MARAFIQ
Marafiq, the Power and Water Utility Company for Jubail and Yanbu, hosted its second industrial customer gathering at its beach camp in Jubail Industrial City and at the Holiday Inn in Yanbu last week. Presidents, CEOs and other top executives of the industries in Jubail and Yanbu attended the get-together at both the locations. The purpose of the gathering was to bring Marafiq’s customers up to date with the current status of its power and water products and services, and outline its expansion plans to provide for the expected steep growth in power and water demand in Jubail and Yanbu in the next few years. It also gave its customers the opportunity to air their views and expectations and express any concerns they may have. Thamer Al-Sharhan, Marafiq’s president and CEO, highlighted his company’s independent power and water plants (IWPPs) in Jubail and Yanbu. In Jubail, construction work is nearing completion for the 2,750 MW power plant and a desalination plant of 800,000 cubic meters per day. The Jubail IWPP of SR12.8 billion will be the world’s largest combined-cycle power and water plant. He said the Yanbu IWPP would produce 1,700 MW of electricity and 150,000 cubic meter of potable water per day. Feasibility study of the Yanbu IWPP has been undertaken and the bidding process will be completed in 2009. Yanbu IWPP is expected to be commissioned in mid 2013 and he Jubail IWPP plant is scheduled to start production in a few months’ time, he added. “Long-term solutions will eventually ensure mutual growth and development,” he said.
DANA GAS
Dana Gas, the Middle East’s first and largest regional private sector natural gas company, has announced a significant gas and condensate discovery at its El Basant-2 well in the Nile Delta Concession in Egypt. According to Dr. Hany Elsharkawi, Dana Gas country director in Egypt, the cumulative proven and probable reserves in the El Basant hydrocarbon accumulation significantly raises Dana Gas’ reserves in Egypt. “We are very pleased and encouraged by this latest discovery. Combined with Dana Gas’ other discoveries this year, it shows that our 2008 drilling campaign was correctly conceived and implemented and therefore on the basis of this success we plan to continue with further drilling in this concession, where several prospects of similar nature have been identified,” he said. “This acreage is particularly attractive to us, as we have established production in the area and we are able to bring new discoveries on production quickly and at comparatively low cost.”
AL-RAJHI BANK
Al-Rajhi Bank, described as the largest Islamic bank in the world in terms of market capitalization, is installing advanced automatic teller machines (ATMs) across Saudi Arabia that accept chip-cards based on international standards. Visa operates the world’s largest retail electronic payments network and has provided technical and consultancy support for the installation, which will enable all Visa chip card transactions to take place using the chip on the card rather than the less secure magnetic stripe at any of the Al-Rajhi Bank ATMs. The new ATMs will be situation at malls, streets, petrol stations, hospitals, airports and hotels, and are already in operation. The ATMs will still be able to accept cards without a chip. “We have installed dozens of new ATM machines around the country, as part of our ongoing investments in technologies, and commitment to providing excellent banking services. We are confident that our sophisticated banking network will be very useful, as chip-card holders can withdraw money directly from their Visa credit or debit cards and do not have to carry travelers checks,” Saleh Ibrahim Al-Furaih, head of credit cards at Al-Rajhi Bank, said.
DEPA SA
Depa Limited, the world’s largest provider of interior contracting services, yesterday announced that its subsidiary, Depa Saudi Arabia (Depa SA), has been awarded a contract to renovate the office of the minister of defense and aviation in Jeddah. The $7.84 million contract, which is for renovation and the fit-out works of offices and public areas, is due for completion in April 2009. Mohannad Sweid, CEO of Depa, commented: “This contract win is particularly pleasing as Saudi Arabia is a very important market for us and it adds a new dimension to the new-build projects we have already undertaken there. This is part of a wider strategy to focus on expanding in the renovation sector across all our target markets and we are well-positioned to benefit due to our strong regional relationships and brand awareness, especially among hotel operators.”
BAB RIZQ JAMEEL
Khalid A. Al-Falih, the new president of Saudi Aramco who has succeeded Abdallah Jum’ah, has stressed the importance of cooperation between Saudi Aramco and Bab Rizq Jameel and appreciated work systems at Bab Rizq Jameel (BRJ). “I am pleased to visit the main center of Bab Rizq Jameel, which is making great contributions to the Saudi society in several major fields, including job creation for young Saudi males and females. I also admire their work methodology upon conducting activities and their innovative ideas that produce great investment initiatives and job opportunities for Saudis,” Al-Falih wrote in BRJ’s visitors’ book. Al-Falih discussed with BRJ the cooperation between the two parties, including providing qualified personnel to the companies contracted with Saudi Aramco, benefiting from training programs offered by Nafisa Shams Academy for Arts and Crafts, providing support to owners of small projects and creating job opportunities in the area. He ended his visit by submitting two small projects to their female owners. As an indication of his interest to support CSR programs, Al-Falih’s visit to BRJ was his first mission after assuming charge at Saudi Aramco.
TETRA PAK
Tetra Pak Arabia, a major food processing and packaging company, participated in the third annual National Milk Day in Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, which was organized by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Agriculture. The day was observed as a milk awareness day. Milk cartons were distributed to government departments, schools, private sector companies and participating families and children to highlight the importance of this essential food nutrient, which is rich in calcium and vitamin D, helps in forming strong bones and teeth, and aids in the prevention of Osteoporosis and other diseases. “National Milk Day gives Tetra Pak a great opportunity to partner with the Ministries of Health, Education and Agriculture to raise awareness about the importance of drinking milk in general and of milk protected in carton packages. We believe it is vital to create awareness on how healthy, beneficial and nutritional milk is for our society,” Amar Zahid, MD, Tetra Pak Arabia said.
ERNST & YOUNG
Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the year award” was presented to Sobhi Batterjee, president and CEO of Saudi German Hospitals Group, at a function in Amman recently. Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein of Jordan presented the award to Batterjee for his success, innovation, contribution and efforts made for the health care industry in the MENA region. Batterjee will be representing Middle East for the “World Entrepreneur of the Year Award” to be held in Monaco in due course. “These awards increase the responsibility on me and the group to work for the good of community and provide quality health care service to people through innovative business models,” Batterjee said, adding that his group is well on its course to have 30 world-class hospitals by 2015 and five medical colleges by 2020, and provide 50,000 jobs. Ernst & Young, a major consulting and accounting firm, instituted the entrepreneur of the year award 22 years ago to recognize the most successful and innovative business leaders. It is being conducted in over 50 countries. At the final round of the program that was held at Jordan, there were 18 finalists short-listed from across Middle East.
NCB
The National Commercial Bank (NCB) organized a symposium entitled the “Future of Islamic banking” in Jeddah recently. A group of Islamic jurisprudence, economists and experts in Islamic banking from in and outside the Kingdom were among the participants. NCB CEO Abdulkareem Abu Alnasr said the objective of the symposium was to explore Islamic banking and its future, especially where Shariah obligatory control was concerned. Abdulrazak Elkhraijy, the NCB’s head of Islamic Banking Development Group, said that the course of Islamic banking had gone through several stages until the NCB made all its branches into Islamic. Research papers and lectures marked the event. The symposium had sessions that had deliberations on fatwa branches, choosing Islamic banking over traditional banking, law Changes, conflict of interest among members of Islamic committee, and secure application of decisions of Islamic Council.