demand equilibrium and relative price stability are expected to continue well into the next decade, contributing to meeting growing global demand as well as the availability of spare production capacity, if required. On the domestic front, Saudi petroleum policy focuses on the conservation of national resources, the maximization of their value, and the exploitation of our relative advantage accruing from the availability of massive oil and gas volumes at low production costs, as well as our proven ability to deliver them to domestic consumers and industries. In other words, the Kingdom's entire gas production and about 15% of its oil production will be directed to the domestic market in order to meet the Kingdom's needs for energy, water desalination and the various downstream industries, at the top of which are petrochemicals and other energy intensive industries. Consequently, the Kingdom's domestic petroleum and gas policy rests on the following key components: First: Expansion of the petrochemical industries sector. This sector was born in the late 1970s, with the establishment of the Master Gas System, the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu', and the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, or SABIC. The nation's first petrochemical facility was inaugurated in 1983, and since then the Kingdom's petrochemical industry has grown year after year, particularly over the past decade. --more
