Egypt, Saudi Arabia sign 60 billion Saudi riyal investment fund pact

New Royal Adelaide Hospital project director quits amid continued delays 9NEWS By 9NEWS The project director for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) Judith Carr has resigned, after building consortium SA Health Partnerships failed to meet a technical completion deadline. (Facebook/SA Health) The project director for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) Judith Carr has resigned, after building consortium SA Health Partnerships failed to meet a technical completion deadline. (Facebook/SA Health) FShareTTweetBMailAMore The project director for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) Judith Carr has resigned, after building consortium SA Health Partnerships failed to meet a technical completion deadline. Health Minister Jack Snelling is believed issued a major default against the contractor last Monday, taking SA Health Partnerships to task last week for offering “pie-in-the-sky” completion dates, The Advertiser reported. It comes as yet another in a series of setbacks and delays for the $2.78 billion, 11-storey construction venture named the “third most expensive project in the world”. Mrs Carr has declined to comment as to her reasons for quitting, however sources close to the former director believe she had intended to retire following the RAH’s completion. Mrs Carr is also set to depart her position as Executive Director of Procurement at the South Australian Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. “Judith has made an exceptional contribution to the NRAH (new Royal Adelaide Hospital) project and I thank her and wish her well,” Mr Snelling said in a written statement to the Sunday Mail. Mrs Carr is believed to have acted as mediator between the government and contractors, in the wake of contract disputes over expenses stemming from design changes and cleaning up contaminated soil. Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade has slammed the government for its management of the project, claiming the new RAH is $640 million over budget, and that it will open a year later than originally scheduled. “There is now an engulfing sense of crisis in the new RAH project and Jack Snelling is not even giving a hint that he has the capacity to get it back on track,” Mr Wade said. Mrs Carr will be replaced by her deputy, Simon Morony, SA Health’s long-standing facility development director. Mrs Carr is not the first senior employee to leave the new RAH building project. RAH program director Andrew Nielsen resigned last year, citing personal reasons. Dr David Panter, then-chief executive of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network, of which the Royal Adelaide Hospital is a part had quit weeks earlier. Dr Panter held the position of RAH project director previously. Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/health/2016/04/10/16/18/new-royal-adelaide-hospital-project-director-quits-amid-continued-delays#bXv0xEcBtvLhajDD.99 =================== Sat Apr 9, 2016 7:12pm EDT Related: World, Saudi Arabia, Egypt CAIRO | By Ali Abdelaty Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomes Saudi Arabia's King Salman in Cairo, Egypt, in this handout photo received April 7, 2016. Reuters/Saudi Press Agency/Handout via Reuters Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement late on Saturday to set up a 60 billion Saudi riyal investment fund among other investment agreements including an economic free-zone to develop Egypt's Sinai region, Egyptian state television reported. The signing of the agreements took place in Egypt's Abdeen palace in the presence of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi's King Salman, during a rare 4-day visit to Egypt. Egypt has struggled to spur economic growth since the 2011 uprising ushered in political instability that scared off tourists and foreign investors, key sources of foreign currency. Egyptian state TV said the agreement was to establish "a Saudi-Egyptian investment fund with a capital of 60 billion riyals between the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the entities belonging to it and the Egyptian government and the entities that belong to it." A memorandum of understanding was also signed between the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the Egyptian International Cooperation Ministry to set up an economic free-zone in Sinai. No other details were announced. The two countries also signed agreements to develop a 2250 Megawatt electricity plant with a cost of $2.2 billion, set up agriculture complexes in Sinai and develop a canal to transfer water, a statement from the Presidency said. The statement also said that a company was set up to develop 6 square kilometers of the industrial zone around Egypt's Suez Canal worth $3.3 billion, without giving further details. The investments are part of a change in strategy from Saudi Arabia to focus more on financial support that will also benefit Saudi Arabia with return on investment. Saudi Arabia, along with other Gulf oil producers, has pumped billions of dollars, including grants, into Egypt's flagging economy