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ExxonMobil, Qatar Sign Cyprus Gas Deal despite Turkey Opposition

Cypriot Energy Minister Natasa Pilides stands alongside Qatari ambassador Ali Yousef al-Mulla (2nd), Qatar Energy's Ali al-Mana (R) and Varnavas Theodossiou (L), a lead country manager for ExxonMobil, after signing a hydrocarbon exploration contract. (AFP)
Cypriot Energy Minister Natasa Pilides stands alongside Qatari ambassador Ali Yousef al-Mulla (2nd), Qatar Energy's Ali al-Mana (R) and Varnavas Theodossiou (L), a lead country manager for ExxonMobil, after signing a hydrocarbon exploration contract. (AFP)
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ExxonMobil, Qatar Sign Cyprus Gas Deal despite Turkey Opposition

Cypriot Energy Minister Natasa Pilides stands alongside Qatari ambassador Ali Yousef al-Mulla (2nd), Qatar Energy's Ali al-Mana (R) and Varnavas Theodossiou (L), a lead country manager for ExxonMobil, after signing a hydrocarbon exploration contract. (AFP)
Cypriot Energy Minister Natasa Pilides stands alongside Qatari ambassador Ali Yousef al-Mulla (2nd), Qatar Energy's Ali al-Mana (R) and Varnavas Theodossiou (L), a lead country manager for ExxonMobil, after signing a hydrocarbon exploration contract. (AFP)

US giant ExxonMobil and Qatar Energy signed a contract Friday for oil and gas exploration and production-sharing off the divided island of Cyprus despite Turkey's opposition to the deal.

Cypriot Energy Minister Natasa Pilides, Varnavas Theodosiou, CEO of ExxonMobil Cyprus, and Ali al-Mana, director of Qatar Energy's International Upstream and Exploration, signed the contract in Nicosia.

It is the second gas exploration contract that the consortium has signed for Block 5 in the island's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

In February 2019, the consortium discovered a huge natural gas reserve off Cyprus in Block 10, the island's largest find to date, holding an estimated five to eight trillion cubic feet.

The consortium plans to drill an appraisal well on Block 10 in late December, with results expected by the end of February.

Oil and gas drilling off Cyprus has been interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Despite the increasingly difficult working environment for the global oil and gas industry, today we are taking a decisive step towards enhancing our mutually beneficial partnership," Pilides said at Friday's signing ceremony.

Asked about Turkey's negative reaction to the licensing of Block 5, Pilides said: "We proceed based on international law and the Law of the Sea; this has always been our principle."

Fieldwork on Block 5 will begin in the second half of 2022, she said.

Turkey has threatened to prevent ExxonMobil's search for oil and gas off Cyprus after Nicosia awarded it the rights to Block 5.

Last week, the Turkish foreign ministry said a sector of the licensed area violates Turkey's continental shelf in the eastern Mediterranean.

"Turkey will never allow any foreign country, company or ship to engage in hydrocarbon exploration activities in its maritime jurisdictions," the ministry said.

Ankara would "defend" its rights and those of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, it said.

The breakaway TRNC, recognized only by Ankara, lays claim to energy resources discovered off its coast, insisting the island's natural resources belong to both communities.

The eastern Mediterranean has become an energy hot spot, with significant natural gas finds for Cyprus, Israel and Egypt.

Ankara was accused of "gunboat diplomacy" in February 2018 when the Turkish navy prevented a ship leased by Italy's ENI from reaching its drilling target in Cyprus's Block 3.

The European Commission has urged Turkey to de-escalate and vowed to defend the interests of member states Greece and Cyprus.

Turkey was widely condemned for sending its own drillships into Cypriot waters for energy exploration, with the EU slapping sanctions on Ankara.

In the first half of 2022, ENI and France's Total are expected to drill in their licensed blocks.

Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third in 1974 in response to a Greek-engineered coup aiming to annex the island.

Nicosia has pushed ahead with offshore energy exploration despite the collapse in 2017 of UN-brokered talks to end the country's decades-long division.

