29th General Assembly Ordinary and 1st Board of Directors Meetings for the year 2005 in Cairo

06/04/2005 – The General Assembly of Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) – an affiliate of the Organisation of Arab Oil Exporting Countries (OAPEC) held its 29th Annual Ordinary Meeting on Thursday 7th April, 2005 in Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt.

The General Assembly approved the 29th Annual Report and the audited Financial Statements for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2004. As disclosed by the Financial Statements, the Company operations achieved a Net Profit of US$ 38.85 million, compared to US$ 33.52 million in 2003, a 16% increase, while Total Assets rose to US$ 2,121 million, compared to US$ 2,088 million for 2003. Total Shareholders Equity rose to US$ 744 million (2003: US$ 707 million).

The General Assembly endorsed the Board of Directors recommendation for the distribution of US$ 20 million as cash dividends to the shareholders for the year 2004.

APICORP continued its business activity in support of the oil, gas and petrochemical industries in the Arab world, and played leading roles in the arrangement of a number of major financial transactions for a number of major projects in the region. In this respect, the total value of the loans in which APICORP participation during 2004 was US$ 9.1 billion, with a final take of US$ 482 million (2003: US$ 6.2 billion and final take of US$ 435 million). Income from the financing activity amounted to US $ 19.4 million, or about 35% of the Corporation’s total income, compared to US $ 16 million in 2003, while Loan portfolio including commitments totalled US$ 1,717 million, compared to US$ 1,685 million in 2003.

Through its role in support of the Arab oil exports during 2004, APICORP participated in trade finance transactions to the value of US$ 792 million, with a final take of US$ 60 million.

On the equity participation front, it is worth mentioning here that the improvement seen by the Arab oil and gas sectors, particularly the petrochemical industry as a result of the rising energy prices worldwide, has positively impacted APICORP’s direct equity investments portfolio, which took great advantage of these developments and achieved a net profit of US$ 10.7 million in 2004, or a 27.7% increase over 2003.

The Board of Directors held its 1st meeting for 2005 on Wednesday, 6th April. The Board resolved to appoint Mr. Ahmed Bin Hamad Al-Noaimi as a new General Manager of APICORP to succeed Mr. Rasheed Al-Maraj who has been appointed as Governor to Bahrain Monetary Agency. The Board expressed its thanks and appreciation to Mr. Rasheed Al-Maraj to his valued efforts and contributions during his term of office at APICORP which started in April 1999. Members of the Board also wished Mr. Al-Noaimi every success in his new assignment.

The Board considered other matters on the agenda related to the Corporation’s investment and financing activities.

At the end of the meeting, members of the General Assembly and the Board of Directors expressed their thanks and gratitude for the continued support and the special care received by the Corporation from the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holly Mosques, the Kingdom Saudi Arabia. Special thanks have also been extended to the Governments of the member states for their continued assistance to the Corporation.

Members of the General Assembly and the Board of Directors also expressed their appreciation to the host country Egypt, for the cordial reception and generous hospitality they received during their stay in Egypt.