Good afternoon, nice people. It’s the last day of the quarter, and we’re ending it on a “brotherly” note, as Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are talking again.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed met Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh yesterday, the first public visit to Saudi Arabia by a senior Emirati official since January. The two discussed bilateral relations and regional developments, the Saudi Press Agency reports. Sheikh Mansour also met separately with Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, who cited areas of “mutual interest” and closer cooperation between the two countries.
The renewed Houthi offensive is what moved this along — Riyadh is after allied support for air defense and help handling the maritime threat, the Financial Times says. Saudi commentator Ali Shihabi called Prince Khalid’s invitation “a big gesture” toward greater coordination on Yemen, while adding that the UAE is unlikely to return to the war. What Riyadh wants is for Abu Dhabi to keep southern factions from weakening the anti-Houthi front. The visit also follows Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed in the UAE on Sunday, where the reported subject was Iran.
REMEMBER- This is the deepest rift the two have had in years. Disputes over Yemen escalated from December 2025, the UAE left OPEC to prioritize capacity over quotas, and some bank transfers between the two countries ran into delays and extra scrutiny over the summer. The cost has been a GCC unable to agree on a single response to the war. –Salma
Oman’s real estate sales surged 22.7% y-o-y in 2Q 2026 to OMR 316.9 mn, with one project doing most of the heavy lifting, directly and indirectly. Sultan Haitham City, the national flagship smart-city development in Al Maabela backed by the Housing and Urban Planning Ministry, has become the center of gravity for both domestic land buyers and a growing wave of foreign investors drawn by project-specific incentives and a residency-on-purchase model that is turning the Omani market into one of the most competitive for foreigners among its GCC peers, according to NCSI data and market participants.
Residential land dominated the quarter, accounting for 62% of the sector’s transaction value and 84% by number of deals. Prices on the national residential index hit 130.2 — up nearly 30% from the 2018 base and marking the seventh consecutive quarterly increase. Muscat alone saw residential transaction values jump roughly 41% y-o-y, with brokers reporting price spillover into neighboring areas like Al Mawaleh and Al Khoudh as buyers snap up plots adjacent to Sultan Haitham City. The government’s announcement of additional freehold projects across Muscat and, recently, other governorates is accelerating land transactions, Asad Siddiqi, an investment advisor at Maysan Properties, tells EnterpriseAM.
The project’s draw for foreign buyers is driven by a stack of policy incentives that have been accruing for some time. Under a September 2025 cabinet decision, Sultan Haitham City purchasers can secure residency for themselves and their families after paying just 30% of any property priced at a minimum of OMR 50k, and even before construction completes. That’s generous compared to integrated tourism complexes (ITC) outside the city, which generally require 40-50% payment first, a finished unit, and a minimum price of OMR 200k. A separate Royal Oman Police Decision (No. 87/2026), effective 22 June 2026, introduced a sponsor-free Owner Visa option that extends eligibility even to properties that are not yet registered.
SOUND SMART- ITCs are projects designated by the government as open for foreign ownership. Buy inside one, and you get freehold ownership plus residency. While Sultan Haitham City is a mega urban development project, it itself isn’t an ITC, but many projects within have the designation, such as Hayy Al Wafa, Yenaier Residence, Wadi Zaha, Jood, and Sarooj Oasis. You can learn more about ITCs in our July deep dive into GCC’s race to court foreign investments in real estate.
Oman’s lower cost of living relative to Dubai and Saudi Arabia is also helping, attracting a wave of studio buyers from Iran, Pakistan, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, and Palestine — many purchasing primarily to lock in residency, Ubaid Safi, a Muscat-based real estate broker, told EnterpriseAM. That stands in contrast to other major ITCs, such as Al Mouj Muscat, Muscat Hills, and Muscat Bay, that require units costing a minimum of OMR 200k, blocking off the cheaper studio route in these developments for foreigners.
