The 966 team welcomes its first co-host for the podcast’s weekly show, Fahad AlDehais AlMalki, a lawyer and capital markets expert in Riyadh. The hosts ask Fahad about starting up his own law firm in the Kingdom, and talk about big golf news in Saudi this week, a packed season of events in Riyadh, the Tadawul’s listing on the Saudi stock exchange, the Jafurah shale gas project in the Kingdom, and economic optimism in 2022 and beyond.

1:31 – A significant number of entertainment and other events in Riyadh this winter has transformed the Saudi capital.
The hosts discuss the significant changes ongoing in Riyadh as the city hosts “Riyadh Season.” The grouping of events as part of a massive season-long entertainment push has Saudis traveling from all over the country to visit the capital, as guest co-host Fahad Almaliki attested. Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Season has welcomed more than 4.5 million visits in a month, according to the Saudi Press Agency. The season also generated more than 122,000 jobs.

7:50 – A rundown of all the Saudi-related golf news this week.
Saudi Arabia’s annual golf tournament got some big names to commit this week. The Saudi International, which is hosted at the really beautiful Royal Greens golf club in Saudi Arabia, got commitments from Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Tommy Fleetwood, Abraham Ancer, Paul Casey, Sergio, Kokrak…This is a who’s who of golf. This is interest that can be fairly described as “overwhelming” from some of the top names in the sport. The PGA has 30 days before to not allow the players to play…or face a fine. Saudi Arabia’s moves in this sport are generating widespread interest.

10:55 – Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul is set to IPO. It’s just the latest in a hot streak for the Saudi bourse.
Earlier this month Tadawul got approval for the IPO in what could be one of the biggest in the exchange sector since Euronext NV’s $1.2 billion listing. This has been in the works for years, since at least 2016. Tadawul at that time hired HSBC to help with the listing, and has since replaced HSBC with Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and SNB Capital as financial advisers and global coordinators for the IPO.
The hosts get Fahad Almaliki’s valuable take on this space.

27:25 – Shale gas in…Saudi Arabia?
We’ve talked a lot about Shale so far on this podcast, but mostly we’ve discussed U.S. shale. Saudi Arabia is making a shale gas play within the Kingdom’s borders, on the Eastern province, The Jafurah shale field, according to several reports including one in SPGlobal.com.
Saudi Aramco expects its Jafurah shale play to yield up to 2 Bcf/d of gas and contribute a significant amount of 418 MMcf/d of ethane and 630,000 boe/d of gas liquids and condensates by 2030.
Aramco is really beginning to accelerate the company’s development of unconventional resources.
Just this week, Aramco awarded $10 billion dollars in EPC contracts for work at the field.

35:15 – Saudi Arabia’s growing economy and a year of optimism in 2022
Economic forecasts are starting to congeal around the fact that the Saudi economy is set for a big year in 2022. The Saudi Government is forecasting growth at 7.5% in 2022. The World Bank says 4.9 percent. Jadwa Investment predicts 7 percent year-on-year growth.
The consensus is not in the number but in the sentiment: the Kingdom is set for a pretty strong year economically, Omicron and other externalities notwithstanding…