DAMMAM: Prominent petrochemical industry expert Riyadh Al-Saad died in a road accident in Jubail on Wednesday morning. He was 56. He was driving to work when the accident happened and died on the spot.
A widely respected figure in the industry, Al-Saad had a 25-year association with Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) starting in 1979. A chemical engineering graduate of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), he rose from being the operations manager to become the president of SABIC affiliate Ibn Zahr.
He took early retirement in 2004 to pursue his own business interests. He joined the Jubail-based Azmeel Holding Co. three years ago and was serving as its chief executive officer for the industrial sector. Al-Saad came from a prominent family in the Eastern Province city of Al-Hasa.
“His death came as a shock not just to the 8,000-plus Azmeel community but to the entire petrochemical industry in the Kingdom. He was an industry veteran and contributed immensely to the rise of Saudi Arabia as a petrochemical giant,” said his close aide Louay Abdulrahim. “He was committed to the company’s renewable energy project called Azin and just last week he was one of the key speakers at a public lecture on solar energy organized by KFUPM’s Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy,” said Abdulrahim. “We have lost a very nice person,” said S.U. Rahman, the assistant director of the renewable energy center.
“He was the driving force behind renewable energy initiatives and was full of energy and fielded all kinds of questions at the public lecture. All of us at the center are shocked beyond words. We will miss him, his ideas and his unflinching support,” said Rahman.
He leaves behind his wife and three children: Dana, 23, Nawwaf, 22, and Rayyan, 8.
