GULF PETROCHEMICALS & CHEMICALS ASSOCIATIONINSIGHT

Presented by

June 2012 | Issue 20

WELCOME

Dear Colleagues

Since the GPCA Insight in March,

GPCA has been extremely busy,

holding two major regional events

– The Third GPCA Plastics Summit

and the Fourth GPCA Supply Chain

Conference – and its annual

Plastics Innovation Awards.

Both events, held in Dubai,

were well attended and succeeded

in bringing together upstream and

downstream players, and Middle

East and international companies,

to discuss important themes and

issues for the successful

development of petrochemicals in

the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

countries and beyond.

The Plastics Innovation

Awards, presented at the Plastics

Summit, recognized four winners in

the field of plastics conversion.

GPCA aims to play a leading role in

encouraging innovation in this

area, which will ultimately generate

added value and jobs in the Middle

East and create a vibrant convertor

industry in the GCC area.

Coverage of all these events

can be found in this edition of

Insight. You can also read of further

progress in our Responsible Care

initiatives, and how GPCA has

become the youngest association

to gain full membership of the ICCA.

Yours faithfully

ABDULWAHAB AL-SADOUNSecretary general, GPCA

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

GPCA Insight is online at: gpca.org.ae

Call for more innovation in plastics 2

Plastics convertors honored 3

Container focus at Supply Chain event 4

Innovation Award winners rewarded 5

Product Focus - styrenics 6

GPCA Responsible Care wins plaudits 7

Mohamed Al-Mady, vice chairman and chief execu-

tive officer of SABIC, has been retained as chairman of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA), the region’s leading trade association dedicat-ed to the downstream industry in the Middle East.

The unanimous decision to retain Al-Mady was taken after the election of the association’s new board of directors, which took place at the fifth GPCA Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Dubai on March 15.

The eight founding members of the GPCA in 2006 – SABIC and Tasnee (Saudi Arabia), Equate and PIC (Kuwait), QAPCO and QVC (Qatar), Borouge (Abu Dhabi) and GPIC (Bahrain) – are permanent members of the board.

Dr Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, secretary general of the GPCA, said: “Al-Mady is a prominent fig-

Al-Mady to continue as chairman of GPCASABIC’s Mohamed Al-Mady has been re-elected chairman of GPCA at its fifth AGM in Dubai

SABIC’s Al-Mady will continue to lead the GPCA

Chairman: Mohamed Al-Mady,

SABIC

Vice chairman: Rashed Al-

Shamsi, ADNOC

Treasurer: Abdulaziz Alhajri,

Borouge

Plastics Committee: Abdulaziz

Alhajri, Borouge

Responsible Care Committee:

Abdulrahman Jawahery, GPIC

Fertilizers Committee: Khalifa

Al Sowaidi, QAFCO

Advocacy Committee: Ahmad Al

Ohali, Sipchem

Supply Chain Committee: Mohammad A Hussain, Equate

Human Resources Committee: Maha Mulla Hussain

COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP ROLES IN THE NEW GPCA BOARD

ure in the global petrochemical industry and we are deeply hon-oured that he will continue to serve as chairman of the GPCA fol-lowing our AGM elections. We are served by the widest cross-section of industry experts across the Middle East, which illustrates the depth of knowledge and experi-

ence the GPCA brings to its mem-bers, as well as to the debates shaping our industry.”

Al-Sadoun added: “It is also a pleasure to strengthen our voice in the sector with new appointments to our board, which will further strengthen cooperation across our diverse membership.”

Rashed Saud Al-Shamsi, petro-chemicals director of ADNOC; Abdulaziz Judaimi, vice president at Saudi Aramco; and Musab Al-Mahrouqi, CEO of ORPIC from Oman, were elected as new board members at the AGM. The new

board of directors elected Al-Sham-si as vice chairman of the GPCA.

The fifth AGM endorsed the GPCA’s strategy aimed at further expanding the GPCA’s member-ship and better serving the interests of companies active in the oil and gas downstream sector. The strate-gy was developed by international consultancy firm AT Kearney.

