Mubadala's oil and gas unit is working on a project with the aim of securing additional gas supplies to meet U.A.E. energy demand through the development of an LNG receiving facility located in Fujairah.

UK-based global telecoms services provider BT Plc (BT) plans to double its business in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, according to BT Global Services CEO, Jeff Kelly. BT already serves around 600 organisations in these regions, but is keen to take advantage of new opportunities after an internal study concluded that the addressable market here was worth GBP5.4bn (US$8.5bn). BMI has a positive outlook for BT's expansion plans, considering the moderate competition and increasing economic activities in many of its target markets. However, we caution that the ongoing political crisis in some countries in the Middle East may subdue short-term growth in that region.BT Global Services provides corporate IT and communications services to businesses across different industry verticals, including regional and local telecoms companies. BT plans to expand its network infrastructure and deploy more data connectivity points to as many as 21 regional cities served by ethernet, submarine cables and satellite connectivity. BT aims to complete its network investment in 12-18 months, which is around mid-2013. However, the company has not set a target date for doubling its revenue in the regions. It plans to hire around 170 new employees to bring its headcount to around 400. These employees will provide local support to customers and deliver consulting, integration and managed services.A breakdown of BT's consolidated financial results show that its Global Services division account for majority of its revenue, despite a downtrend in the last few quarters. BT Global Services' revenue for the first nine months of 2011/12 fiscal year was GBP5.813bn, down by 3% y-o-y compared to GBP5.981bn a year earlier. BT has not provided a breakdown of its Global Services revenue by region. However, the division has seen  strong growth in the Asia Pacific and Latin America (LatAm) regions, and BT is keen to replicate that success in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. According to BT, t

Having navigated its way through the turmoil of the Arab Spring with less difficulty than perhaps any other Arab government, the main concern for the leaders of the United Arab Emirates in 2012 will be the threat of instability resulting from conflict between Iran and the US and/or Israel. Internally, the UAE was not entirely untroubled by regional events in 2011. However, small-scale online protests failed to inspire wider demonstrations, and the imprisonment of several online activists in November 2011 similarly provoked little public reaction. Elections in September 2011 ? only the second in the UAE?s history ? arguably demonstrated that the UAE is gradually inching its way towards greater democracy, for all that the poll concerned elections for the ineffectual Federal National Council and was open to relatively few voters.In the end, though, the events of the Arab Spring may have been most significant from the UAE?s perspective in terms of the Emirates? intervention in Libya, where UAE fighter aircraft contributed to the UN no-fly zone. The UAE began to reap the rewards of its anti-Qadhafi stance in January 2012 when the new Libyan government signed a wide-ranging bilateral agreement with the UAE that will cover trade, security and other areas of mutual interest.In BMI?s view, therefore, the outlook for the UAE is stable, barring shocks to the economy or to its external security. In 2012, Iran appears to represent the greatest threat to the UAE on both fronts, with senior UAE officials publicly stating that an Iran conflict, and the potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz ? which Tehran has threatened ? might create serious problems for the country. However, the government has been examining a contingency plan of exporting the UAE?s oil through ports in the Gulf of Oman, thus bypassing any Iranian blockade. It has also been noted that, though the UAE is already near full production capacity, sanctions against Iranian oil exports could actually help the U

Middle East Investment Panorama 2011 is a leading annual report, now in its third year, which examines the trends in the financial services market within the MENA region. The publisher is Insight Discovery, a strategic market intelligence business based in the UAE Middle East Investment Panorama 2011 revealed:·         70% of advisers will increase their clients? allocation to emerging markets·         75% of advisers agree that the region?s regulatory structures are a challenge to doing business here·         Business generated by international asset management companies is far  larger than previously thought·         Hedge funds and private equity are the least popular asset classes for regional investors  In a notoriously opaque space, the report has also attempted to quantify the market opportunity in terms of value. The study concludes that gross sales of investment funds in the GCC and MENA countries are several times bigger than figures previously published by other sources, this is due to indirect business written by international life companies and private banks via offshore centres.

This SME report looks at the challenges facing challenges facing entrepreneurs who want to set up small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), the publisher is Insight Discovery, a strategic market intelligence business based in the UAE Key findings include:?                     Regional governments can harness the SME market to create employment opportunities.?                     Relative to other parts of the world, the GCC governments do not have tax revenues that can be recycled as assistance to SMEs.?                     Upfront costs that new SMEs must bear ? such as licensing costs and visa fees are unnecessarily large.?                     Office costs and other ongoing expenses are also high. ?                     As is the case for other businesses, finding suitable managerial talent is also a challenge.?                     Although SMEs represent a huge opportunity for banks and financial institutions, SMEs are often seen as being too risky to support. The report is based on an in-depth consultation process with regional experts and SME managers. Partners include Gulf Finance, Grant Thornton and Links Group. Panelists included senior executives from some of our Partners and HSBC Bank Middle East, Envestors and two local SMEs, WMS Metal Industries and Zawya.