That’s why prices inside Sultan Haitham City have moved fast. Al Abrar Real Estate’s Hayy Al Wafa, the first project to launch in the city, started with brochure prices from OMR 27.8k in 2023–2024; these units now sell at OMR 70k and above, and that’s if they are even available via resale, Safi tells us. Al Ahly Sabbour’s Wadi Zaha and Al Adrak Group’s Yenaier, which both launched in January 2025, had the studios at OMR 46k. These are now priced at OMR 70k and above in the August 2026 brochure, Safi adds.
Two Egyptian mega-developers — Talaat Moustafa Group and Al Ahly Sabbour — are emerging as the dominant players there, acquiring what brokers told us are Sultan Haitham City’s most premium plots around a Central Park-style green spine. Al Ahly Sabbour’s first phase in Wadi Zaha sold out in 1Q, Safi tells us. No major Emirati developer — Emaar, Aldar, Damac — has entered the city yet, a striking gap given the UAE’s geographic proximity.
REMEMBER-The 2Q figures are in line with a general trend, but they are still a step up from last quarter. We previously reported that Oman’s 1Q transaction values were up 18.4% y-o-y to OMR 678 mn, with Muscat residential land prices up 43.6% and foreign investment rising roughly 40%. IRES & D founder Ismail Kamel tells us the Sultanate’s pitch centers on stability and value, drawing parallels to where Dubai stood 15-20 years ago: “Returns on investment today are much higher than in any other place you go to as a developer.”
Beyond Muscat, the gains are uneven. South Batinah posted the biggest residential land increase in transaction value outside the capital in 2Q at 18.9% y-o-y. Meanwhile, Al Wusta Governorate saw residential land transaction value fall by 16%.
The dynamics behind South Batinah numbers are similar to Muscat: Part of the driver is the opening of foreign ownership in Hayy Al Naseem, a government housing project in the Barka area co-developed with Adrak Developers that was initially designed for Omani buyers on the ministry’s waitlist. The project gets the same incentive of residency after a 30% payment that Sultan Haitham City is getting, Safi explains. The broader Barka area has benefited from OMR 150 mn in government housing contracts awarded in January 2023, waterfront developments in Barka and Musannah, and an investment forum held there in April 2026, in addition to its proximity to Muscat’s metropolitan edge.
The non-residential segment tells a different story. While the sector’s total transaction value rose 12.4% on the back of commercial land (covering commercial and industrial), shop transaction values fell 12% y-o-y and industrial land slipped 3.9%. Safi attributes the divergence partly to a legacy of local developer failures on commercially-focused projects — some developers collected buyer funds and left projects unfinished, eroding trust in built commercial property and pushing capital toward land.
The government tried to address this: The Omani government mandated escrow accounts for these projects in its 2025 overhaul of its comprehensive real estate regulation that came into force on 10 March 2026.
For industrial properties, the drivers are different. “The sector is already saturated and performing well, Siddiqi tells us, meaning the slowdown in transaction data reflects limited available inventory rather than weak demand. This slowdown is stark as it comes amid what should have been rising demand from GCC players for warehouse spaces as Oman emerged as a transit hub around Hormuz closure.
The war is also playing a part by reshaping the GCC foreign buyer map. Property sales in Oman from the start of the war at the end of February through early April rose by roughly a third to USD 550 mn, mainly due to increased interest from UAE-based investors, AGBI reported earlier this year. About a third of total transactions in March came from UAE buyers, up from an average of 12% per month in 2025. The buyers were a mix of Emiratis and UAE-based expatriates, mainly from Dubai, brokers say.
Iranians and Pakistanis are increasingly becoming a big part of this exodus from the UAE to the Oman properties market, amid what Safi described as “psychological fear” over their visa status and asset safety. “Before, Pakistani investors were largely unfamiliar with Omani real estate; those with capital went directly to Dubai or Qatar. But when [the] conflict began, people wanted to reallocate, including Iranian investors,” Safi adds.
But be wary of comparing UAE and Oman on the same terms: Dubai recorded 34.8k residential transactions worth USD 23.1 bn in 2Q 2026 alone, according to UAE-based brokerage and real estate consultant Betterhomes data. That’s almost 28 times the size of the Omani real estate market, residential and commercial combined, which totaled OMR 316.9 mn (c. USD 823 mn) in the same quarter.