“Al-Mady is a prominent figure in

the global petrochemical

industry and we are deeply honoured that

he will continue to serve as chairman”

ABDULWAHAB AL-SADOUNSecretary general, GPCA

Bill

yPix

www.gpca.org.ae

NEWS

Sadara Chemical Company

(Full Member Category)/Saudi

Arabia/www.sadara.com

Albiariq Petrochemical Industries Co. Ltd (Gulf

producer under 100,000

tonnes/year)/Saudi Arabia/

www.albiariq.com

Al Rajhi Industrial Group (Gulf

producer under 100,000

tonnes/year)/Saudi Arabia/

www.alrajhigroup.com/en/

Emirates Conversions Industries Investments (Senaat) (Gulf producer under

100,000 tonnes/year)/United

Arab Emirates/www.senaat.ae

The Sinclair Group Holding, Ltd (service company)/Kuwait/

www.sinclairgroup.com

Inge Steensland AS (service

company)/Norway/

www.steensland.com

Agility (service company)/UK/

www.agilitylogistics.com

BDP International (service

company)/US/www.

bdpinternational.com

Accenture Middle East (service company)/United Arab

Emirates/www.accenture.com

Vega Ships Management (DMCCO) (service company)/

United Arab Emirates/

www.vegaship.ae

Rowad National Plastics Co

(business partner)/Saudi

Arabia/www.rowadplastic.com

Union Pipes Industry

(business partner)/United Arab

Emirates/www.upi.ae

2 | GPCA INSIGHT | June 2012

“The evolving needs of end users will

make innovation in the polymers

industry a necessity”SULTAN BIN BATTAL

Vice president, polymer SBU, SABIC

The Third GPCA Plastics Summit, held at the Grand

Hyatt Dubai on April 3-5, focused on the importance of innovation in the plastics indus-try and of finding new growth areas in plastics conversion. Both are ultimately essential to the creation of new business opportunities and employment.

The summit was attended by over 350 executives from key corporations from across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region and international markets. It featured sessions focusing on plastics in the GCC region; pack-aging as a driver for conversion; plastics products for building and construction; and industry trends in sustainability, quality and hygiene.

The level of participation in this year’s summit is a sign of the con-tinued growth in the industry. The GPCA Plastics Summit is now considered the ideal regional plat-form for encouraging discussions on education, technology and R&D, as well as the wider develop-ment of the plastics industry in the Middle East.

INNOVATION A NECESSITYIn his keynote presentation, Sultan Bin Battal, vice president of the polymer strategic business unit of SABIC, one of the world’s five largest petrochemicals manufac-turers, said the evolving needs of end-users will make innovation in the polymers industry a necessity, adding that the leading producers must respond to rapid demo-graphic and lifestyle changes, especially in the region.

Battal added that developing products for new applications, adding new features to existing solutions and optimizing manu-facturing processes would be critical factors for success. He noted that SABIC’s new applica-

Gulf leaders call for more innovation in plasticsThe importance of innovation and growth in downstream conversion were key messages for delegates at the GPCA’s Third Plastics Summit in Dubai

tion centre, to be completed in the third quarter of 2012, illus-trates how the company is re-sponding to the need for greater innovation and R&D.

Also speaking on the first day of the summit, Michael Pell, vice president of innovation at Bor-ouge, highlighted the many cost

Highlighting the company’s Abu Dhabi operations, Pell said Borouge’s solutions in infrastruc-ture, automotive and advanced packaging were benchmarks for plastics conversion in the region.

Also presenting on the first day of the summit, Mubarak Al- Mubarak, director general for planning and investment at the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu in Saudi Arabia, said fur-ther development of the plastics industry would create additional employment and lessen depend-ence on oil exports.

Jubail and Yanbu, which alone contribute 11.5% of Saudi Arabia’s non-oil GDP, illustrate how Gulf countries can diversify their economies through plastics conversion, he said.

MARKETS SEMINAROther speakers at the two-day summit included Mohammed Al Laabon, Rowad National Plas-tic Company; Philippe Grimmel-prez, Mattex Geosynthetics; Dr Klaus Noller, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Pack-aging; Rashid Al-Ghurair, Tagh-leef Industries; Nick Kernoghan, Smithers Pira; Dr Ulrich Reiners, Executive Packaging; Chua Sok Peng, Platts International; Man-fred Klepacz, Al Rajhi Holding; Dr Jochen Hennes, Reifenhäuser; Dr Jürgen Scherer, Mauser Group; and HW Houben, managing director for Europe and MENA at A Schulman.

