Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic), the Middle East’s top petrochemical maker, expects the upswing in the petrochemicals sector to continue into 2006, its chief executive said.

“I expect 2005 and 2006 to be good for petrochemicals,” Mohamed Al Mady said in a telephone interview from Duesseldorf where he was attending an industry fair, reported Reuter.
“China is demanding a lot of projects and Europe is showing healthy growth,” he said.
Al Mady said Sabic did not plan any major acquisition in Europe, and ruled out any interest in buying Basell, a joint venture between BASF and Shell.
“We may add a plant here and there to complement our existing facilities,” he said, adding that Sabic was looking to set up by 2010 a big cracking facility and downstream petrochemicals unit at its existing European sites.
He said the company was evaluating prospects for an integrated refinery in north eastern China which would involve a total investment of $2 billion-$5 billion including the share of its Chinese partner. He hoped for approval to conduct a feasibility study by the end of the year.
Al Mady said Sabic was also hunting for investment opportunities in India, either through setting up an integrated refinery and petrochemical plant or by acquiring assets.
He said fourth quarter net profit was likely to match the level of SR4.21 billion ($1.12 billion) in the third quarter, and that the firm’s full-year petrochemical, steel and fertiliser volumes would match last year’s level of 42 million tonnes.
Sabic, which is 70 per cent owned by the Saudi government, said nine-month net profit doubled on cost-cutting and higher world prices for its products.
In other regional petrochemical news, work on a new polyethylene complex at Oman’s Sohar Industrial Port Zone in Batinah will begin next year.
The RO 1 billion ($2.65 billion) project is a joint venture between Dow Chemical Company, Oman Oil company and the Oman government.