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Among the larger Saudi-controlled companies active in the African resources boom is Stockholm-based Svenska Petroleum, which belongs to Saudi/Ethiopian magnate Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi – one of that group of Saudi businessmen born into non-Saudi or marginal communities who have emerged as very significant players, usually by being linked to senior Saudi princes as ‘men of business’ during part, at least, of their careers.

AfDB – first private equity investment in Maghreb; CADF $90m for four projects; US EX-IM Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee

In addition to major state companies that have long been regarded as major Gulf investors abroad, such as Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (Kufpec), a number of Kuwait-based companies have been established in recent years with aspirations to become major E&P companies by investing in Africa and other emerging frontiers.

The Polisario Front liberation movement’s government-in-exile, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), plans to launch its second licensing round in Houston on 5 February

Doha-based Sphere Petroleum was launched in January 2007 as the first 100% foreign-owned company in Qatar. It was created out of the Perth-based Sphere Investments’ oil and gas assets, which were spun off. Sphere Investments – which took a secondary listing on Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) last July – is an Australian Stock Exchange-listed company with mining interests in West Africa, which has physically and financially shifted into the Gulf. Sphere Investments said “Qatar was selected as the preferred location for the new company due to the strong support from the Gulf region for our oil and gas strategy, oil and gas expertise and access to capital.”

Morocco’s state power company is increasingly active in Africa and plans to open an international arm in London, to be closer to international financial markets and the developer community, and to create much-needed new revenue flows, its chief executive told Jon Marks in Casablanca

Plans for an integrated LNG regasification terminal project in Morocco remain far from implementation, despite reports that a site has been identified and the project could go ahead soon