Arkema: CECA joins forces with Watan Industrial Investment to enter the oilfield production chemicals market in Saudi Arabia

Regulatory News:

CECA, Arkema’s (Paris:AKE) Filtration and Adsorption subsidiary, and Saudi company Watan Industrial Investment have set up a joint venture, majority-owned by Arkema, which will operate an oilfield production chemicals blending plant and storage facility in Saudi Arabia. Based within the Dammam industrial city, the new site will enable CECA to meet the high demand for oilfield production chemicals in the Gulf region.

This investment in the Middle East, following the organic peroxides investment announced last October, further illustrates Arkema’s objectives to develop its High Performance Materials segment while reinforcing its presence in fast-growing countries, where the Group aims to conduct 30% of its business by 2016.

Oilfield production chemicals represent a strategic activity - with a strong growth - for CECA which supplies oil companies in Africa and the Middle East, but, to date, had no commercial or industrial presence in Saudi Arabia.

Under the terms of this partnership, the joint venture is about acquiring a storage and blending facility in Dammam, scheduled to become operative in the second half of 2014.

The site will enable CECA to establish a long-term presence in the Gulf region and in particular in Saudi Arabia, which has one of the world’s largest conventional oil reserves. Thanks to these facilities, CECA will also be able to offer its customers local service and prompt response to fulfil the specific requirements of their oilfields.

"The oilfield production chemical market is growing at a steady rate of 5% per year, and the Middle East is one of the most dynamic regions. This partnership in Saudi Arabia offers us an ideal opportunity to serve the region’s major producers, and will enable us to capitalize on local growth. With this new site located in a strategic region, we aim to become a major player in the region,” Marc-Antoine Mallet, Managing Director of Ceca, is delighted to say.

Ceca’s oilfield production chemicals offering comprises a full range of products including demulsifiers and corrosion inhibitors.

CECA, a subsidiary of the Arkema Group, is a key player in specialty chemicals. CECA constantly strives to improve its customers’ performance by creating and developing adsorbents, chemical intermediates, and additives. CECA operates an extensive network of industrial facilities in Europe, together with two research centres (GRL and CRRA) dedicated to customer innovation.

A global chemical company and France’s leading chemicals producer, Arkema is building the future of the chemical industry every day. Deploying a responsible, innovation-based approach, we produce state-of-the-art specialty chemicals that provide customers with practical solutions to such challenges as climate change, access to drinking water, the future of energy, fossil fuel preservation and the need for lighter materials. With operations in more than 40 countries, some 14,000 employees and 10 research centers, Arkema generates annual revenue of some €6.4 billion, and holds leadership positions in all its markets with a portfolio of internationally recognized brands.

Watan Industrial Investment is a private Saudi company established in 2007 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Watan’s core business is the development of industrial projects in various industrial sectors benefiting from the continuous growth of the Saudi economy, especially in chemicals and petrochemicals. Watan Industrial Investment is particularly active in the field of industrial gases as well as in strategic joint ventures with Arkema.

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