Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) reported first quarter profits of 1.396 billion Saudi riyals ($372.2 million), an increase of 358 percent compared to the same period in 2002. Production volume in the first quarter increased to 10.4 million metric tons, an increase of 21 percent over the same period in 2002. Sales volume for the first quarter was 7.4 million metric tons, an increase of 10 percent over the Q1 2002 sales figures.
SABIC’s Vice Chairman and Managing Director Mohamed Al-Mady said: “Continuing the positive trend seen at the end of 2002, a sustained increase in sales volumes and product prices has contributed to these impressive figures.”
Al-Mady continued: “Two of the highlights for Q1 include SABIC’s joint acquisition with Sud-Chemie of Scientific Design Company Inc. from Linde AG; and the recent implementation of the SAP (Systems Applications Products) software at our Eastern Petrochemical Company (SHARQ) affiliate.”
“With these financial results we are very optimistic about the rest of 2003, and SABIC’s goal to become one of the top five petrochemical companies in the world” he said.
The Middle East’s largest petrochemicals company, SABIC, is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 1976, when the Saudi Arabian Government decided to use hydrocarbon gases released in the production of oil as raw material for the production of chemicals, polymers and fertilizers.
The Saudi Arabian Government owns 70 percent of SABIC shares, with the remaining 30 percent held by private investors in Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
SABIC’s business activities have been restructured and a new management model became effective on September 1, 2002. There are now six Strategic Business Units (SBUs): Basic Chemicals; Intermediates; Polyolefins; PVC & Polyester; Fertilizers and Metals.
SABIC has two large industrial sites in Saudi Arabia—Al-Jubail and Yanbu—with sixteen world-scale production complexes. Some of these production complexes are operated with multi-national partners such as Exxon Mobil, Shell, Fortum, Ecofuel/ENI and Mitsubishi Chemicals. In addition, SABIC has interests in three production complexes in Bahrain.
Over the last 16 years, SABIC’s overall production capacity has increased considerably. In 2002 it amounted to 40.6 million metric tons. SABIC EuroPetrochemicals owns two petrochemical production sites in Geleen (Netherlands) and Gelsenkirchen (Germany) for the production, marketing and sales of polypropylenes, polyethylenes and hydrocarbons.
They annually sell about 2.6 million tons of polymers, mainly in Europe. About 2,300 people are employed at SABIC EuroPetrochemicals. SABIC employs over 16,000 people worldwide, most of whom are based in Saudi Arabia. In 2002 SABIC posted sales of approximately SR34 billion ($9.06 billion) and a net profit of approximately SR2.84 billion ($758.4 million). — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
