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SUBSCRIPTION WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2016 SAFAR 30, 1438 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Muwaizri to run Abbas reelected Does my hair Westbrook in for speakership, party leader look OK? World’s a hurry as opposition seeks as Fatah opens oldest person Thunder common5 ground rare congress8 turns29 117 in style down20 Knicks Operations begin at Azzour Max 22º electricity and water plant Min 13º High Tide 13:55 & 23:52 First independently-owned project to sell output to MEW Low Tide 06:55 & 18:31 40 PAGES NO: 17066 150 FILS By Sara Ahmed Saudi king to KUWAIT: The first independently-owned power and water plant in Kuwait, Azzour North One, launched commercial operations yesterday. Azzour North One will generate 10 visit Kuwait percent of Kuwait’s power requirements (1,539 MW) and 20 percent of water needs (107 million gallons per day). The Hope for Khafji KD 519 million ($1.7 billion) project was delayed for years due to political infighting but finally started construction in KUWAIT: Saudi King Salman is to visit Kuwait next Dec 2013. week as hopes rise in the state of a resumption of The power and water plant marks the first stage in a production from a jointly run oilfield after a two- lengthy effort by the government to meet the state’s grow- year shutdown. The king will travel to Kuwait on ing power and water needs. It also represents the first suc- cessful test case for the implementation of the government’s Dec 8 after a Gulf summit in Bahrain and stay for mega infrastructure development plan and the public-pri- three days, Al-Jarida newspaper reported yester- vate partnership model. Azzour North One will be fueled by day. His visit comes as the state-owned Kuwait Gulf a blend of local gas and imported LNG. In 2015, Kuwait Oil Co (KGOC) readies for a long hoped-for resump- imported 3.1 million metric tons of LNG and has awarded a tion of production from the offshore Khafji field, consortium to build a KD 882 million ($2.9 billion) LNG jointly run with Saudi Aramco Gulf Operations. import and regasification terminal at Azzour. In an internal memo seen by AFP, KGOC asked Falling under the first phase of the Independent Water staff to make the necessary preparations. It ordered and Power Project (IWPP), Azzour North One is owned and implementation of a Startup Readiness Plan to put operated by Shamal Azzour Al-Oula KSC, which is 40 percent owned by a private consortium comprising ENGIE (formerly “facilities in operational ready state within least GDF SUEZ), Sumitomo Corporation, and Kuwait-based AH Al possible period in order to achieve the resumption Sagar & Brothers. The remaining 60 percent is owned by the of Khafji crude oil production”. Output from the government of Kuwait, through the Kuwait Investment Khafji field was halted in Oct 2014. Saudi Arabia cit- Authority (5 percent), the Public Institution for Social ed environmental concerns but the move came Security (5 percent), and Kuwait Authority for Partnership amid a slump in prices that put pressure on pro- Projects (50 percent). ducers around the world. The government is mandated to sell 50 percent of the The halt to the field’s production of 300,000 bar- total ownership through an initial public offering (IPO) to rels per day - shared equally between the two Kuwaiti citizens after construction is completed. The govern- ment will retain a 10 percent stake following the IPO. All the countries - hit Kuwait far harder than Saudi Arabia. power and treated water produced from the plant will be The state lacks the spare production capacity its bought by the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) under giant neighbor enjoys. — AFP KUWAIT: The Azzour North One power and water plant is seen. a 40-year long-term deal. (See Page 3) Billions pledged for Tunisia Kuwait to give $500m in loans over 5 years TUNIS: Tunisia won pledges of billions of “Tunisia faces exceptional circum- dollars in financial support at an invest- stances and needs exceptional support,” Kuwait has sent ment conference yesterday aimed at said President Beji Caid Essebsi. “The suc- reviving the country’s struggling econo- cess of the democratic project in request for int’l my. Nearly six years after its Arab Spring Tunisia... serves the interests of the revolution, Tunisia hopes the meeting region and can help strengthen security bond proposals will help it tackle challenges including and stability regionally and globally,” he high unemployment, low growth and a said. More than 2,000 business, finance KUWAIT: Kuwait has sent a request for proposals for a tourism sector hammered by militant and political leaders from 40 countries potential debut international bond, according to attacks. The two-day “Tunisia 2020” con- are attending the conference, including sources. The sovereign is expected to issue next year, ference aims to put the North African officials from global lenders such as the most likely in the US dollar market, continuing the spree nation “back on the investment map of World Bank. of Gulf sovereign bond deals. In October, bankers said the Mediterranean”, officials said. Continued on Page 13 that Kuwait was in no rush to fund overseas, according to Reuters. Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh had said in July the government planned to sell as much as $10 bil- lion in conventional and Islamic bonds in international LA UNION, Colombia: Rescuers search for survivors yesterday in the wreckage of markets to help plug Kuwait’s budget deficit for the cur- the LAMIA airlines charter plane carrying members of the Chapecoense Real rent fiscal year, which will end on March 31. Several Gulf sovereigns have sold bonds in the inter- football team that crashed in the mountains of Cerro Gordo. — AFP national markets this year, led by Saudi Arabia’s record breaking $17.5 billion triple-tranche offering in October. 75 killed as plane carrying Other notable deals from Gulf sovereigns in 2016 include Oman’s return after a 20-year absence, Qatar’s $9 billion trade and Abu Dhabi’s $5 billion transaction. Brazil footballers crashes Kuwait, however, will be a new name for investors, though corporates and banks from the country have BOGOTA: A charter plane carrying a GMT yesterday), reporting it had suffered outstanding US dollar bonds. Brazilian football team crashed in the “electrical failures”, and crashed a short time This year holding company KIPCO printed a $500 mountains in Colombia late Monday, killing later near the city of Medellin, officials said. million 2023 bond at a yield of 5 percent in March, while as many as 75 people, officials said. But The plane was carrying members of Burgan Bank printed the first ever senior US dollar deal they said six survived, including four play- Chapecoense Real, a Brazilian football club from a Kuwaiti bank in September. Burgan, Boubyan TUNIS: Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi (center), Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim ers. Brazil’s President Michel Temer declared that had risen from obscurity to play in the Bank and National Bank of Kuwait also have outstand- bin Hamad Al-Thani (left) and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls attend the three days of mourning for the victims. The Copa Sudamericana finals today against ing subordinated bonds. Timing for the sovereign’s LAMIA airlines charter declared an emer- Atletico Nacional of Colombia. debut issuance remains unclear. — Reuters opening ceremony of “Tunisia 2020”, an international investment conference, gency at around 10 pm local time (0300 Continued on Page 13 yesterday.— AP Fears of IS’ use of weaponized drones ‘Dronejacking’ may be next big cyber threat BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON: The Mosul battle growing issue of international concern,” James Mosul, which Iraqi forces launched on Oct 17. in Iraq has seen the Islamic State group Bevan, executive director of the Conflict The militants have used them for some increasingly resort to weaponized drones, Armament Research NGO, wrote in a recent time for reconnaissance missions, just like gov- which Western governments fear could lead to report. Western countries have seen an ernment forces have, but they have more a new type of attack at home. France issued an unprecedented wave of attacks perpetrated or recently tried to modify them. In mid- internal note to its security forces last week inspired by IS and the new airborne threat is November an AFP team on Mosul’s southern warning that “this threat is to be taken into giving chills to security agencies. front saw a small commercial drone, of the account nationwide” and ordering any drone “It’s a threat we’re looking into, especially kind that will fly off the shelves in the run-up be treated as a “suspicious package”. The first with all those who will return from Iraq and to Christmas, drop a grenade on a federal record of a deadly IS drone attack was in Syria with bags of battle experience,” a French police position. October when two Iraqi Kurdish fighters were government official told AFP. Some countries, Forces battling their way to the outskirts of killed and two French special forces soldiers especially those with large numbers of nation- Mosul have reported several similar incidents. wounded. als among IS’ foreign fighter contingent such “They are also using drones in this area,” Abu The device had been booby-trapped and as France or Belgium, worry that attacks on Mohammed Al-Atabi, a commander with the MOSUL: Iraqi special forces, Lt Col Ali Hussein holds a destroyed drone used by did its damage on the ground when forces home soil will spike after the collapse of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitaries deployed Islamic State militants, which was shot down by his brigade on the frontline approached it after it landed.