The petrochemical companies of the Gulf countries should focus on the sustainability of the petrochemical supply chain in order to help the sector develop further, said Saleh Al-Shabnan, the vice-chairman of Gulf Petrochemical and Chemical Association (GPCA) Supply Chain Committee and vice-president of Global Supply Chain Centre of Excellence, SABIC. Speaking at the Fifth Annual GPCA Supply Chain conference held in Dubai, Al-Shabnan said the Gulf countries are liberally using their petrochemical resources possessed by them, and urged these countries to work towards increasing their efficiency and should aim to dominate global markets by 2020.
On behalf of SABIC, Mr. Al-Shabnan presented five initiatives to improve the efficiency of the petrochemicals produced in the Gulf region, according to a Times of Oman report. The five objectives include practice fuel saving programmes to reduce CO2 emissions, reducing the time taken to deliver the industry products to the consumers, using 2,700 trains instead of the currently used 200,000 trucks, using more sophisticated ships and containers to transport to the US and Asian markets, and laying out pipelines to deliver liquid products.
The GPCA constitutes industries that contribute a significant share to the non-oil GDP of the Gulf as major providers of jobs and the source of vital raw material for a wide range of downstream industries. Its objectives are to provide a networking and knowledge sharing forum for members and industry stakeholders, advocate common industry positions, promote industry best practice, establish regional industry data and information resources, and develop credible relationships with regional communities with the global industry.
