3 minute read
Middle East news
Regional update
The current COVID-19 pandemic and low oil price continues to have a significant impact on both travel and trade across the region where several countries remain in lockdown with no travel permitted for the foreseeable future. These are uncharted waters with every country doing what they can to stem the tide and ensure the
Ryan McPherson
safety of their residents which we fully support.
We are working round the clock to provide the highest levels of member service and database performance during these unprecedented times.
I would like to take this time to remind our members of the excellent business intelligence tools you receive as part of our membership. You can sign up to receive unlimited employee logins to EICDataStream, at no extra cost, and get free remote database training too. The recent launch of EICSupplyMap; a unique database of UK supply chain companies across all energy sectors, is also a welcome addition to the family which I would encourage you to utilise.
In addition you have access to all EIC staff who remain fully operational and ready to answer any questions you have, including giving you direct access to our 20 energy analysts, who add 500 new updates every week to our CAPEX, OPEX and supply chain databases.
As you may be aware EIC has now moved to an online platform for our events, re-imagining our EIC LIVE e-vents to keep you abreast of the latest opportunities and developments. https://lnkd.in/g-PAcq2
Our first webinar in the region ‘Adapting and learning in the face of the current COVID-19/low oil price situation’ was a resounding success not least in part to the excellent upstream and operator insights provided by two of our analysts from the UK; Diveena Danabalan and Michael Comfort. We also heard from EIC member Xergy about how they are utilising their Proteus work management system as an enabler to a new way of working in the current climate, a real story of hard work meeting immediate opportunity.
More webinars will follow with several guest speakers from around the GCC and beyond. We are also eager to hear from EIC members who feel that they have a compelling story to tell during this time. Ultimately, we remain focused on what we can do to help you while providing some guidance and a sense of optimism. We hope to welcome some new members to the EIC family allowing us to learn from each other and position ourselves for an upturn in the market. Further information can be found at www.the-eic.com/Membership/Africa
On a final note from all of us here at EIC we hope that you and your respective families continue to stay safe during this challenging time and please be assured that we are all on hand to help wherever we can.
Ryan McPherson, Regional Director, Middle East, Africa, Russia & CIS ryan.mcpherson@the-eic.com
Regional news
Nawah completes fuel assembly loading at Barakah
Nawah Energy Company (Nawah), the operator of UAE’s first nuclear power plant, the Barakah nuclear power plant, has announced the successful completion of fuel assembly loading into unit 1. The power plant is a 5.6GW nuclear power plant with pressurised water reactor technology based on four APR-1400 reactors. The power plant is being managed by Nawah which consists of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp (ENEC) with 82% equity and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) which owns the remaining 18% share of the project.
Saudi Aramco to slash CAPEX in 2020
As of mid-March 2020, Saudi Aramco is planning to slash spending in 2020 in the first sign that plunging demand and the oil price war the kingdom unleashed are hitting home. Capital expenditure is expected to be between US$25bn and US$30bn this year and spending plans for 2021 and beyond are being reviewed.