That gap, paradoxically, is the bull case for Oman’s market, with analysts and brokers who spoke to us throughout the summer viewing the Sultanate as similar to where Dubai stood in the mid-1990s — it means Oman’s percentage gains are moving off a very small base, and a handful of large projects or policy changes, as we explain in this story, can swing the national data in ways that would barely register in a market of Dubai’s depth and maturity.
The bill deciding who absorbs more than USD 70 bn in crisis losses is now the only thing standing between Beirut and an IMF program. Finance Minister Yassine Jaber says Lebanon hopes to sign a new staff-level agreement with the Fund, but that a full program waits on parliament passing the financial gap law, Reuters reports. Jaber met Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Washington this week, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam sat down with the IMF boss yesterday. One source told Reuters a staff-level deal could be signed as soon as that day, another put it at year-end. Nothing had been announced as of this morning.
The Fund’s own read is less advanced than the minister’s. An IMF mission spent 15-18 September in Beirut and left without a staff-level agreement, saying significant legislative and policy work remains before a comprehensive deal, The Beiruter reports. Its outstanding list runs past the gap law to a one percentage point VAT increase to 12%, deposit recovery legislation that matches international standards, and a medium-term fiscal framework. The mission also warned of a significant contraction this year and double-digit inflation. The 2027 budget goes to parliament on 2 October, which will show whether the VAT rise and the fiscal framework are being written in.
Lebanese coverage of the same round has the Fund treating passage of the gap law as a condition of the staff-level agreement itself, Daily Beirut reports, which is a tighter sequence than the one Jaber described. The IMF said in August that Lebanon’s Banking Restructuring Law was a “major step,” signaling that parliament reached a version that is close enough to the Cabinet-backed version to keep talks on a rescue package moving.
REMEMBER- The Banking Restructuring Law establishes a framework for a state-led due diligence process on the country’s banks to assess which banks will be on the chopping block. The law was first passed in June last year, but IMF criticism and a decision from Lebanon’s Constitutional Council about the unconstitutionality of some of the provisions on accountability pathways and recapitalization mechanisms have forced a rewrite.
A staff-level agreement would be Lebanon’s second. The April 2022 version expired unused because Beirut never implemented what it signed, so the number that matters is not the agreement but the vote on the gap law, and no date has been set for one.
Sabotage cuts Syria’s gas to power plants again, as Damascus builds a fuel transit business for Iraq: Syria’s bet on becoming a transit corridor for Gulf and Iraqi energy depends on securing the east. That’s where saboteurs hit a gas pipeline for the second time in six weeks on Monday, days after Damascus began trucking gasoline to Iraq. Its location between the Gulf and the Mediterranean is starting to earn transit fees, but the eastern fields that should supply its own grid remain exposed.
An explosion at an isolation valve set fire to the gas pipeline between Al-Shola and Deir ez-Zor on Monday evening, cutting flows from the Jbeissa gas plant to power stations, state news agency Sana reported. No one has claimed responsibility. Authorities also called an 18 August attack on a pipeline at the same facility deliberate sabotage. Jbeissa sits in an area that returned to Damascus’ full control only this year.
The grid has little room to absorb outages. Gas output has fallen to 8.5 mn cbm / day from 30 mn before the war, against demand of 22-25 mn, according to Energy Minister Mohammad Al Bashir. Syria produces little more than a third of the gas its power stations need.
The transit business is growing on the other side of the country. Syria started trucking gasoline to Iraq last Thursday under a renewable three-month agreement. Iraq has needed alternative supply routes since shipping through Hormuz was disrupted. Iraq’s state-owned Somo buys the fuel from Qatar’s UCC Holding, which ships it to Baniyas, according to Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesperson Saleem Al Rikabi. The Syrian Petroleum Company then trucks it to Iraq through the Al Tanf crossing and collects a transit fee. The first cargo was about 32.8k tons and moved in an initial batch of 57 tankers, with capacity set to reach about 200 trucks a day, the company’s deputy chief for transport and storage Ahmad Qubaji told Sana. None of the gasoline is Syrian-made or drawn from domestic stocks, SPC Refining Director Tareq Shallash said.
