GCC chemical production forecast to double to US$80 bln in the next decade

13-Dec-10

GCC chemical production was forecast to rise to nearly US$80 bln over the coming decade, from the current US$40 bln, as per Khalid Al Falih of Saudi Aramco at the Gulf Petrochemical and Chemicals Association forum in Dubai. "I would like to see the year 2020 value hit the $150 billion to $200 billion per annum range," Al Falih said. The United Arab Emirates' foreign trade minister Sheika Lubna Al Qasimi said the global ethylene share of the Gulf's petrochemical producers is projected to grow to 20% by 2014 from only 5% at the beginning of the previous decade. "Even within a tough economic environment where capital infusion has become increasingly challenging, the ability of GCC producers to fund their expansion projects has not been an issue." Aramco is pushing ahead it with its own plans to develop petrochemical and related downstream industries in locations such as Rabigh, on the Red Sea, and Jubail, on the Persian Gulf, where the company is developing major industrial complexes with Sumitomo Chemical Co. and Dow Chemical Co. respectively.