A half-day seminar on markets for plastic products from the GCC was held on the pre-summit day. The speakers at the seminar included Dr Ulrich Reiners, Executive Packaging; Andrew Reynolds, AMI; George A Hanna, HIPRO Consulting; Stephen Harrod, Smithers Pira; Barbaros Demirci, PAGEV; and Ivo Ploegs-ma, FoodWorkx.

NEW MEMBERS FOR GPCA

Developing products for new

applications... and optimizing

manufacturing processes would be critical factors for

success

Saudi Arabia’s National Petro-chemical Industrial Co. (NAT-

PET) and A Schulman of the US are to build a 100,000 tonne/year poly-propylene (PP) compounding unit in Yanbu, said the Saudi Arabian firm’s parent company, Alujain.

The partners have entered a 50:50 joint venture for the project that will be built in two phases.

NATPET to add PP compounds

savings and environmental bene-fits of plastics. In the food industry, for example, he said plastic pack-aging uses considerably less space than glass containers and achieves significant weight savings, which in turn reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

www.gpca.org.ae

NEWS

June 2012 | GPCA INSIGHT | 3

The four winners in this year’s GPCA Plastics Innovation

Awards were revealed at the Third GPCA Plastics Summit held in Dubai on April 3-5. The awards were introduced by Abdulaziz Alhajri, chief executive officer of Borouge, at a ceremony that took place on the first day of the sum-mit conference (April 4), held at the Grand Hyatt.

Now in their second year, the awards recognize companies and individuals for excellence, inno-vation, sustainable development and their overall contribution to the plastics conversion sector. The 2012 Awards featured two main categories – Construction and Industrial Products, and Sustainable Plastic Products and Processes – plus special awards for Best Supporting Company and Excellence in Plastics.

Union Pipes Industry of the UAE won in the Construction and Indus-trial Products category for its per-formance in high-density polyethyl-ene (HDPE) pipeline products.

Saudi Arabia’s Rowad National Plastic Co. won the Sustainable Plastic Products and Processes award for its work in lead acid bat-tery recycling.

The Best Supporting Company award went to MKD of Jordan in

Innovations honoured in DubaiGPCA revealed the winners of the Plastics Innovation Awards at its recent Plastics Summit

recognition of its innovation in inte-grating design and engineering in the development of plastic moulds.

The winners of the Excellence in Plastics category were Saeed M Al-Zahrani and Dr Ilias Ali of King Saud University, SABIC Polymer Research Centre, in Saudi Arabia, for their research into producing nano-activated carbon from date stones and polymer nano-composites.

Speaking about the awards, Alhajri said: “As the population of our planet grows and becomes wealthier, its consumption of re-sources will become unsustaina-ble without innovation. The sec-

ond GPCA Plastics Innovation Awards demonstrate that many companies and individuals in the industry are already working hard to tackle these challenges head on.”

Dr Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, secretary general of GCPA, added: “The entrants into the second GPCA Plastics Innovation Awards have shown true commitment to the plastics industry and [pro-duced] initiatives that are driving the sector forward both in the region and globally. The work recognized by our awards indicates a very bright future for our industry.”

The GPCA Plastics Innovation Awards winners line up for a group photograph in Dubai

Plastic Products for Construction, Building and Industrial Goods

Saudi Badawi Group

JRD International

Union Pipes Industry

Sustainability of Plastic Products and Processes

Rowad National Plastic Co.

Flex Middle East FZE

Emirates Conversion Industries

Investments (SENAAT)

Special Award: Best supporting company to Middle East plastic conversion industry

MKD

Verstraete

Van Dam

Special Award: Excellence in Plastics

Saeed Nasser Albadawi and Dr

Mohamed Nasser Alghamdi

(Yanbu Industrial College)

Mohammed Ehtesham Ali

Mohsin and Saeed M Al Zahrani

(King Saud University/SABIC

Polymer Research Center)

Saeed M Al Zahrani and Ilias Ali

(King Saud University/SABIC

Polymer Research Center)

FULL SHORTLIST FOR EACH CATEGORY OF THE AWARDS

GPCA’s Al-Sadoun shares staggering figures at IFA

GPCA’s secretary general, Dr Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun,

made the keynote presentation at the 80th International Fertilizers Association (IFA) annual confer-ence in Doha, Qatar, held on May 21-23.