The route already carries fuel in both directions and could take on more. Between 1k and 1,200 trucks carrying Iraqi oil already cross Syria every day, and SPC is weighing coal and sulfur as additional cargo, Qubaji said. He added that talks to turn the Kirkuk-Baniyas crude pipeline MoU into a contract are in their final stages. Future transit deals could also cover crude, other petroleum products and non-energy goods, Shallash said.
Both parts of Syria’s energy strategy depend on the same security guarantee. The transit fees require convoys to cross the desert safely, and the gas development agreement Damascus signed with ConocoPhillips in June requires eastern infrastructure that stays online.
Gulf oil producers are running elaborate, expensive workarounds to keep crude moving — Aramco is studying new corridors and stashing barrels overseas, while Iraq is discounting steeply to move its own volumes through the same disrupted routes.
Aramco is building more redundancy
Aramco is studying a fourth and fifth crude-export corridors on top of the three it already uses, CEO Amin Nasser told Nikkei Asia. Engineering and feasibility work is already underway, he said, 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.
Crude is moving again, even as a full restart for the pipeline is still six to eight weeks out. 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. Hormuz shipments are 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.
Saudi Arabia is loading crude at Yanbu again after the East-West pipeline came back to service — though volumes are still well short of where they were before the attack. Loadings at the Red Sea port have reached nearly 2 mn bbl / d since last week, and Aramco sent customers its October loading schedule on Monday, Reuters reports, citing trade sources and shipping data.
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.
Iraq is moving oil, but not cheaply
Shuttles are doing the heavy lifting for Baghdad: Iraq shipped an average of 2.6 mn bbl / d between 1 and 20 September, its best run since the US-Iran war began, AGBI reports, citing tanker-tracker Vortexa. That’s roughly 70% of where it was in February and nearly tenfold May’s low of 264k bbl / d. About 90% of Iraq’s crude now moves via shuttle: A tanker loads inside the Gulf, slips through Hormuz, and hands its cargo to a second ship waiting off Oman. Iran appears to be looking the other way on some shipments, analysts told AGBI.
The catch is the price: SOMO is knocking USD 26.5 off every barrel of medium crude, Al Jazeera reports. That’s painful for a state that runs on oil, which funds more than 90% of its budget. Baghdad is betting the workaround lasts: it has tendered for two supertankers on 180-day charters for Hormuz runs.
It’s a very listings-centric day, which is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise rather dry phase for ECM in the region. Egypt’s junior miners are moving past angel money and going to Toronto for the next round. Two Eastern Desert explorers are heading for the TSX before either has proven reserves, which would be the first time the junior model in Egypt reaches public markets. Elsewhere, a Tunisian battery maker wants its Algerian arm on the Algiers exchange, and Adia is helping take a Toronto-listed REIT the other way, into private hands.
Two Egyptian explorers are taking their Eastern Desert gold and copper to the Toronto Stock Exchange. Ankh Resources is preparing for a possible IPO in 2H 2027, CEO Mostafa Talaat told us on the sidelines of the Egypt Mining Forum yesterday. Red Sea Resources, a Canadian company focused on Egypt, is aiming for January: Chairman Al Fabbro tells us it will sell 20% to strategic investors and through a TSX listing, raising up to CAD 25 mn (c. USD 17.6 mn), with a prospectus and an NI 43-101 certified technical report on current drilling ready beforehand. Toronto came first, Talaat says, as “the largest global centre for attracting mining exploration investment.”
What they have spent, and what is coming: Ankh has put more than EGP 500 mn into Egypt and expects over EGP 1 bn across 2027 and 2028 on the drilling and evaluation needed to prove up reserves. Some 70% of its shareholders put in more once phase-one results came in, Talaat tells us, and phase two started three weeks ago in Area B. Red Sea has spent c. USD 10 mn on drilling and geophysical survey, with another USD 10 mn pencilled in for 2027 pending board sign-off. An early find at one concession holds 300-400k oz of gold on its own estimate, and it won’t commission feasibility studies for two years, “until the full size of the find is established.”
