Abu Dhabi: The widespread usage of drones in Saudi Arabia, the biggest economy in the Gulf may take some time as low oil prices weigh on the economy and regulations are yet to be put in place, speakers at the Drone Middle East conference said on Tuesday. However, they see a huge potential as Saudi Arabia diversifies its economy.
Only one government-owned company named Taqnia provides drone services in Saudi Arabia currently and regulations are still underway.
There is a potential for the usage of drones in the oil and gas industry, agriculture, surveillance of borders and control of crowd movements during the annual hajj pilgrimage in Makkah.
“Regulations for drones are being still being discussed, only one company provides drones in Saudi Arabia,” said Soliman Al Walaie, engineering consultant in the technology management division of Saudi Aramco at the conference in Abu Dhabi.
“It may take time for more companies or drone operators to provide services because it is not a priority right now. There are other priorities as oil prices are low.”
Oil prices have lost half of their value since 2014 hitting the economies of Gulf countries hard. Many countries have been forced to undertake reforms and cut in spending to overcome the crisis.
On Monday, the government of Saudi Arabia announced a wide range of austerity measures to save money. As per the decision, salaries of the ministers would be cut by 20 per cent and no annual bonuses would be given to employees for the next Islamic year.
Meanwhile, a top executive of Taqnia, the only authorised company to sell drones in the country, said there is a huge potential for the use of unmanned vehicles in Saudi Arabia as the country focuses on diversification of the economy.
“There is a big market for drones in Saudi Arabia specially in the fields of mining, military, [the] oil and gas industry, agriculture, to manage crowds [during the] annual hajj pilgrimage and during disaster management,” Faisal S. Al Dhfayan, vice-president, business development at Taqnia, told Gulf News.
He added: “In the military side, we need it for border protection. Our border with our neighbour with Yemen is 1,400 kilometres, 40 per cent of it is mountain. It would be a challenge for surveillance using conventional methods. The government is also targeting to enhance the income of [the] mining sector to 90 billion riyals [Dh88 billion] by 2020. There is a high cost saving by using drones.”
As compared to Saudi Arabia, the drone industry in the UAE is highly developed and there are already regulations in place like the compulsory registration of drones with the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the restrictions on the usage of drones.
The UAE government is also planning to bring in a new law to regulate the sale and import of drones. Around 400 drones, mostly commercial are registered with the GCAA at present.
