SABIC, the Middle East’s biggest petrochemicals producer, reported around an 80-percent increase in second-quarter profit on higher sales prices and volumes compared to the same period in 2017. Net income rose to 6.7 billion riyals ($1.78 billion). SABIC Chief Executive Officer Yousef Abdullah al-Benyan affirmed that the company’s profitability progress results from SABIC keenness on the confidentiality of its factories that witnessed an increase in production of 1.5 million tons during the first half of the year. During a news conference on Sunday, he declined to comment on the size or timing of a possible stake purchase by Aramco. Speaking about the joint project of petrochemicals in the US with an ExxonMobil subsidiary, Benyan noted that the financial administration still seeks, with cooperation with partners, to find the best funding solutions for the project. Along with SABICs announcement of its financial results on Sunday, a number of petrochemical companies revealed their fiscal results such as Nama Chemicals Group and Petrochem. A total number of 12 firms declared their financial results for the first half of the current year. Their profits reached around SAR18.6 billion (USD4.96 billion), a growth of 48.9 percent during H1 of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017. Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) indicated the GDP of the non-oil sector in Saudi Arabia achieved a more positive rate during the first quarter of this year, a growth of 1.6 percent. Saudi GDP rose 1.2 percent at the end of the first quarter to reach $172.7 billion compared to $170.7 billion during the same period last year, the data showed. Non-oil GDP increased 1.6 percent by the end of the first quarter of this year, reaching $98.9 billion. GDP of the oil sector rose 0.6 percent to $72.8 billion compared to $72.4 billion of the first quarter of previous year. Its contribution to the national GDP reached 42.2 percent, compared to 42.4 percent during the same period of previous year.