SAGIA launches business outreach program

Al-Dabbagh yesterday visited ExxsonMobil Saudi Arabia office in Riyadh and met with Chairman and CEO Desmond P. Carr.

He also met later with Bank Aljazira Executive Committee Chairman Abdul Monem R. Al-Rashed as part of the program.

Al-Dabbagh said the program will serve the twin purpose of helping him to understand at close quarters the issues facing the business community and reassuring the businesses about SAGIA's commitment to serving them.

He noted that ExxonMobil is the largest historic foreign private investor in Saudi Arabia, having participated in cumulative joint venture investments of US $ 14 billion in today's money, and the company's current objectives include the capture of additional high quality investment opportunities in its core business lines. He said he was pleased to learn that ExxonMobil employed more than 3,000 Saudi citizens, constituting a Saudization level of over 80 percent.

ExxonMobil's association with the Kingdom began in mid-1940s with the participation of the two parent companies (Exxon and Mobil) in Aramco, along with Chevron and Texaco. The company's links with Saudi Aramco have continued and grown over the years after nationalization of Aramco - ExxonMobil is the largest single customer for Saudi crude, a partner in three downstream joint ventures and a provider of technical services.

The strong pre-merger presence of Exxon and Mobil in Saudi Arabia saw the two companies participating in refining and petrochemical ventures, the construction of the East-West pipeline and the development of industrial cities. ExxonMobil Saudi Arabian Inc. is the current interface between the group's global activities and operations in the Kingdom spanning chemicals, refining and supply, lubes and specialties, upstream exploration, production and marketing of natural gas. With participation in six joint ventures, the multiplier impact of the company's investments in the country is significant.