Abu Dhabi and Doha back BP into Venezuelan gas, stepping into ground US majors won’t touch

GCC Oil majors are going to Venezuela: Qatar-based UCC Oil and Adnoc’s international investment arm XRG are taking an equal-interest stake in the offshore Loran gas licence alongside BP, XRG said in a statement (pdf). The field holds more than 4 tn cubic feet of proven gas.

REMEMBER- We reported in January that Adnoc was evaluating a Venezuela entry through XRG, contingent on clearer legal and financial structures and coordination with Washington. Interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodriguez has been rewriting the country’s hydrocarbon law to open the door to foreign capital since the US removed then-President Nicolas Maduro from office in January and pushed Rodriguez’s interim government toward an investment-friendly posture.

In context: US President Donald Trump has been lobbying American oil companies directly to invest in Venezuela’s energy sector — but several have stayed on the sidelines, wary of the cost of rebuilding a gas industry that’s gone through years of underinvestment and sanctions. That’s the gap XRG, BP, and UCC are stepping into.

BACKGROUND- This is XRG’s second Latin American gas position in under a year. XRG and Eni each took 32% stakes in three YPF-operated upstream blocks in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale basin in June. That sits alongside XRG’s stake in NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG in the US, Azerbaijan’s Absheron gas field, Turkmenistan’s Offshore Block 1, and Mozambique’s Area 4 concession. The oil and gas investor is also eyeing potential investments in Canada and Australia, while also doubling down heavily on US gas.

CONTINUING with the energy-and-logistics theme: A new logistics fund focused on Saudi’s western coast is in the works. Al Rajhi Capital and LogiPoint will establish a SAR 5 bn investment fund dedicated to South Jeddah Logistics and Industrial Park, Al Rajhi said on LinkedIn. The Twp signed an MoU for the project, which will be located next to Modon’s Industrial City One in South Jeddah, and expects final agreements to be wrapped by year-end.

We now know how important SpaceX is to Saudi’s Public Investment Fund: A quarterly US Securities and Commission Exchange (SEC) filing shows PIF held 154.1 mn Class A SpaceX shares worth USD 26.3 bn as of June 30 — its largest single US equity position and roughly two-thirds of the USD 37.9 bn American stock portfolio it reported for 2Q 2026, up from just USD 12 bn three months earlier. (SpaceX shares have since fallen 40% from their 16 June peak.)

Why it matters: This confirms the scale of the anchor order PIF placed ahead of SpaceX’s June IPO — reported at USD 1-5 bn at the time — and it’s on top of the indirect stake PIF already held through Humain’s converted xAI shares.

Saudi exposure to SpaceX runs even deeper: Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding, in which PIF owns roughly 17%, separately disclosed a USD 6.8 bn stake.

Anghami co-founder Eddy Maroun and former Multiply Group CIO José María Dot are targeting USD 100 mn in Arabic entertainment rights, with New York-based Influence Media Partners backing their new UAE play. IPNation launched its platform to buy music masters, publishing rights, artist brands, and name, image, and likeness.

The bet: Arabic IP is under-monetized, while the flood of AI-generated content makes authentic work more valuable, Maroun argues. IPNation follows CineNow, which picked the UAE as its headquarters to turn Indian film rights into investable assets.

A splash of salt in Indonesia: Acwa Power has signed a USD 400 mn (SAR 1.5 bn) agreement with Indonesia’s state-owned PT Garam to develop what they describe as the country’s first seawater desalination and industrial salt production facility, according to a press release. The plant will produce 62.5k cbm of water per day and 500k tons of salt per year using seawater reverse-osmosis technology.

Who’s doing what? Acwa will handle financing, engineering, construction, and staffing, while PT Garam manages site preparation, sales channels, and regulatory coordination. The venture aims to curb Indonesia’s imports of c. 4 mn tons of industrial salt every year.

In context: Acwa Power was among several Saudi firms that inked agreements and MoUs worth roughly USD 27 bn with Indonesian counterparts to invest in clean energy, petrochemicals, and aviation fuel. The renewables giant signed two separate MoUs with a combined value of USD 10 bn to develop the Southeast Asian country’s clean energy industry.

Mubadala Investment Company upped its stake in Aldar Properties to 28%, buying an additional 78.6 mn shares through its subsidiary Mamoura Diversified Global Holding, per an ADX disclosure (pdf).

Aldar had a strong 1H: Aldar’s revenue rose 8% y-o-y to AED 16.8 bn in 1H 2026, driven by development-backlog recognition, rental growth, and recent acquisitions. In addition, construction on the developer’s AED 100 bn Marsa Al Saadiyat waterfront project is set to start in 3Q, with initial residential sales scheduled for 2H 2026.

Saudi’s BinDawood Holding just won the tender for the dairy-processing assets of bankrupt Estonian cheesemaker AS E-Piim Tootmine, paying EUR 135.2 mn (SAR 585.8 mn) through a newly formed subsidiary, Just & JobenOo, according to a Tadawul filing. The assets account for c. 15% of Estonia’s cheese market, the country’s fourth-largest producer. The deal still needs regulatory approval.

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