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QatarEnergy, with its partners Shell and Sonangol E&P has signed an agreement with Angola’s National Agency for Oil, Gas, and Biofuels (ANPG) to hold interests in Blocks 8 and 22 offshore the Republic of Angola

Under the agreement, and subject to the relevant governmental approvals and final contractual arrangements, QatarEnergy will hold a 30% working interest, while Shell (the operator) will hold 50%, and Sonangol will hold 20% in the two offshore blocks.

For QatarEnergy, the agreement marks another important step in advancing its ambitious international exploration strategy, with maximising value from upstream being one of its five key strategic pillars in its vision to be one of the best energy companies in the world.

QatarEnergy acquired a 40% stake in the North Rafah block, offshore Egypt in October 2025, following hard on the heels of the acquisition of a 27% participating interest in the North Cleopatra block offshore Egypt, operated by Shell. QatarEnergy has also acquired exploration licences in the Republic of Congo, Algeria and Namibia.

His Excellency Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the president and CEO of QatarEnergy, said: “QatarEnergy is pleased to sign this agreement and to establish a presence in the energy sector of the Republic of Angola as part of our international upstream exploration strategy and growth efforts. We would like to thank the Angolan authorities, and our partners Shell and Sonangol, for their cooperation and support. We look forward to a longstanding and fruitful partnership.”

The agreement was signed in the Angolan capital Luanda on the sidelines of the Angola Oil & Gas Conference, where the Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, highlighted the contribution of oil activity to the diversification of the economy and outlined the main lines of the Executive's vision for the sector.

ANPG formalised a series of offshore entries, risk-service contracts and other agreements with international oil companies at the show, advancing exploration across the Kwanza and Congo Basins.

Sonangol presentations emphasised the national oil company's contribution to boosting the market, attracting capital, and consolidating strategic partnerships.

With a growing regional presence and integrated solutions spanning mining, minerals processing and bulk material handling, TAKRAF Group is helping advance efficient, sustainable industrial value chains across the Middle East

Across the Middle East, mining is emerging as a key pillar of economic diversification and industrial development. In Saudi Arabia particularly, Vision 2030 is accelerating investment across the mining and minerals processing value chain. The Kingdom’s ambition extends beyond identifying and extracting mineral resources to developing integrated processing and downstream capabilities within Saudi Arabia.

The focus is increasingly shifting toward the development of integrated, efficient and sustainable value chains that support long-term industrial growth. As projects become larger and more complex, operators are seeking partners capable of delivering technologies and expertise across the entire mining lifecycle while helping address challenges such as water scarcity, energy efficiency, environmental performance and overall project economics. These priorities are especially relevant in a region where responsible resource development must go hand in hand with operational excellence.

To support this transformation, TAKRAF Group has strengthened its commitment to the Middle East through the establishment of TAKRAF Saudi Arabia and a regional office in Riyadh. This local presence enables closer collaboration with customers while combining regional market understanding with technologies and engineering expertise proven in some of the world's most demanding mining operations. The Riyadh office provides a regional base for customer engagement, project development and technical support across Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East.

A key differentiator for TAKRAF Group is its ability to address the complete mining and minerals processing value chain rather than providing individual pieces of equipment. Through the combined strengths of TAKRAF and DELKOR, customers can access solutions spanning crushing, conveying and high-capacity bulk material handling through to flotation, thickening, filtration, water recovery and dry stack tailings management. This integrated approach can improve recovery and plant availability, increase water reuse, support reliable high-volume material handling and reduce execution risk while optimizing long-term operating and maintenance costs.

The growing emphasis on water recovery and responsible tailings management is particularly significant across the Middle East. As mining developments advance in increasingly water-constrained environments, technologies that maximize water reuse while supporting safe and sustainable operations are becoming essential. At the same time, demand continues to grow for efficient bulk material handling systems capable of supporting large-scale mining, processing and export operations.

Beyond mining, many of the engineering challenges associated with moving, storing and processing bulk materials are equally relevant to other industrial sectors. TAKRAF's experience in applications such as petroleum coke handling, sulfur storage and export systems, petrochemical material handling and oil sands crushing demonstrates how technologies originally developed for mining can support broader industrial value chains. These capabilities provide opportunities to contribute to the wider industrial and energy ecosystem that is evolving across the Middle East.

As investment across mining, processing and industrial infrastructure continues to accelerate, TAKRAF Group remains committed to supporting customers with high-capacity bulk material handling systems, integrated minerals processing solutions, water recovery and tailings technologies and proven project execution expertise. The broader Tenova group extends these capabilities into hydrometallurgy, downstream metals technologies and decarbonization, enabling engagement across a wider portion of the industrial value chain while supporting the region's long-term economic ambitions.

For more information on TAKRAF Group visit www.takraf.com or be in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

For Mining with Meaning.

