GCC Petrochemicals: 59.6% of the manufacturing industries and investments worth 220.3 billion USD The Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) announced that the petrochemicals industries in GCC countries have jumped in value and strengthened their status as a fundamental resource in the world. In fact, Gulf petrochemicals industries are currently responsible for the most important manufacturing activities in the region.

 

Their share of the total investments is 59.6% (investments worth 220.3 billion USD). Today, there are 3184 companies operating in this area and they offer employment to about 271000 workers. All of these figures were published in GOIC’s “GCC Petrochemicals Industries’ Guide”. GOIC Secretary General Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel stated: “GOIC shows great interest in specialised industrial publications.

 

This guide is part of a series of specialised Gulf guidebooks published by the Organization to provide industrial data and make it accessible to the largest audience of stakeholders, decision makers, policy makers, investors and researchers.” Al-Ageel said that GOIC’s experts deploy relentless efforts to publish a number of books and guides on various industrial sectors in GCC countries and Yemen, in addition to multi-client studies, periodicals, Gulf statistical profiles and analytical and statistical books. Furthermore, in an effort to support the GCC industrial sector, GOIC decided to publish a specialised guide about the Gulf petrochemicals sector highlighting various data on firms and companies operating in this area.

 

Thus, stakeholders are now able to easily access information in a practical way and in accordance with international database standards. According to the guide, the three stages of petrochemicals industry (upstream, intermediate and downstream) and the industries of fertilizers, petroleum refining and industrial gases are at the centre of this sector. Altogether, they shared 90.6% of the total invested funds in the chemicals industries in 2013. In fact, this sector heavily relies on capital, and feedstock (oil and natural gas) constitute the most important factor granting this sector competitiveness at the level of cost in GCC countries.

 

 

Moreover, GOIC’s data revealed that there are large quantities of methane used to produce ammonia, urea and methanol. Likewise, ethane is used to produce ethylene and its various derivatives. The petrochemicals industries’ guide organises activities according to the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) as follows: manufacture of refined petroleum products, manufacture of basic chemicals and chemical products, manufacture of fertilizers and nitrogen compounds, manufacture of plastics and synthetic rubber in primary forms, manufacture of pesticides and other agrochemical products, manufacture of paints and varnishes, manufacture of detergents and cosmetics, manufacture of other chemical products, manufacture of man-made fibres, manufacture of pharmaceuticals, manufacture of tyres and rubber products, manufacture of pulp, paper and paperboard, manufacture of tubes, hoses and fittings, manufacture of clay building materials, manufacture of packaging-related products, manufacture of fibreglass products, recycling and manufacture of industrial marble and the manufacture of other plastic products.

 

The Guide includes basic data on industrial facilities that are authorised by ministries of industry in GCC countries in accordance with ISIC. Data include comprehensive information about industrial firms, their locations and the quality of their products.

 

The classification is divided into two main parts: the first is general information including an overview on the manufacturing industry and its contribution to GDP, an overview on the development of chemical, petrochemicals and plastic industries in GCC countries with tables and graphs illustrating the structure of these industries as to the number of factories, amount of investments and labour force. As for the second part, it includes indexed information about industrial firms in each GCC country in alphabetical order according to the international classification of industrial activities. The status of petrochemicals industries According to the Guide, refined petroleum products in GCC countries constituted 9.7% of the total number of firms, 43.9% of the total investments and 20% of the labour force in 2013. There were 309 factories, investments worth 96.8 billion USD and 54068 workers.

 

Furthermore, basic chemicals and chemical products’ manufacture represented about 5.9% of the number of firms, 2.5% of the total investments and 4.8% of the total labour force in 2013. There were 188 factories, investments worth 5.6 billion USD and 13078 workers. The manufacture of fertilizers and nitrogen compounds represented 2.9% of the number of firms, 7.1% of the total investments and 4% of the labour force. There were 92 factories, investments worth about 15.7 billion USD and 10958 workers in 2013.

 

 

The manufacture of plastics and synthetic rubber in primary forms’ share was 4.3% of the total number of firms, 37% of the total investments and 10.1% of the total labour force.

 

In details, there were 136 factories, investments worth 81.6 billion USD and 27319 workers in 2013. The manufacture of pesticides’ share was limited to 0.2% of the factories, 0.02% of the investments and 0.1% of the labour force. There were only 7 firms, investments worth 43 million USD and 225 workers in this field in 2013. As to the manufacture of paints and varnishes, it represented 6.8% of the factories, 1.1% of the total investments and 5.7% of the labour force. There were 218 factories, investments worth 2.5 billion USD and 15540 workers in 2013. The manufacture of detergents and cosmetics represented about 9.7% of the total number of factories, 0.4% of the investments and 5.3% of the labour force. In details, there were 308 factories, investments worth 790 million USD and 14348 workers in 2013. As for the manufacture of other chemical products, its share was 6.9% of the number of factories, 1.4% of the total investments and 4.9% of the labour force. There were 221 factories, investments worth 3.1 billion USD and 13191 workers in 2013. The manufacture of man-made fibres represented 0.7% of the number of factories, 1.4% of the total investments and 1.6% of the labour force. There were 22 factories, investments worth 3 billion USD and 4421 workers in 2013. The manufacture of pharmaceuticals’ share was 1.3% of the factories, 0.7% of the investments and 1.6% of the labour force. The number of firms was 41, investments worth 1.5 billion USD and 8614 workers in 2013. Furthermore, the manufacture of tyres and rubber products represented 3.4% of the firms, 0.1% of the investments and 1.7% of the labour force. In details, there were 108 factories, investments worth 206 million USD and 4480 workers in 2013. As to the manufacture of pulp, paper and paperboard, its share was about 4% of the factories, 0.8% of the investments and 7.6% of the labour force. There were 260 factories, investments worth 1.7 billion USD and 20697 workers in 2013. The manufacture of tubes, hoses and fittings represented 8.2% of the number of firms, 0.8% of the total investments and 7.6% of the labour force. There were 260 factories, investments worth 1.7 billion USD and 20697 workers in 2013. As for the manufacture of clay building materials, it represented 3.4% of the number of factories, 0.3% of the total investments and 2% of the labour force. There were 107 factories, investments worth 613 million USD and 5533 workers in 2013. The manufacture of packaging-related products’ share was 20.6% of the number of factories, 2.3% of the total investments and 16.4% of the labour force. In details, there were 657 factories, investments worth 5.2 billion USD and 44550 workers in this field in 2013.

 

The manufacture of fibreglass products represented 7.7% of the total number of factories, 0.5% of the total investments and 5.9% of the labour force. There were 245 factories, investments worth 1.1 billion USD and approximately 16083 workers in 2013. Recycling and the manufacture of industrial marble represented about 2.1% of the number of firms, 0.1% of the investments and 1.2% of the labour force. In details, there were 68 factories, investments worth 126 million USD and 3255 workers in 2013. Finally, the manufacture of other plastic products represented about 2.2% of the total number of factories, 0.1% of the total investments and 2.8% of the labour force. In details, there were 71 factories, investments worth 244 million USD and 7625 workers.