RIYADH — Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that the new Petroleum and Petrochemical Law, approved by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, contributes to building a legislative framework for the Saudi energy sector. "This is by leveraging the top-tier international practices, boosting performance, achieving national objectives, and ensuring the optimal use of petroleum and petrochemical resources," he said. Prince Abdulaziz thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman for the enactment of the law. The minister appreciated the support and empowerment that the energy system enjoys from the leadership, saying, "this enhances the system's ability to achieve optimal investment of the Kingdom's potential, and achieves the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030." The new law, replacing the Petroleum Products Trade Law, aims to achieve a set of goals, mainly regulating petroleum and petrochemical operations, in a manner that contributes to economic growth. This is in addition to supporting efforts to attract investments, elevate employment rates, upgrade energy efficiency, safeguard consumers and licensees, while ensuring product quality and creating a competitive environment that fuels fair economic yields for investors. The new law also contributes to ensure the security and reliability of local petroleum and petrochemical supplies. This is on top of achieving optimal utilization of raw materials, supporting the localization of the industry's value chain, enabling national strategies and plans, and enhancing the control and supervision of petroleum and petrochemical operations to step up compliance with laws and regulations. This is in addition to preventing violating practices by regulating the activities of use, sale, purchase, transportation, storage, export, import, packaging, and processing of these resources. This is in addition to regulating the establishment and operation of distribution stations and the operation of petrochemical facilities.
