‘Downstream’ products made of petroleum are not, technically, part of what economists consider ‘the petroleum industry’. While they rely almost exclusively on crude oil, they are seen to be a different industry. As a producer of oil and natural gas, Saudi Arabia has the feedstock for these downstream industries. By refining petroleum, a vast array of products can be produced, from gasoline/petrol to industrial chemicals used by themselves as solvants, or as further feedstock for the production of a variety of plastics.
Saudi Gazette reports that Saudi ARAMCO will be building three new refineries in the Kingdom to produce these chemicals – and to produce jobs. This expansion will increase Saudi refining capability by about a third. The chemicals produced will be various aromatic hydrocarbons like toluene, benzene, and xylene. Some of these chemicals are considered carcinogens or represent other health hazards. Controlling this aspect of the production will produce yet other jobs for qualified Saudis.
Aramco refining capacity to reach 3.5 mbpd in 2016
MANAMA – Saudi Aramco, increasingly looking to expand in downstream activities, will raise its domestic refining output capacity to 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2016 with the start-up of new plants, an Aramco executive said Monday.
“Soon we will see additions to this picture,” Mohammed Al-Omair, vice president of refining and natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation at Saudi Aramco told an industry conference, referring to the seven refineries Aramco operates, alone and with other partners.
“We can see that total current in-Kingdom refining capacity is 2.26 million bpd. With the addition of the three facilities, the capacity will have increased…in 2016 to almost 3.5 million bpd.”
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One might think Saudi Arabia a place ill-suited for beauty pageants. And one would be right!
Saudi Gazette reports on the counter-beauty-pageant, one that looks to ‘inner beauty’…
Not Miss World, our winner is Miss Morals
Amal Al-SibaiBeauty pageants are popular all over the world, but in Saudi Arabia, the competition takes on a whole different approach. Contestants here are not scrutinized for their external beauty and how ravishing they look in an evening gown. A rare beauty pageant organized in Al-Qatif in the Eastern Province, was intended to highlight the real beauty of a woman, which is her inner beauty.
22-year old Hashimiya Al-Radi, a nursing student, was chosen as the winner of the contest among 385 participants and was honored with the title ‘Miss Morals’.
The two runners up were 17-year old Suhaila Al-Shawaf and 19-year old Zahra Salman Al-Awa. The crowning ceremony was held at King Abdullah National Banquet Hall in Al-Qatif, with an attendance of 500 women from all walks of life and all nationalities.
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The city of Jeddah is unique in many ways, even within Saudi Arabia. One of the things that distinguishes it is that it has over 600 pieces of ‘public art’ scattered across the city, with many along its famed Corniche. They do, actually, take up quite a bit of space and require lots of maintenance, a drain on municipal coffers that the city managers would rather do without. Now, some of them are also in the way of planned development.
Saudi Gazette reports that at least 62 of them are going to be moved from their current locations. They will be ‘graded’ (by what standard is unstated) and the ‘better’ ones will be relocated to other public areas. The lesser ones will probably be relocated out to the desert in a heap.
The article notes that some believe all of the public art should be ‘relocated or removed’ (destination unstated). There’s a bit of a problem, though in that some are quite popular, even holding places in the Guinness Book of Records.
Assessing the quality of a piece of art is a tough question because it all depends on the eye of the beholder. By my lights, many of them could go to recycling. But I’m not being asked to judge. Instead, I will wonder just what aesthetic will be used to judge them. Artists, not known for thick skins, are sure to squawk. Whether they are heard or not is another of those issues that will depend on how loud their voices are and with whom they’re connected.
62 monuments of Jeddah face relocation
JEDDAH – The Jeddah mayor’s office has launched a study to determine the fate of 62 monuments at the Jeddah Corniche which are obstructing seafront projects.
The monuments may either be relocated or removed permanently according to Yaser Azhar, Secretary of the Consultative Beautification Committee at the mayor’s office.
…Azhar said the monuments are divided into three categories. The first category includes international art work that needs to be restored and then a decision taken on their placement. The second category is of lesser important artwork, he added. However, the third category is of “bad art” that does not fit into the vision of the development taking place at the Corniche.
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Well, nil nisi bonum and all that… the encomiums continue in the Saudi media as the late Pr. Sultan is recalled as, among other things, a great supporter of the ‘green movement’, one who cares for orphans and the handicapped, a wise, and humanitarian ‘man of the century’. And that’s just one paper.
While Saudi daily Arab News is full of praise for the late Crown Prince Sultan, including a special section dedicated to that purpose, it continues its mission of reporting and commenting on news.
Here, it offers a column by Abdel Aziz Hamad Aluwaisheg, Director General for International Economic Relations at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). He comments on the seeming paradox of a fabulously rich country faced with a serious unemployment problem, no unemployment crisis. He notes that throughout the GCC, for every hundred new jobs created, 70% of them go to foreign nationals, with fewer than 30% going to host country nationals. That, he says, is the symptom that identifies the issue; the causes are threefold:
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1. Foreign labor is incredibly cheap and available; this depresses wages for national workers;
2. Local job-seekers don’t have the skills that employers want, a failing of the educational system;
3. Unrealistic wage expectations on the part of job-seekers.
These are systemic problems, not to be solved by quick-fixes, he says. And he’s right. Fixing this is the work for a generation, but it’s got to start now, even with inadequate quick-fixes because it will not fix itself.
