Petrochemicals and the Vision 2030

The Saudi petrochemical industry is vital to the Kingdoms non-oil economy with chemical and plastic exports comprising a substantial 60 percent share of total non-oil exports. As a result, the sector has been identified by both the National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020 and Vision 2030 to help lead the push away from fossil fuel reliance. But this restructuring of the sector comes at a time when it is already facing up to a number of challenges, both at home and abroad. Besides seeing a drop in global chemical prices in the last two years, the sector has also seen domestic feedstock prices being raised in 2016, with further rises expected in 2020. In addition, global competition is set to intensify, especially from the US and China, where significant rises in petrochemical capacity are expected in the next few years.