UAE: Abu Dhabi

With peak demand for electricity expected to more than double between 2011 and 2020, Abu Dhabi is taking steps to encourage a reduction in consumption. This would not only lessen the government’s burden when it comes to subsidising electricity prices, it could also obviate, or at least reduce, the need to invest in new power generation capacity...

A reliance on reinsurance providers is a characteristic of the GCC market, with regional players ceding an aggregate of 40% of their non-life premium income in 2011, according to the Qatar Financial Centre’s 2012 “GCC Reinsurance Barometer”. While some of this is directed to local and regional firms, the majority is placed with the more developed...

Mention Abu Dhabi to the average person, and while they might well think of oil, it is unlikely that they would think of aeroplanes. That looks set to change over the next 20 or so years as the emirate seeks to build up an aerospace and defence industry. In part this is out of a desire within the UAE to increase the country’s own defence capacity,...

As developers rush to cash in on Abu Dhabi’s retail market, which they deem to be relatively untapped and undersupplied, total retail space is expanding at one of the fastest rates in the region. International brands are looming larger, especially at the top end of the market, where expensive cars and other luxury goods are being sold at record...

What can be done to lower the capital input costs involved in oil and gas extraction?

While the vast majority of Abu Dhabi’s electricity today is generated by gas-fired power plants, the government remains committed to the development of renewable energy sources. The emirate has also taken steps to establish nuclear energy plants, with the first of four facilities expected to come on-line in 2017. Both renewable and nuclear...