Led by KSA, petrochem production in the GCC up by 5.5% in 2012, despite a global slowdown

17-Jun-13

In 2012, petrochemical production in the GCC rose by 5.5%, despite a global slowdown in chemical production due to market weakness, according to the Gulf Petrochemicals & Chemicals Association (GPCA) Annual Report 2012. The regional petrochemicals production capacity grew to 127.8 mln tons in 2012, up from 121.1 mln tons in 2011. Interestingly, the global growth in petrochemical production stood at 2.6% in 2012, compared to 3.8% growth rate in 2011. At 86.4 million tons, Saudi Arabia accounted for over 60% of the region’s total petrochemicals capacity in 2012, up from 80.5 mln tons of capacity in 2011. 2012 saw KSA reach these notable milestones- Commencement of full operations of the Saudi Polymers' Jubail manufacturing facility in October. This is a joint venture between National Petrochemicals Company (Petrochem) and Arabian Chevron Phillips Petrochemical Company, this facility has the capacity to produce 3 million tons of ethylene, polyethylene, propylene and hexene. In January 2012, SABIC signed a cooperation agreement with China’s Sinopec that involves the building of a new polycarbonate production facility in Tianjin, China with a capacity of 260,000 tpa. SABIC and Sinopec further solidified their business partnership by agreeing to study the development of a methanol complex in Trinidad and Tobago. Saudi Aramco inked a memorandum of understanding with PT Peramina to evaluate the possibility of developing an integrated oil refining and petrochemicals project to meet the rising demand in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.