TA’ZIZ, a joint venture between ADNOC and ADQ, has signed long-term agreements spanning offtake, feedstock and sales across its chemicals portfolio, valued at US$28.5bn (AED104.6bn)

Signed at the Make it in the Emirates Forum, the agreements, valued at US$28.5bn, secure both global offtake and reliable local feedstocks, allowing for large-scale chemical production within the UAE and reinforcing TA’ZIZ’s role in building a fully integrated domestic chemicals ecosystem. The deals include sale agreements with ADNOC and Proman for methanol; Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) for caustic soda; Mitsubishi Corporation for ethylene dichloride (EDC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and caustic soda; Mitsui & Co. for EDC and caustic soda; Sanmar Group for EDC and VCM; Tricon for PVC, EDC and caustic soda; and Vinmar for EDC and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

ADNOC Gas secured a 25-year feedstock agreement to supply natural gas to the TA'ZIZ methanol project valued at over $5 billion (AED18.4 billion). TA’ZIZ also agreed a 20 year salt supply agreement with Abu Dhabi based Sama Salt to support production at its PVC complex.

Mashal Saoud Al-Kindi, CEO of TA’ZIZ, said, “These long term agreements represent a defining milestone for TA’ZIZ and for the UAE’s industrial growth ambitions. By securing both global demand and reliable local feedstock, we are translating vision into delivery, anchoring world scale chemicals production, strengthening domestic value chains and creating enduring economic value, jobs and supply chain resilience for the UAE.”

Together, these agreements leverage local resources to secure a reliable and sustainable supply of critical raw materials, further strengthening domestic value chains and advancing the UAE’s industrial self sufficiency.

TA’ZIZ is a manufacturing, industrial services, logistics and utilities ecosystem that enables the production of transition fuels and new products across the chemicals value chain, supporting ADNOC’s ambition to become a top three global chemicals player as well as the UAE’s industrial development and economic diversification ambitions.

The TA’ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone is set to produce 4.7 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of chemicals once construction is completed in 2028. This includes a 1 mtpa ammonia plant, a 1.8 mtpa methanol plant and 1.9 mtpa of marketable products from its integrated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) complex. The PVC complex, which produces PVC, ethylene dichloride (EDC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), and caustic soda, will be one of the world’s top three largest single site PVC complexes.

Also at the Make it at the Emirates Forum, TA’ZIZ and Alpha Dhabi Holding announced a strategic collaboration agreement for around US$10 bn (AED36.7bn) in capital investment in new industrial chemicals in the TA’ZIZ industrial chemicals ecosystem in Al Ruwais Industrial City, Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi.

The partnership could produce up to 14 new chemicals, delivering around 2.2mn tonnes per annum (mtpa) of additional chemical capacity in the TA’ZIZ industrial chemicals ecosystem in Al Ruwais Industrial City. The new chemicals, which include styrene and polystyrenes, acrylic acid and derivates, polyols, MDI, epoxy resins and linear alpha-olefins, are based on domestic demand and could substitute key products currently imported into the UAE, while strengthening local supply chain resilience. The partnership supports the UAE’s national industrial priorities, including the Make it in the Emirates (MIITE) initiative and the country’s industrial strategy, by strengthening domestic manufacturing capability and advancing self-sufficiency in strategically important chemical products.

BOP (blow-out preventer) valves play a safety-critical role in stopping the uncontrolled release of hydrocarbons from a well. However, the size and complexity of conventional BOP systems can constrain operations in environments where space is limited

Unity, the global well integrity and decommissioning specialist, has addressed this issue head-on with the development of a revolutionary ultra-compact blowout preventer (BOP) valve, named Unity Qb (‘cube’). Measuring just one-third the width of conventional systems, the new design enables safe intervention in confined environments previously inaccessible to standard BOP equipment, opening new possibilities across wireline, slickline, coil tubing and future drilling applications.

How does Unity Qb differ from conventional BOPs?

Conventional BOPs are placed at the top of a well and are large and cross-shaped by design, which limits where on a platform they can be positioned. In the event of a hydrocarbon leak, they seal or shear using rams that move in a straight line, clamping in from opposite sides of the well bore. In contrast, Unity Qb’s rams rotate around a central cartridge within the housing, making this proprietary technology a hybrid between a conventional BOP and a ball valve. It performs all conventional BOP functions in a fraction of the space and opens up the possibility of installing a BOP where historically only a Shear-Seal Ball Valve could fit.

The recently patented solution is rated to 10,000 psi, twice the pressure rating of Unity's existing compact shear (CSS) Valve and other traditional systems, while weighing the same. The higher rating means Unity Qb can be deployed on higher-pressure wells that lower-rated equipment cannot service. It is also stackable in single, dual or triple configurations.

Gary Smart, CEO at Unity said, “The future of well intervention will be defined by technologies that deliver more capability from a smaller footprint - Unity Qb represents exactly that step-change. Our engineering team reimagined the design from the ground up. The result is an ultra-compact BOP valve that delivers the performance operators expect while dramatically reducing the space required to deploy it.

“By unlocking access to constrained work environments and creating greater flexibility in system design, Unity Qb has the potential to reshape how intervention operations are executed offshore.”

