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Red Sea Development Company Adopts Green Strategy to Support Tourism

The Red Sea Development Company cooperates with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture to set new standards in sustainable development that are compatible with global biosecurity regulations. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Red Sea Development Company cooperates with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture to set new standards in sustainable development that are compatible with global biosecurity regulations. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Red Sea Development Company Adopts Green Strategy to Support Tourism

The Red Sea Development Company cooperates with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture to set new standards in sustainable development that are compatible with global biosecurity regulations. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Red Sea Development Company cooperates with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture to set new standards in sustainable development that are compatible with global biosecurity regulations. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

As part of its commitment to developing a comprehensive sustainable landscape strategy to embrace the pristine environmental components and enhance biodiversity in the Red Sea region, the Red Sea Development Company - a subsidiary of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) - is seeking to rely on local and regional plants while including endemic and adaptive plant species.

The company cooperates with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture to set new standards in sustainable development that are compatible with global biosecurity regulations, policies and procedures with regard to importing the required types of adapted plants and agricultural products into the Kingdom.

In this regard, the ministry, in coordination with the Red Sea Nursery, provided seeds and seedlings of many local plant species, in addition to developing mechanisms for transporting and planting large trees and palms from their local and regional sources to the destination.

John Pagano, CEO of the Red Sea Development Company and AMAALA, said the nursery, which extends over an area of 100 hectares, was currently producing one million plants.

“We are seeking to increase that rate by another million plants by the end of this year,” he added.

Fahd Al-Hubaili, Assistant Director of Environmental Programs at the Red Sea Development Company, noted that the establishment of the Red Sea Nursery came in line with the highest international standards to provide all projects with multiple options of plant species needed to enhance the landscape and the planned environmental improvement programs.

He underlined the company’s keenness to comply with the sustainability goals, which include protecting the natural components inherent in the region and enhancing them by applying the highest standards of sustainability and biosecurity.

The nursery covers an area of more than one million square meters, making it one of the largest nurseries in the Middle East and one of the most important destination facilities for implementing the sustainability strategy in the Red Sea Project.

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Oil Retreats Slightly after Boost from US Crude Draw, Russia Sanctions

Oil Retreats Slightly after Boost from US Crude Draw, Russia Sanctions
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Oil Retreats Slightly after Boost from US Crude Draw, Russia Sanctions

Oil Retreats Slightly after Boost from US Crude Draw, Russia Sanctions

Oil prices fell back slightly on Thursday, a day after settling at multi-month highs on the latest US sanctions on Russia and a larger-than-forecast fall in US crude stocks.

Brent crude futures were down 37 cents, or 0.5%, to $81.66 per barrel by 1042 GMT, after rising 2.6% in the previous session to their highest since July 26 last year.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures slid 35 cents, or 0.4%, to $79.69 a barrel, after gaining 3.3% on Wednesday to their highest since July 19.

US crude oil stocks fell last week to their lowest since April 2022 as exports rose and imports fell, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

The 2 million-barrel draw was more than the 992,000-barrel decline analysts had expected in a Reuters poll.

The drop added to a tightened global supply outlook after the US imposed broader sanctions on Russian oil producers and tankers. The sanctions have sent Moscow's top customers scouring the globe for replacement barrels, while shipping rates have surged too.

The Biden administration on Wednesday imposed hundreds of additional sanctions targeting Russia's military industrial base and evasion schemes.

On Monday, Donald Trump will be sworn in for his second term as US president.

With oil at its current levels, that may lead to clashes with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) if Trump follows his previous playbook. During his first term he demanded the producer group rein in prices whenever Brent climbed to around $80.

OPEC and its allies, which collectively as OPEC+ have been curtailing output over the past two years, are likely to be cautious about increasing supply despite the recent price rally, said Commodity Context founder Rory Johnston, according to Reuters.

"The producer group has had its optimism dashed so frequently over the past year that it is likely to err on the side of caution before beginning the cut-easing process," Johnston said.

Limiting oil's gains, Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, according to an official.

On the demand front, global oil expanded by 1.2 million barrels per day in the first two weeks in 2025 from the same period a year earlier, slightly below expectations, JPMorgan analysts wrote in a note.

The analysts expect oil demand to grow by 1.4 million bpd year on year in coming weeks, driven by heightened travel activities in India, where a huge festival gathering is taking place, as well as by travel for Lunar New Year celebrations in China at the end of January.

Some investors are also eying potential interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve in 2025 following data on an easing in core US inflation - which could lend support to economic activities and energy consumption.