Giant in waiting

摘要

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are currently the second largest producers of base chemicals and plastics in the world. Some 80 per cent of output is exported, with export volumes last year of around 30m tonnes (mt) expected to rise to 40 mt by the end of 2005. Moreover, with its access to cheap feedstocks, the Middle East is confidently predicted to remain extremely competitive. These facts underpinned the two days of conference discussions at this year's MariChem Middle East meeting, which took place this past January 21 and 22 in Dubai. Nearly 200 delegates from more than 25 countries attended the conference, an indication of the growing interest in Middle East chemicals and logistics. As explained by Hussain Sultan, chief executive officer of Emirates National Oil Corp (ENOC), over the past 15 years many chemical producers in GCC states have built state-of-the-art production facilities. Dubai itself is, howev- er, relatively poor in terms of natural resources, so it has had to concentrate on the provision of logistics services. Logistics is, Sultan said, "a strategic business" for ENOC. It is one of the largest costs to the chemical industry; using the generally quoted figure of 12 per cent of sale price, logistics services for the Middle East petro-chemical industry are worth some$1.5bn per year.