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JEDDAH: Fuchs Lubricants is formulating its production to meet the growing demand of the emerging industry of electric vehicles, as the car manufacturing sector will soon rely lesser on traditional lubricants.

“Electric vehicles are an industry that is going to happen, and Fuchs in Germany has taken steps to counter this with producing batteries and EV charging related products,” said Yasser Al-Qusami, vice president of sales, Fuchs Saudi Arabia.

Fuchs today is a solutions provider for EV batteries with manufacturing operations in 35 countries and service capabilities in every industrialized country worldwide.

According to a statement, EV-formulated lubricants will be a crucial generator of revenues for the company.

According to Al-Qusami, the company is still recovering from the pandemic’s consequences, as the company’s sales in the Kingdom are currently 11 percent behind pre-pandemic levels.

“It will take at least another three years before we reach there. A lot of medium to small companies have become smaller, and their consumption of lubricants is not as before. Still, with the flow of the new projects in the Kingdom, they will go back to the original size, and we will be able to cater to their needs,” Al-Qusami told Arab News on the sidelines of a conference on base oils and lubricants held in Jeddah recently.

“Now we are in a more or less stable situation. The market has slightly grown compared to the last four years. We have been able to maintain our market share, and we have been able to grow in some small areas,” he added.

Fuchs Saudi Arabia is among the top three lubricants providers in the Kingdom, a market that contributes the most business in the Middle East, according to Al-Qusami.

“Saudi Arabia is the main Fuchs affiliate in the Middle East. We are the main shareholders of Fuchs’s income in this region,” he said.

The Kingdom hosted the 17th Independent Commodity Intelligence Services, Middle Eastern Base Oils and Lubricants Conference at The Ritz-Carlton Jeddah from Oct. 10-11.

This year’s edition was the first to be held in Saudi Arabia, driven by ICIS’s desire to capitalize on the wave of growth that the Kingdom’s thriving base oil and lubricants industry has enjoyed in recent years.

JEDDAH: Luberef, the base oil firm of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., is launching a new specialty production facility in Yanbu that will manufacture transformer oil and white oil used in power generation, pharmaceutical and food businesses.

Called Lube Hub, the facility will enable the localization of these specialty products in the Kingdom. The venture will attract producers and operators of base oil-related products.

“We are trying to attract investment from companies to start some of the specialized products that are not being produced in Saudi Arabia, including transformer oil and white oil,” Tareq Al-Nuaim, president and CEO of Luberef, told Arab News.

White oil is a highly refined, premium-quality mineral oil used in food processing plants and applications that require exceptionally pure white mineral oil.

The Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu will provide the land and utilities, while Luberef will supply the operating companies with raw materials.

“The royal commission provides the land and the utilities while we work with different government entities to put together a package that will attract investments into the company,” said Al-Nuaim on the sidelines of a conference on base oil and lubricants held recently in Jeddah.

During the conference, Luberef signed four memoranda of understanding with international oil trading companies such as Apar Industries, Chemoil, National Oil and Chemical Co., Petromin and Day Candle. 

“The investment will not be allocated by us; it will be done by those interested companies. We have seen interest by the companies in the specialty oil business,” he said.

According to Al-Nuaim, Lube Hub is an unlimited investment opportunity, as more lands would be granted when the first one is filled with specialty oil producers and operators associated with the base oil industry.

Established in 1976 and headquartered in Jeddah, Luberef is one of the largest base oil producers in the world and the leading virgin base oil producer in Saudi Arabia.

From its two facilities in Yanbu and Jeddah, Luberef has a combined capacity to produce 1.3 million metric tons per annum of base oils used in high-value branded lubricants, primarily meant for the automotive, marine and industrial sectors. “We have plans to increase the production in the future,” the CEO said.

Around 36 percent of its production is focused on Saudi consumption; the rest is exported to 15 markets worldwide. “Our strategy is always to satisfy the local market first, and the excess is exported,” he said. While Luberef is a 70:30 joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Jadwa Industrial Investment Co., there were talks about it planning to raise over $1 billion through an initial public offering.

According to Bloomberg, the plan was to sell the 30 percent stake owned by JIIC, which it had acquired from Exxon Mobil Corp. in 2007.

With the move, Luberef would have joined the long list of Aramco subsidiaries already listed on the Saudi stock exchange, including Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co.

The CEO neither confirmed nor denied the discussion but was upbeat about raising investments to meet the company’s future demands.

“The company has been in business for 45 years, and it has been very successful in moving with the increased demand, so I think this will continue to happen in the future.”

Saudi Arabia is seeing a growing demand for base oil as it is poised to become the fastest-growing economy this year. In fact, the local demand has exceeded pre-pandemic levels, and the international market is also catching up.