He added that while the company will continue to offer its CSS Valve, the new Unity Qb is intended to extend the range of interventions it can support.

How do complacency and human factors contribute to workplace injuries, and how can you prevent complacency-related injuries and incidents?

That is the subject of a webinar hosted by HSE Review in association with SafeStart, to take place on Wednesday 1st April 2026 at 2pm GST, which will shine a light on the neuroscience behind competence, complacency and human factors.

Safety professionals have known for years that “complacency is a silent killer.” They have also suspected that complacency was a contributing factor in almost every unintentional injury or incident. Unfortunately, from a neuroscience perspective, it is impossible to stop people from becoming complacent once they are competent. And for high-risks tasks in particular, competence is a must.

Even more unfortunately, many (most) companies do not know what to do to help their employees deal with complacency, which leads to mind not on task/risk.

In this session, participants will:
• Understand the neuroscience behind complacency and why it cannot be eliminated once competence is achieved
• Recognise the two stages of the complacency continuum and how human factors impact critical decision-making
• Learn practical skills to prevent complacency-related injuries, including attentive habits, looking for risk patterns in others, analysing close calls and small errors to prevent agonising over large ones, and using self-triggering skills, to deal with rushing, frustration and fatigue which, when combined with complacency, can cause fatalities
• Explore how concepts such as fail-safe can help compensate for complacency leading to mind not on task.

Register for the webinar here

Our speaker is Larry Wilson, a pioneer in the area of Human Factors in safety. He has been a safety consultant for over 25 years and has worked on-site with hundreds of companies worldwide. Larry is the author of SafeStart, an advanced safety and performance awareness programme, successfully implemented in more than 4,500 companies in 75 countries, with more than five million people trained. He is the moderator of the SafeConnection expert panels series and has authored and co-authored a number of books, the latest being “25 Years of Original Thought-Innovations in Safety, Human Error and Performance”. Larry is also an active keynote speaker at health and safety conferences around the globe (32 countries so far).

Participants are guaranteed an hour of engaging and thought-provoking interactive discussion and debate and will take away the understanding, skills and strategies to help prevent complacency-related injuries and incidents.

So don’t delay, register for the webinar here

SafeStart Trainer Certification – Global Training Series

Following strong demand last year and impact across global markets, we’re also launching the SafeStart Trainer Certification – Global Training Series, starting with Dubai on 7–8 April 2026.

This is a practical, human factors–based certification designed to help organisations reduce incidents, strengthen decision-making, and improve overall safety performance, on and off the job.

Find out more information and register here:

DNV has published a recommended practice (RP) for offshore hydrogen pipelines, supporting safe design, operation and requalification of pipeline infrastructure for transporting hydrogen

DNV-RP-F123 Hydrogen pipeline systems addresses hydrogen-specific integrity and safety considerations. It supplements DNV’s established submarine pipeline standard, DNV-ST-F101 and adds additional guidance tailored to transporting hydrogen gas and hydrogen blends in pipeline systems. It is relevant for new pipeline developments as well as for the requalifying of existing offshore infrastructure for hydrogen transport, supporting broader efforts to scale hydrogen networks.

Hydrogen is expected to play an increasing role in cutting emissions from hard-to-decarbonise sectors. However the transportation of hydrogen by pipeline faces certain risks and considerations, such as embrittlement.

DNV-RP-F123 has been developed through the H2Pipe joint industry project (JIP), which ran from 2021 to 2026 and brought together 37 industry partners across operators, manufacturers, engineering companies and academic advisors to provide guidance for engineering projects and qualification work.

The next step is large-scale testing to validate data and advance existing standards. This phase will include full-scale pipe testing at DNV’s Spadeadam Research and Development Facility. The results will feed into the continued development of DNV-RP-F123 and future guidance.

“Hydrogen service fundamentally changes the integrity picture for pipeline systems,” explained Prajeev Rasiah, executive vice president and regional director for Northern Europe, Energy Systems at DNV, “it cannot be treated as a simple variant of natural gas. This recommended practice moves beyond theoretical study to provide an evidence-based framework for assessing hydrogen-specific risks in design, requalification, and operation. By closing the gaps around material suitability and safety margins, we are giving teams the technical clarity needed to move projects from the study phase into execution. This is particularly vital for requalifying existing infrastructure, where the guidance helps define exactly what must be tested or upgraded to ensure a safe reliable and sustainable transition.”

“The objective of the H2Pipe JIP is to build guidance grounded in shared data and real technical experience from testing,” added Philippe Darcis, chairman of the H2Pipe JIP Steering Committee and Pipeline Technology Senior Director at Tenaris. “The real value of the H2Pipe JIP is in turning years of shared data into credible, site-ready guidance that engineers can use to scale hydrogen infrastructure. This is a practical tool built to reduce the 'unknowns' that often stall investment. Because it was developed through industry-wide collaboration, it gives operators a robust basis for making decisions, allowing us to move forward with fewer assumptions and greater confidence in our safety and performance standards.”