ALKHOBAR, 3 December 2006 — Last week, DuPont de Nemours (DuPont) officially opened an office in Saudi Arabia. The office will be headed by Baligh Aba-Hussain, DuPont director Saudi Arabia, and will initially employ four Saudis in marketing and support positions.
“This new office builds on a series of DuPont investments to grow our business in emerging markets,” said Ian Hudson, DuPont president, Europe, Middle-East & Africa. “Over the past several years, we have invested over one billion dollars in emerging markets, leveraged our technology and strengthened our market leadership position in South America and Asia, and now in the Middle-East. Dammam comes as a symbolic milestone marking our commitment to grow in this region.”
At least Hudson was forthright in pointing out that establishing DuPont’s Dammam Office was largely a symbolic gesture to the Kingdom at this moment. In a presentation, Hudson stated that the company has a policy of “going where the growth is.” Hudson added that one “reason for opening the Dammam office is to evaluate the market and know where the future opportunities are. Future investment will depend on which opportunities we discover and the best way to service those opportunities.” Consequently, there was no commitment at this time from DuPont to setting up manufacturing, R&D, technology transfer or any other initiative outside of increased marketing of DuPont products & solutions and technical support. That was disappointing as Dupont styles itself as a “leading science company.”
Rather than calling it a science company, Fortune Magazine groups DuPont as part of the global chemical industry. In September, DuPont ranked 205 on Fortune’s Global 500, with $28.5 billion in revenues, up 1.8 percent from the previous year. DuPont has 60,000 employees in 75 countries worldwide. The Wilmington, Delaware-based company is the fourth largest chemical company globally after BASF A.G., Dow Chemical and Bayer AG.
Since 1998, DuPont has had a limited presence in the Kingdom as part of the joint venture DuPont Powder Coatings Saudia Co. Ltd. That venture employs 50 employees, few of them Saudis. In the Middle East, DuPont already has offices in Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt.
The Saudi oil & gas sector is very attractive to DuPont and the company hopes to market its safety solutions, productivity solutions and anti-corrosion solutions to Saudi companies in that sector, especially Saudi Aramco. Hudson commented that Saudi Aramco is already enthusiastic about DuPont’s anti-corrosion products which will help the oil giant enhance productivity while reducing costs. Aba-Hussain advised that overall, compared with this time last year, DuPont has grown over 30 percent in Saudi Arabia with solid results in key industries such oil & gas, building & construction, agriculture & nutrition and automotive.
“This office investment is a reflection of the right economic environment and customer demand for our diverse offerings,” Aba-Hussain said.
Dr. Abdulwahab A. Al-Sadoun, director general, energy sector of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) was pleased that DuPont had decided to establish an office in the Kingdom.
“The petrochemical industry in Saudi Arabia has maintained the status of best in class cost performer since the early petrochemical production 1983,” Al-Sadoun said. “In the last few years, SAGIA has been at the forefront of implementing several initiatives to improve the business environment in Saudi Arabia. Today, DuPont being the most recent one, many new companies continue to invest in the Kingdom and these investments clearly indicate the robust future of the petrochemical industry in Saudi Arabia as well as the long-term confidence in the Kingdom as an investment location.”
