Energy Minister clarifies goals of new Petroleum & Petrochemical Law

Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman

Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the newly-introduced Petroleum & Petrochemical Law contributes to building the local energy sector’s legislative framework.

This is by leveraging the top-tier international practices, boosting performance, achieving national objectives, and ensuring the optimal use of petroleum and petrochemical resources, the state-run SPA reported.

The new law, replacing the Petroleum Products Trade Law, aims to achieve a set of goals, mainly regulating petroleum and petrochemical operations, in a manner that contributes to economic growth.

This is besides backing efforts to attract investments, elevate employment rates, upgrade energy efficiency, safeguard consumers and licensees, while ensuring product quality and creating a competitive environment that fuels fair economic yields for investors.

Further, the new law also helps ensure the security and reliability of local petroleum and petrochemical supplies. This is on top of achieving optimal utilization of raw materials, supporting the localization of the industry’s value chain, enabling national strategies and plans, and enhancing the control and supervision of petroleum and petrochemical operations to step up compliance with laws and regulations.

This is in addition to combating practice violations by regulating the activities of use, sale, purchase, transportation, storage, export, import, packaging, and processing of these resources. This is while regulating the establishment and operation of distribution channels and petrochemical facilities.

The Cabinet, in a session chaired by King Salman, approved today, Jan. 7, the Petroleum & Petrochemical Law.