Aziz University, in promoting applied research and studies either independently or in cooperation with Saudi companies serving the oil industry. The Research Institute of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, strategically located in the heart of our oil industry operations, contributes to building the capacity of our human resources and qualifying them to keep pace with ever-evolving oil industry developments. The year 2009 witnessed the inauguration of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, the Kingdom's first international graduate research university. The University combines state of the art international technologies in rigging and facilities to conduct research on the development of alternative energy. The University is implementing its research plan through strategic initiatives which focus on fields of interest to the Kingdom, the region and the world at large, by discovering and developing solutions for energy and environment-related issues. The University boasts several specialties, including chemical catalysis, solar and alternative energy, clean combustion, Nano chemical research center, compound and Nano substances, ground and underground sensing, and water desalination. Efforts are underway to establish King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh for performing petroleum industry-related studies and research in several associated fields and environmental preservation issues in addition to tracking new international and economic developments for energy and the environment. At this point, I wish to address the role of the private sector in the Saudi oil industry. The future vision of the oil and gas sector focuses on the important role played by the private sector as a key partner in economic development and as a main source of relative advantage for the Saudi economy. The private sector will contribute significantly to industries and services that support the oil and energy sector, whose value is estimated $50 billion, and includes engineering, construction, the fabrication of materials such as pipes, and support services large and small. This sector is fully open to both the Saudi private sector and to foreign investment. In order to stimulate the private sector's role in the oil industry and other associated industries, specialized energy services and industry companies have been set up and supported. Perhaps the most important at both national and global levels is the petrochemical industry, which is evolving from year to year in terms of product quantity and quality. The Kingdom is now regarded one of the top five petrochemical producing countries worldwide, delivering most of the basic petrochemical varieties while closely associating the oil refining industry with the petrochemical industry. The Kingdom also expanded the role of the private sector and citizens' participation in this field, and now boasts 13 petrochemical companies owned wholly or partially by the private sector with their stocks being traded on the Saudi market by all citizens. Here I wish to address an ambitious undertaking we have just started, namely the “industrial complexes” project. The Kingdom produces massive quantities of basic petrochemicals for export to industrialized countries, which in turn use these products in conversion and finished industries and whose products are then exported to other countries, including the Arab states. We have the opportunity to develop these industries inside the Kingdom and export items such as main auto parts, tires and domestic appliances as finished products. --More
