Aramco, Conoco extend bids

ALKHOBAR: Saudi Aramco and US firm ConocoPhillips have extended by almost one month the deadline for bids for a solids handling unit at their joint 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) Yanbu refinery, industry sources said on Saturday. The deadline is now due by March 22, two sources close to the bidding process said. The bids were originally due by Feb. 28.

SPCC to give SR2.5 dividend

RIYADH: Southern Province Cement Co. (SPCC), Saudi Arabia’s biggest cement firm by market value, said on Saturday it would give shareholders a SR2.5 ($0.67) dividend for the second half of 2009. The dividend will be paid after a shareholders’ assembly in March, it said in a statement posted on the Saudi bourse website. The second half dividend brings to SR5 the total dividend for 2009, which equals its level in 2008. Two state-owned funds together hold 51.2 percent of SPCC’s capital made up of 140 million shares.

Aramex’s net profit up 28%

DUBAI: Dubai-based logistics firm Aramex said on Saturday fourth-quarter net profit rose 28 percent to 49.5 million dirhams ($13.48 million), beating analysts’ forecasts. “The fourth quarter was the first quarter in 2009 to witness positive revenue growth, marking a bottoming out of the preceding revenue decline,” Aramex said in a statement. Revenues for the fourth quarter rose 5 percent to 524.8 million.

Qatar shipping firms to merge

DUBAI: Qatar Shipping Co. and Qatar Navigation are proceeding with a merger after their board of directors approved the deal, a joint statement said on Saturday. Qatar’s government has ordered Qatar Shipping and Qatar Navigation to merge to protect the firms during the global financial crisis. “The boards of directors have approved an exchange ratio of 2.2 shares of Qatar Shipping for each share of Qatar Navigation,” the firms said.

Iraq oil exports rise in January

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s oil exports rose to an average of 1.98 million barrels per day in the month to Jan. 30 from 1.977 million bpd in December, the head of the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) said on Saturday. Falah Al-Amri told Reuters that Iraq exported 59.4 million barrels from Jan. 1 to Jan. 30, earning $4.35 billion with an average price of $73 per barrel.

Mexico’s GDP declines 6.8%

MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s economy shrank 6.8 percent in 2009, the worst result in at least 30 years, the Treasury Department said Friday. The decline in full-year gross domestic product outpaced the 6.2 percent fall during Mexico’s currency and debt crisis in 1995.

— Compiled from agencies