Gulf

1. Gulf rush for US gas
2. UAE-EU trade talks
3. Private equity doesn’t blink
4. G42 unit eyes expansion
5. Hotel visits up in UAE

High-octane thrills in the Saudi desert.

Gulf invests in US gas boom

Arabian Gulf countries are betting on “Gulf of America” liquefied natural gas. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Energy agreed to acquire a 24.1% stake in Kimmeridge Texas Gas — which has shale assets in Texas and plans to build a 9.3 million ton-per-year LNG plant in Louisiana — and Aramco signed a 20-year deal to buy 1.2 million tons of the fuel annually from Rio Grande LNG on the southern tip of Texas.

The deals build on growing interest from Gulf energy companies in US natural gas, which has already attracted investments from Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Global demand for LNG is expected to grow until 2050, even as oil appetite declines, and the US is projected to supply about a third of the global market by then. Qatar, one of the world’s top LNG exporters, plans to boost output by 85% by 2030.

Demand is growing everywhere. Consumers in India and Europe need more gas, and new markets are emerging even in the energy-rich Gulf. Kuwait and Iraq are importers, and Bahrain is expected to receive its first cargo this month.

Analysis: UAE’s free trade push

As major powers retreat behind tariffs and trade blocs, the UAE is betting that bilateral deals are crucial for global influence. Trade talks with the EU — announced on Thursday — are its biggest bet to become a “global trade superpower,” Tareq Alotaiba, a former Emirati official, writes in a Semafor column.

The UAE used to rely on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to negotiate collective trade deals, Alotaiba wrote. “However, the GCC operates at a snail’s pace: It began negotiations with the EU for a free trade agreement in 1990. It still hasn’t been signed.”

PE investors hold tight

In a world rife with uncertainty, private equity — a preferred asset class for Gulf sovereign wealth funds — endures. The long-term asset class is showing resilience in 2025 with investors saying they plan to maintain or only modestly adjust their allocations, according to US investment bank Houlihan Lokey. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority — the first in the Gulf to surpass $1 trillion in assets under management — said in November that it’s boosting its share in private markets.

Investors in the region typically back the top managers, but that may need to be revisited as deal activity slows. Middle Eastern institutional investors could stand to gain from investing in smaller deals that could be more insulated from big macroeconomic swings, a Houlihan Lokey director said.

G42’s Presight finds new markets

Abu Dhabi’s G42 is ramping up an international expansion through its unit Presight, with a focus on the US, Central and Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, a senior executive told Semafor. The plans come as the Abu Dhabi-listed unit of G42, the AI company that last year took a $1.5 billion investment from Microsoft, has inked government contracts in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Albania, and Jordan and looks to do more deals in the US, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, COO Adel Alsharji said.

Presight has a regional office in Astana, Kazakhstan, to meet growing demand for its products in Central Asia. The office has around 30 employees managing contracts such as building a supercomputer for the government and a $190 million smart city project in the capital, and a 13-year deal worth $480 million with Azerbaijan’s oil and gas company SOCAR.

G42 tapped a longtime Microsoft executive to lead its US business late last year: Ali Dalloul shuttles between San Francisco and Abu Dhabi, according to a spokesperson.

Tourists flock to the UAE

The amount of revenue UAE hotels brought in last year. The figure reflects a 3% uptick from 2023, according to government figures. Big on setting targets, the country’s economy minister said the UAE is on track to hit a goal of welcoming 40 million hotel guests per year by 2031 — compared to around 31 million individual stays this year — under its national tourism strategy.

India is essential to this expansion. Emirates chairman joined Dubai’s crown prince on his recent visit to India, where he touted one of the world’s busiest air corridors. Dubai welcomed a record 3.14 million visitors from South Asia in 2024, with India contributing the largest share of this influx, according to government figures.

Jon Clifton, CEO, Gallup; Joseph Hinrichs, President and CEO, CSX; Diane Hoskins, Global Co-Chair, Gensler; Rep. Darin LaHood, (R) Illinois; D.G. MacPherson, Chairman and CEO, W.W. Grainger; Tony Sarsam, CEO, SpartanNash and more, will join the What Works for the Global Workforce session at the 2025 World Economy Summit. As talent retention, recruitment, and workplace culture evolve in response to economic and technological shifts, this session explores how employers, workers, and policymakers can create win-win dynamics that meet the needs of a changing labor landscape.

April 25, 2025 | Washington, DC | Learn More

Diplomacy

• Kirill Dmitriev — the longtime CEO of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund who has earned the trust of Gulf royals and US President Donald Trump’s inner circle — once again worked with a Gulf country to release a US citizen from Russia. Ksenia Karelina, a Russian-American woman who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for giving around $50 to a US-based charity that supported Ukraine, was swapped in Abu Dhabi for an accused smuggler held in the US. — CNN

Technology

• There’s a new player in the data center investor scene. Established in 2023, Awqaf Abu Dhabi — officially The Endowment and Minors’ Fund Authority — is considering investing in AI infrastructure and other “defensive sectors” such as utilities, consumer staples, and healthcare. — The National

Logistics

• AD Ports Group is expanding Angola’s Port of Luanda, committing $250 million for the upgrade that is set for completion in 2027. The Abu Dhabi logistics company assumed management of the port in April 2024. The port handles 76% of Angola’s cargo and serves landlocked neighbors like the DRC and Zambia.

While desert raves are all the rage, hundreds of young Saudis still head to Zulfi each spring for the more traditional spectacle of dune bashing. The motorsport, known as tatees in Arabic, features drivers racing supercharged trucks and SUVs up 100-meter dunes. The competition runs through April on steep dunes about 270 kilometers northwest of Riyadh. There are no flashy sponsors or big-name branding — just carpets on sand, coffee, and tea instead of $20 mocktails. Drivers and fans say it’s not just about the adrenaline: It’s about honoring a connection to the desert and passing the tradition down in a country that’s quickly transforming.

Investors across private and public markets are being buffeted by uncertainty. One AI startup, backed by Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures, aims to at least save them time by handling grunt research work so investors can focus on what matters: making money.

Brightwave, a Colorado-based startup, launched a deep research tool for private market investors that reads business documents and produces a short report analyzing key data points, the startup exclusively told Semafor’s Rachyl Jones.

As businesses scramble to understand how the Trump administration’s tariffs and shifting geopolitical strategy will affect them, AI-powered data analysis tools can help investors quickly identify their exposures, the startup argues.