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WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM WEDNESDAY, MAR CH 4, 2015
MARKE Muscat 6,566.57 - 3.05 - 0.05%
Dubai 3,757.50 - 31.37 - 0.83%
Abu Dhabi 4,678.91 + 10.19 + 0.22%
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Kuwait 6,557.89 + 10.81 + 0.17%
Saudi Arabia
9,487.73 + 98.34 + 1.05%
Bahrain 1,469.52 - 0.79 - 0.05%
Qatar 12,291.90 - 158.44 - 1.27%
CRUDE OIL PRICE
CURRENCY RATES*
DRAFT RATES (OMR1)*
GOLD PRICES*
Type ............................Delivery...........Price
Forex rates vs OMR1* US Dollar ................................. 2.58 Euro ............................................ 2.24 Pound ........................................... 1.70 Indian Rs ............................. 159.77 Pak Rs ...................................258.40 Bangla Taka.......................199.40
Indian Rs ..................................160.60 Pakistan Rs ............................ 264.00 Sri Lanka Rs .......................... 343.65 Bangla Taka.............................201.70 Phil Peso .................................... 113.95
Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) .......15.45
Oman Crude............. (Spot) .........$55.13 Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) ........$54.56 Murban Crude ........ (Spot) ........$56.98 Arabian Light ......... (Spot) .........$57.43 N.Sea Brent............... (Spot) ........$56.64 West Texas Int ....... (Spot) .........$51.46
* Rates as of Mar. 3 Source: Oman UAE Exchange
* Rates are as of Mar. 3 Source: Bank Muscat
Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) .......14.90 Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ............146.50 Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) ............ 139.00 * Rates as of Mar. 3 Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds
OIC MEMBER GROUPING
Sultanate ranks 14th in latest Islamic growth market index Times News Service STRATEGIC DEAL: The agreement was signed on Monday by Shumookh Investment and Services
(investment arm of Public Establishment for Industrial Estates), Anwar Al Majed United Company and Linkwell Telesystem — Supplied picture
Pact signed for producing digital meters in Oman The plant, which will be the first of its kind in the Middle East, will be operating within the industrial estates of the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates
Times News Service MUSCAT: Digital meters and devices to protect electrical networks will be manufactured at a plant to be set up within the industrial estate in Oman. The plant, which will be the first of its kind in the Middle East, will be operating within the industrial estates of the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE). An agreement to this effect was signed on Monday between the investment arm of the PEIE — Shumookh Investment and Services, Anwar Al Majed United Company and Linkwell Telesystem.
Shumookh Investment and Services will be providing techni-
cal, logistical and administrative support to the manufacturer of these devices — Anwar Al Majed United Company, with the plan to develop and manufacture digital meters and devices to protect and secure electrical networks. Besides, Shumookh will be assisting the company to obtain necessary permits and licences from the local authorities to establish a specialised company and set up the factory. It will also provide essential support to obtain the required funding by negotiating with the banks to win the best offers as well as providing land to establish and operate the plant, and attain vital incentives from PEIE to support the project.
Anwar Al Majed, which is situated at the National Business Centre (NBC), provides a range of services including building electrical substations and electrical networks, installation of electronic and prepaid meters, and temporary connections, in addition to protection and security of the installed electrical networks. The National Business Centre offers promising Omani entrepreneurs a platform to develop their business ideas into ventures. The centre presents a premier platform for Omani entrepreneurs by providing business development support and guidance, training and mentoring, access to markets and industry experts and state-of-the-art, fully equipped, office space, meeting rooms and presentation facilities. Shumookh is an Omani closed shareholding company, established in 2010 with 84.26 per cent owned by PEIE and Omani Pension Funds. Being the investment arm of PEIE, Shumookh endeavours to develop infrastructure projects and encourage investment in the industrial estates under Public Establishment for Industrial Estates.
DUQM PORT
Deadline extended for Duqm liquid berth pre-qualification A E JAMES
businesseditor@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Pre-qualification deadline for international engineering firms to submit applications to participate in a tender to design and build a major bulk liquid berths terminal at Duqm port has been extended from March 10 to April 7.
The world-class liquid berth will come up alongside the targeted launch of a major refinery. The facility will be suitably equipped to handle liquid volumes, mainly refined petroleum products, chemicals and petrochemicals that will be generated when the refinery
and other petrochemical plants, come on stream at the adjoining economic zone.
EPC contract The Special Economic Zone Authority, which is developing the liquid berth, said that an invitation to tender will be issued to pre-qualified companies in the second quarter of 2015 for awarding an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. Commencement of the work at Duqm port is planned in the fourth quarter of 2015, with terminal handover scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2018.
“The terminal will be the outbound port for the proposed Duqm Refinery, which will be built adjacent to the terminal and accordingly, construction of the terminal will be schedule-driven,” stated a tender notification issued by the authority. The capacity of the liquid terminal will be large enough to handle the import and export requirements of a 230,000 barrels per day capacity refinery proposed at Duqm, as well as liquid volumes that will be generated by a future oil and petrochemical based industry and tank farm expected to take root in Duqm.
MUSCAT: Oman was ranked 14th in the 2015 Islamic Growth Markets Investment Index which ranks countries investment potential relatively within the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member country grouping, said a report. The Index is based on a set of nine metrics covering the categories of a country’s growth fundamentals, growth momentum, investment momentum and relative country risk. The index highlighted zero per cent
relative country risk for the Omani market, latest report by Thomson Reuters in partnership with Dinar Standard, an Islamic markets research & advisory firm. They presented the key findings of Islamic Growth Markets Investment Report 2015 during the Global Islamic Investment Gateway conference in Bahrain. The report says Indonesia showed the strongest growth fundamentals among the top three having the highest population and GDP, while Malaysia had the strongest growth and investment momentum. Among
the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies led by UAE are also on the top 10 list including Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Other markets on the top 10 include Kazakhstan, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, and Mozambique.
In order to leverage this widely dispersed yet connected opportunity landscape, the report presents DinarStandard’s OIC Industry Clusters Model that is a sector based investment strategy. It identifies unique region-wide roll-up, carve-out, growth, operation-value-creation and alliance opportunities across a sector’s value chain.