Why it matters: This would be the first time Egypt’s juniors graduate from angel money to capital markets. Both are years from proven reserves, so a TSX listing would put tradable numbers on operations while the resource is still being built — a signal to other juniors weighing Egypt. Both are also bidding for ground next to their concessions, which is what the open bid rounds were meant to do: Keep exploration capital in the country.
What’s next: Ankh files for new blocks within two weeks and Red Sea spuds its southern concession in November. Both boards sign off on final 2027 exploration budgets over October and November.
Zambia’s state partner says Abu Dhabi’s IRH has not delivered at Mopani. ZCCM-IH accuses International Resources Holding of a USD 61 mn funding shortfall, capital spending below plan, and copper output more than 50% below target at Mopani Copper Mines, Bloomberg and Miningmx report. IRH says the relationship remains strong and constructive. It bought into Mopani in 2023 on a USD 1.1 bn commitment.
Why it matters: This is the first public challenge we can point to from a state partner inside one of the Gulf’s African mining acquisitions, and how it resolves will shape the terms the next set of African governments write into these contracts.
Adia is taking a slice of a USD 2.34 bn US shopping center takeover. A wholly owned Abu Dhabi Investment Authority subsidiary will invest as a strategic investor alongside private investment firm Everview Partners as Everview and NYSE-listed Brixmor Property Group acquire Slate Grocery REIT, according to a statement from the buyers. Adia’s investment size and stake weren’t disclosed.
What it is buying into: Slate is a Toronto-listed REIT that owns grocery-anchored shopping centres across major US metro markets, and the deal takes it private and off the TSX. The buyers see headroom. In-place rents average 32% below Brixmor’s existing portfolio, and Brixmor has identified c. USD 100 mn of redevelopment and outparcel prospects across the 23 centres it is buying directly. Everview’s wager is that grocery-anchored, open-air retail keeps benefiting from limited new supply and durable tenant demand.
A Tunisian battery maker wants its Algerian arm on the Algiers exchange. Assad Group has applied to list Assad Batteries Algeria, according to a statement from market regulator COSOB. Proceeds will go to production lines and a plant to recycle batteries and recover raw materials, lifting capacity beyond 1 mn a year from c. 400k in 2025, when turnover topped DZD 2.8 bn (USD 21 mn).
The set-up: Founded in 2005 under Algerian law, it makes lead-acid batteries for light, heavy, and utility vehicles at a 22.5k sqm Bouira plant with 200-plus staff. It targets 20% of the Algerian market by 2027 on DZD 1.7 bn (USD 13 mn) of total investment. Assad bought the remaining 4% from Algerian investors in July to take the unit to 100%, saying it would raise c. DZD 1 bn for a 25-30% stake. It would be the third Algiers listing this year, after CRAPC Expertise and tech firm Ayrade in July.
L’imad Holding could start raising outside money next year. It is laying the groundwork to raise third-party capital through investment arm L’imad Capital as early as 2027, Bloomberg reports, citing people it says are familiar with the matter. The plan is to build L’imad Capital into a global platform that can back private equity and other funds, invest directly, and co-invest alongside partners, once it has a track record. No final decision has been taken.
The arm is still taking shape. L’imad Capital is looking for a CEO with private equity, infrastructure, or private credit experience and is making other senior hires. Under the proposed structure, L’imad Holding sits on top as the holding company while L’imad Capital pursues returns and gives portfolio companies strategic support.
Emirates NBD is testing demand for a five-year CHF-denominated green bond. The bank is sounding out investors ahead of an issuance expected to follow soon, according to IFR data cited by Zawya. The senior notes are expected to carry A1 from Moody’s and A+ from Fitch. BNP Paribas, Emirates NBD Capital, and UBS Investment Bank are arranging the outreach.
