The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center

:: A senior official from the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) announced in Manama that Saudi Arabia produces 44 percent of the natural gas in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Speaking at the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) Fertilizer Convention held in Bahrain, the director of the markets and industrial development program at KAPSARC, Kang Wu, said natural gas plays a key role in the industrial development of GCC countries, particularly in the region’s fertilizer industry.

The convention, held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, Bahrain’s minister of oil, concluded on Thursday in Manama.

Kang delivered the keynote speech during the first session of the convention, providing strategic insights into the natural gas market and fertilizers as a strategy.

He pointed out that industrial fertilizers of different kinds are highly dependent on reliable and competitive natural gas feedstock.

KAPSARC’s address at the convention provided the 240-member participating companies an overview of the major issues related to gas markets around the world and, on that basis, ways to effectively sustain the fertilizer industry in the Middle East in general, and Saudi Arabia in particular.

Kang said his center has developed economic frameworks to reduce the overall costs and environmental impacts of energy supply; increase the value created from energy consumption; and achieve effective alignment between energy policy objectives and outcomes.

Saudi Arabia’s fertilizer products portfolio consists of ammonia (26 percent), urea (28 percent), and diammonium phosphate (DAP)/MAP (22 percent).

The country hosts one of the largest known but undeveloped phosphate rock deposits in the world, spread across the entire northern section of the Kingdom. Its reserves are estimated at around 956 million tons of phosphate rock in a number of discrete deposits: Al-Jalamid, Umm Wu’al, Al-Amud, Quraymiz, Thaniyat Turayf and As Sanam, each with the potential for commercial development.

According to the GPCA Fertilizer Indicator report, Saudi Arabia is the largest fertilizer exporter in the GCC region, with exports amounting to 6.4 million tons, growing at an annual rate of 7.6 percent in the past decade.

The industry is responsible for creating 10,000 direct and 30,000 indirect jobs, of which approximately 55 percent are held by Saudi nationals. The Saudi fertilizer industry generates $3 billion in sales revenue, accounting for 47 percent of sales of the regional fertilizer industry as a whole.

The 8th GPCA Fertilizer Convention, held under the theme “New beginnings: Return to growth,” offered exclusive insight into the likely impact of recent market changes on the fertilizer trade, and highlighted the key drivers behind future growth.