Mideast NOC - global petchem integration vital for fegion's oil & gas industry's diversification drive says The Dow Chemical Company

Speaking ahead of his visit to Bahrain for the Middle East Petrotech 2008 conference, Gambrell also said that the Middle East, India and Africa (IMEA) markets are very important growth areas for Dow as part of the Company's global expansion strategy.

Dow's IMEA sales for the first quarter of 2008 rose 26% from the same period last year to $402m, setting a new regional record. And the region's year-over-year volume increase, at 15%, was the highest across all five of Dow's geographic areas.

Dow has eight current and proposed Middle East joint ventures in the UAE, Egypt, Kuwait, Libya as well as in Saudi Arabia, where Dow and Saudi Aramco are in the final negotiation phase for the formation of a joint venture company to build, own and operate a world-scale chemicals and plastics production complex in the Eastern Province.

At Petrotech, Gambrell will be accompanied by John Dearborn, Dow president in India, Middle East & Africa.

"The Middle East is home to one of Dow's first joint ventures set up over 20 years ago with E.A. Juffali & Brothers (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) a relationship that still exists today," said Dearborn. "Our approach creates valuable opportunities for Dow and its partners and benefits the Middle East by building valuable downstream industries, economic diversification and new, highly trained, well-paid jobs."

Dow in the Middle East is committed to being an active community member and strongly supports the social and economic aspirations of the local communities in which it operates. Through the Company's strong alliances with organizations such as the Young Arab Leaders (YAL), Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) and Lothan Youth Achievement Center (LoYAC), Dow is committed to the betterment of the environment and humanity.