JEDDAH, 24 November 2006 — Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East is well positioned to become a global petrochemical hub, according to a senior executive of a major chemical company.

“Saudi Arabia’s vision of attracting downstream customers to build production plants is a very good one, but will not be easy to execute,” Michael Gambrell, executive vice president of the Dow Chemical Company, told Arab News.

“To do it, you need more than natural resources. You need human resources, or as we like to say in Dow, the ‘human element’ and you need expertise in downstream markets such as packaging, adhesives, coatings, and systems,” he said.

“To make really interesting products, you need more than olefin chemistry. You also need aromatic chemistry and chlorine chemistry.

These are the critical building blocks for thermosets, vinyl, specialty chemicals, agricultural products and pharmaceuticals,” he added.

“Dow’s planned complex with Saudi Aramco at Ras Tanura will include this type of broader product slate, which will open up endless possibilities for chemical manufacturing at world scale in the Kingdom,” Gambrell said.

“The world is witnessing a historic West-to-East shift in the center of gravity for the petrochemical industry. In particular the Middle East is becoming a focal point for growth in petrochemical production,” Gambrell said.

This shift is being driven by many factors including more competitively priced feedstock, the region’s close proximity to the world’s fastest growing markets that include China, India and Southeast Asia, strong political support to build a competitive export-based industry, project finance availability, tax incentives and the newest cracking facilities with advantages of scale and the latest technology.

However, to become a true global leader in the chemical industry the Middle East needed to act sustainably, “go downstream” and also make end-use petrochemical products that could be shipped directly to consumer markets, he said.

Dow, a global leader in science and technology and the world’s largest producer of chemicals and plastics, was a sponsor of the two-day Saudi Energy Forum, which ended in Dammam on Monday.

For over three decades, The Dow Chemical Company has pursued a strategy of steady growth in the Middle East. Since opening its first commercial office in Cairo in the early 1970s it has established a solid presence in the region and currently has manufacturing plants or state-of-the-art petrochemical joint ventures in Kuwait, Oman, the UAE and Egypt.