About 60 partners and 1,500 employees were laid off by PwC’s Middle East division as the Big Four accounting firm’s expansion in the region is being severely slowed by a dispute with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
According to various media reports, the business started to reduce the number of positions in February after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund placed a harsh one-year restriction on new consulting contracts for PwC. Reports further stated that this made a larger decline in work for consultancies in the kingdom worse as Riyadh reassesses its massive expenditures over the previous ten years and reprioritises initiatives that had benefited western consulting firms.
PwC Reorganising its Operations in Middle East Region
As per media reports citing internal sources, PwC has already started to reduce positions and evaluate performance in the area. According to a media report, PwC’s leadership started figuring out how to cover a potential “large” income deficit in the company’s most recent fiscal year and the following one after the PIF, a significant client, put the firm on “the naughty step”. There is also a change in leadership in the region.
According to a staff-wide email written on September 19 by PwC UK leader Marco Amitrano, Laura Hinton, managing partner, will take over the Middle East business in October, working alongside Hani Ashkar, the company’s current senior partner. A person knowledgeable on the leadership changes, however, stated that Hinton is anticipated to become the only senior partner after a year.
The action was taken five months after the PIF ban directly led to the resignation of two top leaders. Massive PIF projects, such as Neom, a futuristic $500 billion development along the Red Sea coast, featured PwC as one of its advisors. The restriction, however, was the consequence of “friction and angst” prompted by the accounting firm’s desire to hire Neom’s top internal audit officer and a reluctance to take on audit work that would interfere with more lucrative consulting contracts, according to persons familiar with those events.
Revenue growth at PwC’s Middle East division, which is controlled by the UK firm and has been its success story for the past three years, fell to 0.4% in the year to June 2025 from 26% in the previous 12 months, according to figures released recently.
PwC’s Layoffs Targeted Consulting Roles in Middle East Region
Partners and employees engaged to work on “transformational” projects have been especially affected by the cuts, which have mostly targeted consulting positions in the firm’s Middle East division.
Media reports also mentioned that PwC had about 11,000 employees and 500 partners in the region at the end of its most recent fiscal year, most of whom were in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The region’s headcount has remained relatively stable despite the reductions, thanks to fresh recruitment in sectors where customer demand is still high. The firm promoted 62 new partners in June and consistently recruits a lot of lower-level employees. PwC still has plans to expand in the Middle East, they added.
Quick
Shots
•Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund
(PIF) imposed a one-year ban on new consulting contracts with PwC.
•PwC’s revenue growth in Middle East
fell to 0.4% in FY25, down from 26% in FY24.
•Laura Hinton to take over PwC Middle
East in October, succeeding Hani Ashkar over time.
•Ban followed PwC’s attempt to hire
Neom’s internal audit officer and reluctance on audit work.
According to internet observer NetBlocks, damage to subsea cable infrastructure in the Red Sea caused extensive interruptions for internet users in India, Pakistan, and areas of the Middle East. The disruption has brought attention to how vulnerable the world’s digital infrastructure is, as it is mostly dependent on underwater cables for connectivity.
Reuters claims that the outage’s effects extended beyond South Asia. Online service access issues were also observed by users in the United Arab Emirates, especially for those utilising the Etisalat and Du networks.
NetBlocks verified the interruptions and linked the issue to cable infrastructure malfunctions close to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Possible Causes of Red Sea Cable Damage
However, it is still unclear what or who damaged the subsea cables. Unintentional anchor drags, natural disasters, or, in rare instances, deliberate sabotage are frequently blamed for such outages. A sizable amount of the world’s internet traffic is carried by undersea fiber-optic cables, which are primarily concentrated in the Red Sea region.
Authorities in the tiny, oil-rich country of Kuwait also reported that the FALCON GCX cable that crosses the Red Sea had been severed. A vital component of the worldwide internet infrastructure, submarine cables are susceptible to intentional attacks or ship anchors. It usually takes weeks to repair, and specialised vessels are needed to find and repair the damage.
The disturbance occurs as Houthi rebels in Yemen continue their attacks connected to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Although there has been increased conjecture regarding their involvement in attacking submerged infrastructure, the group has denied any prior accountability.
Microsoft Diverted its Internet Traffic
Microsoft, a multinational technology giant, said that one of the services impacted by the event was its cloud computing platform, Azure. Microsoft warned in a statement that “multiple undersea fibre cuts in the Red Sea” may result in greater latency for Azure users.
According to Reuters, Microsoft has rerouted traffic via other routes outside of the Middle East in order to lessen the impact. The business explained that other international services are unaffected, even if internet traffic passing through the area can experience delays. According to Microsoft, the business does anticipate certain traffic that has previously passed through the Middle East to have higher delay. There is no effect on network traffic that does not pass through the Middle East.
Since undersea cable systems are the foundation of international internet services, the event highlights growing worries about their security and upkeep. Businesses, cloud services, and individual users can all be impacted by outages in these networks, according to experts, which can spread across countries. Maintaining the reliability of these vital infrastructure systems is now more important than ever due to the growing reliance on cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
Quick Shots
•India, Pakistan, UAE among most affected regions;
UAE users of Etisalat and Du faced disruptions.
•Outage traced to cable malfunctions near Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia, says NetBlocks.
