Author: Steven Sahiounie

A number of Palestinians Monday suffered from suffocation after the Israeli occupation forces stormed the village of Jalboun, northeast of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, and fired gas bombs. The head of the village council, Ibrahim Abu Al-Rub, told WAFA that the occupation forces stormed the village, drove their vehicles through its streets, and fired tear gas bombs at citizens and homes, causing many of them to suffer from suffocation due to inhaling the gas fired at them. He added that these forces set up military points on rooftops, raided commercial stores, seized recordings from surveillance cameras, and besieged…

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is in discussions with Tesla regarding potentially establishing a production facility within the Kingdom, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources. This initiative is part of Saudi efforts to secure essential metals for electric vehicles. Such a move would represent a development in the relationship between between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the Saudi government. Additionally, the Kingdom has an existing partnership with Lucid Group, a direct competitor of Tesla in the electric vehicle market. The proposed deal is expected to align with the Kingdom’s efforts to reduce its economic reliance on oil. However, it is still in…

RIYADH: Amid supply cuts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, oil demand in countries included in the Joint Organizations Data Initiative remained at a five-year seasonal high in July. According to the latest JODI report, demand was up by 3.24 million barrels per day in July compared to the same month last year. The report further stated that India, China and the US drove this increase. However, oil demand in JODI-reporting countries witnessed a decline of 3 million bpd in July compared to June. Aligned with the output cut decision of OPEC+,…

RIYADH: In a move to strengthen trade, economic, and commercial ties between Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, a high-level business delegation from the Kingdom has successfully concluded its visit to the Southeast Asian nation. Led by the Saudi Chamber of Commerce, the group engaged in a series of productive meetings with key figures from the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the country’s Chamber of Commerce, focusing on enhancing cooperation across various sectors, as reported by the Saudi Press Agency. During the four-day visit, the Vietnam-Saudi Arabia Business Forum took place in Hanoi, with the participation of over 200 representatives from both nations. The…

RIYADH: Amid widespread efforts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to stabilize the oil market, the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center disclosed that lifting sanctions on Venezuelan and Iranian oil will not have any short-term impact on the sector. In its recently released report, KAPSARC stated that Iran’s oil production will likely grow to 5 million barrels per day with or without sanctions. In contrast, Venezuelan oil production is unlikely to reach 1 million bpd under sanctions. Venezuelan oil production in 2022 was 723,000 bpd, significantly below the record it reached in 1997 of 3.52 million…

RIYADH: Egypt is set to bolster its oil and gas production with plans to drill multiple new wells in the Zohr gas field throughout 2024 and 2025, according to a statement from the government. The move aims to ramp up output, improve operational efficiency, and intensify research and exploration work, said Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla. This development signals an upswing in Egypt’s energy sector, with the Zohr gas field playing a pivotal role in the nation’s hydrocarbon landscape. During the fiscal year 2022-2023, El-Molla explained that the average daily production of natural gas from the Zohr field…

TOKYO: Red Sea Global outlined its giga-projects and opportunities in Saudi Arabia for Japanese companies interested in being part of the development of tourist destinations along the Red Sea. The event was hosted by developer Red Sea Global with participants including the MEED information group and construction company BEC Arabia. RSG is facilitating an ambitious sustainable tourism industry in Saudi Arabia, which is keen to diversify its economy under its Vision 2030 plan, particularly in the field of tourism. So far, RSG has been involved in the awarding of more than $7.2 billion worth of contracts on the Red Sea…

Speaking in the inaugural ceremony of the 17th edition of the International Exhibition of Plastic, Rubber, Machinery & Equipment entitled “IRAN PLAST” on Sunday, Morteza Shahmirzaei described it as an achievement of the NPC. He drew a comparison between the status of the country’s petrochemical industry in pre- and post-Islamic Revolution and said that Iran’s petrochemical industry was heavily dependent on foreign countries before the Islamic Revolution but today, this dependency has reached the minimum level in such as a way that the overhaul of petrochemical complexes is done by expert domestic engineers. The NPC chief put the current production capacity of the…

Kiev lacks funds to pay its military due to the “catastrophic” state of its finances, Nikolay Azarov has claimed The Ukrainian economy has turned into a “zombie” that only shows signs of life with Western financing, former Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov claimed on Monday. Writing on Telegram, the former politician argued that the national economy is “falling apart,” and that Ukraine is faced with minimal GDP growth and a looming devaluation of the hryvna “under pressure from the International Monetary Fund.” Meanwhile, public debt is surging and the budget deficit is widening despite Western aid, according to Azarov. “The best illustration of the catastrophic state…

Despite the overall decline, American purchases of nuclear fuel, fertilizers, and platinum group metals have remained strong Trade turnover between Russia and the US plummeted to its lowest level in July since the start of the Ukraine conflict, the RBK news outlet reported on Monday, citing data from the US Census Bureau. According to the bureau, trade turnover amounted to $277.3 million at the end of July. That figure is 11 times less than the one recorded in February 2022, and almost 13 times less than the amount for July 2021, the year when the US ranked fifth among Russia’s…