In his presentation, “The Arabian Gulf Region – Shaping a New Frontier in the Global Ferti-lizer Industry”, he highlighted the rapid and sustained growth of the fertilizer industry in the Ara-bian Gulf.

The new GPCA petrochemicals database, launched in May 2012, forecasts that the total production of fertilizer products will reach 32m tonnes by 2016, compared to 21m tonnes in 2011.

“Massive expansion will take place in the GCC [Gulf Coopera-tion Council] states, where several ammonia and urea production capacities will come on stream by 2016. That will result in a 7.5% annual growth in production capacity,” said Al-Sadoun.

He added: “With the ongoing expansion drive, the Arabian Gulf industry’s global position will be growing markedly to account by 2016 for 36% of global urea ex-ports and 24% of the world trade in phosphate fertilizer.”

ROLE OF NITROGENSaudi Arabia’s Minister of Ener-gy and Industry HE Dr Moham-mad bin Saleh Al Sada opened the conference. In his opening speech, Al Sada referred to the important and continuing role of nitrogen fertilizer in the produc-tion of food, especially when considering population growth and the decreasing availability of arable land. He pointed to the expectations of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization that food production will need to increase by 70% to provide food for more than 2.3bn extra people by 2050.

www.gpca.org.ae

NEWS

4 | GPCA INSIGHT | June 2012

The Middle East is leading the expansion in global container

shipping, and the region’s down-stream sector is driving much of that growth. This positive state-ment encapsulates the overall message of the fourth GPCA Sup-ply Chain Conference, held in Dubai on May 7–9.

In his keynote speech to dele-gates, Mohammed Al-Muallem, UAE senior vice president and managing director at global logis-tics company DP World, said: “DP World’s experience with Jebel Ali Port shows that investing in han-dling capacity in line with market demands has consistently strength-ened efficiencies across the supply chain, and also helped in trans-forming our flagship port into one of the world’s largest hubs that connects the region to the vital east–west trade route.”

After the first day’s presenta-tions, delegates toured the new container terminal at Jebel Ali – terminal 2 – which is equipped to handle the latest generation of super-sized container vessels.

The conference saw 279 senior industry representatives from 95 companies attend the first full day of the conference at Jumeirah Emirates Towers.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTThey examined opportunities for further business development in the supply chain sector and the need for sharing of best practice. They also looked ahead to see how the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) industry can capitalize on its achievements to date and con-tinue the growth of the petrochem-ical industry.

A pre-conference workshop on May 7 studied the industry’s vol-untary scheme – the Responsible Care Initiative – aimed at promot-ing best practices in environment, health, safety and security, or EHS&S.

Container shipping growth holds the spotlight at Gulf supply chain event Synergy between supply chain and industry players is key to sustaining regional petrochemical expansion in the Middle East

Opening the conference, Hamad Al-Terkait, former vice chairman of GPCA and ex-presi-dent and CEO of Kuwait’s Equate Petrochemical, said: “The sup-ply chain should be looked at as more of an investment opportu-nity and not just a service. When we look at the volume to be ex-ported from the region, which is around 120m tonnes this year, transportation is crucial.

“We look at the experts at the fourth GPCA Supply Chain Con-ference and see those who can make the supply chain the most efficient it can be.”

Customs regulations will in-creasingly play a major part in the future growth of the GCC region’s petrochemical industry, delegates were told on the final day of the meeting. Speaking at the confer-ence, Mohammed Al-Haif, director of the GCC customs union depart-ment in the GCC General Secretari-at, outlined plans to develop GCC-wide customs laws to make the import and export of petrochemi-cal products more efficient.

This will include, for example,

the introduction of dedicated truck lanes for petrochemicals at ports.

“In-depth discussion of how government authorities can fur-ther support the growth of the sector regionally and globally is a priority,” said Dr Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, secretary general of GPCA. “The implementation of an extensive GCC customs law is

something the entire global petro-chemical industry will benefit from, and it’s an initiative which has led to interesting discussion among industry experts at the conference.”

Technology was also identified as a key factor in the development of more efficient supply chain sys-tems for petrochemicals and chemicals, with extensive debate

at the conference of the planned improvements in automation and electronic procedures to improve clearance at import and export points around the region.

Delegates heard that electronic procedures and systems are to be enhanced and implemented to allow customs between GCC states to positively affect the transporta-tion of petrochemical goods and improve clearance at import and export points.

