Arab oil and gas sector attracted investments worth $406bn over 22 years

(Arab News, Jeddah, 7 August 2024)  RIYADH: Arab nations have attracted $406 billion in investments from 356 foreign and regional companies in the oil and gas sector over the past 22 years, according to recent data from the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corp., also known as Dhaman. During this period, which spans from January 2003 to May 2024, the region has seen the execution of 610 projects. The US has emerged as the leading investor, with 85 projects representing approximately 14% of the total. In terms of investment costs, Russia has taken the lead, contributing $61.5 billion, which constitutes about 15.2% of the total investment. The Middle East remains the largest holder of proven oil reserves globally. As of 2023, it accounts for approximately 55.5% of the world’s known oil reserves, according to the global statistics platform Statista. However, the region’s share has declined from nearly 63% in 1960 to less than 56% by 2020. Future projections indicate a continued decline in proven oil reserves in the Arab region. In other news Saudi Arabia is investing in a gigantic Red Sea tourism alternative to oil, with a $3.8bn loan raised by the Saudi government-owned Red Sea Development Company. Due for completion in 2030, the so-called ‘giga-project’ will spread across 22 of the 90 islands that form an archipelago off Saudi Arabia’s west coast, as well as inland, and offer 50 hotels with 8,000 hotel rooms. The first ECA green loan in Saudi Arabia was a $258m loan last year that German credit insurer Euler Hermes structured alongside Crédit Agricole CIB and HSBC. The proceeds were for the Ministry of Finance to acquire 842 buses for the new Riyadh public transport network from Daimler’s bus subsidiary in Germany. Another ECA loan covers the purchase of 50 electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) jets from Lilium GmbH under a Saudi Export Import Bank export credit insurance policy supporting Saudi non-oil trade.