Business Extra

Basrah Gas Company and the future of Iraq's energy

The Basrah Gas Company is a 25-year joint venture between Iraq’s South Gas Company, Shell and Mitsubishi. It was established in 2013 to process associated gas produced from three huge oilfields in the south of Iraq, that otherwise would be flared off. This gas then supplies power to the domestic market as well as to those manufacturing products for export. On Tuesday, it was announced that the World Bank's International Finance Corporation would provide $360 million to support the company’s growth.

Malcolm Mayes, managing director of Basrah Gas Company, speaks to host Mustafa Alrawi about how BGC is helping Iraq meet its growing energy needs and power an additional one million Iraqi homes while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 10 million tonnes per annum.

 

In this episode:

Iraq and the Basrah Gas Company (0m 42s)

The impact on the environment (3m 22s)

BGC's plan down the line (5m 49s)

IFC's belief in BGC (15m 00s)

Iraq's future (20m 36s)

Read more on our website:

• Iraq to invest $3bn over five years in the Basrah Gas Company

• Siemens Energy to rebuild Mosul super grid destroyed in 2014

• Oil prices could reach $80 per barrel, Iraq's Oil Ministry says

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How Yas Creative Hub will bring the global entertainment industry to Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi plans to invest $6 billion over the next five years in its cultural and creative industries to create new jobs and attract talent.
One of the mega-projects at the heart of the plan is the Yas Creative Hub, a 27-hectare development expected to create 16,000 jobs over the next decade, tripling the number of people employed in the sector in the UAE capital.

Michael Garin, chief executive of TwoFour54 Abu Dhabi, which is behind the project, joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner this week. Mr Garin fields questions on the timing of the project, Hollywood-level production value and why Abu Dhabi is smart to get into show business.

In this episode:
The Yas Creative Hub (0m 45s)
Who is coming to the Hub? (4m 40s)
Abu Dhabi to attract world-class talent (9m 30s)
The incentive to come to Yas (13m 56s)

Read more on our website:

• Abu Dhabi to invest $6bn in culture and creative industries amid economic diversification push

• How the 'Mission: Impossible 7' cast and crew stayed Covid-free in Abu Dhabi

• Megaprojects: Abu Dhabi's Yas Island to become the Middle East's media hub

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How Poland is helping to shape the economy of tomorrow

Poland hopes its role as a central and eastern European technology hub will help create cross-investment opportunities in the financial, healthcare and food sectors for Gulf investors, according to a senior official.

Pawel Jablonski, Poland’s undersecretary of state for economic and development co-operation, for Africa and the Middle East, was in Abu Dhabi this month to explore ways to expand the country’s trade and commerce beyond its traditional main partners, such as Germany.

There are many areas which Poland and the UAE have common ground, including infrastructure development, which could provide the chance for “synergies” to help "shape the economy of tomorrow", Mr Jablonski told the Business Extra podcast.

In this episode:
Poland's expansion in UAE (0m 36s)

From EU to UAE (2m 31s)

Primary sectors for Poland (4m 27s)

Competing interests (8m 26s)

The diverse market in Europe (12m 27s)

Read more on our website:

• Central Europe aspires to being a centre of civilisation

• Data economy to become leading economic sector globally, Dubai Future Foundation finds

• Abu Dhabi and Singapore join forces to accelerate smart city development

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How Iran's oil industry is at the mercy of its politics

With a new Iran nuclear deal on the horizon and the possible lifting of US sanctions, up to 1.5 million barrels per day of oil exports could return to the market. However, the country's energy sector is in dire need of both cash and international equipment.

The National's columnist Robin Mills discusses what is still an uncertain outlook for Iran's oil and gas industry with host Mustafa Alrawi.

In this episode:

The future of the Iranian oil industry (0m 55s)

The dynamics of the market (5m 41s)

The energy transition and Iran (10m 32s)

Iran's new leadership role (14m 23s)

Read more on our website:

• Future of Iran's oil industry remains uncertain as it heads to the polls

• Blinken: Iran deal breaches could reduce nuclear breakout time to ‘weeks

• US oil hits $70 per barrel as commodities gain amid rebounding global growth

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Stripe's Middle East plans and the untapped 'GDP of the internet'

More than 13,000 businesses in the Middle East have expressed interest in using Stripe since the payments platform announced its regional debut and office in Dubai last month.

“There's just so much momentum in the UAE and the surrounding area,” said Matt Henderson, the business lead at Stripe for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, regions where the company is rapidly expanding.

Stripe offers products that allow merchants to accept digital payments and a range of business banking services. Clients include Amazon, Shopify, Deliveroo, Microsoft and Apple.

 

Mr Henderson joined The National’s Business Extra podcast this week to talk about the market for digital payments.

In this episode:
Infrastructure for the digital economy (0m 37s)
Stripe in the Middle East (2m 44s)
The evolution of the digital payment landscape (7m 40s)
Cybersecurity and digital payments (18m 22s)

Read more on our website:

• Global digital payments company Stripe enters Middle East after funding round values company at $95bn

• Would you tip for social media content? Why people are willing to reward creators with more than just likes

• ADGM unveils Digital Marketplace to test feasibility of future products

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Future of travel - 'vacc-ications', higher airfares and cheaper hotel rooms

The future of travel in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic will be characterised by higher air fares, cheaper hotel rooms and fewer but longer trips, according to industry expert Sadiq Gillani.