Arabian Cement has raised its holding in Jordan’s Qatrana Cement to 96.14%. The Saudi producer closed a set of linked Jordanian transactions. Its subsidiary sold 7.3 mn shares in Ready-Mix Concrete and Construction Supplies to Al Hejaz Company for Cement at JOD 1.3, for JOD 9.5 mn (c. SAR 50.3 mn), booking an SAR 18.9 mn capital gain. It bought 6.25 mn Qatrana shares from RMCC at JOD 1, for JOD 6.2 mn (c. SAR 33.1 mn), and swapped 1.85 mn shares for 2.27 mn with Al Rawsha Company, according to Argaam.
The effect: Qatrana ownership rose from 86.74%, lifting equity attributable to parent shareholders by SAR 40.2 mn and cutting non-controlling interest by SAR 70.3 mn.
A Dubai medical company is putting nearly USD 10 mn into Oman in its first year there.GenomaLab Medical is expanding from Sohar Port and Freezone into the mainland, CEO Ahmed Shaki told the Oman Observer. The spend covers glucose monitors, home-care products, stem-cell banking, gene therapy, and next-generation sequencing tests, though the advanced services still need local licences. It has signed two unnamed clinics for diabetes services and will hire 30-50 people, at least 10 of them Omani.
Turkey lifted the asset freeze on the companies in its fund probe after a day. Istanbul prosecutors removed restrictions on the companies and funds on Sunday, a day after imposing them, following a new assessment from the Capital Markets Board (SPK), the prosecutor’s office said. Measures against individuals stay in place. Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said protecting investment, jobs, and exports was the priority, and that cases against those who distorted the market would proceed.
Sovereign risk hasn’t eased. Turkey’s five-year CDS rose to c. 254bp on Monday, its highest since May, Reuters reports. Almost 500k investors hold stakes in the funds, worth USD 18 bn, that the SPK ordered liquidated this month. AK Party deputy chair Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya resigned over the weekend over allegations that she and her husband profited from trading Ozata Denizcilik shares before the selloff.
ALSO WORTH KNOWING
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Shorooq and G42-owned Presight have invested in Santa Clara-based Maven Robotics, according to a statement (pdf). The investment was made through two Shorooq-managed vehicles: The Presight-Shorooq AI and Bedaya funds. The size of their ticket wasn’t disclosed.
Dubai-based Amaani, the company behind beauty brand AÏZA, raised a USD 5 mn series A led by Beco Capital, with Homegrown Ventures and Peak XV’s Surge also taking part, according to a statement. The round brings the firm’s total funding to USD 8 mn. The new capital will fund expansion into Saudi Arabia, where it launches at Ulta Beauty stores in Jeddah and Riyadh at the end of September, followed by Kuwait and Qatar in 4Q.
Riyadh-based SME financing platform Erad has raised a USD 22 mn series A, led by Middle East Venture Partners, the company said in a press release. New backers SVC, 500 Global, S60 Ventures, ANB Capital, Conjunction Capital, and Araya Ventures came in, with existing investors including Khwarizmi, Nuwa Capital, and Aljazira Capital.
A PIF-Malaysian tie-up is being explored for a SAR 21 bn transit-integrated development in Makkah. 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 project would include residential, commercial, retail, and other mixed-use components, along with a public bus terminal within King Salman Gate. This aims to streamline the movement of visitors, including pilgrims to Makkah.
Background: 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.
Made in Morocco
Chinese battery maker Gotion High-Tech and Volkswagen’s battery arm PowerCo will build a EUR 480 mn plant in Morocco’s Kenitra to produce 100k tons a year of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode for their 37.5 GWh of cell capacity in Valencia and Šurany, Volkswagen said in a statement. Gotion will hold 51% of the JV. The plant would supply material Europe doesn’t make: The continent has “no meaningful LFP production,” VW says, and Chinese firms make nearly 90% of global LFP cathode.
What’s next: Gotion shareholders vote on the agreement on 20 October. The agreement then needs Beijing’s approval, because China has required a license to export LFP cathode technology since July 2025.
