“Those facilities that are producing oil and gas with zero or near-zero production emissions are going to be the last ones standing.”
-Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s natural resources minister. This decade’s oil boom is moving offshore – way offshore [Reuters]
“Investments in the oil and gas industry have been facing problems since 2014, which produced a significant drop in capital spending in 2016. This drop finally started to recover in 2017. However, the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted that recovery, driving investment levels in 2020 to the lowest in the last decade, and making it more evident how sensitive the market is to crises.”
Investment Challenges Affecting the Oil and Gas Industry [KAPSARC]
“Qatar has been preparing to host the Cup for 12 years and estimates the influx of 1.2 million visitors will add $17 billion to its economy. Amid concerns of an accommodation crunch, organizers have leased two cruise ships and will pitch more than 1,000 tents in the desert. A regional shuttle service will connect Doha with other cities including Muscat, Riyadh, Jeddah and Kuwait City… Of the more than 90 new flights that will land each day in the host city, Doha, about 40 will leave from the UAE.”
World Cup Fever Spreads From Qatar in Middle East Tourism Boom [Bloomberg]
“Saudi Arabia’s Education Ministry recently announced the introduction of a new curriculum for the kingdom’s schools, which involves, among other changes, a reduction of hours devoted to religious studies. As part of the reform, Qur’an and Islamic studies have been merged into a single subject and the number of classes devoted to these two topics has been reduced from 34 to 15 weekly classes in middle school and from 38 to 30 weekly classes in primary school. In addition, a new subject, financial education, will be introduced in high school. Further changes in the curriculum have not year been made public, but the online London-based daily Raialyoum.com reported that the hours devoted to math, science, English and Arabic will be increased.”
[Memri]
The Ministry of Culture highlighted the “promising” number of museums in the country when compared to other Arab states. “While numbers are still below those of other countries such as the United Kingdom and Japan, which boast 47.9 and 45.3 museums per one million people, Saudi Arabia’s 8.6 museums per million still outshine numbers in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Morocco, which have 0.9, 1.3, and 1.2 museums per one million people respectively.”
Domestic tourists took 10.5 mln trips to Saudi cultural sites in 2021: Report [Al-Arabiya]
“The latest measures open the way for a significant technical enhancement of the league’s level of competition. Today, the league has gained great momentum, which goes in line with the strong competition we have seen in the league that has witnessed a clear technical improvement over the course of the past few years.”
Abdulaziz Al-Hamidi, Executive Director of the Saudi Pro League. New ROSHN Saudi League season promises scintillating action [Arab News]
“We expect the Middle East to be the region affected soonest by the shortage outside of North America, driven by a projected sharp increase in air travel demand over the next few years, new players entering the market, and big tourism developments happening in the region.”
André Martins, partner – head of IMEA Transportation and Services at Oliver Wyman. Acute pilot shortage in the Middle East amid travel surge [Fast Company]
The attack on acclaimed author Salman Rushdie in New York was “a crime that Islam does not accept… Islam is against violence and can never admit any method of violence. Religious and intellectual issues, including phrases that may read in full or partly as offensive, cannot ever be dealt with in these violent ways.”
Secretary-General of the Muslim World League Muhammad bin Abdul Karim al-Issa. [Al-Arabiya]
“Summers typically send Saudi elites off to cooler climes in Europe, but Riyadh’s newest high-end restaurants are packed. At Coya, a Latin American chain, the most popular dinner seatings — 8:30 to 9 p.m. — are fully booked a month ahead.”
Vivian Nereim, Saudi Arabia’s Booming and This Time It Isn’t Only About Oil [Bloomberg]
“Industrial production in Saudi Arabia increased by 20.8 percent year-on-year in June, with the mining and manufacturing sectors the main catalysts for growth. The Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) found that in June the Industrial Production Index (IPI) rose 20.8 percent year-on-year. A dive into the figures of their report showed that manufacturing activity increased 29.3 percent year-on-year in June, while mining and quarrying activity rose 19.2 percent over the same period.”
