Saudis claim success at investor conference

Saudi Arabian firms claimed success at the country’s controversial Future Investment Initiative, held last week in Riyadh. A few firms, including JPMorgan Chase and Bloomberg, boycotted the event to punish the Saudi government over its alleged responsibility in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi early this month in Turkey. National oil company Saudi Aramco says it signed 15 memoranda of understanding worth a total of $34 billion. However, many of the announced projects, such as a petrochemical complex with France’s Total and a gasification unit with Air Products & Chemicals, were already ongoing. Saudi chemical maker SABIC signed a deal with the German photovoltaics firm Schmid to build a $430 million silicon plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. SABIC also said it will spend nearly $1 billion to provide raw materials to a polyethylene terephthalate complex the Chinese firm Pan Asia PET is building in Jazan, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco is trying to grow its operations into chemicals and other industries. Toward that goal, the company is considering the acquisition of SABIC.