Andrew Liveris, former CEO of Dow Chemical (Midland, Michigan USA; www.dow.com) and until the end of June 2018 executive chairman of DowDuPont (www.dow-dupont.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 15.03.2018, is assuming an increasingly important role in Saudi Arabia’s chemical industry. The Australian-born manager has been named special adviser to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), a position in which he is expected to guide the sovereign fund’s hand on strategic investments and help fulfil the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “Vision 2030” that would diversify the economy away from oil.

The creation of what is said to be the highest-profile job awarded to any global manufacturing executive in Saudi Arabia follows the appointment of Liveris to the board of state-owned Saudi Aramco (Dhahran; www.saudiaramco.com) on 1 July 2018. The long-term CEO steered Dow through two decades of strategic investment in the Middle East country, in particular in connection with the Dow-Aramco joint venture Sadara (Dhahran / Saudi Arabia; www.sadara.com). This work in progress encompasses a multiple plastics production facilities downstream of a 1.5m t/y multi-feed cracker, as well as a plastics processing park.

In 2016, Dow – Saudi Arabia’s biggest foreign investor – became the first company to be awarded a Saudi trading licence, which allows the US group to own 100% of any company it chooses to establish, rather than requiring it to have a joint venture with a local partner – see Plasteurope.com of 27.06.2016.

The PIF reportedly manages more than USD 250 bn in assets and aims to increase its portfolio to a value of USD 400 bn by 2020. The Liveris appointment comes as Saudi Arabia is seen to be establishing Aramco as its flagship enterprise. The energy group is in the process of acquiring the PIF’s stake in plastics producer Sabic (Riyadh; www.sabic.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 30.07.2018. Officially, Aramco is planning a stock launch, though recent reports suggests that this move is off the table for now – see Plasteurope.com of 27.08.2018.