SAUDI ARABIA - Delta Oil Co.

Based in Jeddah, this is part of Delta Investment Co. which groups about 50 prominent Saudi businessmen. Delta Oil was set up in 1993 to manage the group's energy interests. In 1994 it formed a "strategic partnership" with Nimir. Through this it has joined the AIOC and NAOC consortia in Azerbaijan (see Nimir profile). Delta Oil has been involved in repeatedly frustrated efforts to build a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan. It was working on this with Unocal of the US. Delta executives personally negotiated with Taliban leaders to get their backing for the project. Delta Oil's Chairman and CEO is Badr M. Ayban, who used to be a consultant in the Saudi state oil sector. His deputy is Nabil Al Khowaiter, who used to be with Aramco. Ray Harlow, previously head of Sun Oil Int'l, has been a key executive in Delta since September 1997. Delta had applied in 1992 for a licence to operate under the name of Arabian Petroleum Co. as a joint stock venture, which would have helped raise finance for its intended purchase of 50% in the downstream network of Belgian company Fina in the US. But Riyadh blocked the move in 1993.

In early 1999, Delta Oil acquired 26% in Centurion Energy International of Canada. It bought $3m of shares in a private placement and paid $3.8m of an existing debenture. Centurion is active in oil exploration in Tunisia and Egypt. It has three concessions in Tunisia which produce 3,200 b/d.

Other Saudi companies involved overseas include the Dallah Al Barakah Group. One of the Saudi corporate giants, this Jeddah-based group is controlled by leading businessman Shaikh Saleh Al Kamel. His group has considered E&P deals in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for several oilfields. In November 1991 it opened a JV bank in Almaty to focus on oil and gas projects. The bank reportedly had about $150m in authorised capital, with Dallah holding 50%. In 1993, it disclosed plans for a refinery service venture in Moscow.

A little known Saudi firm, Ningharco, is part of a group led by Bridas of Argentina to build a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline rivaling that of Unocal-Delta. Arab Group International (AGI), based in Riyadh and headed by Prince Sultan Ibn Saud Ibn Abdullah Al Saud, had in 1995 agreed to take a 50% stake worth $345m in Arakis Energy of Canada, which had acreages in Sudan. AGI said is was ready to provide $405m to fund development of oilfields in central Sudan. The project's viability was questioned because it was located in a civil war zone.

In early 1998, Mobil and Alireza were reported to be planning to invest over $200m in converting a Panamanian bunkering centre into a hub supplying fuels to Latin America. This was to involve a 3m barrel storage facility by the Panama Canal, a 30,000-60,000 b/d refinery and a 50-100 MW power plant. Xenel Industries of Jeddah has a stake in Hub Power Co. in Pakistan.