LONDON: Buoyed by the success of seismic imaging that found an extra billion barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, BP is looking to take its latest technology to Angola and Brazil.
The software used in the Gulf, based on an algorithm created by Xukai Shen, a geophysicist straight out of Stanford University, led to BP discovering the crude in an area where it had long thought there was none to be found.
Industry experts said the scale of the discovery 8 km below BP’s Thunder Horse field, announced last week, marked a major leap forward for deepwater exploration — a costly business known for its low success rate and high risk. It is an example of how technology is helping deepwater make a comeback after a decade when the industry has focused on advances in onshore shale.
The new deposit was found with software known as Full Waveform Inversion (FWI), which is run on a super-computer and analyzes reverberations of seismic soundwaves to produce high-resolution 3D images of ancient layers of rock thousands of meters under the sea bed, helping geologists locate oil and gas.
It is more accurate than previous surveying methods, BP said, and processes data in a matter of days, compared with months or years previously.
While the discovery marked the biggest industry success for digital seismic imaging, the British oil major’s rivals are hot on its heel with similar techniques.
BP scientist John Etgen, the company’s top adviser on seismic imaging, said it aimed to retain its edge with a new machine it has developed, Wolfspar, to be used alongside FWI.
The submarine-like Wolfspar is dragged by a ship through the ocean and emits very low frequency soundwaves, which are particularly effective for penetrating thick salt layers that lie above rocks containing fossil fuels, he added.
Etgen told Reuters that BP planned to roll out Wolfspar alongside FWI in the second half of this year at the Atlantis field in the Gulf of Mexico, where a large salt layer still hides parts of the site. The company plans to expand the use of the technology to other big oil and gas basins, including Brazil next year and Angola at a later stage, he said.
“Seeing through very complex, very distorted salt bodies was the hardest problem we had, the most challenging,” the Houston-based scientist said in an interview.
In both Brazil and Angola, oil deposits are locked under thick salt layers. Brazil’s deepwater oil fields comprise one of the world’s fastest-growing basins in terms of production. BP last year signed a partnership with Brazil’s national oil company Petrobras to develop resources there.
Billion-barrel oil finds are rare, particularly in mature basins like the Gulf of Mexico. But the scale of output from deepwater wells means they can compete with the most low-cost basins in the world, in particular US shale.
BP is far from alone in focusing on technology; all big oil companies have put a growing emphasis on digitalization to reduce costs following the oil price collapse of 2014.
In fact, BP’s spend on R&D was the third lowest among the world’s top publicly traded oil companies in 2017 at $391 million, compared with Exxon Mobil’s $1.1 billion and Royal Dutch Shell’s and Total’s budgets of over $900 million.
Other majors have also made advances. Italy’s Eni has launched the world’s most powerful industrial computer to process seismic data, for example, while France’s Total is using drones to carry out seismic mapping in dense forests such as in Papua New Guinea.
However Barclays analysts said in a report last year that BP and Norway’s Equinor had the most advanced deployment of technology among oil majors.
The seismic breakthrough for BP came when Xukai Shen tested a new idea he had for the FWI algorithm in 2016.
“What happened was magic — the pieces came together,” recalled Etgen. “We finally had the right algorithm with the right data set to create the model of the salt formation and use the model to remove distortion.”
BP says its new seismic technology could save it hundreds of millions of dollars in exploration hours by pinpointing the location of the most promising deposits.
“It allows us to drill the right wells, drill wells at lower costs, drill wells in the best part of the reservoir, drill fewer wells,” Etgen said.
The costs of the technology are a fraction of BP’s oil and gas production budget of around $12 billion per year.
An FWI survey costs up to $20 million to carry out, while processing the data costs up to $10 million, Etgen told Reuters. The annual spend on the super-computer that runs the software is about $20 million.
“The companies that are investing in technology are coming through and winning the race,” Henry Morris, technical director at independent North Sea-focused explorer Azinor Catalyst.
“That’s where BP are doing a good job. It’s working.”
Seeing through salt layers with confidence “adds real value” and saves companies the premiums they must pay to acquire resources through acquisitions, according to Bernstein analysts.
“With high-performance computing, the seismic processing and interpretations are being done in two weeks rather than 1,000 years, as it would have been if they still used 20th century computers,” they said.
“Investors should therefore expect more from BP with this edge.”
