World’s largest oil firm bought 70% stake June last year JEDDAH: Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has forecast that its annual share of combined synergy with Saudi Aramco will total SR5.63 to 6.75 billion ($1.5 to 1.8 billion) by 2025. Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, acquired a 70 percent stake in SABIC from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund for $69.1 billion in June 2020. During a virtual press conference on Sunday, Yousef Al-Benyan, SABIC CEO and vice-chairman, said the combined revenue of the two petrochemical companies would measure between $3 to $4 billion by 2025. “SABIC’s collaboration with Saudi Aramco represents an excellent opportunity for both companies to align and harness their synergies — for their mutual benefit and for the benefit of respective customers, stakeholders and shareholders,” Al-Benyan said in a press release. About 80 percent of this value will come from core business areas, including procurement, sales and marketing, supply chain upgrades and hydrocarbon integration. Al-Benyan also said that synergy with Aramco has not affected SABIC’s headcount, and that further growth and cooperation between the two companies in the future could lead to an increase in employment. SABIC’s financial results for the fourth quarter of 2020 showed a 104 percent quarter-on-quarter increase in net profit. Revenues for the quarter amounted to SR32.85 billion, with a net profit of SR2.22 billion, compared with revenues of SR29.30 billion and net profit of SR1.1 billion in Q3. “The fourth quarter benefited from sustained economic recovery,” Al-Benyan said. He added that sales increased by 1 percent compared with the same quarter in 2019, while administrative expenses fell by 3 percent. SABIC’s 2020 annual profits totaled SR40 million and annual revenues amounted to SR116.96 billion, compared with SR135.40 billion in 2019. Al-Benyan warned that “unknowns” related to the coronavirus pandemic remain, and that travel restrictions in major markets including Europe, China and the US could lead to pressure on demand in the chemicals sector. Looking to Q1 2021, Al-Benyan said that outlook “is going to be more or less equal to Q4 2020,” adding: “We have seen an average 13 percent improvement in chemical prices.” Last month, Al-Benyan said that SABIC is aiming to become the largest petrochemical company in the world by 2030. It currently stands as the world’s third largest, operating in more than 50 countries and employing 33,000 people around the world.