Page 10 - MEOG Week 25 2021

MEOG FINANCE & INVESTMENT MEOG

Korea seeks to strengthen

UAE relations with loan

UAE THE Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) companies have won a total of $6.8bn worth of
this week announced that it had agreed to contracts from ADNOC since 2017.
lend $5bn to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. ADNOC has collaborated for decades with
(ADNOC) in a move to strengthen ties further Asian IOCs to develop its oil and gas reserves,
between South Korea and the UAE. with recent E&P deals signed with Japan’s
Under a framework deal agreed between the Cosmo and Thailand’s PTT E&P and a broad
parties, Eximbank will provide ADNOC with agreement signed in March with Malaysia’s Pet-
project finance for developments for which ronas to explore opportunities throughout the
Korean firms are contracted. oil and gas value chain.
The deal was signed during a meeting Korean IOCs are involved in various
between HE Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, ADNOC man- upstream projects alongside ADNOC, with
aging director and group CEO, and Eximbank Korea National Oil Co. (KNOC) holding a 30%
CEO Bang Moon-kyu in Abu Dhabi. stake in the Al Dhafra Petroleum joint venture
Bang said that the deal “is expected to and with GS Energy owning a 10% stake in the
strengthen a co-operative relationship between JV as well as a 3% stake in the sprawling ADNOC
the two institutions. Eximbank’s various finan- Onshore concession.
cial programmes will continue to help expand Meanwhile, South Korea’s NH Investment &
Korean companies’ overseas contracts”. Securities Co. is a member of a consortium led by
Representatives of Eximbank told local media Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Brook-
that the loan was expected to provide a platform field Asset Management that last year acquired
for Korean companies to develop stronger ties a collective 49% stake in ADNOC’s natural gas
with counterparts in the UAE as well as others pipelines division for $10.1bn. The gas subsidi-
in the region. ary holds lease rights to 38 gas pipelines covering
According to the Korea Herald, Korean a total of 982 km.™

International bourse on the cards for Kish

IRAN IRAN’S Kish Island free trade zone in the Per- to other regional economic hubs such as Dubai
sian Gulf has been earmarked as the location for and Qatar. If given the go-ahead the FTZ would
a new international bourse, Donyaye Eqtesad act as a a conduit for international finance invest-
newspaper reported on June 21. ing in Iran.
Plans for the bourse have been ongoing for Kish FTZ is separated from Iran’s mainland
years, but international sanctions placed by the by the waters of the Persian Gulf and its rules dif-
US and the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) fer from the authoritarian norms of mainland.
pandemic brought plans to an abrupt halt in The island was previously host to several Brit-
2019 and 2020. ish and European insurance and banking firms
The long-lost project has now been revived headquartering their offices in Kish Island City.
on the sidelines of a government ceremony Iran created its first FTZs in 1989/1990 after
unveiling achievements in the country’s several a fall in oil income following the Iran/Iraq war
free trade zones and special economic zones a under the Rafsanjani administration. The first to
day prior. be designated was Kish Free Trade Zone on Kish
The bourse is set to open on Kish after an Island in the Persian Gulf, while the second was
awaited approval by the High Council of Secu- Qeshm Free Trade Zone on Qeshm Island in the
rities and Exchange, the stock market regulator, Strait of Hormuz.
Hamidreza Mo’meni the newly appointed sec- Five more FTZs have been established since
retary on the High Council of Iran’s Free Trade then. They are Chabahar in south-eastern Sis-
Zones said. tan-Baluchestan Province, Arvand in south-
“The international bourse will pave the way western Khuzestan Province, Anzali in northern
for interaction with the world economy and cre- Gilan Province, Aras in East-Azerbaijan Prov-
ate a secure venue for exports,” he added. ince and Maku in West-Azerbaijan Province.
The reason for the selecting Kish island as the Several new SEZs and FTZs also being
base over other free trade zones is its proximity brought into existence on May 6 this year.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 25 23•June•2021