“Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) chemical and petrochemical producers have reduced energy consumption per ton by 8% over the last two years through technical renovations,” says a sustainability report.
According to the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association’s (GPCA) inaugural Sustainability Report, petrochemical producers in the Arabian Gulf have made great strides in improving their sustainability performance.
“For example, GCC petrochemical producers have reduced energy consumption per ton by 8% over the last two years through technical renovations,” delegates at the Second Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association's (GPCA) Sustainability Conference in Dubai, were informed.
Delegates at the GPCA conference heard concerns raised by speakers that, contributing to the global sustainability agenda will be crucial for survival, with a growing world population demanding more resources than the earth can generate.
In her keynote address, Margaret Suckale - Member of the Executive Board at BASF said, “People are demanding resources at a faster rate than the rate at which earth can regenerate reserves, making sustainability an absolute necessity for human survival.”
Dr Abdulrahman Al Jawahery, Board Member at GPCA said, "GCC petrochemical producers have taken extremely important steps to contribute to the global sustainability agenda and I also welcome growth of the petrochemical industry in the region.”
Providing details, Dr Al Jawahery said capacity of the petrochemical industry in the Arabian Gulf has grown to 100 million tons in 30 years, which is forecast to grow further to 170 million tons in the next five 5 years.
“Despite the Middle East region holding an estimated 45% of world's oil and gas reserves, it has only 10% of worldwide global petrochemical capacity, so we will need to learn from companies through collaboration with partners like ExxonMobil, Shell, Dow, BASF, etc," he added.
Revealing the shortcomings in the sector, he informed, “Our educational institutions have not kept pace with the industry growth and enough investment has not flowed in to research and development, other than a SABIC, which has 13 research and development centres.”
Dr. Abdulwahab Al- Sadoun, GPCA's Secretary General said, “Sustainability will require support, not only from company's leadership, but also from stakeholders, governing bodies and employees, making it challenging to 'sell' this concept both within and outside the production facilities.”
He added, “This is a long journey and there is good news, as we are already well on our way to achieving respectable results." (AR)
