Global trade of petrochemicals will double in the next ten years and the Middle East will become the source of 75 percent of the world's exports, according to a senior executive of Exxon Mobil Corp. Speaking at the US-Saudi Business Forum in Chicago last Thursday, Exxon Mobil Senior Vice President Michael Dolan said Saudi Arabia will consolidate its role as the world's leader of petrochemicals exports. “Leading the Middle East and leading the world will be the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Dolan said. Mega projects in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Arab countries will sharply boost the region's petrochemical production in the next few years. Saudi Arabia, the world's oil basin, could become the largest global petrochemical producer when its output surges to nearly 110 million tons in 2015, as per a report by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) quoted today by the Jeddah-based Saudi Gazette. OAPEC groups 10 major Arab oil and gas producers. Production of ethylene is currently estimated at just over 10 million tpa which will rise to nearly 23 million tons by 2013, by expansions of existing projects as well as new ventures.
