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Sabic

Petrochemicals

Sabic Overview

Founded by royal decree in 1976, Sabic, or Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, is now among the world’s largest petrochemicals manufacturers and is Saudi Arabia’s third-largest listed company.

It is traded on the Saudi Tadawul stock exchange – 70% of its shares are owned by state oil company Saudi Aramco and the remaining 30% are publicly traded.

Its headquarters are in Riyadh, and it has major industrial operations in the industrial city of Al-Jubail on the Arabian Gulf, as well as in Yanbu on the Red Sea, which is also home to its subsidiary Yanbu National Petrochemical Company.

With around 31,000 employes, it operates in more than 140 countries and operates in four main sectors: chemicals, polymers, fertilisers and advanced materials.

Sabic is a self-described global leader in materials such as methanol, granular urea, polypropylene and polyethylene.

It is working with Aramco to develop technology to turn crude oil into chemicals. The aim is to funnel more crude into chemicals that will produce plastics for lightweight vehicles, batteries or mobile phones.

Subsidiaries include the Arabian Petrochemical Company, Saudi Iron and Steel Company, Saudi European Petrochemical Company, Saudi Methanol Company, Yanbu National Petrochemical, Arabian Industrial Fibers Company and Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company.

In 2023 it reported its first annual loss since at least 1990 as a result of supply-demand imbalance for its products but its performance has improved since then.

Sabic News

saudi arai china petrochemicals

Aramco starts work on mega petrochem complex in China

Saudi Aramco has started constructing a new integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Fujian Province in China as part of its liquids-to-chemicals strategy. The complex is being developed with China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) and Fujian Petrochemical Company Limited (FPCL). The facility will have a 16 million tonnes-per-year, or 320,000 barrels per day, oil refining […]

green startups Saudi solar

AI is sucking up VC funding, claim green startups

Green startups in the region have appealed for VCs to invest more in clean tech and renewable energy hardware, rather than just looking for quick returns in artificial intelligence projects. The venture capital market across the Middle East and North Africa raised $1.3 billion from January to September 2024, with Saudi Arabia securing 39 percent […]

Although China has its own oil industry it remains Saudi Arabia's top importer

China’s plans affect the future of oil

Aramco is betting on China to boost a well-supplied crude market and – here’s hoping in Riyadh – enable Saudi Arabia to unwind production cuts. Amin Nasser, the Saudi state oil giant’s CEO, said last week that he expects demand from China to... Register now: It’s easy and free This content is available for registered members […]

Saudi Arabia's EV ambitions take shape as Lucid's Jeddah plant moves towards full production

Lucid’s Jeddah factory targets new Middle East territories

Lucid, the Saudi-owned electric vehicle manufacturer based in the US, is moving to full production at its Jeddah factory, with a target capacity of 150,000 cars a year within three years, its robotics provider, Rockwell Automation, said this week.  “Currently it’s for domestic use but when the expanded plant is done, they will cover all […]

If the Maaden deal goes ahead it will create the seventh largest aluminium manufacturer in the world

Bahrain’s Alba looking to Europe after Maaden deal

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) will keep exploring mergers and acquisitions, with a particular eye on Europe, once it completes its multi-billion dollar deal with Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden). The deal is expected to be signed off in the first half of next year. The two companies penned a non-binding agreement in September and are in […]

Employees at Sabic's Jubail manufacturing site; increased prices for products helped raise profits

Sabic announces SAR1bn profit in dramatic turnaround

Saudi Arabian petrochemical giant Sabic (Saudi Basic Industries Corp) has announced profit in Q3 2024 of SAR1 billion ($266.2 million) in a marked turnaround from the same period last year. In 2023, the company reported a Q3 loss of SAR2.88 billion. Revenues in Q3 2024 were up 3 percent year on year, and the company […]

Gulf petrochemicals The Sabic plastics factory on the industrial complex at grangemouth, Scotland, UK.

Petrochem plants under pressure to utilise capacity

Petrochemicals plants are currently operating at just over 80 percent capacity, rates which must increase for the sector’s margins and product prices to improve, analysts say. Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) is the world’s seventh largest chemicals manufacturer by sales, while both the UAE and Qatar have invested heavily in creating homegrown petrochemicals industries. Globally, […]

Petrochemical companies are likely to show less profit in the third quarter because of high feedstock prices

Saudi petchem profits could rise but margin pressures persist

Saudi Arabian petrochemicals producers’ third-quarter earnings are likely to be better than the dismal results in the same period last year, but are unlikely to spark a stock price rebound as investors await further evidence that the industry is mounting a sustained recovery. The kingdom’s stock index of listed “materials” companies, which includes petrochemicals manufacturers […]

Aramco has cancelled a 400,000 bpd refinery and chemicals project at Ras Al Khair, according to a media report

Aramco cancels Saudi project amid Asia focus

Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, has scrapped plans for a refinery and chemicals project in Saudi Arabia to focus on Asia expansion, mainly in China. The 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) facility at Ras Al Khair, which was being planned in collaboration with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, an Aramco subsidiary, has been cancelled, Bloomberg […]

Alba Maaden Aluminium Ras al Khair

Maaden-Alba merger ‘a potential game changer’

The proposed merger between the Saudi Arabian mining company Maaden and Bahrain’s aluminium smelter Alba looks likely to shake up the global aluminium industry, with the new company challenging for sixth place in the world rankings. “It’s almost a game-changing event, particularly in the GCC region,” says Andy Farida, a senior analyst at Fastmarkets, a […]