Saudi Arabia

30 Nov 2022; MEMO: The football player, Cristiano Ronaldo, has agreed to join a top Saudi team in a contract worth over $200 million per year, according to a media report.

Following Portugal's match against Ghana last week during the ongoing World Cup games, in which Ronaldo made history by becoming the first player to score in five World Cups, CBS Sports reported that Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr Club was ready to present the famed player with a three-year deal. No confirmation was publicly made at the time.

01 Dec 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia's energy minister said Saudi Aramco had discovered two new natural gas fields, Awtad and AlDahna, in the country's eastern region, state news agency SPA reported on Wednesday.

Awtad was discovered southwest of the Ghawar field, and gas flowed from one well, Awtad-108001 well at a rate of 10 million standard cubic feet daily, plus 740 barrels of condensate, and another well, Awtad-100921 at 16.9 million standard cubic feet daily, and 165 barrels of condensate, SPA said.

RIYADH, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced on Monday plans to transform Riyadh airport into a massive aviation hub with six parallel runways and designed to accommodate up to 120 million travellers by 2030, state news agency SPA reported.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), will build King Salman International Airport, which should stretch over 57 square kilometres (22.01 square miles) and include current King Khaled airport, SPA said.

RIYADH, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Representatives from Russia and Ukraine met in the United Arab Emirates last week to discuss the possibility of a prisoner-of-war swap that would be linked to a resumption of Russian ammonia exports, which go to Asia and Africa, via a Ukrainian pipeline, three sources with knowledge of the meeting said.

Saudi Arabia has declared a public holiday on Wednesday as it celebrates the national team's sensational FIFA World Cup win against Argentina, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The ‏national holiday will be for all employees in "government and the private sector, as well as students in all educational stages," according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

RIYADH, Nov 22 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabian Energy Minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman, yesterday, denied media reports that his country is mulling an oil output increase.

“The current cut of two million barrels per day by OPEC+ continues until the end of 2023, and if there is a need to take further measures, by reducing production to balance supply and demand, we always remain ready to intervene,” the minister was quoted as saying.

21 Nov 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia, on Monday, said that OPEC+ was sticking with oil output cuts and could take further measures to balance the market amid falling prices, denying a report it was considering boosting output, according to state news agency, SPA, Reuters reports.

The Wall Street Journal, earlier on Monday, reported an output increase of 500,000 barrels per day was under discussion for the next meeting of OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, on 4 December. The report cited unidentified OPEC delegates.

16 Nov 2022; MEMO: Saudi Aramco is moving forward in talks to supply blue hydrogen to Asia over the next five years, according to the company's chief technology officer, Bloomberg reports.

According to the report, the main energy producer is the UAE which is also investing in blue hydrogen and looking at shipments to Asia.

RIYADH, Nov 11 (NNN-SPA) – Chinese telecommunication company, China Mobile International (CMI), signed yesterday, a memorandum of understanding (MoU), to advance the digital media ecosystem in Saudi Arabia.

The signing ceremony was held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, between the Chinese company and Saudi Broadcasting Authority (SBA), Saudi Cloud Computing Company (SCCC), and Whale Cloud.

Under the MoU, the parties will collaborate to provide smart digital media solutions, including digital media, data centre and cloud services, said the SBA.

RIYADH, Nov 10 (APP): Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Thursday held wide-ranging discussions on host of issues related to political and security domains.

The two Foreign Ministers held these discussions as they jointly chaired inaugural session of the Ministerial Committee of Political and Security Pillar of the Saudi-Pakistan Supreme Coordination Committee, held here in the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.