Speaking to the Business Extra podcast’s Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner, Mr Gillani, a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, outlined what we are likely to experience when travelling as the recovery picks up pace. 

There will be an imbalance of capacity, for example, when comparing airline seats with hotel rooms and cruise cabins. This is because most carriers have partially grounded their fleet but few hotels have shut down permanently, he said. Even as demand comes back at the end of this year and into next year, it will take a long time for airlines to build back up to where they were before the pandemic, in terms of capacity.

In this episode:
The future of travel (0m 36s)
The trends showing the future of travel (1m 58s)
Emerging new archetypes (9m 31s)
Revenge travel (16m 10s)
The winners out of the crisis (22m 30s)

Read more on our website:

• Can summer travel revive aviation's fortunes?

• Airline CEOs likely to face cash flow challenges amid signs of travel recovery, Iata boss says

• Dubai Airports chief projects return to pre-Covid passenger volumes by 2024

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Bloomberg's Justin Smith on the post-Covid agenda

The chief executives of the world’s largest companies are showing a “strong appetite” for in-person conferences taking place in the final three months of the year. Justin B Smith, chief executive of Bloomberg Media, which organises hundreds of events a year, speaking exclusively to The National and the Business Extra podcast, said that the company has "identified a very, very strong appetite for engaging in person again” following a period of mostly online-only conferences amid the Covid-19 pandemic. He also discusses key topics on the agenda for Bloomberg's New Economy Forum in Singapore in November, including China-US relations and climate change.

Business Extra co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner unpack what in-person events could look like post-pandemic, drawing from Mr Smith's insights.

In this episode:
Justin B Smith on demand for live events (1m 15s)
The New Economy Forum's task at hand (5m 53s)
New Economy Forum's view on the China-US relations (11m 27s)
Tech companies and global regulations (13m 13s)
Will in-person events come back? (15m 27s)

Read more on our website:

• Bloomberg's New Economy Forum to be held in Singapore

• ATM 2021: Top travel and tourism players convene in Dubai to map future of industry

• Expo 2020 Dubai is a 'beacon of hope' as thousands of deals to bring the world to the UAE are signed

• World Economic Forum cancels 2021 annual meeting

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Can a busy summer travel season revive the aviation industry?

Heading into summer, airline bookings in April and May were "pretty positive" for domestic travel while bookings for international journeys remained "exceptionally weak" as travel restrictions continued in many countries due to new cases of the Covid-19 virus, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

To determine if summer will provide a lift, a patchwork of issues are in play: a global vaccination effort rallying sentiment in some parts of the world to a devastating spike in Covid-19 cases throughout India and parts of southeast Asia. Meanwhile, can pandemic-era pushes for immunity passports, digitalisation and carbon offsets prove to have staying power?

This week, The National's aviation correspondent Deena Kamel joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner to discuss the outlook for travel's peak season.

In this episode:
Can aviation be revived? (2m 26s)
Shifting trends and behaviour changes (5m 46s)
Emirates capacity increase (13m 14s)
Four factors in the future of travel (15m 50s)
The enduring changes (18m 30s)

Read more

• Tourism activity in oil-importing Mena countries expected to bounce back by 2023
• Domestic travel rises globally in March as international passenger traffic remains low
• UAE ambassador: UK travel announcement is 'disappointing for families'
• Air Arabia posts first-quarter net profit despite Covid-19 pandemic
• Will India's soaring Covid infections derail its economic rebound?

Apple in court amid a new era for data

The long-promised new era of technology is taking shape, from the quantum computing race between nations, to the battle over fair competition being fought in a US court between Apple and Epic Games.

 

While the future remains uncertain, developments in recent days and months reveal a path that will change the way consumers and companies interact online and who will be the guardians of our digital lives.

 

This week, host Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor-in-chief, and co-host Kelsey Warner, Future editor, explain the state of play and the themes to watch: the incoming deep tech wave, the UAE’s investment in cryptographic “sovereignty” and Apple’s new data privacy rules.

In this episode:
The technological shift and awareness of data (0m 40s)

The deep tech wave (2m 06s)

The rise of the hacker (6m 13s)

Apple's stand on privacy (9m 57s)

Apple v Epic Games (13m 44s)

Read more on our website:

• Meet the Abu Dhabi cryptographer keeping your personal data safe

• Apple's 'walled garden' faces Epic attack in app store trial

• What do Apple's new iPhone privacy changes mean for users and businesses?

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Bitcoin's energy problem a lesson amid tide of digitalisation

Bitcoin mining now uses enough electricity annually to power a country equivalent in size to the UAE. Can warnings over cryptocurrencies' carbon footprint challenge - and help us reimagine - how we utilise energy resources? And amid a rising tide of digital assets, what can be learnt from Bitcoin's shift to renewable energy?

Host Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor-in-chief, and co-host Kelsey Warner, future editor, discuss these issues in this week's episode.

In this episode:
Bitcoin's energy consumption (0m 55s)
What is Bitcoin mining? (2m 24s)
Why is there a market for Bitcoin? (6m 45s)
Bitcoin's role in an energy transition (8m 30s)

Read more on our website:

• Bitcoin's annual energy consumption now exceeds that of the UAE

• Bitcoin breaches $50,000 threshold in downfall

• Tesla’s first-quarter profit surges to $438m on record deliveries

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