JEDDAH, 6 May 2004 — The Saudi Basic Industrial Corp is intending to increase the production capacity for SABIC industrial group to 45 million tons by the end of this year and push it to 60 million tons by 2008. SABIC intends to use the increased capacity to strengthen its ability to compete and enter new markets, in addition to developing local plastic production. The company is also planning to establish a specialized institute — expected to be in Riyadh — to train Saudis.
The company gave September as the date for the annual polymer seminars with local producers. Abdulrahman Al-Obaied, deputy manager of polymers in SABIC, said that the company developed advanced techniques are used in its technical centers in Jubail, Holland, and the USA.
Al-Obaied emphasized the fact that the company was not affected with what happened in Yanbu earlier this week saying that it is not true that foreign workers are leaving the country. The Yanbu attack on Saturday killed five Western expatriates and has sent oil prices rocketing.
He said that there are 600 factories in the plastic sector and that SABIC is the eleventh biggest international chemical company.