The implementation of these initiatives is vital to help the flow of the products moving between the GCC countries, especially through industrial ports, ex-plained Abdullah Nasser Al- Tuwaijry, director general at King Fahd Industrial Port in Jubail, in the session discussing the contri-bution industrial ports make to the industry.

INCREASED QUANTITIESAl-Tuwaijry discussed the enor-mous quantities of product pass-ing through the region, with King Fahd alone handling more than 46m tonnes of product annually, with more than 1,600 vessels call-ing at the port each year.

Quantities are forecast to in-crease significantly. Al-Tuwaijry gave data on just one of the termi-nals at King Fahd which, in its current configuration, has a throughput of 22m tonnes/year of petrochemicals.

This, he said, is set to rise by an additional throughput of more than 15m tonnes/year by 2020.

Consolidation of control of the terminals at the port is earmarked as vital for continuity in opera-tions, with a single operator pro-posed to control both terminals at King Fahd to achieve maximum utilization of available resources.

This approach to optimizing supply chain processes through best practices concluded the conference.

Hamad Al-Terkait (left) and Mohammed Al-Muallem take questions during the supply chain Q&A session

“[Throughput of one terminal] is set to

rise by an additional 15m tonnes/year by

2020”ABDULLAH NASSER AL-TUWAIJRY

Director general, King Fahd Industrial Port

Very special rates

Presenting the winners of the 2nd GPCA Plastics Innovation Awards 2012

Sponsored by:

Mr. Rashed Saud Al-Shamsi, GPCA Vice Chairman, Petrochemicals

Director of ADNOC, giving away the award to

UAE

Category - I (Polymers SBU), SABIC, giving away

the award to

KSA

Category - II

Dr. Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, GPCA Secretary General, giving away the

Award to

Category - III

Very special raateeees

Mr. Abdulaziz Alhajri, GPCA

Borouge, giving away the Award to Dr. Ilias Ali who won it along with

Dr. Saeed M. Al-Zahrani from

KSA

Category - IV

www.gpca.org.ae

FOCUS

6 | GPCA INSIGHT | June 2012

Others

ABS

Polystyrene

Polystyrene(expandable) SB rubber

SOURCE: Nexant

GLOBAL STYRENE DEMAND BY DERIVATIVE – 2011

Styrene monomer, of which ethylene and benzene are key

raw materials, is used in the manu-facture of a broad range of deriva-tives. Demand for styrene, estimat-ed at just over 27m tonnes in 2011, is largely generated by polystyrene (PS) and expandable polystyrene (EPS), accounting for nearly 60% of its use, followed by acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and other minor derivatives such as styrene butadiene latex (SB).

Global styrene consumption recovered in 2010 to exceed 2007 demand after declines in 2008 and 2009 caused by the economic crisis. Styrene demand growth, forecast at 2.8%/year from 2010 to 2018, typically tracks that of gross domestic product (GDP) due to styrene derivatives’ usage in a broad range of consumer goods.

All styrene derivatives, except PS, exhibited good growth, con-tributing to the recovery of the styrene industry after 2008.

EPS OUTPERFORMSPS is a mature product and is exposed to highly price-sensitive industries as it is widely used in the commodity packaging sector, for example for disposable cutlery and vending cups, as well as the electronics and electrical sectors. PS is expected to develop at 1.4%/year from 2010 to 2018.

In contrast EPS, which is main-ly used for building insulation as well as packaging, will outperform all styrene derivatives with growth of 4.2%/year from 2010 to 2018.

Middle East consumption of styrene accounts for only 4% of the global market; however, global styrene capacity development is concentrated in the Middle East, along with Asia-Pacific, in particu-lar China. The Middle East is expected to outperform global styrene growth, developing at

Styrene resumes growth trendStyrene demand has recovered to pre-2008 levels at last; the Middle East will continue to be a major location for added capacity as it benefits from good supplies of ethylene and benzene

nearly 11%/year from 2010 to 2018, albeit from a small base.

Styrene consumption is benefit-ing from two main drivers: diver-sification and local employment policy, which is encouraging pro-ducers to develop more derivative capacity including styrene. Strong economic growth in countries such as Turkey, which lack upstream integration, will see development in demand for sty-rene derivatives.