Exemption granted
Iraqi Airways will resume flights between Najaf and Iran in October after the US granted a sanctions waiver for the route, Iraq's Transport Ministry said, although Washington has yet to confirm the news. The waiver runs for one month, and a more permanent one could follow, a source involved in the deliberations told Reuters.
Background: Baghdad halted Iran flights on Friday. US Treasury sanctions on 27 Iranian airlines on 8 September had led ground handlers to stop serving the routes. A full ban on flights carrying Shia pilgrims to Najaf risked a backlash against the Iraqi government from followers of both Iran's supreme leader and Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, the Reuters source said. According to the same source, Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi offered screening and information sharing, and guarantees that the flights would not carry weapons, sanctioned individuals or illicit money.
What’s next: Baghdad is also seeking exemptions for medical, educational and other civilian travel.
Back in the air
Air Algérieresumedflights to Doha yesterday, seven months after suspending the route in February over the regional war. It’s the first of the airline’s suspended Middle East routes to come back. The carrier will run three weekly flights before moving to daily service from 25 October. Flights to Dubai and Amman, which were halted at the same time, remain suspended.
Field work
Germany and Lebanon’s Agriculture Ministry launched aEUR 12 mn projectto build climate resilience and agricultural livelihoods across Bekaa, Baalbek-Hermel, South Lebanon and Nabatiyeh. The project is financed through KfW Development Bank by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany and implemented by Action Against Hunger. It aims to create close to 6k temporary jobs and benefit some 4k farmers according to Uta Simon, Head of Development Cooperation at the German embassy in Beirut.
US forces are set to exit Iraq today after two decades of war amid ongoing regional tension in the Gulf as security analysts see a strategic benefit to Iran’s allies. Pro-Iranian militia groups stand to gain as they would "seek to translate that momentum into greater influence over security and political decision-making,” Iraqi security analyst Jasim Al Bahadli told Reuters. The vacuum created by US forces is feared by some Iraqi groups who deemed it as “premature” because it might strengthen pro-Iranian groups.
Road to 100
The UAE is lining up another USD 25 bn investment in India “in the near future,” India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said (watch, runtime: 24:45) following an India-UAE Investment Task Force meeting in Mumbai. The UAE has already invested USD 25 bn in the country, with the longer-term ambition of taking that number to USD 100 bn, Goyal added.
Energy is moving up the agenda: India and the UAE are studying greater UAE investment in India’s strategic petroleum reserves — and are looking into making the UAE a larger source of LNG and LPG. Subsea pipelines are also being considered to transport and potentially store gas in India while building more sturdy energy supply chains.
IN CONTEXT- India became Adnoc Gas’ largest LNG customer after it inked a binding 10-year LNG supply pact with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation during President Mohamed bin Zayed’s January visit to New Delhi. Adnoc signed more than USD 20 bn of LNG contracts with Indian buyers over the past two years.
Ports will also be in the spotlight going forward as India looks to double port capacity to keep up with economic growth. Goyal highlighted the UAE as a key investment partner for expanding India’s existing ports and developing new ones, specifically citing Odisha on India’s east coast — a state that has already seen joint UAE-India infrastructure collaboration.
No cargoes coming
QatarEnergy extended force majeure on LNG shipments to Asian and European buyers through November and into early December, as the Strait of Hormuz disruption continues to keep flows well below prewar levels, Bloomberg. Pakistan, Bangladesh, at least one Indian buyer, and Italy’s Edison have all been notified of continued cancellations.
The decision comes despite a slight pickup in Hormuz traffic. At least five loaded vessels have turned up outside the Gulf since mid-September, Reuters reports, citing Kpler data. The latest, GasLog Skagen, surfaced off Sri Lanka on 27 September with a Ras Laffan cargo. Some ships still cross Hormuz with their transponders off, so the tracking data doesn't capture every crossing.
LNG prices in Europe and Asia have surged to their highest since late 2022, threatening household energy bills heading into winter. This means QatarEnergy’s buyers now have to plan for winter without their scheduled shipments.
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