Khalid A. Al-Falih, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, said Wednesday refinery-petrochemical integration has only started to emerge in the region, which has been built largely on the competitive advantage derived from gas-based feed stocks. “This area of the business, which offers many opportunities for product diversification and value addition has significant room for growth in the Gulf and Saudi Aramco intends to take an active role in realizing those opportunities,” Al-Falih said today in a keynote address entitled “Chemicals: A Middle East Pillar Industry During a Decisive Decade of Opportunity” at the Gulf Petrochemicals & Chemicals Association (GPCA) Forum in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. The GPCA Forum is an annual event for the industry to review and discuss outlook of the petrochemicals industry in the coming years. The Gulf petrochemical industry, in addition to being the main production hub in the future, is also expected to become the main arbitrage point for polymers world-wide. Comparing the Gulf's petrochemical sector to those in other parts of the world, Al-Falih said the Gulf region's enterprises need to focus on product diversity and downstream value addition. "This should go to the extent of supporting industries such as automotives, construction, electronics, textiles, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and others that could benefit from further diversification. As well as helping to diversify economies and boosting GDP growth, product value addition creates employment opportunities." --MORE
