ABU DHABI, 14 June 2007 — UAE, which has a current production of 2.7 million barrel per day (bpd), is working to increase its oil output to 3.5 million bpd by 2009, official news agency WAM reported yesterday quoting Energy Minister Mohammed ibn Dhaen Al-Hameli, who is the current OPEC president. In remarks during a meeting here yesterday with a visiting delegation of US journalists, he said that oil market has currently enough supplies, attributing the rise in prices to political tension in some production areas, market speculations and refining bottleneck in some producing countries.
DED Issues New Business Licenses
DUBAI, 14 June 2007 — The Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) issued 1,359 licenses in May 2007. The majority of these were issued in the commercial sector (1,086), followed by the professional sector (248), industrial (13) and tourism (12), according to the comprehensive report prepared by the Economic Affairs Division at the DED. General trade led the list of the top 10 licensed activities with 154 licenses issued, followed by watches and accessories with 136, ready-made garments with 125, gifts with 105, jewelry and non-precious metals with 97 and handbags and leather products with 96. DED issued 24 new licenses to branches of foreign firms in May 2007.