Middle East Central Asia Industry Sectors
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Despite the economic downturn in 2008-2009, the Middle East and Central Asian industry sectors experienced bright spots that would take the economies of the two regions to new heights.[br]
Middle East Central Asia Industry Sectors: Middle East Industries
The technology sector in the Middle East went through a rough period, as spending by consumers and corporations were down. But during Q2 2009, sales of netbooks increased by 40% over the previous quarter. The sales were fueled by the rapid proliferation of products by companies like Apple, VMware, Sony, and Amazon. The IT industry outlook for 2010 is largely positive, with several mergers and acquisitions in the horizon. Also, the growing adoption to emerging technologies like cloud computing has changed the end-user experience and has eliminated the need to procure additional infrastructure. A consumer centric shift toward innovations has also fueled the growth of the IT industry in the region, owing to developments in iPhone Apps, Google Droid, and various GPS navigation platforms.
The petroleum and crude oil industry have always been the region’s prime source of exports and foreign investments. Iran is planning to boost its crude oil production to 5.1 million b/d by 2015. Gas production is also expected to rise to 1.1 million cm/d by 2015. Iraq has signed contracts with many companies, including ExxonMobil, Petronas and Gazprom Neft, to boost its oil production initiatives.
Oman’s oil production grew by 7% to 0.81m b/d in 2009, and is expected to rise 10% in 2010 to 0.9 m b/d. Qatar will add 15 t/y of LNG production to its existing capacity of 62m t/y in 2010. Saudi Arabia is going to consolidate its oil production and has already started building its largest gas plant, which will have a capacity of 2.5 bn cf/d. The UAE has signed contracts with a South Korean consortium and IPIC has raised its stake in an Austrian oil and gas company to increase oil production in the wake of rising gas prices.[br]
Middle East Central Asia Industry Sectors: Central Asian Industries
In Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are set to leverage their strengths in the oil and gas industry in the region. The combined Kazakh and Uzbek ethylene capacity is expected to increase to 1.4 m tpa by 2014 from 240,000 tpa in 2009. Kazakhstan’s petrochemical industry is expected to grow significantly during 2010-2015.
On the other hand, Uzbekistan is expected to witness steady growth in the petrochem sector and the nation has already signed a contract with South Korea’s KOGAS to build a gas based petrochem complex.
The telecom industry in Central Asia is also expected to witness steady growth in the fixed line markets and rapid growth in the mobile phone markets. Due to the consumer friendly policies in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, operators like MTS, VimpelCom, TeliaSonera and Turkcell have plans to expand their interests in the region. For example, by 2013, Tele2 has plans to invest SEK2, 400-2,600 mn in Kazakhstan’s mobile market.