Around 50% of styrene con-sumed in the Middle East is for PS production, with 15% used in the production of EPS. Turkey, reliant on imports of PS, is the largest PS consumer, accounting for nearly 50% of regional consumption, fol-lowed by Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Styrene production has grown rapidly in the Middle East in recent years, with three new plants

starting up between 2008 and 2010, and other projects in the pipeline from 2015. In 2008, Jubail Chevron Phillips brought onstream a 775,000 tonne/year plant in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia; Pars Petro-chemical’s 600,000 tonne/year sty-rene plant came onstream in Janu-ary 2010 in Bandar Assaluyeh, Iran; and The Kuwait Styrene Com-pany commercialized a plant for 450,000 tonnes/year in 2009.

SADAF is also present in Saudi Arabia with a combined 1.05m tonnes/year of styrene from two plants, and Persian Gulf Petro-chemical and Tabriz Petrochemi-cal are located in Iran.

There are three PS producers in the Middle East: Petrokemya oper-ates two plants at Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia; Baser Petrokimya one in Adana, Turkey; and Tabriz Petro-chemical one in Iran. A joint ven-ture project, which will add 200,000 tonnes/year of PS capaci-ty, has reportedly been delayed from Q4 2011 to Q2 2012, and is now in the commissioning phase. The plant is part of the National Chevron Phillips joint venture be-tween Chevron Phillips Chemical and Saudi Arabia’s Petrochem.

Supply of EPS in the Middle East is relatively small, from Tabriz Petrochemical, Petrokemya and Eastchem, the most recent EPS start up in 2007 in Izmir, Turkey. Pars Petrochemical has plans for a new EPS plant in Bandar Assaluyeh,

Iran, but the timing of any such development remains unclear.

Development of the styrene and derivatives industry is not only influenced by consumer markets, but by challenges occurring in the supply of raw materials: ethylene and benzene. Styrene accounts for around half of total global benzene demand, while in the Middle East, styrene dominates benzene con-sumption at just over 80%.

Globally, styrene derivatives be-came uncompetitive in some appli-cations due to high benzene prices, which resulted in some switching to alternative polymers. This was in part due to the major expansion of gas-based steam crackers in the Middle East as little pygas was avail-able for benzene production. How-ever, the substitution pressure has since eased following oversupply in the benzene market due to major ca-pacity additions coupled with tight-ness in propylene supply.

FOCUS STILL ON PE, MEGFrom 2007 to 2011, capacity for eth-ylene and its derivatives doubled in the Middle East, as several, mainly mixed-feed steam crackers were built. The derivative slate remains heavily focused on linear low- density/high-density polyethylene (LLDPE/HDPE) and monoethylene glycol, although initiatives to diver-sify exports have started to yield a more complex consumption profile for ethylene in the region. Styrene accounts for just 5% of ethylene use in the Middle East.

The Middle East and China will continue to drive styrene capacity development as producers can benefit from benzene and ethylene availability and proximity to mar-ket. Trade flows are therefore ex-pected to increase as a result of export-orientated capacity devel-opments in the Middle East.

Anna Ibbotson is global manager of the

Petroleum & Petrochemical Economics

program of Nexant

PS is a mature product exposed to price-sensitive uses such as cutlery

Rex

Featu

res

PRODUCT IN FOCUS

ANNA IBBOTSON

www.gpca.org.ae

NEWS

June 2012 | GPCA INSIGHT | 7

GPCA began its Responsible Care journey almost two and

a half years ago at a grassroots level. All the essential ingredients for the successful start-up of such an initiative – notably support from CEOs, guidance material, assessment methodology, logo ownership, etc – were entirely non-existent at that time.

On top of this, a lack of basic understanding of the initiative itself was the main hurdle for member companies in making decisions that could pave the way for a successful establishment of the initiative.

At the regional level, these issues were compounded even further, creating a challenge for the GPCA itself. It knew that, in the presence of limited resources, the future of the initiative depended largely on a successful start-up.

A positive outcome would also pave the way for implementation of other programs and initiatives that would be forthcoming in the wake of GPCA’s associated mem-bership of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA).

GPCA members believed in the Responsible Care initiative and were of the firm opinion that the initiative’s implementation would result in a safe, secure, environ-mentally friendly and conducive workplace and surroundings for people, employees and communi-ties. They also believed this would not only pave the way for a better environment, but also help the pet-rochemical and chemical industry to fulfill its social responsibilities.