After billion-barrel bonanza, BP goes global with seismic tech
After billion-barrel bonanza, BP goes global with seismic tech
- New algorithm allows quicker and cheaper exploration of the most promising oil deposits
- Industry experts said the scale of the discovery 8 km below BP’s Thunder Horse field marked a major leap forward for deepwater exploration
UAE shares end higher as outcome of US-China trade talks awaited
LONDON: Stock markets in the UAE ended higher on Monday, in step with Asian peers, as investors awaited the outcome of US-China trade talks in London in the hope that a deal could boost the global economic outlook.
Top US and Chinese officials will sit down in London on Monday for talks aimed at defusing the high-stakes trade dispute between the two super powers that has widened to export controls over goods and components critical to global supply chains.
Dubai’s benchmark index hit its highest levels since 2008 and settled up 1 percent, with almost all sectors in positive territory.
Tolls operator Salik Company gained 2.3 percent and Deyaar Development surged 14.6 percent.
In Abu Dhabi, the index was up for a third straight session and gained 0.1 percent, lifted by a 1.6 percent rise in blue-chip developer Aldar Properties and a 1.8 percent advance in Abu Dhabi’s flagship energy firm Abu Dhabi National Energy Company.
Most stock markets in the Gulf and Egypt including Saudi, Qatar, Kuwait are closed on Monday due to a public holiday.
Saudi commercial bank profits jump 16% in April, topping $2bn before zakat, tax
- Year-to-date earnings reached SR32.97 billion, an annual rise of 20%
- Banks getting balance sheets ready for next investment wave
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s banking sector extended its winning streak in April, posting SR7.77 billion ($2.07 billion) in pre-zakat and tax profits, a 16 percent increase compared to the same month last year.
According to the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA, this brought year-to-date earnings to SR32.97 billion, an annual rise of 20 percent, keeping the Kingdom firmly on course for another record-breaking period.
The sustained momentum is attributed to a robust mix of state spending on giga-projects, resilient consumer demand, and still-elevated interest rates.
Financing volumes continue to climb, driven primarily by corporate borrowers across a growing range of industries, including manufacturing, utilities, insurance, and private education.
Contractors are also racing to secure long-term credit for giga-projects such as NEOM, Diriyah, and the Jafurah gas field.
A wider Gulf picture
Strong as those local figures are, the broader region is also gaining momentum. A Kamco Invest report released in May showed that Gulf banks collectively earned a record $15.6 billion in the first quarter of 2025, an 8.6 percent increase from a year earlier.
Financial institutions in the UAE posted the largest absolute increase, adding $639.6 million, while Saudi lenders recorded the fastest annual growth at 17.2 percent.
Kamco added that fee income is rising, costs are under control, and loan-loss provisions fell sharply during the period, cushioning a small dip in net interest income.
Investor appetite is visible in market valuations. Forbes Middle East’s “30 Most Valuable Banks 2025” March list includes 10 Saudi lenders with a combined market cap of about $269 billion— roughly one-third of the entire ranking.
Al Rajhi Bank led the pack at $105.6 billion, with Saudi National Bank following at $54.7 billion.
Global Finance named Saudi Awwal Bank the Kingdom’s best lender in its May “World’s Best Banks in the Middle East 2025” release, highlighting its HSBC-backed mobile app upgrades, Visa Direct payments, and one-stop small and medium-sized enterprises lending platform.
Cleaning the books and raising cash
Banks are also getting balance sheets ready for the next investment wave.
Bloomberg reported in March that lenders are exploring sales of older non-performing loans to specialist investors to free up capital for upcoming mega project drawdowns.
They’re also tapping capital markets. By June, they had issued over $5.6 billion in Additional Tier-1 bonds, already a full-year record and the world’s second-largest AT1 issuance in 2025, according to Bloomberg.
The spree includes Al Rajhi Bank’s $1.25 billion deal in April, Banque Saudi Fransi’s $650 million perpetual at 6.375 percent in May, Saudi Awwal Bank’s $650 million inaugural issue, and Alinma Bank’s $500 million of sustainable sukuk, all heavily oversubscribed.
By tapping eager investors now, while margins remain healthy and global demand for Gulf paper is strong, lenders are bulking up capital buffers and keeping loan-to-deposit ratios in check. That leaves them better prepared to fund the fast-rising credit needs of projects like NEOM and Diriyah without tripping liquidity alarms later in the year.
