Aramco executive shares plans for energized economy
Published: Mar 18, 2010 00:43 Updated: Mar 18, 2010 00:43
ALKHOBAR: Saudi Arabia has a bold plan for the future in which business sectors other than energy power the economy, and a senior Saudi Aramco executive detailed how the company is supporting that vision.
Salim S. Al-Aydh, senior vice president of engineering and project management, recently outlined the situation for members and guests of the Saudi Society for Technology Development and Transfer at the SciTech Center in Alkhobar.
"We are currently living in a period of robust oil prices," Al-Aydh said. "In real terms, however, they are below the oil revenues in 1980 and 1981."
He said that the Kingdom's growing population meant that even in the current oil market, per capita oil revenues, now about $7,500 per person, were much lower than in 1980, when they were about $37,000 per person. Al-Aydh also noted that the oil market has tended to be cyclical.
"Like a bird, we have been caged by oil markets that have driven oil prices up to $140 a barrel, then down to $35 a barrel and back to $80 a barrel within 18 months," he said. "To escape from that cage we must remain strong in the oil industry and use that strength to develop a strong non-oil economy."
Al-Aydh said that the largest growth was taking place in China, India, Brazil and Russia, but he doubted that the standard of living in those countries could be raised to the standards of Europe and the United States without new technologies and systems being developed for the extraction and application of the world's natural resources.
He said that raised three important questions: "What technologies will the world need for China and India to keep growing? How will those technologies affect global oil consumption? And what will their impact be on Saudi Arabia?"
He urged people not to be lulled into a false sense of security because oil prices are high. He said demand over the next decade is expected to grow and noted that Saudi Aramco had launched a series of mega-projects, the last of which is scheduled for completion in 2014. This will increase the Kingdom's oil output by more than the entire output of Venezuela.
But he also noted that consumer nations were responding as well, with some calling for energy independence and auto manufacturers working on electric and electric hybrid technology. Al-Aydh also pointed out that the United States has eclipsed Germany as the world's No. 1 producer of wind energy.
He said that there were several possible scenarios for the Kingdom in relation to the global energy market. "With all scenarios, we need to become a more innovative and technological society," Al-Aydh said. "Happily, we could have the resources for this transformation. We have to give our future generations the tools to shape the future they want."
He said that Saudi Arabia had an even greater resource than oil.
"We expect hydrocarbons to be vital to our future, but if you compare Saudi Arabia's demographics with Japan's, you will see we have a lot of young people," Al-Aydh said. "With about 60 percent of our population under the age of 20, we have the basic raw material for learning - an abundance of fresh, young minds. I firmly believe that youth - not oil - is the real wealth of Saudi Arabia."
Al-Aydh also told the audience about Saudi Aramco's involvement with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, where the engineers, researchers and scientists of tomorrow will acquire the knowledge needed for success.
"We must give our young people the best opportunities to grow and develop," Al-Aydh said. "Innovation and technology nurtured, developed and grown right here in Saudi Arabia will create some of those opportunities. Let us move forward firmly to create a youthful, youth-filled and youth-fueled, knowledge-based economy. Young people are the energy reserves of our future."
