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Editor's
Note:
Coincident
to a high profile Saudi
trade mission
delegation visiting five American cities, there was a three day conference,
dubbed the Saudi Mega Projects 2005, in the Kingdom that focused on
foreign investment in strategic areas such as gas and oil, minerals,
desalination and electricity, petrochemicals, and infrastructure and
transport. This SUSRIS NID provides press reporting from Arab
News on the Mega Projects 2005 and numerous links to other articles
and resources for background on Saudi-US trade and investment.
Additional
reporting of the Saudi Trade
Mission, today visiting Atlanta,
Georgia, will be provided as it becomes available.
Investors
Urged to Utilize Huge Potential
Syed Abdallah Rizvi, Arab News
DAMMAM,
10 May 2005 � The three-day Saudi Mega Projects 2005 conference
ended here yesterday urging Saudi and foreign businessmen to make
use of the huge investment opportunities in the Kingdom, especially
in oil, gas, petrochemicals, electricity and railroad.
�Saudi
Arabia, which sits on a quarter of the world�s proven oil reserves
and has the fourth largest gas reserves, offers promising investment
opportunities in the energy sector and support services,� said
Abdul Rahman Abdul Kareem, deputy minister of petroleum and mineral
resources for company affairs.
The
final day of the conference saw Mansour Al-Kharboush, vice president
of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, and Isam Al-Bayat, vice
president of Saudi Aramco, talking about growing investment
opportunities in the oil and petrochemical sectors.
Bayat
explained how to attract local and international investors to create
a platform for downstream industries and provide employment for
Saudi nationals. He called upon international investors to
participate in joint ventures with Saudi Aramco.
�Saudi
Aramco�s projected expenditure on materials would exceed
$20 billion through 2010 whereas the projected expenditure
on services would cross $23 billion in the same period,�
Bayat told the conference attended by nearly 900 Saudi and
foreign delegates.
Bayat
anticipated tremendous growth in the oil and gas sector over
the next decade. He indicated that there would be vast
opportunities in refining, petrochemicals and power
generation. �Saudi Aramco is a stable partner and a
reliable supplier of fuel and feed stocks. It strongly
encourages local and international investors to participate
in the Kingdom�s development,� he concluded.
Abdullah Al-Abdulgader, manager of projects at SABIC, said there were new
projects worth $8 billion under study. �We have achieved 42
million man-hours without a lost time incident in 2004,� he said
while talking about performance of SABIC companies.
Ahmed Al-Ohali emphasized the need to promote non-oil industry. �About
80 percent of our exports are crude oil and petrochemicals. Today we
are witnessing a transition from dominant oil sector to non-oil
diversified economy. The petrochemicals are a major driving force in
the Saudi economy with an approximate 9 percent contribution to the
GDP. This sector employs more than 20,000 people, 75 percent of them
Saudi, and many more in related industries,� he said.
Dr.
Moayyed Al-Qurtas, vice chairman of Tasnee, threw light on the
projected private sector investment in petrochemicals and the case
for joint venture projects. He also touched upon the pros and cons
of joint ventures and advocated a cautious approach.
Majed Al-Ahmadi, president and CEO of Project Management and Development
Co., gave startling figures on the petrochemicals industry. �The
ratio of oil and gas reserves verses chemical sales for Saudi Arabia
was perhaps one of the lowest in the world,� he said. He put the
sales target for the year 2020 at $100 billion.
Dr.
Aldo Belloni, the CEO of Linde Ag, was very positive when he noted
that there is a great change in the quality and quantity of
technical participation from the Saudis.
Mohammad Al-Juwaiser, director general of Investment and Development for
Jubail and Yanbu, was eloquent when he described the development of
Yanbu and plans for its future. He disclosed that as of February
2005, the total investment exceeded SR19.12 billion and indicated
that the forecasted investment till around 2020 will be over SR130
billion. He also talked in details about the Yanbu II Phase I,
predicting an almost 200 percent growth possibility in the
production capacity in the next 15 years.
Mohammad
S. Al-Jurais, deputy director for investment and development for
Jubail, said it is now 30 years since Jubail I was initiated. He
gave a vivid description of the growth pattern witnessed in the
area. �In 1975 there were only nine primary industries as against
the current 19. Jubail II will see this figure jump to 33 and the
support industries will leap from the current 133 to 272,� he
said.
The
sessions on the challenges and opportunities in financing downstream
energy projects was fascinating as Oscar Silva held the audience
spellbound. �Islamic banking is a very suitable option in
providing financing,� said Oscar. He envisages a staggering $30
billion investment in the coming few years. �The economy is very
sound and resilient and offers a very bright future,� he added.
Reprinted
with permission of Arab
News.
2005
Saudi Trade Mission
Itinerary
From
the 2005
Trade Mission web site:
The
Committee for the Development of International Trade of the
Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, in
cooperation with the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Energy
and the National Association of Manufacturers, formally
welcomes you to a spectacular presentation of dynamic new
market opportunities emerging in Saudi Arabia through the
year 2020.
The goal
of this trade mission is to build upon the strong
foundations of a six-decade-long strategic trading
partnership to create further profits and prosperity for
both nations. The United States is Saudi Arabia's largest
trading partner, providing 16 to 20 percent of all imports.
This
trade mission offers an opportunity to enhance, strengthen
and continue to build further upon mutual commercial
strengths. More than US$623 billion in market
opportunities are projected for the Saudi economy
through the year 2020.
www.SaudiTradeMission.com
Trade
Mission Web Site: www.SaudiTradeMission.com
To
showcase emerging business prospects, the 2005 Saudi Trade Mission
brings leading Saudi experts to provide detailed information on
export market potential and business opportunities of each of the
following sectors:
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