Fintech role
Fintech is reshaping Saudi banking from the ground up. The Saudi Central Bank’s Open Banking Framework — most recently updated in September to cover payment-initiation services — sets common technical rules that let lenders and start-ups plug their systems together safely and at speed.
Speaking at the inaugural 24 Fintech conference in September, Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan revealed that the Kingdom had licensed 224 fintech firms by the second quarter of 2024, up from fewer than 100 just three years earlier.
One of the newest players is Riyadh-based Stitch, which closed a $10 million seed round on May 28. The company offers a single set of application-programming interfaces that lets banks, fintechs and even non-financial brands bolt on real-time payments and open-banking functions far faster than older systems.
Early adopters already include Lulu Exchange and point-of-sale platform Foodics. The founders say the fresh cash will go toward doubling the engineering team and expanding the product suite.
Looking ahead
Riyad Capital’s first-quarter preview, released in April, expects another double-digit profit rise this year, about SR19 billion for the listed banks it tracks, as loan growth stays strong and rate cuts arrive slowly.
S&P Global, in its Saudi Arabia Banking Sector Outlook 2025 report, says a 10 percent increase in lending should outweigh a 20- to 30-basis-point dip in margins, keeping sector returns on assets near 2.1 percent to 2.2 percent.
Funding is the main watchpoint. Moody’s shifted its system outlook to stable on Feb. 25, saying strong credit growth is tightening liquidity, but capital buffers remain solid.
For now, asset-quality risks remain low. S&P expects non-performing loans to edge up to just 1.7 percent by the end of 2025, while loan-loss provisions are projected to stay around 50 to 60 basis points. Banks’ total capital ratios, hovering near 19 percent, provide a solid buffer to absorb potential shocks from falling oil prices or rising private-sector leverage.
Saudi lenders are still the region’s earnings workhorse. Profits are rising, market values are high, and fresh money — from bond buyers to venture capitalists — is flowing in. If they can keep gathering deposits quickly enough to fund a fast-growing loan book, the Kingdom’s banks look set to stay ahead of their Gulf neighbors in both profit and ambition well into next year.
Saudi carrier flynas to expand operations across 4 hubs, official says
- Hubs include Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah, and Dammam as part of growth plan
- Carrier expanded its summer schedule, launching four new international destinations
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s low-cost carrier flynas is set to expand operations across its four main hubs — Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah, and Dammam — as part of an ambitious growth plan, according to a top official.
In an interview with Al-Eqtisadiah, Waleed Ahmed, the company’s official spokesperson, said that flynas holds the largest aircraft order in the Kingdom and one of the biggest in the Middle East, with a total of 280 aircraft set to be received.
This follows a major deal signed in July with Airbus to acquire 160 new aircraft, including 30 wide-body A330neo and 130 single-aisle jets across A320neo, A321neo, and A321LR models.
The airline has seen a sharp rise in passenger traffic, with volumes climbing from around 11 million in 2023 to more than 14.7 million in 2024, reflecting the low-cost carrier’s rapid expansion in line with Saudi Arabia’s push to position itself as a leading global hub for tourism and business.
“These numbers reinforce the company’s role in supporting Vision 2030, which aims to increase the number of passengers to 330 million and attract more than 150 million international passengers by that year.” Ahmed said, as quoted by Al-Eqtisadiah.
He also highlighted that, as part of its ambitious strategic plan, flynas has expanded its summer schedule by launching four new destinations for the first time: Krakow in Poland, Geneva in Switzerland, Milan in Italy, and Rize in Turkiye, in addition to its usual summer routes.
Last week, flynas finalized its initial public offering at SR80 ($21) per share — the top of its indicated price range — following strong demand from both institutional and retail investors.
The pricing values the airline at an estimated market capitalization of SR13.6 billion at listing.
The offering followed the company’s announcement last month of its intention to float 30 percent of its share capital on the Saudi Exchange, making flynas the first airline in the Kingdom to go public and the first Gulf airline IPO in nearly two decades.
In line with its ongoing fleet expansion, flynas recently took delivery of its fourth Airbus A320neo of 2025, bringing the total number of A320neo aircraft in its all-Airbus fleet to 57. The current fleet includes 63 aircraft — 57 A320neo, four A320ceo, and two A330neo wide-body jets.