“Saudi economy is the fastest growing economy in the world today, and with many projects in the pipeline, we are seeing quite healthy growth for base oil. Also, when it comes to volumes, we are back to the pre-pandemic level.”

Saudi Arabia hosted the 17th Independent Commodity Intelligence Services, Middle Eastern Base Oils & Lubricants Conference at The Ritz-Carlton Jeddah from Oct. 10-11.

This year’s edition was the first to be held in Saudi Arabia, driven by ICIS’s desire to capitalize on the wave of growth that the Kingdom’s thriving base oil and lubricants industry has enjoyed in recent years.

RIYADH: Saudi microenterprises credit surged 62.2 percent to SR18.1 billion ($4.82 billion) in the second quarter this year compared to SR11.2 billion in the same period last year, revealed the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA.

The SAMA report further pointed out that banks disbursed 82.5 percent of the credit or SR14.9 billion to the microenterprises, while finance companies doled out the remaining SR3.2 billion.

Moreover, the total loans extended to small enterprises increased 25.4 percent to SR63 billion in the April-June quarter compared to SR50.3 billion in the corresponding period in 2021.

Midsize company loans rose 2.26 percent to SR139.9 billion in the second quarter from SR136.8 billion in the same period last year.

Banks were also the predominant lenders to the small and medium enterprises, disbursing SR55.8 billion to small firms and SR134.9 billion to medium-sized companies.

On the other hand, financial institutions lend SR7.3 billion to small companies and SR5 billion to their midsize counterparts.

Saudi Arabia’s startup sector has been booming thanks to the government and the private sector’s efforts to grow this prominent part of the economy.

According to the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises or Monsha’at, the Kingdom had 752,560 SMEs by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

The number of SMEs in the Kingdom increased 14.6 percent from 650,550 in the same period last year.

Monsha’at facilitated funding worth SR 64.6 billion in secured loans to entrepreneurs through its Kafalah program, providing bank guarantees that support SMEs by reducing lending risk.

It disbursed SR12.3 billion in loans through its Tamweel platform, an online portal that brought together SMEs and licensed financing agencies.

“SMEs need streamlined bureaucracy, lower fees, and the ability to compete in the market,” said Monsha’at Governor Saleh Ibrahim Al-Rasheed in a press statement.

The Kingdom has also held numerous events to synergize SMEs with the global investment community.

In March 2022, Riyadh hosted the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, a mega event that brought together leading voices in entrepreneurship, including innovators, regulators and financiers.

The four-day event facilitated deals worth SR51.8 billion and over 10 rounds of financing for Saudi startups, the Monshaa’t said in a statement.

“We are ensuring that SMEs get the support they need and that growth is transformed into sustainable business models,” added Al-Rasheed.

CAIRO: IRL, or In Real Life, the US-based messaging social network company, is expanding its footprint in the Middle East and North African region in a few weeks, following its partnership with global mixed martial arts promotion company UFC.

Valued at $1.17 billion, IRL is a leading group messaging social network unicorn that brings people together through groups, events and community engagement.

In finance, a unicorn is a privately held startup company with a current valuation of $1 billion or more.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Egyptian entrepreneur and founder of IRL Abraham Shafi said that the UFC is planning multiple events in Abu Dhabi, and IRL will help promote these fights through its messaging platform as part of its foray into the region.

“We are targeting the whole region, starting with a few cities to get our playbook right and making sure we support everything, including one of the activations happening in Abu Dhabi,” Shafi told Arab News.

He added that IRL is also expanding into Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt and is keen on establishing regional partnerships.

“I’m deeply interested in the region. We’re actively working in Qatar for the World Cup. I think there’s a ton of opportunity in Saudi Arabia, and I’m pumped up about the overall region,” he said.

The company is in talks with Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s tourism and culture ministries and multiple fintech companies to boost expansion.

“I’m hoping to get as many incredible opportunities as possible. There are so many great partnerships, and people are so open and excited to deepen consumer tech with their culture and communities,” he added.

Shafi also added that the company is planning to open an office in Abu Dhabi before the end of the year to help strengthen its presence in the region.

Born in Egypt and raised in the US, Shafi harbored dreams of becoming an entrepreneur by watching his father and brothers set up a successful technology company in America.

“The big thing here is that I wanted to work on something that helps me keep a healthy relationship with friends and family and the world around me. I realized social media was just all about media and wasn’t about real human social interaction,” he said.

The company currently has over 20 million users on its platform, with more than 12 million monthly active users. In 2021, IRL managed to secure $170 million in a series C funding round led by Softbank’s Vision Fund 2.

DUBAI: In the next five to 10 years, people will be able to use the internet through their contact lenses, says Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics and co-founder of the string field theory.

Michio Kaku told Arab News on the sidelines of Dubai Future Forum that individuals could go online simply by blinking.