This was the basis under which GPCA members put their trust and confidence in the GPCA’s Responsi-ble Care Committee. In two years, the initiative has not just taken roots, but is firmly established with-in most of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, resulting in the establishment of the initiative across members’ facilities.

In order to gauge member com-panies’ performance, ICCA has

established a set of eight indica-tors based on the fundamental fea-tures of the Responsible Care Global Charter. All associations in 55 countries across the globe are assessed on these for their Respon-sible Care performance.

GPCA exceeded all milestones set by the ICCA. As a result, it took the top slot from among the associa-tions across the 55 countries.

GPCA and the Responsible Care Committee take this opportunity to congratulate its members for their support and confidence, which

have enabled GPCA to become the youngest-ever association in the world to achieve this top ranking, which it has done within a short span of just two years.

PROGRESS ON ALL POINTSThe fundamental features that serve as the performance indicators for associations are listed below, with GPCA’s progress outlined for each of these indicators:

Guiding PrinciplesICCA member associations are required to develop a set of guiding principles to help member compa-nies to develop a Responsible Care program within their facilities. GPCA established a set of 12 guid-ing principles as a high-level docu-ment signed by GPCA’s chairman and secretary general, as well as the chairman of the Responsible Care Committee. This set of guiding prin-ciples has been distributed to all members of GPCA and is available on its Responsible Care web page.

Responsible Care LogoGPCA has registered the Responsi-ble Care logo with Arabic and Eng-lish taglines in six GCC Countries. GPCA grants permission for use of the logo under set criteria. So far 18 members have permission.

Codes of Management Practices GPCA’s Responsible Care Commit-tee established seven task forces in 2011 to develop and finalize the seven codes of management prac-tices, namely: community aware-ness & emergency response (CAER); product stewardship; distribution; process safety; health & safety; envi-ronmental protection; and security. The task forces finalized these codes at the start of 2012 and they were then handed over to a technical ex-pert. The codes have now been re-leased to members with a self-as-sessment tool developed by Borouge for GPCA. These codes will become mandatory within a couple of years, with final dates to be decided by the Responsible Care Committee.

Performance IndicatorsAlong with the seven code task forces, an eighth task force was formed to tackle the issue of per-formance metrics. After many de-liberations, the task force finalized a set of 21 performance metrics, with six of these on occupational safety, three on process safety, eight on emissions/discharges to environment, three on resource utilization and one on product distribution.

The final performance metrics, along with a guidance document, were issued to members in 2011 for base year 2010 compliance. Eighteen members submitted metrics. A similar request for compliance was sent to members in 2012 for base year 2011 data. The task force has now been re-named as a permanent sub-com-mittee on performance metrics. GPCA has engaged the services of a consultant, who will carry out

data analysis of these data sets and report in September 2012.

Best Practices SharingGPCA has issued a toolkit called “Lessons Learned and Best Prac-tices”. Members have started to share their experience through GPCA and to put examples on the website for viewing and down-load. GPCA plans to build a data-base of best practices. In addition, a chat room facility is being devel-oped for use by members to ex-change issues of common interest, with response from experts.

EncouragementGPCA members who have attained excellence in any focus area under the Responsible Care or environ-ment, health, safety and security (EHSS) are helping other members by providing technical expertise. This builds a teamwork concept and helps member companies ben-efit from these resources in a viable and feasible manner. A number of such regional meetings and work-shops have been carried out during the last two years.

VerificationSo far 18 member companies have carried out self-assessment. Third-party verification for RC 14001 has been successfully carried out by five companies for single-site certi-fication. One member, SABIC, has been successfully certified along with 19 affiliates under the corpo-rate certification scheme. This year, another 5–6 members have plans for third-party certification.

Responsible Care earns applauseIn just two and a half years, GPCA has successfully launched Responsible Care and attained full membership of the ICCA. Its members are taking an active role in its implementation across the Middle East

GPCA exceeded all milestones set by the ICCA. As a result, it took the

top slot from amongst the

associations across the 55 countries

For more information, visit GPCA’s

Responsible Care website at www.gpca.org.ae/rc or call Tahir Jamal Qadir,

director, Responsible Care at +971 56

779 9281 or email tahir@gpca.org.ae

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