Qatar's u-turn over $2.1bn Mauritania stake

QATAR UTURN: Steel unit of Industries Qatar has dropped plans to acquire $2.1 billion stake in Mauritania project. (Getty Images)

The steel unit of Industries Qatar has dropped its plans to acquire a stake in a $2.1 billion iron ore project in Mauritania, a company executive said on Sunday.

The pullout comes around two weeks after soldiers seized Mauritanian President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi at his palace after he sacked senior army officers during a political crisis.

The UN Security Council has condemned the Aug 6 overthrow of the democratically elected president in the Islamic state. Mauritania straddles black and Arab Africa and is one of the continent's newest oil producers.

The executive said the decision to drop the project was made on economic grounds. "There is no political issue," he said. He declined to be more specific.

State-controlled Industries Qatar is the largest company in the energy exporting Gulf Arab nation, producing steel, petrochemicals and fertilisers.

Qatar Steel said in November it would buy 49.9 percent of the al-Qalb al-Og iron ore venture in northern Mauritania for $375 million after larger Gulf rival Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) pulled out, saying returns would be too low.

The executive said Qatar Steel would still hold a nine percent stake in Australia's Sphere Investments Ltd, which is developing the project with Mauritania's state-owned iron ore firm Societe Nationale Industrielle et Miniere.

Sphere said last week that several industry participants wished to invest in the project and that it had begun a formal process to bring new partners on board.

Qatar Steel accounted for about 37 percent of sales for Industries Qatar in 2007 and about 17.2 percent in net profit. (Reuters)

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM