THIS MORNING: Sharjah doubles its gas production + Indonesia turns to the UAE for fuel supplies amid disruption at home

Good morning, everyone. The UAE’s IPO drought has ended at a lower price than first hoped, but the demand is still very much there. Dubai Investments’ lowered offer range for DIP Holding valued the unit at AED 9.5-10 bn. That’s as much as 13% below management’s earlier AED 10.8-11 bn valuation, but it helped order books fill up with minutes of opening. We’ll be keeping an eye on how it performs when trading starts around 11 November.

It’s a busy day on the energy front, with news that Abu Dhabi’s Private Department of Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalid Al Nahyan is raising USD 1.2 bn for a new LNG fund focusing on investment in the UAE and other regional markets. Sharjah’s gas production has doubled after Snoc completed the first phase of its Hedebah gas-condensate field, and Indonesia is turning to the UAE for fuel supplies amid disruptions at home.

PLUS- We sit down with Swiss quant house Finreon’s head of Middle East Nada Hassan to find out why the region is “more attractive than ever” despite the geopolitical instability.

No more loan-hopping from 2027?

Loan-hopping between UAE banks may soon come with a waiting period. From January 2027, new rules would require borrowers to pay a minimum number of installments to their original lender before transferring an outstanding loan to another bank, Emarat Al Youm reports, citing an unnamed source. “The proposed measures are expected to reduce practices involving the repeated closure and refinancing of loans over short periods, along with the associated administrative procedures and financing costs,” the source said.

What we don’t know: No details were given on the length of the waiting period, the minimum number of installments, whether there are any exemptions, and whether the rules cover only personal loans or other debt too. The source also didn’t clarify whether the rules would come from the Central Bank of the UAE.

Double the gas output for Sharjah

Snoc doubles up: Sharjah National Oil Corporation (Snoc) has more than doubled the emirate’s gas production by completing the first phase of its Hedebah gas-condensate field, the state-owned energy firm said in a statement. The phase covered appraisal drilling, gas-gathering infrastructure, pipelines, and commissioning. The field was discovered in May 2024, Sharjah’s second major gas discovery since 2020 after the Eni-backed Mahani field. A second well confirmed additional gas-bearing zones in November 2025.

Why it matters: Sharjah meets its gas demand with a mix of domestic production, contracted imports, and underground storage. Hedebah tilts that mix toward domestic supply, though Snoc hasn’t said whether the extra gas will cut imports. Storage absorbs the swings: the second phase of Snoc’s Moveyeid storage project, completed in November 2024, lets it store gas when demand is low and draw it down at peak.

What’s next: Snoc is fast-tracking the second phase to lift output again in 2027, with production reaching a plateau in 2028. It hasn’t disclosed current production, peak output, what the first phase cost, or whether the Sajaa processing complex and the pipeline network will need upgrades as the field ramps up.

Part of the return may be in the liquids: Snoc CEO Khamis Al Mazrouei said last year that Hedebah was expected to contain significant liquids alongside its gas, which could increase recoverable condensate and other saleable products. The infrastructure to ship them is already in place: Snoc’s network includes condensate and LPG export facilities at Hamriyah Port.

Hedebah’s gas depends on Sajaa, a 700 mmcf / d processing complex, and the 500 km of pipelines behind it. The field feeds into the complex, according to Snoc’s Sustainability Report 2026 (pdf), and the wider system includes underground storage at Moveyeid and condensate and LPG export infrastructure at Hamriyah Port.

An Emirati-Canadian CEPA

The UAE’s trade agreement drive has reached Canada. The two countries signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) yesterday, following talks that wrapped up in record time earlier this year and a recent trip to Canada by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan.

What’s in it for the UAE? This CEPA promises better market access for Emirati exporters and opens the door for UAE investment in high-growth Canadian sectors such as logistics, communications, advanced technology, and manufacturing, according to Foreign Trade Minister Thani Al Zeyoudi. It also targets non-tariff barriers and “aims to create a more predictable environment” for trade and investment. On the other side, tariffs on more than 99% of current Canadian exports to the UAE will be cut or removed once the agreement is fully in place. The CEPA is expected to take effect in 2027.

IN CONTEXT- Bilateral trade has been on the up between the two, rising 21% y-o-y to reach USD 4.2 bn last year. On the ports front, DP World was reported earlier this week to be signing on to Canada’s plan to turn the Arctic Port of Church into an export gateway.

Silkhaus could be checking out of the UAE rental market

Dubai-based short-term rental startup Silkhaus is reportedly preparing to wind down its UAE operations on 11 November, FWDstart reports, citing employee statements and accounts from property owners who say they’ve received termination notices. The publication also found that bookings at Silkhaus properties in Dubai and Abu Dhabi couldn’t extend beyond that date. One purported owner notice blamed the regional conflict’s impact on tourism and offered a transfer to First Class Property Management, although FWDstart couldn’t independently verify the notice.