since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. Some of the projects announced on Saturday include private sector investments. Last week the deputy head of the Saudi-Egyptian Business Council told Reuters that Saudi businessmen are investing around $4 billion in projects in Egypt and have already deposited 10 percent of that sum in Egyptian banks. Egypt is aiming for direct foreign investment of around $8-$10 billion in 2015/16. On Friday, King Salman announced that a bridge connecting Egypt and Saudi Arabia would be built across the Red Sea. No details were given. Egypt also signed development agreements with Saudi Arabia worth $590 million, Egyptian International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr said on Friday. She said the agreements, signed with the Saudi finance minister, covered development in the Sinai peninsula, agriculture, housing and a university. The agreements also include a memorandum of understanding between Saudi Aramco and Egypt's Arab Petroleum Pipelines Company SUMED. (Reporting by Ali Abdelatty, writing by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Tom Brown and Franklin Paul) ======================= Sat Apr 9, 2016 10:17pm EDT TransCanada receives approval notice for Keystone pipeline restart A TransCanada Keystone Pipeline pump station operates outside Steele City, Nebraska March 10, 2014. REUTERS/Lane Hickenbottom A TransCanada Keystone Pipeline pump station operates outside Steele City, Nebraska March 10, 2014. Reuters/Lane Hickenbottom TransCanada Corp (TRP.TO) said it received authorization from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on Saturday evening to restart the 590,000 barrel per day Keystone crude pipeline at reduced pressure. The Canadian pipeline company said that regulator PHMSA has approved a return to service plan for a controlled start. It was not immediately clear when and if the pipeline had restarted. The pipeline, which delivers light and heavy crude from Hardisty, Alberta, to Cushing, Oklahoma, and Illinois, was shut last Saturday after a potential leak was discovered in South Dakota. (Reporting by Catherine Ngai in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Alberta To Recruit U.S. War Vets To Work In Oilsands

Iraq has loads of undiscovered oil, and unlike other countries in the region has opened up exploration to foreigners, many of them from China. Not only is the oil plentiful in Iraq, it’s also cheap to get at – 15 times cheaper than extracting Russian oil, 30 times cheaper than Canadian Oil sands. Protestors storm Garraf oil field after religious dispute Workers operate a Weatherford drilling rig at the Garraf oil field. (STAFF/Iraq Oil Report/Metrography) By Staff of Iraq Oil Report Published November 30, 2012 GARRAF - Villagers near the Garraf oil field in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar province stormed the field offices of Malaysian oil company Petronas, injuring two people and damaging offices, vehicles and other equipment. The attack was prompted by a dispute over religious observances, which may have been amplified by misinformation, sectarian tensions, and prior resentments of the Malaysian company Petronas, which has a 2010 contract to develop the field. "They went in groups and attacked the company off... ========= Alberta To Recruit U.S. War Vets To Work In Oilsands. Nov. 17th Alberta is seeking to recruit an army of oilsands workers — literally. The province is on the march to attract thousands of demobilized U.S. military personnel to help develop what's been touted as Canada's economic engine for coming decades, the oilsands. The project's success would also act as a goodwill gesture for Canada's controversial oilsands, said Alberta Energy Minister Ken Hughes. "We're trying to understand how we could produce employment opportunities for American service people returning from overseas," Hughes said Friday. "I've detected some interest in the States." The mission has attracted the attention of U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson and the encouragement of the U.S.'s former consul general in Calgary, Laura Lochman, said Hughes. Hughes said there are a half-million unemployed or underemployed younger military veterans in the U.S. — a force that could be tapped to satisfy a chronically-hungry energy industry in Alberta. "These are a lot of fairly highly-disciplined Americans, some of whom would have skills, presumably, for the oil industry," he said. "Ever since the Dingman well discovery in 1914, we've never had enough human resources and capital of our own to develop the oil industry." Forecasts conducted on the labour needs of Alberta's energy sector range greatly, with one study stating the province could be short 130,000 workers within seven years. "That's one of the greatest constraints we face in developing the oilsands," said Hughes. The minister said he plans to lead a team into the U.S. sometime next year to scout out recruitment opportunities among military vets. He said such a contingent of military petroleum workers would also help sell the oilsands to an America that's shown some reluctance to accept its bitumen and the pipelines