RIYADH, 13 March 2006 — Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi said here yesterday that Maaden — one of the four companies in the oil, petroleum, energy, and mineral sector that is supervised by his ministry — will offer shares for sale to the public next year.
The minister made the announcement at the first “Saudi Oil and Power 2006” exhibition in Riyadh. Companies participating are from the petroleum industry, minerals industry, electricity sector, shipping industry, materials supply industry, engineering, drilling and exploration as well as the water sector. Al-Naimi said he was happy to see so many companies at the exhibition, but expressed his disappointment that the majority were foreign rather than Saudi. He said he was hopeful of seeing more Saudi companies in the oil and energy sectors.
The minister declined to answer a question on whether additional security measures have been taken to safeguard oil refineries after the attack in Abqaiq, saying that security officials should answer that question.
He said the Kingdom had already increased its oil exports to China following the king’s visit there in January.
The minister also said his ministry was about to privatize the Kingdom’s mining industry but gave no details.
Regarding the four companies which have won contracts to begin gas exploration, the minister said they had begun their work. “Two of the four companies have already begun their projects. We are awaiting their results,” he said.
He disagreed with reports that a Japanese company, Sumitomo Chemical, is postponing its plans to sell some of its shares in the petrochemical plant near Rabigh, saying that such reports were “incorrect.”
“What I say officially is that 25 percent of its shares will be offered on the Saudi stock market soon,” he clarified.
Speaking to Arab News, the president and CEO of Maaden, Abdallah E. Dabbagh, said the increase in raw material prices was a matter of concern for the company.
Commenting on the company offering its shares in a public offering, Dabbagh said that the company had not finalized its restructuring, adding that it was currently consulting several banks in the matter.
“I expect the financing structure to be finished in August or September,” he added.
On new projects by Maaden, Dabbagh said that there was a phosphate project being implemented for $1.8 billion and a bauxite one being implemented for $4.5 billion.