Dubai: The acting chief executive of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) said on Thursday that its costs in the second quarter of 2016 dropped by 18 per cent from the first three months of the year.
Yousef Abdullah Al Benyan told a news conference that the firm, one of the world’s largest petrochemicals groups, was helped by a restructuring programme as well as a drop in feedstock prices in Europe and China.
However, sales in the second quarter dropped 18.1 per cent from a year earlier to 34.5 billion riyals ($9.2 billion) as lower product prices continued to weigh on its business.
The company’s performance is closely tied to oil prices and global economic growth because its products — plastics, fertilisers and metals — are used extensively in construction, agriculture, industry and the manufacturing of consumer goods.
Sabic on Wednesday reported a 23.2 per cent slump in second-quarter net profit to 4.74 billion riyals, its eight successive quarterly profit decline.
Exxon venture:
A decision on whether Sabic will go ahead with a joint venture with Exxon Mobil will likely be made by the second quarter of 2017, Al-Benyan said. “We are positive it would go ahead,”
Sabic is studying the possibility of launching a jointly-owned petrochemicals complex with an affiliate of Exxon Mobil on the United States’ Gulf Coast, the pair said on Monday.