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Business

Lagarde Dampens ECB Exit Talk, Expects to Finish her Term

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde reacts during an address to the media after the ECB's Governing Council meeting, at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, December 18, 2025. REUTERS/Heiko Becker/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde reacts during an address to the media after the ECB's Governing Council meeting, at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, December 18, 2025. REUTERS/Heiko Becker/File Photo
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Lagarde Dampens ECB Exit Talk, Expects to Finish her Term

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde reacts during an address to the media after the ECB's Governing Council meeting, at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, December 18, 2025. REUTERS/Heiko Becker/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde reacts during an address to the media after the ECB's Governing Council meeting, at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, December 18, 2025. REUTERS/Heiko Becker/File Photo

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has attempted to calm speculation about her stepping down early that has called into question the central bank's separation from politics, telling the Wall Street Journal she expects to complete her term.

Lagarde's status as leader of Europe's most important financial institution
was plunged into doubt this week after the Financial Times reported she planned to leave her job ahead of next spring's French presidential election, giving outgoing leader
Emmanuel Macron a say in picking her successor.

In an interview with the WSJ on Thursday, Lagarde dampened speculation about an imminent exit but still left the door slightly ajar to the possibility that she might leave before the end of her contract in October 2027.

“When I look back at all these years, I ‌think that we have ‌accomplished a lot, that I have accomplished a lot,” she told the ‌paper. “We ⁠need to consolidate ⁠and make sure that this is really solid and reliable. So my baseline is that it will take until the end of my term.”

Reuters exclusively reported that Lagarde had sent a private message to fellow policymakers reassuring them that she was still concentrating on her job and that they would hear it from her, rather than the press, if she wanted to step down.

The ECB has said that Lagarde has not made a decision about the end of her term, but stopped short of denying the FT report.

Some analysts thought an ⁠early exit risked tangling the ECB up in European politics as it could ‌give the impression of trying to make sure France's eurosceptic far ‌right, which could win next year's presidential vote, had no say in her succession.

Lagarde said last year she intended ‌to complete her term, a commitment she has conspicuously failed to repeat this week.

Bank of France Governor Francois ‌Villeroy de Galhau announced plans to step down from his job last week, in a move that gives President Macron a chance to pick the next French central bank chief, drawing sharp criticism from the far-right who called the move anti-democratic.

Villeroy's early departure and the confusion about Lagarde's future come just as US President Donald Trump is attacking the Federal Reserve, ‌further stoking debates about central bank independence from politics.

"After the recent events in the US, this is another reminder that although central banks are nominally ⁠independent, who leads them and ⁠their worldview is a matter for high politics," economists at Oxford Economics wrote on Friday.

As the head of the euro zone's second largest economy, the French president plays an important role in wider negotiations to select the head of the ECB.

Polls show either far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, or her protege Jordan Bardella, could win the French presidency.

While the party has long dropped a call for France to leave the euro, it is still seen as something of an unknown quantity in central banking circles.

According to Reuters, Lagarde told the WSJ that she viewed her mission as price and financial stability, as well as "protecting the euro, making sure that it is solid and strong and fit for the future of Europe."

She also said that the World Economic Forum was "one of the many options" she was considering once she left the central bank.

When Lagarde's name first emerged as a possible candidate for ECB president in 2019, she said she had no interest in the job and would not leave the International Monetary Fund, where she was the managing director.

Business

Stocks Drop, Oil Rises after Trump Iran Threat

Donald Trump has deployed warships, fighter jets and other military hardware to the Middle East as he puts pressure on Iran. Hannah Tross / US NAVY/AFP
Donald Trump has deployed warships, fighter jets and other military hardware to the Middle East as he puts pressure on Iran. Hannah Tross / US NAVY/AFP
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Stocks Drop, Oil Rises after Trump Iran Threat

Donald Trump has deployed warships, fighter jets and other military hardware to the Middle East as he puts pressure on Iran. Hannah Tross / US NAVY/AFP
Donald Trump has deployed warships, fighter jets and other military hardware to the Middle East as he puts pressure on Iran. Hannah Tross / US NAVY/AFP

Most Asia equities fell and oil prices rose on Friday after Donald Trump ratcheted up Middle East tensions by hinting at possible military strikes on Iran if it did not make a "meaningful deal" in nuclear talks.

