GPCA 2011 forum: Moving downstream

The event attracted major regional and international players.

The sixth edition of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) forum has attracted more than 1,600 delegates from all over the world. This year’s event was held at the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm, Dubai, under the theme of “Moving Downstream – Creating Added Value and Sustainable Growth.”

Prince Faisal Bin Turki al-Saud, Advisor, Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources, delivered the opening key note speech where he lauded this year’s theme and called it the defining challenge of the regional petrochemicals industry.

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“Exporting the vast majority of the petrochemical production means jobs are being created elsewhere and this is a growing concern. With a fast growing, well-educated population who want jobs, successful economic diversification and downstream expansion have become a necessity.

This is needed to attract wider industrial investment to create the sustainable growth necessary to meet the aspirations of the next, and future, generations. Much of this will be focused on creating and capturing the value that is currently captured by the region’s export customers,” he said.

He went on to focus on Saudi Arabia, calling this the ‘golden era’ for the Kingdom, with production expected to grow to 100 million tonnes by 2016, 250% growth since 2006. The future is looking bright, he said, with 120 new chemical and petrochemical products coming onto the market.

Prince Turki said that Saudi Arabia is aiming to double its gas production capacity by 2016 as it aggressively explores its gas resources converting them into reserves by utilising and developing advanced technologies.

“The new measure will enable the country to grow its gas production capacity to about 15 billion cubic feet (bcf) a day by 2016 from 7.7 bcf a day in 2002,” Prince Faisal bin Turki said during his keynote speech.

Saudi Arabia has created the largest refining network in the Middle East. “It is expected to reach 3.5 million bbl/day of capacity by 2016,” Prince Faisal bin Turki noted.

“In undertaking all of these developments, the government encouraged the Saudization of jobs and the localization of industries needed for oil and gas basic industries,” he said. “This will help retain and increase benefit of these activities to the local economy, which will continue in the future,” Prince Faisal said.

“Sustainable value-creating opportunities lie downstream, and are linked to the development of industrial clusters across the region, particularly those being established to provide materials for the automotive, flexible packaging and appliances sectors,” he added.

Dr Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, secretary general, GPCA, said that the Gulf’s petrochemical and chemical industry stands at a historic crossroads.

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