Good morning, wonderful people. The pace of business might feel a bit slower in Ramadan, but there’s no sign of the seasonal news slowdown this morning, so let’s jump right in.

We’re not sure anybody in the Kingdom (who isn’t a rabid golf fan) cares as much as the Americans do, but here we go: Golf nuts around the world are resorting to flight trackers to try to figure out who was attending a face-to-face meeting expected yesterday between representatives of the Public Investment Fund and the PGA Tour.

They’re in the Bahamas, not Florida: Wags expected the talks to take place in Miami, but flight trackers have an Aramco-owned (or chartered) jet landing in the Bahamas, where golf icon (and PGA policy board member) Tiger Woods has a base. Jets leased by the PGA Tour commissioner and one of the tour’s big American backers also touched down in the Bahamas yesterday, USA Today’s Golfweek reports. Fox Sports, meanwhile, says that Woods joined the “meet and greet” with PIF officials including chairman Yasir Al Rumayyan.

At stake: A merger between the PIF-back Liv Golf, the US PGA Tour, and the European Tour. A self-imposed deadline of 31 December 2023 came and went with no ink on paper.

The outcome of the meeting? There was no news as of dispatch time this morning. The PIF seems committed to seeing talks through, though: Golf and tennis are shaping up as two of the cornerstones of its contribution to the Kingdom’s drive to become a major global sports power.

OIL WATCH-

The world should “abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas,”Reuters reported Aramco CEO Amin Nasser as saying at CERAWeek in Houston. “We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas, and instead invest in them adequately, reflecting realistic demand assumptions, as long as essential,” he said during the S&P Global gathering, urging revised energy transition plans.

Nasser believes global oil demand won’t peak soon as he forecast oil demand to hit a new record of 104 mn bpd this year. While renewable energy is becoming more affordable and attracting growing investment, it has yet to take the place of hydrocarbons at scale, he said. “All this strengthens the view that peak oil and gas is unlikely for some time to come, let alone 2030,” he said.

MEANWHILE- The Kingdom’s crude production inched up 0.2% m-o-m in January 2024 to 8.96 mn barrels per day (bpd), data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed yesterday. Crude exports were slightly down 0.17% to 6.29 mn bpd on the back of voluntary oil curbs by Saudi that will remain in effect through June. The cuts aim to keep a floor under the price of crude.

HAPPENING TODAY-

The US Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Markets Committee kicks off a two-day meeting today. Market watchers will be parsing every word when the Fed’s updated economic projections are made public tomorrow after the meeting.

PSA- You might need to double check your flight status if you’re traveling through King Khaled International Airport due to rainfall across the capital, the airport said in a post on X yesterday.

WEATHER- Gray skies and rainfall are still in the cards for Riyadh today, as temperatures in the capital oscillate between a daytime high of 30°C and an overnight low of 23°C. The highest chance of rain today is between 9am and 3pm, according to our favorite weather app.

In Taif, it’s shaping up to be a cloudy day, with the weather peaking at 21°C before falling to 14°C at night. Expect some sun to peak out tomorrow.

Meanwhile, AlUla is in for a lot of sun, with temperatures hitting a daytime high of 19°C and falling to 9°C overnight.

So, when do we eat? It’s the ninth day of Ramadan. Maghrib prayers are at 6:05pm in the capital city, and you’ll have until 4:39am tomorrow to finish eating and caffeinating ahead of fajr.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Aramco is getting its first foreign market maker: Tadawul has given the green light to Merrill Lynch KSA’s request to become a market maker for Aramco shares, making it the first foreign market maker in the Kingdom, it said in a statement yesterday.

Merrill will start market-making today, joining domestic champions Riyad Capita l and SNB Capital as market makers for the oil giant’s shares.

Sound smart: Market makers keep the market moving smoothly, buying and selling securities on their own account to help provide liquidity for listed equities.

REMEMBER- Aramco is looking to revive plans to sell shares in a secondary offering that could raise some USD 20 bn in what would be one of the world’s largest offerings in recent years. The oil giant is in talks with bulge bracket investment banks to quarterback the planned share sale

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#2- Al Nahdi Medical eyes broader Gulf expansion: The Kingdom’s leading retail pharma chain plans to expand in the Gulf after a successful entry into the UAE as its first market overseas last year, CEO Yasser Joharji told Al Arabiya in an interview (watch, runtime: 10:25). “Last year saw an outstanding performance for Al Nahdi in the UAE as our presence grew, with sales rising 236%,” he said. “This has raised our ambitions to expand geographically in the Gulf in the future,” he said, without providing details on target countries or a timeline.

What’s next for the UAE: Joharji said Al Nahdi plans to add to the 15 pharmacies opened in the UAE last year. “Higher sales [in the UAE] have increased our appetite for expansion in other Gulf markets, including Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman,” he said.

#4- Another Nomu IPO: The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has approved Yaqeen Capital’s offering of 20% of its shares on the parallel market Nomu, it said in a statement yesterday.

Yaqeen is itself one of the more prolific advisors to companies looking to go public on Nomu, including recent offerings by Pan Gulf Marketing and Al Modawat Specialized Medical.

SOUND SMART- Nomu is Tadawul’s version of London’s AIM, offering lighter listing and financial reporting requirements in a bid to attract companies at earlier stages of development, including smaller businesses and startups. There is no profitability requirement to list on Nomu, which is open only to qualified investors (read: most day-trading retail investors need not apply). Want to go deeper? Tap or click here.

#5- DIPLOMACY- King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin after the Russian leader won re-election, state news agency SPA reported (here and here).

#6- DATA POINT- Credit facilities provided by Saudi EXIM Bank rose 21.3% y-o-y to SAR 16.5 bn in 2023, state news agency SPA reported yesterday. This is up 33% from a target of SAR 12.4 bn forecast for the year.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Benjamin Netanyahu is sending a team to Washington after Joe Biden on Monday said that an assault on Rafah “would be a mistake.” The Israeli delegation will arrive in DC “with alternative plans for the next stage of its offensive against Hamas in Gaza.”

The story leads global front pages this morning, along with a global food monitor’s stark warning that mass death due to starvation is now imminent in Gaza “without an immediate ceasefire and surge of food to areas cut off by fighting. See: Financial Times | Reuters.

AND- Donald Trump can’t get a bond to cover the USD 454 mn civil-fraud judgment against him, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Also worth knowing about this morning: The FT wonders whether UBS can “become Europe’s Morgan Stanley”, another key exec is “joining an exodus of top female talent” from Goldman Sachs.

MEANWHILE- Tensions are again boiling between Algeria and Morocco, which cut off diplomatic relations back in 2021. Bloomberg has a good backgrounder if you want to get up to speed.

FINALLY- An internet outage affecting West Africa could take up to five weeks to resolve as crews scramble to repair a damaged undersea cable, Semafor reports. Among those impacted: Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, where websites and online banking portals are down.

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