The remarks fanned geopolitical concerns and cast a pall over a tentative rebound in markets following an AI-fueled sell-off this month.

Traders are also looking ahead to the release of US data later in the day that will provide a fresh snapshot of the world's top economy, said AFP.

A slew of forecast-beating figures over the past few days have lifted optimism about the outlook but tempered expectations for more interest rate cuts.

The US president told the inaugural meeting of the "Board of Peace", his initiative to secure stability in Gaza, that Tehran should make a deal.

"It's proven to be over the years not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran. We have to make a meaningful deal otherwise bad things happen," he said, as he deployed warships, fighter jets and other military hardware to the region.

He warned that Washington "may have to take it a step further" without any agreement, adding: "You're going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier warned: "If the ayatollahs make a mistake and attack us, they will receive a response they cannot even imagine."

The threats come days after the United States and Iran held a second round of Omani-mediated talks in Geneva as Washington looks to prevent the country from getting a nuclear bomb, which Tehran says it is not pursuing.

The prospect of a conflict in the crude-rich Middle East has sent oil prices surging this week, and they extended the gains Friday to sit at their highest levels since June.

Equity traders were also spooked.

Hong Kong fell as it reopened from a three-day break, while Tokyo, Sydney, Wellington and Bangkok were also down. However, Seoul continued to rally to a fresh record thanks to more tech buying, with Singapore, Manila and Mumbai also up.

City Index market analyst Matt Simpson said a strike was not certain.

"At its core, this looks like pressure and leverage rather than a prelude to invasion," he wrote.

"The US is pairing military readiness with stalled nuclear negotiations, signaling it has credible strike options if talks fail. That doesn't automatically translate into boots on the ground or a regime-change campaign.

"While military assets dominate headlines, diplomacy is still in motion. The fact talks are continuing at all suggests both sides are still probing for a diplomatic off-ramp before tensions harden further."

Shares in Jakarta slipped even after Trump and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto reached a trade deal after months of wrangling.

The accord sets a 19 percent tariff on Indonesian goods entering the United States. The Southeast Asian country had been threatened with a potential 32 percent levy before the pact.

Jakarta also agreed to $33 billion in purchases of US energy commodities, agricultural products and aviation-related goods, including Boeing aircraft.

Business

Third ‘Mirkaz AlBalad AlAmeen Platform’ to Open in Makkah on Sunday 

A street in the holy city of Makkah is decorated with Ramadan lights. (SPA)
A street in the holy city of Makkah is decorated with Ramadan lights. (SPA)
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Third ‘Mirkaz AlBalad AlAmeen Platform’ to Open in Makkah on Sunday 

A street in the holy city of Makkah is decorated with Ramadan lights. (SPA)
A street in the holy city of Makkah is decorated with Ramadan lights. (SPA)

The third edition of the “Mirkaz ABalad AlAmeen”, a leading platform for exchanging opportunities in Makkah, will kick off on Sunday, under the theme “Makkah Inspires the World.”

The platform, organized by the Holy Makkah Municipality, will feature 15 exceptional Ramadan evenings focused on dialogue, knowledge exchange, and cross-sector engagement.

Makkah Mayor Musad Aldaood said the platform redefines development from Makkah, where faith meets inspiration and values are transformed into a comprehensive civilizational experience.

He noted that the initiative reflects the ambitions of Saudi Vision 2030 and showcases Makkah to the world as a living model of creativity, leadership, and innovation.

The upcoming edition will host more than 65 speakers, including executive leaders and decision-makers from across all three sectors, alongside futurists, entrepreneurs, and leading voices in culture and inspiration from artists, writers, media professionals, and innovators.

The program targets 12 key sectors: technology and digital transformation, financial investment, communications and media, real estate development, transport and logistics, banking services, youth and sports, tourism and culture, hospitality and catering, Hajj and Umrah, the third sector, and healthcare.