Take a bath in the Gulf

摘要

Spanning two days at the Abu Dhabi Intercontinental Hotel, the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association's (GPCA) third Supply Chain Conference kicked off with a welcoming speech by GPCA vice-chairman and EQUATE Petrochemical president and CEO Hamad Al Terkait. Over the next five years, he said, the Gulf region looks set to continue along its exponential growth path, upping capacity by close to 46 per cent. This, he explained, will be achieved through capital investments in the region of $50bn. While the largest capacity additions by volume will be located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the greatest percentage growth will occur in Abu Dhabi, by far the largest emirate of the UAE. At the end of 2009, total regional petrochemical and chemical capacity stood at 105.7m tpa, with KSA accounting for 53.2m tpa; Iran 28.4m tpa; Qatar 9.4m tpa; Kuwait 5.1m tpa; Oman 4.8m tpa; UAE 3.4m tpa; and Bahrain 1.4m tpa. By 2015 this capacity is forecast to rise, respectively, to 154.3m tpa; 70m tpa; 41.9m tpa; 17.1m tpa; 7.3m tpa; 8.8m tpa; and 7.8m tpa; with only Bahrain staying stable at 1.4m tpa. Over the same time span, the region appears well on target to boost its share of global ethylene production from 12.6 per cent to 20.5 per cent.