Quite the turnaround: Founded in 2021, Silkhaus manages furnished apartments for short stays, handling bookings, maintenance, and guest services for property owners. The startup raised more than USD 10 mn in equity and debt before securing another seven-figure funding round in January 2025 to expand into Saudi Arabia. That push also appears to have stalled, with Riyadh no longer listed among its destinations, although Silkhaus hasn’t confirmed a withdrawal.

The short-stay market hasn’t made things easy: As we reported in September, Dubai’s holiday-home occupancy fell to 47.7% in 2Q as the war hit leisure bookings, while operators catering to longer stays fared better. First Class, the operator named in the reported notices, recorded 87.1% occupancy on the back of monthly-stay demand.

Dubai’s Shangri-La is checking out of the hotel business

UAE-based developer AHS Properties is turning Dubai’s Shangri-La Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road into a USD 1.3 bn Grade A office development, according to a company statement (pdf). The 50-story AHS Twin Towers will span around 1 mn sq ft, including more than 30k sq ft of wellness and fitness facilities and 12k sq ft of restaurants, with completion targeted for mid-2028, founder and CEO Abbas Sajwani told Bloomberg.

And the asking price? Floors will be sold off-plan starting at more than AED 4k per sq ft, with buyers able to acquire freehold ownership, while AHS plans to retain around 20% of the development for rental income, Sajwani told Bloomberg. The developer bought the hotel for AED 1.1 bn (USD 300 mn) earlier this year and is planning a renovation costing upward of USD 100 mn. Its first commercial development, AHS Tower, sold out during construction for more than USD 700 mn, according to the company.

But a lot is riding on office demand: Sajwani is banking on interest from law firms and financial businesses, with CBRE reporting 94% occupancy and a 13% y-o-y rise in Dubai office rents in 2Q, according to Bloomberg. The momentum isn’t uniform, though: As we’ve previously reported, Savills found that average rents stopped rising q-o-q in 2Q as businesses delayed leasing decisions. And there’s more premium space on the way, including H&H Development’s Water Gardens in the Dubai International Financial Centre. The question is whether demand will keep pace with the growing supply of high-end offices.

Barrels on call

Indonesia is turning to the UAE as fuel supply disruptions spread at home: The UAE will supply Indonesia with up to 30 mn barrels of oil, Djoko Siswanto, head of the upstream oil and gas regulator SKK Migas, said after meeting UAE Ambassador Abdulla Salem Al Dhaheri in Jakarta, Reuters reports. Jakarta can draw on the supply anytime, Djoko said, though he declined to give a delivery timeline. Earlier this month, Indonesia’s Ombudsman reported fuel supply disruptions in several provinces, including Bali and West Papua, with queues of around 1 km in some places.

Jakarta has opened a faster route for government-to-government supply: With no way to predict how long the Middle East tensions will last, a recent regulation lets a public agency import crude, fuel, and LPG under agreements between the Indonesian government and foreign countries or suppliers, Indonesia’s Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said. Imports will go through the state agency Lemigas to state energy firm Pertamina, bypassing lengthy tenders.

The UAE has been keeping Asian buyers supplied: Adnoc sold at least 14 mn barrels of crude to refiners in China, Japan, South Korea, and India through a spot tender, traders said, we reported in June. It also offered collection from Fujairah storage and ship-to-ship transfers between Fujairah and Sohar, letting some buyers load without sending tankers through Hormuz.

Adnoc also stores crude inside Asian markets. It agreed in May to raise its crude storage presence in India to as much as 30 mn barrels. Japan secured a commitment from the UAE to increase joint crude stockpiles held there by Emirati companies. In South Korea, Korea National Oil Corp lets Adnoc store crude in the country’s strategic reserves, with South Korea getting priority access.

PSA

WEATHER- Both Abu Dhabi and will see highs of 35°C today before temperatures cool to 26°C overnight, according to our favorite weather app.

The big story abroad

The US is discussing business incentives with Russia and Ukraine to help bring the war to an end. Russia could see US energy companies return through an offshore project near Sakhalin and the resumption of Russian oil exports to Europe via the Druzhba pipeline. Other proposals include reopening Russian airspace to US airlines and joint work on titanium, a key element in aviation. Ukraine would get a plan to attract long-term investments. The US aims to advance these ideas, together with postwar security guarantees for both countries, at tripartite talks in Abu Dhabi next month, the first since February. US officials stress that none of the deals will go ahead while the war continues.

The leaders of Finland, Norway, and Russia held a rare call yesterday, exposing divisions in Europe over who should talk to the Kremlin. The call ran 90 minutes instead of the planned 20. They used it to pass messages to Russia about future peace talks, as Europe seeks a role in the peace process. But Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the move was “not coordinated with the rest of us,” and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson warned that going solo risks splitting Europe’s united voice.

France is offering students concessions to end weeks of unrest. The government has promised to replace the Parcoursup university admissions platform by 2028, with an overhaul coming first. It also promised up to EUR 4 bn in loans for school renovations, 15k extra higher education places, smaller classes, 500 new teaching jobs, and increased grants. Protesters have planned further demonstrations, and much of the plan will fall to President Emmanuel Macron’s successor after next year’s election.

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