Abu Dhabi: The number of petrochemical, oil and gas and related machinery companies in Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) has seen 20 per cent growth since 2012 and is estimated to have generated trade worth $14 billion in the last fiscal.
These numbers were revealed by Adil Al Zarouni, Senior Vice-President, Jafza Sales, in his brief welcome address at the Strategic Customer Forum for Petrochemical, Oil and Gas and related Machinery companies organised by Economic Zones World, the parent company of Jafza in Dubai recently.
Al Zarouni attributed the sector’s remarkable growth to the rising demand for petrochemicals in the GCC and the emerging economies in Asia.
“Rapidly growing economic activities in the GCC and emerging economies in South and South East Asia will continue to drive similar or better growth in the petrochemical sector in the coming years,” Al Zarouni stated.
Salma Ali Saif Bin Hareb, CEO of Economic Zones World and Jafza, said China and India will continue to drive demand for UAE and the region’s petrochemical products. “Despite slowdown in the manufacturing sector in both the countries, the automotive sector, which is one of the main petrochemicals consuming industry, is set for almost 10% year-on-year growth stimulating greater demand for engineering polymers for which the UAE is considered a market leader,” she said.
She said that the proliferation of hydraulic fracturing (Fracking) techniques for oil and gas extraction has had a tremendous effect on the energy sector.
“Leading the push to deploy fracking in pursuit of new resources of oil and gas are Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman. The UAE is already leading the region, with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) reporting positive results from the country’s first tight gas appraisal well.”
