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Oil extends drop as chance of coordinated reserves release rises
Some traders see crude demand collapsing by as much as 10 to 20 million barrels a day.
Oil extended declines – after four weeks of losses – on signs the US, China and Japan are all preparing to tap national crude reserves as concerns over accelerating inflation intensify.
Futures in New York fell below $76-a-barrel after losing almost 6 percent last week. US President Joe Biden has been talking about a possible release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for several weeks, and the Yomiuri newspaper reported over the weekend that Tokyo may make a joint announcement on the issue with Washington as soon as this week. China indicated last week that it was working on another sale from its national inventories.
Bahrain govt approves commencement of Phase 1 metro project
The project is entering the tender stage and represents the first phase of the government’s plans of developing a 109km rail based urban transit network and consists of an elevated corridor with two lines having an estimated length of 28.6km with 20 stations and two interchanges.
The Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, which is managing the project, aspires to develop a rail transport network with an elevated rail-based urban transit system with latest technology, following international standards based on traditional steel rail solutions, a fully automated, driverless GoA4 system operation.
Saudi Arabia’s new industrial ‘floating’ city Oxagon
Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia announced ambitious plans to build a carbon emissions-free industrial city ‘floating’ on the Red Sea, as part of the kingdom’s Neom mega-project.
The development, which has been named ‘Oxagon’, will feature a port and a logistics hub. It will be a “comprehensive cognitive city” focused on robotics and artificial intelligence, as described by the official Saudi Press Agency.
In an exclusive interview with Arabian Business, Vishal Wanchoo, CEO of Oxagon, and head of manufacturing at Neom, reveals the hopes behind the latest huge project for the kingdom and challenges the skeptics who claim the development isn’t feasible, particularly after previous efforts to build economic and financial free zones struggled to take off.
