada El Ahwal, CSO of Transmar; Nadia El-Tawil, investment officer at AfricInvest, Mostafa Bedeir, CEO of Giza Seeds and Herbs, Abdallah Sallam, CEO at Madinet Masr, Yassir Zouaoui, partner at McKinsey; and Mohamed ElGebely, team leader at USAID Trade.

Topics and live interviews will include:

• How to attract foreign partners and figure out what they are looking for;
• What lessons can we draw from white goods, fertilizers, and garments exporters who have increased our exports;
• What are the fundamentals to creating an export and / or FDI strategy;
• What it takes to secure a place in a multinational’s supply chain.
• How industrial clusters could expedite exports, FDI and possibly be an avenue for SME development;
• How Egypt’s industries need to be open to evolution to become more competitive.

Tap or click here to explore the full agenda.

** Have you confirmed your attendance? Invitations have been sent out over the past few weeks. If you have yet to confirm your attendance and would still like to join us, please reply to the invitation with an RSVP.

THE BIG LOGISTICS STORY- ADNOCis floating a 15% stake in its maritime logistics subsidiary ADNOC L&S in an IPO in June, and will open the door for subscription on 16 May.

HAPPENING TODAY-

The SCZone is in Amsterdam: Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) Chairman Walid Gamal El Din is currently in Amsterdam to attract Dutch investments in the country’s industrial sector, and to discuss joint cooperation between Egyptian ports and Rotterdam Port, according to a statement.

WATCH THIS SPACE- Seychelles’ President Wavel Ramkalawan will visit Abu Dhabi to discuss the development of the Port Victoria and Seychelles International Airport, according to apresidential statement. The date of the visit was not disclosed. The delegation will include several government officials and the CEOs of Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority and Seychelles Ports Authority.

Renovation work at Iraq’s industrial ports in Basra is now complete, Zawyareports, citing the media office of Iraq’s Transport Ministry. The revamp involved expansions of an oil product berth at Khor Al Zubair Port and the construction of new service berths for working ships and service boats at Umm Qasr Port, the office is quoted as saying.

Background: Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation was awarded a USD 110 mn contract to rehabilitate Basra’s port in May 2018. The contract was tendered by the General Company for Ports of Iraq and funded by ODA loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

DATA POINT- State-owned railway company Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) moved upwards of 5.8 mn tons of cargo in 1Q 2023, up 7% y-o-y, the company said. Some 2.2 mn passengers traveled on SAR trains (up 104% y-o-y) covering 8k trips (a 54% y-o-y increase) during 1Q 2023.

DATA POINT #2- The Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) handled 681.7k standard containers of cargo in April, an increase of 13.34% y-o-y, while handling of transhipment containers grew 19.73% to 246.8k, according to a statement.

MARKET WATCH-

Iraq’s oil exports are unlikely to exceed 3.3 mn barrels per day (bbl/d) in May due to the pause on exports from the country’s north,S&P Global says, citing a senior Iraqi official. Crude oil flowing out of Iraq, excluding the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, from which exports have halted following the arbitration ruling in March, rose to only 3.3 mn bbl/d in April, according to an Iraqi Oil Ministry statement picked up by S&P. Iraq also cut its production of crude oil to 4.22 mn bbl/d in tandem with other OPEC+ members that announced voluntary output cuts until the end of 2023.

Background: Iraq, Kurdistan, and Turkey are still in ongoing negotiations surrounding the resumption of some 450k bbl/d of oil exports from Iraq’s Kurdish region to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey.

OPEC+’s decision to cut oil supplies has resulted in a sharp drop in oil tanker rates, reducing volumes shipped globally, Bloombergreports. Rates for oil-carrying supertankers have fallen by 85% since 20 March, with vessels transporting 2 mn bbl of crude from the Middle East to China earning just over USD 14k, down from more than USD 97k in March. This development marks a reversal in the oil market, which for nearly a year had witnessed a surge in tanker rates due to shipments having to travel greater distances to replace Russian oil as well as releases from US oil reserves.

Demand from China could buoy prices once again: “Chinese demand is key, because if China is buying, then even if OPEC+ cut, China will look for other crudes and support markets,” Anoop Singh, global head of shipping research at Oil Brokerage said.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Airport Show kicked off yesterday and runs until today at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The event will see hundreds of experts in the aviation industry gather to discuss topics crucial to the sector.

The Transport Logistic Trade Fair kicked off yesterday at the Center Messe München in Munich, Germany and runs through this Friday.

The African Aviation Summit: Air Finance Africaconference is running today through Friday at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Global air cargo industry exhibition Air Cargo Europe 2023 kicked off on Tuesday and runs through Friday in Munich, Germany.

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