Al-Habtoor Group chairman to lead high-level delegation to Syria, exploring investment opportunities
Al-Habtoor Group chairman to lead high-level delegation to Syria, exploring investment opportunities
- Group said visit reflects its ongoing strategy to explore new cooperation with Syrian government
- Khalaf Al-Habtoor to visit Syria in coming days
RIYADH: The head of Dubai conglomerate Al-Habtoor Group is set to visit Syria with a delegation of senior executives to discuss potential investments and partnerships with the new government.
According to a statement, the visit reflects the group’s ongoing strategy to explore new avenues of cooperation with the Syrian government and to assess potential investment opportunities across multiple sectors.
It added that the trip stems from “a firm belief” in Syria’s ability to recover its strength and regional standing and the importance of public-private partnerships in the country’s rebuilding phase.
The move comes as Syria’s transitional government, led by President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, pushes economic reforms to attract foreign investment, including privatizations, relaxed trade policies, and major infrastructure deals.
Speaking ahead of the trip, the group’s Chairman Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor said: “Syria is a country rich in culture, history, and capable people. We believe in its future potential and are eager to play a role in its revival through meaningful projects that generate employment.”
He added: “We look to Syria with great confidence. Its people possess the energy and resilience needed to shape a strong and prosperous future. As an Arab group with deep regional roots, we consider it both a moral and economic responsibility to stand as a partner in rebuilding stable and thriving societies.”
Al-Habtoor Group, a UAE-based multinational with a strong presence in the hospitality, real estate, and automotive industries, has a history of large-scale investments in the Middle East. The move follows the organization’s recent withdrawal from Lebanon, where it cited instability as a barrier to business.
Jordan’s foreign exchange reserves hold steady at $22.76bn in May
- Gold holdings at the end of May were valued at $7.76 billion
- Qatar Central Bank recorded a 3.6% increase in its foreign currency reserves and liquidity
RIYADH: Jordan’s foreign exchange reserves remained largely unchanged in May, standing at $22.76 billion, as per new data released by the Central Bank of Jordan.
The slight month-on-month dip — about 0.2 percent from April — reflects broad stability in the Kingdom’s external buffers.
Jordan’s foreign exchange figures are broadly in line with trends observed across other Middle East and North African countries.
The Qatar Central Bank recorded a 3.6 percent increase in its foreign currency reserves and liquidity, reaching 258.135 billion Qatari riyals ($70.9 billion) in May, up from 249.165 billion riyals in May 2024.
Egypt’s foreign exchange reserves rose to $48.525 billion by the end of May, compared to $48.144 billion in April, marking an increase of $381 million.
“The Central Bank of Jordan stated in a statement today that its total foreign reserves are sufficient to cover the country’s imports of goods and services for approximately nine months,” the Qatar News Agency reported.
The central bank also reported that gold holdings at the end of May were valued at $7.76 billion, totaling 2.345 million ounces, underscoring the role of bullion in Jordan’s reserve composition.
“It added that the presence of comfortable levels of foreign reserves enhances the ability to influence exchange rates, provides a stable economic environment, and enhances the confidence of foreign creditors and investors,” the QNA report stated, citing the Jordan Central Bank.
In May, Jordan’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating was affirmed at “BB-” with a stable outlook by Fitch Ratings, citing the country’s macroeconomic stability and progress on fiscal and economic reforms.
The US-based credit rating agency noted that the rating and stable outlook also reflect Jordan’s resilient financing sources — including a liquid banking sector, a robust public pension fund, and sustained international support.
Despite the stable outlook, Jordan’s credit rating remains below that of several other countries in the region. In February, Fitch affirmed Saudi Arabia’s IDR at “A+” with a stable outlook, while the UAE was rated “AA-.”
Fitch said the ratings are constrained by high government debt, moderate growth, risks from domestic and regional politics, as well as current account deficits and net external debt levels that exceed those of rating peers.
A “BB” rating indicates elevated vulnerability to default risk, particularly in the event of adverse shifts in business or economic conditions. However, it also suggests some degree of financial or operational flexibility in meeting commitments.
Fitch also noted that Jordan’s government remains committed to advancing its three-pillar reform agenda — spanning economic, public administration, and political sectors — despite external pressures.
The agency added that the pace of reforms will continue to be shaped by the need to preserve social stability, resistance from vested interests, and institutional capacity limitations.
