(zawya) -- New mega projects will boost the UAE's investment in the petrochemicals industry to nearly USD12 billion by 2015 to maintain its position as a major global producer of the gas-based substance, according to official data.
The investments are part of USD50 billion projects to be set up in the petrochemical sector in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which already pumps nearly 17% of the world's total chemicals output, showed the figures by the Dubai-based Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association ( GPCA ).
The funds will boost the GCC's total petrochemicals investments to nearly USD250 billion in 2015, accounting for more than half the overall industrial investment in the 31-year-old Gulf economic, defence and political alliance.
"In the UAE, total petrochemicals investments are expected to reach around USD12 billion by the end of 2015," GPCA secretary general Rashid bin Fahd told an industrial conference in Dubai this week.
His figures showed Saudi Arabia, the world's dominant oil exporter and the largest Arab economy, accounts for 67% of the GCC's industrial output while the UAE controls nearly seven per cent and Qatar about 14%.
The six members produced around 120 million tonnes of chemicals and petrochemicals in 2011, fetching them nearly USD75 billion, Fahd said.
According to GPCA , latest major chemicals projects in the region include Borouge 2 and 3 in the UAE at a cost of more than USD5.5 billion and Saudi Kayan at a cost of around USD10 billion. Other projects involve the USD7 billion SIPCHEM-Olefins in Saudi Arabia, the USD5 billion Sino-Saudi Petrochemical Complex, the USD4 billion AlRajhi Jubail Complex in Saudi Arabia and a USD3 billion QP-ExxonMobil complex in Qatar.
Petrochemical investments in the GCC countries, which sit atop 40% of the world's extractable oil deposits, are part of a long-term industrialization drive intended to lessen their reliance on volatile crude sales.
Official figures showed the six nations have pumped in excess of USD250 billion into manufacturing projects, covering petrochemicals, aluminium steel, cement, paper, home appliances, machinery and other products.
MRC