M. Al-Mady, Vice Chairman & Managing Director of SABIC

   In a speech to Iran's Petrochemical Forum (IPF 2000), Mohammad H. Al-Mady, Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) identified cooperation between Iran and Saudi Arabia as mutually beneficial. "We believe SABIC and the Iranian producers can work together to mutual benefit and we look forward to exploring ways to do so on various manufacturing and marketing approaches.

   Such cooperative efforts seem likely to become increasingly important in today's more competitive petrochemical market environment", Al-Mady reiterated in his speech.

   He went on to enumerate a number of reasons in support of his position. Iran's potentially large 'home market' may provide a large enough base to profitably produce downstream value-added chemical derivative products "that could also be marketed in Saudi Arabia" and other Persian Gulf littoral states. "By cooperating, Iran and Saudi Arabia may gain better economics of scale for producing more downstream value-added petrochemical-based products in both countries", Al-Mady suggested.
He went on to propose that while Iran is building up its value-added chemical products, alliances, joint-ventures and other arrangements with SABIC could help provide basic materials with later substitution by Iranian production as it becomes available.
Al-Mady added that annual chemical imports to Iran and to Saudi Arabia account for roughly 10% of total imports of all products imported by the two countries.

   He believed Iran and Saudi Arabia may both benefit if some cooperative chemical manufacturing and marketing efforts can reduce the future import expenditures of both countries.

Finally, through cooperation with SABIC's marketing network in Asia and Europe, the introduction of certain Iranian products might be accelerated should "such joint-marketing cooperation and cooperative sales may be of possible mutual benefit and interest", Al-Mady concluded.