that would supply it. "It helps bring a personal story home to the U.S. about the importance Canada has in supplying them with oil and it helps build good will in America, which is something we could use," said Hughes. Concerns over the welfare of U.S. military personnel returning from overseas — particularly the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — have been growing in the U.S. Among the challenges they face are homelessness, post-traumatic stress disorder and unemployment in a country still struggling with an unemployment rate of around 8%. But Hughes also said Canada's in a labour competition with a newly-flourishing U.S. oilpatch. Source: CNEWS.Canoe.ca .. Comment by Roger Payne on November 17, 2012 at 10:08am That's a good thing, Sense our President won't open up exploration and production in the USA so our people can find work. . Comment by Dave Sereda on November 18, 2012 at 9:54am Alberta's Energy Minister Ken Hughes is an idiot. We have thousands of Canadians from all over this country that could be trained to do the jobs in the oil sands. And this government wants to go and "attract thousands of demobilized U.S. military personnel to help develop what's been touted as Canada's economic engine for coming decades, the oil sands." This would act as a good will gesture, since when has the United States needed charity when all the States need is a government that can work for the people and build their employment, and stop wasting trillions of dollars on senseless wars. Free trade was implemented to open the border for both countries to have a balanced marketing and employment system not to take from one to give to another. There will be lots of room for people from all over the world to work in the Canadian oil sands but employ Canadians first. . Comment by Brakta Hatem on November 18, 2012 at 1:39pm absolutely right , the Canadian first , I think there is hidden priorities, maybe conventions or politic needs , after all , The wind blows the way that not liked by the vessels.... . Comment by Reg Allaby on November 18, 2012 at 3:35pm You're s******* me right?...They just laid off all employees at voyager...and I have 17 years oilfield exp and can't get in there because they just hire newfies and foreign workers!! . Comment by B.M.Barter on November 18, 2012 at 5:05pm Looks like pr for keystone. . Comment by George Henry Pennings on November 19, 2012 at 1:20am They done the same in the south, brought in Africans and South Americans for some of the plants ....that did not work out so good so now they wanna send some veterens to the north country where there is very little sun and -40 degree temperatures in the winter and 20 hours of daylite and enough blackflies/mosquitos to carry a guy away in the summer..... the southern boys will really enjoy that... probally hang arround long enough to get un-employment isurance and live off the Canuck taxpayer like the other "imported" workers are doing now. . Comment by Dave Sereda on November 19, 2012 at 9:24am George you are right about the southern boys working long enough to try and get un-enployment but even Canadians can't claim unemployment due to the amount of income they reserve throughout the year. As they would have to work for one full year first and pay personal taxes which would be about 46%. (Wellfare would probably more like it.) The rest of your post is all story book due to global warming the temperature will not even get close to -40 for more than 2 - 3 days and Ft. McMurry isn't that far north to get that much darkness and as far as the black flies and mosquitos go we do not live in Africa. I've worked in Africa and the black flies/mosquitos are bad. The real problem is that the Alberta Government is trying to suckhole to the Obama administration to get the Keystone XL pipeline put through as they are having trouble with British Columbia getting the Northern Gateway Pipeline put in and would leave thousands of Canadians without work. . Comment by Pat Maracle on Sunday 46% taxes? I thought the peak was 37%. Either way you look at it; what "trained" or "Skilled Worker" Canadian in their right mind want to work in Ft. Mac for only a fraction more than half of his income? If recruiting "War Vets" opens up more jobs for Americans & Canadians through the Keystone project then what is the problem? The next time Alberta's oilfield goes "Bust" again...& it will; it will be the Skilled Canadians wanting work down south in the USA (probably in about 4 years when Obama finishes his final term as POTUS). The latest forecast by so-called experts is that the USA will take over as the #1 oil producer by 2020. I'm pretty sure there will be a LOT of Canadians wanting work down there. What goes around comes around. Finally; hiring war vets is NEVER, regardless of country of origin (Canada, UK or USA), a bad deal. They can use the break & recognition & we can ALL learn from their instilled discipline, morals & ethics. . Read more: http://www.drillingahead.com/page/alberta-to-recruit-u-s-war-vets-to-work-in-oilsands#ixzz2DkvF9tfN Read more: http://www.drillingahead.com/page/alberta-to-recruit-u-s-war-vets-to-work-in-oilsands#ixzz2DkrgNP9L