Crescent Investments signs strategic cooperation agreement with INTER RAO UES

The companies are aiming to capitalize on the effect of their cooperation by sharing information and financial and technical strengths, leveraging Crescent’s access and knowledge of the region, to identify and capture new power generation and infrastructure opportunities.
INTER RAO UES, for its part, is putting into place a growth strategy. It the trading activity is carried out in 12 countries. It own and manages assets in the generation, distribution as well as trading assets in Russia and abroad, including the CIS, Central Asia, and Nothern and Eastern Europe, acquiring foreign assets and taking advantage of regional expertise, personnel and vision.
INTER RAO UES and Crescent reflect their shared beliefs that MENA will be one of the world’s most lucrative prospective investment markets. Partners believe that the investment environment, the recognition by Governments for robust energy prices, and demographic and economic trends in the region create an opportune moment.
Mr. Badr JAFAR, Executive Director of the Crescent Group, commented on Crescent’s signing of the SCA: “This is an important step for Crescent Group to help catalyze the private sector development of downstream gas utilization, supporting our GASCITIES Subsidiary with its Utility Hub concept, and further increasing our ties with our Russian partners to jointly tackle projects in the MENA region. INTER RAO is a great partner for us: with its leadership position in the Russian energy industry, and Crescent’s 40 years of regional technical experience, relationships and knowledge, we come together as valued partners, with a shared perspective of the future”.
Mr. Boris KOVALCHUK, INTER RAO UES' Chairman of the Board, said at the signing: “For us, this is a key step. With our new partnership with Crescent, we can broaden our footprint through a series of projects in the MENA region which will be run out of a newly-opened office in Abu Dhabi. The experience of Crescent and its unmatched history in the region will help to improve efficiency of our activities here.”
Crescent Group includes oil and gas production enterprises in the United Arab Emirates. It began its activities in the early 1970’s and was the first privately-owned Middle Eastern petroleum company. The company focuses on the exploration, extraction and sale of crude oil and gas, processing and sale of petroleum products. It is headquartered in Sharjah in the UAE with international offices strategically located in the UK, Iraq and Iran and affiliate offices in Canada and Egypt. Crescent Petroleum’s current focus is upon energy opportunities in the Middle East, specifically within the Gulf region, but more widely also encompassing North Africa, the Caspian Sea region and South Asia.