DAMMAM, 15 May 2004 — Eastern Province Governor Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd and Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi will deliver the keynote addresses at the inaugural session of the first Saudi Arabian International Gas Conference at the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry here tonight.
Saudi Arabian Oil company and Arab News are among the sponsors of the conference which is being organized by the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry in cooperation with CWC Associates.
The three-day conference is expected to be attended by 500 business executives from the Kingdom and abroad. According to Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid, chairman of the EPCCI, other than local and regional participants, representatives from six international oil and gas companies will be attending the conference including Shell, Total and Lukoil.
The conference is being held after the Kingdom signed landmark deals with companies from China, Russia, Spain and Italy for upstream gas exploration and production in Rub Al-Khali (Empty Quarter).
In the first working session of the conference, which starts on May 16, Prince Faisal ibn Turki, adviser at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, will discuss means of achieving the objectives of the gas projects.
The six executives of the international oil companies, who are expected to invest over SR11 billion in the exploration and processing of natural gas over the next three years, will outline their plans and highlight trade and investment prospects for local and international businessmen in the field.
In another important session, Yahya Shinawi, director general in the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources in the Eastern Province, will discuss a new taxation system introduced for the gas sector.
This new taxation system has replaced the 50-year-old Saudi tax law adding a new set of special rules for taxation of the foreign investors in the gas field.
The conference will have seven sessions, each followed by a panel discussion.
