Saudi Aramco set to unlock non-metallic materials growth potential

Saudi Aramco will pursue growth opportunities in non-metallic materials, in line with its strategy covering the oil and gas, automotive, building and construction, packaging, and renewable sectors, a senior company executive said.

“It represents a great opportunity to increase global crude demand. Our goal is to lead the non-metallic materials business globally,” Abdullah Al-Baiz, vice president of engineering services, Saudi Aramco said at a conference in Bahrain. 

In order to achieve the target, Saudi Aramco intends to increase demand on oil, generate more revenues, minimize life-cycle cost, localize manufacturing, and reduce the carbon footprint, he noted.  

“We will achieve our target by being active in the following four areas: maximizing deployment; promoting research and development; supporting localization through our flagship In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) initiative and finally by investing in relevant companies in all stages of maturity."

Abdullah also highlighted the various potentials of non-metallic materials in the automotive sector, building and construction sector, packaging sector and renewables.

“In renewables, we envision the replacement of glass in solar panels by polycarbonate for its light weight, impact resistance, and low thermal conductivity,” he added.