Middle East

The plant, to be named Shams 1, will have a 100 megawatt capacity and would qualify for carbon credits under the United Nation's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). It will be constructed in the desert, 75 miles from Abu Dhabi.

The plant, which will cover an area of 2.5 square kilometres, is designed to offset the equivalent of 175,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. It will contain 768 parabolic trough collectors, to be supplied by Abengoa, with an initial operating lifespan of 25 years.

National Starch, a subsidiary of the former UK group ICI, was taken over by Netherlands-based AkzoNobel as part of its acquisition of ICI in January 2008, but isn't considered part of AkzoNobel's core business. AkzoNobel is the largest coatings and specialty chemicals company in the world.
In 2009 National Starch had revenue of $1.2 billion from sales of specialty starches to local and multinational customers in the food, papermaking, consumer and industrial markets. With 2,250 employees around the world, it operates 11 plants in eight countries.

The Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) is honing its business for the rapidly changing global marketplace. Deputy CE Eion Turnbull tells Gay Sutton why the company has a reputation for being a powerhouse of talent.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has launched a new mobile phone service in partnership with Qtel Telecom in Qatar.

Virgin Mobile Qatar, launched in a brand licensing agreement with state-owned Qtel, will offer a prepaid mobile phone service within Qtel's network.

In a statement, Virgin said the service would be “open, fun and simple to use”, as well as being supported by a range of retail stores and a new, dedicated contact centre in Doha.