The Middle East or the Gulf region has been basking on the oil-rich economy for ages. Since the discovery of oil (around 1908) in the region, the entire province has gone rags to riches. This development did not happen over the night as the first motor vehicles didn’t roll off the assembly line until 1908. There was a dearth of vehicles on the highway. Many ships and power stations used coal. The Middle East’s transportation, water, and sewage infrastructure were severely lacking or nonexistent in 1945. Many roads were barely dirt trails, and there were no deep sea ports for ships to offload their cargo. Many Middle Eastern nations were able to afford better infrastructure thanks to the rising demand for oil. Because of hundreds of engineering projects that were completed in the 1950s and 1960s, entire populations’ lives were changed. This was reminiscent of the work done in the 19th century by British engineers known as the Victorians. But things are changing again now that everyone is aware that the globe will quickly reach day zero if oil consumption continues at its current rate. The whole globe is on the lookout for long-term alternatives to oil in order to fight this trend. The Middle Eastern countries are likewise racing to be the first to achieve a sustainable and environmentally friendly economy.
The oil and gas industry is seeking cleantech innovations to help them transition to the energy of the future, as governments around the world are aiming for reduced carbon emissions and a larger share of renewables in their energy mix. According to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an organization that works to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for all of its 190 member countries, It seems like major economies are dead set on finding alternatives to fossil fuels, and in response, major automakers have pledged to switch from gas-powered to electric vehicles in the not-too-distant future. An unstable adjustment may be in store for oil-dependent economies as a result of this change, which will bring the oil market in line with climate goals but may have far-reaching consequences that extend beyond their boundaries.
Mordor Intelligence projects a renewable energy industry in the Middle East with a yearly growth of 13.43% from 2023–2028. The use of more renewable energy sources is the goal of multiple government programmes. One example is the goal of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to have half of its energy come from renewable sources by the year 2050.
Where the Black Gold Flows: Top 10 Oil-Rich Countries
MENA Region All Up For Energy Storage Race
The magnitude of the energy revolution necessitates massive quantities of raw materials such as copper, lithium, nickel, graphite, and others. Electric cars, wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, and other vital technologies that are reducing our reliance on fossil fuels need materials extracted from the Earth’s core.
Worldwide, nations are grappling with the issue of the supply of essential resources for the energy transition being woefully inadequate in comparison to the expected demand. The World Bank’s Climate-Smart Mining team predicts that the demand for lithium, cobalt, and graphite will climb by 500%, while the demand for nickel and copper will increase by 100% and 7%, respectively.
The energy system transformation is a worldwide undertaking. Substantially important materials for decarbonisation will come from Africa. Whatever the case may be, interest in potential new mining sites is on the rise due to the global quest for zero pollution.
Starting in western France and continuing eastward through the Middle East and “Daylighting” in Malaysia, the Tethyan mineral belt spans two continents and 33 nations, providing a geological basis. The area is rich in base metals. Regardless, a lot of it has been under-investigated thus far, which makes it perfect for discovering anything new.
According to Quayle Resources’ MD Darryn Quayle, “The Belt” is a mostly uncharted region of the earth, in contrast to mining zones in Africa and the Rockies. Our research, however, points to the existence of substantial underground reserves of energy transition essentials like copper and lithium.
Leading Oil-Producing Countries Worldwide
The Domestic Impact Of The Climate Catastrophe Is Substantial
As reported by Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster, keeping oil exports going will bring substantial money for the region, but it might endanger its very survival. Rising global temperatures are an inevitable consequence of other nations’ continued use of fossil fuels sourced by Saudi Arabia and its neighbours. Particularly hard hit will be the Gulf region.
Assuming a 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) increase on a worldwide scale by 2050, the Gulf region could see a 4 °C increase. Already, the area has experienced heat waves with temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius, and the average temperatures are significantly higher than the global average.
In certain climate change scenarios, the Gulf’s average summer maximum temperatures will surpass what is considered survivable. Dust storms will become more intense as a result of planetary heating, and low-lying regions may be impacted by higher sea levels.
You should know that the money tap will be turned off eventually. There are plans to develop new sources of income because the International Monetary Fund has warned that the region’s treasuries would be emptied in fifteen years due to falling oil demand.
The Saudi government is putting its money into green hydrogen production and, in tandem with the United Arab Emirates, is establishing a renewable energy industry to produce commodities like aluminium. Less environmentally friendly, it is also beginning to produce plastic and petrochemicals using its hydrocarbons.
There has been a lot of talk about the enormous economic potential of exporting solar power. Solar panels installed on one square metre of land in a Gulf country might replace 1.1 barrels of oil in annual energy production.
What is the Tethyan mineral belt, and how is it relevant?
This belt stretches from western France to Southeast Asia and is rich in base metals.
It’s a largely unexplored region with potential for new discoveries of minerals needed for the energy transition.
What are the challenges of the energy transition for the Middle East?
The region faces extreme heat and water scarcity, which could be exacerbated by climate change.
A rapid shift away from oil could cause economic instability.
Why is the Middle East looking to move away from oil?
The global push for reduced carbon emissions and a shift towards renewable energy sources is putting pressure on the Middle East to diversify its economy.
Declining demand for oil due to the rise of electric vehicles and alternative energy sources could lead to financial difficulties for oil-dependent economies.
