“This is like a moment in time, if you will…The imagination really runs wild: What did these people look like? What were they doing? … Once all these lakes dried up, what happened to them? That really gets our curiosity going.”

-Michael Petraglia, a human evolution researcher at the Max Planck Institute, which discovered footprints that may date back nearly 115,000 years and reveal intriguing new information about human migration. [National Geographic]

“I want the guys in the trading floors to be as jumpy as possible. I’m going to make sure whoever gambles on this market will be ouching like hell.”

-Saudi Minister of Energy, Abdulaziz Bin Salman, discussing the oil market and OPEC’s intention to abide by production quotas. [Bloomberg]

“In fact, in many of the sectors in which Israel historically has expertise, the Gulf states have already made significant inroads, so much that the Gulf may be a source of innovation and new business for Israel.”

-Karen Young examines the potential for Israel-Gulf commerce following normalization agreements between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain. [Al-Monitor]

“Full compliance is not an act of charity. It is an integral part of our collective effort to maximize the interest and gains of every individual member of this group.”

-Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Energy Minister, to members of a key OPEC+ panel on oil production compliance. [Reuters]

“Many investors have excess cash that would otherwise have been spent on foreign trips. As inflation climbs and bond yields drop, people are flocking to the stock market in order to protect wealth.”

-Mazen Al-Sudairi, head of research at Al Rajhi Capital, commenting on the spike in the number of retail investors in the kingdom buying small and medium-cap stocks, driving average daily turnover to levels more than double those of a year ago. [Bloomberg]

“Right now it’s the market that I’m seeing have the most exciting growth relatively. I think Dubai remains the epicentre in terms of number of deals, size of deals and the underlying maturity of the start-up ecosystem, but there’s no doubt that Saudi is sprinting forward, really propelled by this combination of a compelling, deep, local market that’s hungry for tech-enabled solutions; along with a new fuel of venture funding that’s blossomed in the last year or two.”

-Muhammed Mekki, founding partner of AstroLabs, which has been developing the digital ecosystem in the Middle East for the last seven years, discusses the Saudi fintech environment. [Arabian Business]

“I remain convinced that, despite the group’s very obvious shortcomings, oil markets have been a lot less volatile because of its existence over the past 60 years. A world without OPEC, or some similar group, would be far from paradise.”

-As OPEC turns 60 Julian Lee examines it’s longstanding ‘Whack-A-Mole’ problem with maintaining production discipline among members. [Bloomberg]

“[Neom] will be the world’s first cognitive and pro-active city…We will leverage 90 percent of the data we produce and utilize it in the city. It’s never been done before. We want to build a citywide operating system that is aware, predictive and can take action….We are looking for a range of partners to bring the cognitive city to life.”

-Joseph Bradley, head of tech and digital at Neom, in comments made to London’s Tech Week event encouraging UK companies to participate in the development of Saudi Arabia’s $500 bill smart city. [Arabian Business]

“We are likely to end 2020 with negative growth, but it is likely to be on the lower side of OECD expectations on G20 members. I hope, and I’m challenging Kristilina, that we will come quite below what they are expecting in terms of 2020 negative growth.”

-Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister, in a conversation with Kristilina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director, during a World Economic Forum virtual discussion of the Saudi economy. [Arab News]

“Saudi Aramco’s share price has gained 1% in Riyadh this year, in large part because of the dividend pledge. Shell’s has slumped 53% and BP’s 43%.”

-Matthew Martin in Bloomberg examines the impact on Saudi Aramco of the global economic downturn and Saudi government budget demands. [Bloomberg]