City Updates

Renaissance Services SAOG, a leading Omani multinational oil and gas services provider listed on Muscat Securities Market (MSM30), has declared to the Muscat bourse record financial results and presented the details of an initiative to publicly list the company’s largest subsidiary, Topaz Energy and Marine LLC, on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Samir J. Fancy, Renaissance founder and chairman, said in his statement to shareholders that the company was at the threshold of a “transformational change” and described the opportunity as a “seminal moment”.

The National Bank of Oman (NBO) plans to raise $600m from international markets through a Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) programme or a bond issue, Times of Oman has reported. The bond issue will help the Sultanate's second biggest bank meet its medium-term lending needs. "The fund is for refinancing existing dollar loans and for meeting the requirements of Omani companies, especially for project finance," Humayun Kabir, general manager (Wholesale Banking) of NBO, said.

Renaissance Services SAOG, a Omani multinational oil and gas services provider listed on Muscat Securities Market (MSM30), has declared to the Muscat bourse record financial results and presented the details of an initiative to publicly list the company's largest subsidiary, Topaz Energy and Marine LLC, on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, is to increase its frequency to Bangalore in India, moving from its current four return flights to a daily service from March 25.

Oman Air is aiming to add two Moscow and Khartoum to its list of destinations during the second quarter of this year, it has been reported.

Philippe Georgiou, chief officer (corporate affairs) also told the Times of Oman that the airline would be receiving two Embraer 175 planes this month and another Airbus A330 200 later in May.

Emirates has just made it the world's third largest carrier by capacity, latest data by Innovata has shown.

With 144 aircraft in its fleet, the Dubai-based airline has overtaken US carrier United and is now behind only Delta and American Airlines, Emirates Business reported on Friday, quoting Innovata.

The paper said data shows Emirates will produce 16.9 billion available seat kilometres (ASKs) in March 2011, up 9.9 percent year-on-year, while United’s capacity has dropped to just under 16bn ASKs.

Qatar Airways is building up its presence in northern England with the addition of a second daily flight to Manchester, effective June 1st.

Flights will leave Doha at 01.50 and 10.00, and depart from Manchester at 07.45 and 14.55.

Akbar Al Baker, chief executive officer, Qatar Airways, said the Manchester route had been performing exceptionally well, prompting the decision to increase capacity.

Oman’s ambitious National Railway Project envisions the development of a major freight yard at Sohar, underscoring the port city’s growing importance as an industrial powerhouse. The proposed terminal is part of a complex of rail-based facilities which, along with other multimodal road and air transport infrastructure, will underpin Sohar’s development into an economic growth engine.

Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) will not discontinue its public payphone service across the country, despite a phenomenal decrease in its usage with the popularity of mobile phones. “We need to keep all these payphones for the convenience of the public. Also, the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) also wants us to keep them,” said Rao Chagarlamudi, vice-president for Consumer Services of Omantel.

The Higher Education Council has reviewed the education sector’s budget and reaffirmed the allocation of 71 per cent of the budget to public education and a 6 per cent increase of estimated expenditures for the sector in the 2011 budget. At its first meeting of the year here yesterday, the council expressed gratitude to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos for realising sustainable comprehensive development in the fields of education and human resources.