He said that people could view the biography of someone across from them with these contact lenses.

“If they speak to you in Chinese, it’ll translate Chinese into whatever language you want,” he added.

According to him, people wearing those lenses will always know what and who they are looking at. He said that individuals will have “the sum total of human knowledge by blinking.”

Although Kaku has traveled the world, he has never seen a country like the UAE with the foresight, imagination, and vision to create the future, he said.

“Only in the UAE do we see leaders, visionaries, people that say that this is the way for the future of the country, the destiny of the area itself,” he added.

In collaboration with the Dubai Future Foundation and the Museum of the Future, Kaku promotes the idea that science contributes to wealth, prosperity, enlightenment and education.

He added that the key to this is to motivate young people to get interested in science, create new industries, and develop new theories since science is ultimately the source of all wealth.

“The prosperity of society depends on science,” he said.

The scientist also participated in a panel discussion with the UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs Mohammad Al-Gergawi on the future predictions of the world.

In the discussion, Kaku described some scenarios in which computers will be replaced by chips embedded in the brains of individuals in the next 50 years.

“We will communicate telepathically, and we will be able to record our memories and emotions. Television will disappear, too, and the internet will be neurologically wired. We’ll be using quantum computers faster and more powerful than anything we’ve seen before,” he said.

As for energy, healthcare and entertainment, he warned the world to prepare for “major transformations.”

“We will be able to treat diseases like Parkinson’s and cancer at the molecular level, curing cancer as easily as we treat the common cold,” he said.

He added that people could detect cancer years before a tumor forms. “In upcoming sessions of the Dubai Future Forum, we must focus on future sources of wealth such as science, innovation, and technology to ensure the best future for humanity,” he concluded.

The Dubai Future Forum held at the MOTF featured over 45 international institutions and more than 400 experts striving to shape the future.

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and South Africa on Saturday signed 11 agreements and memoranda of understanding in the government and private sectors, aimed at promoting their developing investment sectors.

The deals, which were signed at the Saudi-South African Investment Forum in Jeddah, covered the fields of energy, water, green hydrogen, waste diversion, logistics and aerial survey services.

The forum, organized by the Saudi Ministry of Investment, was attended on the South African side by President Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel and others.

#SaudiArabia and #SouthAfrica are open to promising opportunities and limitless possibilities toward common goals and a brighter future that combines originality, modernity, and growth. pic.twitter.com/yCDB9Y0dZc

Saudi attendees included Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih, Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb, and Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khorayef.

In his address at the forum, Al-Falih praised Saudi-South African relations, including economic and trade cooperation spanning more than three decades.

“Our nations share many traits. The Kingdom is the largest economy in the Middle East and in the Arab world, and holds a leading political and economic role in the region,” he said.

H.E. Khalid Al Mudaifer Vice-Minister for Mining Affairs, Saudi Arabia highlighted that #SouthAfrica and #SaudiArabia have the minerals, expertise, the talented people, the capital and companies to make a great future happen together pic.twitter.com/FDtjpm6blS

“Meanwhile, South Africa is the second-largest economy in Africa and the most diverse and technologically advanced economy on the African continent, with great market potential, well-developed infrastructure and a competitive private sector,” he added.

“These circumstances present an invaluable opportunity to strengthen our cooperation, which can be seen as an exceptional South-to-South exchange, especially given the timing, with the world undergoing tremendous shifts and challenges.”

Al-Falih said Saudi Arabia is growing at the fastest rate among the G20 economies, as it enjoys a strategic location linking three continents, and has a coastline of 1,200 km along the Red Sea, through which about 15 percent of global trade travels.

HE the #SouthAfrican Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, emphasizes the importance of strengthening joint cooperation and unifying investment orientations and visions of the Kingdom and South Africa at the levels of both public and private sectors. pic.twitter.com/4S6admOaOn

He added that Saudi-South African trade is constantly growing, has increased from $4.6 billion in 2019 to around $4.8 billion last year, and is expected to exceed $5.3 billion in 2022.

He said these numbers could increase further by activating the great commercial and logistical capabilities of the two countries.

Al-Falih underscored priority areas of cooperation, including renewable energy, mining, agriculture and food processing, manufacturing, defense and aerospace industries, tourism, communications and information technology.

#Saudi and #SouthAfrican team shared insights and reasons about strategic relations, potential initiatives and exchanged investment opportunities between the two countries. #SaudiSouthAfricaninvestmentMeeting pic.twitter.com/UMcqao6Nqu

He said South Africa represents a major access point to Africa, while Saudi Arabia is an important gateway to the Middle East and a link between East and West.

The forum’s agenda included sessions on major projects in the Kingdom, mining, agriculture, food, tourism and energy.