Probing paradox of unemployment amid prosperity
ABDEL AZIZ ALUWAISHEGMany outsiders find it hard to believe that Saudi Arabia has an unemployment problem. It is indeed perplexing; unemployment of nationals is rising despite rapid economic growth.
The Saudi economy nearly doubled in size over the past five years, reaching $435 billion last year. While in most economies such phenomenal growth would translate into higher levels of employment for nationals, this has not been the case here.
According to official statistics, unemployment went up instead of down over the past decade. In 2009, the last year for which official figures are available, unemployment among Saudis reached 10.5 percent, up from 8.3 percent in 2001. For women, the rate was 28 percent in 2009 — or four times the rate among men — compared to 17.3 percent in 2001. Those rates translated into about 450,000 Saudis who could not find jobs in 2009. To be considered unemployed, they had to meet a narrow and strict definition of unemployment.
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Over the past five or so years, there’s been intense speculation about the health of Crown Prince Sultan, who also served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense and Aviation. Rumors of advanced cancer had been reported and at least one reporter jumped the gun and announced Sultan’s death several years ago – and got bounced from the Kingdom in consequence. Now, the matter is over.
What is not over is the new, intense speculation about what it means to Saudi governance. Sultan, as Crown Prince, would have succeeded King Abdullah to the throne at the latter’s passing. That, of course, is not going to happen.
Because of the new approach to succession announced in 2006, there is, at this precise moment, no one who is automatically in the chute to follow Abdullah; a new Crown Prince will need to be named. Who that is is the big question.
It certainly could be Prince Naif, but not necessarily so. Arab News, in its report, thinks it most likely. But Naif, although one of the fabled ‘Sudairi Seven’, may not have a smooth path. He is intensely disliked by many Saudis, including some within the Al-Saud family. He will have to win the approval of the Allegiance Council. Naif’s conservative, indeed sometimes reactionary views of Saudi society may prevent his being selected.
Or, it may not.
The inner workings of the Al-Saud family are notably among the most opaque politics in the world. We’ll find out when we find out.
Crown Prince Sultan passes away: Royal Court
Riyadh, SPA – The Royal Court said in a statement that with deep sorrow and grief, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud announced that his brother and faithful Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, passed away at dawn, on Saturday, 24 / 11/1432A.H. corresponding to 22/10/2011A.D. after suffering from an illness abroad and that a funeral prayer will be performed for the deceased Crown Prince after Asr prayer at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh on Tuesday.
The Royal Court condoled the Saudi people, praying to Almighty Allah to bestow his mercy and forgiveness upon the deceased Crown Prince, bless his soul, and grant him the best reward for his services for his religion and homeland.
Slippery slope or the inevitable consequences of human rights?
After the King granted political rights to women, even though they’ve yet to exercise them, ‘some’ Saudi women (reports Saudi Gazette) are looking for their social and legal rights to live without the constant supervision of males. A group in Jeddah is petitioning the Ministry of Labor to drop its requirements that male guardians consent to their working.
Guardianship is a far more important issue to Saudi women than being able to drive themselves around. The issues are related, of course, but guardianship limits women’s ability to live independent lives on economic and social fronts. Being required to get the permission of fathers, uncles, brothers, or even sons before women can undertake what are trivial exercises in most of the world is galling to many Saudi women. It certainly limits their ability to live as equal adults.
Annul guardian’s consent, some Saudi women say
JEDDAH – A group of Saudi women have demanded that the Minister of Labor revoke the legal stipulation that a woman must have her guardian’s consent in order to work. Campaigners made the call in a letter sent by email to Minister of Labor Adel Fakieh on Tuesday.
They said that the concept of guardianship has been abused by men. “Guardianship is for minor children not for fully competent, adult women. The Shariah has granted men and women equal rights in education and work,” they said.
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As part of its plans to put Saudis into jobs, the Ministry of Labor is putting a ceiling on the number of foreign workers who will be permitted to work in the Kingdom. Right now, they represent 31% of all those living in the Kingdom. The target is 20%. Arab News reports that this effort, part of a GCC-wide effort to repatriate jobs, will be focused on long-term workers; those brought in for specific projects would be protected.
This is going to put a terrific squeeze on foreigners who have been working in the Kingdom for 10, 20, or even more years. They do not have an easy path to Saudi citizenship, but they also do not necessarily have strong connections to their own countries anymore. Their children are in for an even tougher time as they’ve lived very little of their lives in their home countries.
3 million expats to be sent out gradually
P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR | ARAB NEWSJEDDAH: Nearly three million expatriate workers will have to leave the Kingdom in the next few years as the Labor Ministry has put a 20 percent ceiling on the country’s guest workers.
The ceiling has been set to help find jobs for Saudis and protect the country’s demographic structure.
“The maximum number of long-term expatriate workers in the Kingdom should not exceed 20 percent of the Saudi population,” Al-Eqtisadiah business daily reported Thursday, quoting the Labor Ministry.
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Asharq Alawsat reviews an interesting bit of history in his commentary by Adel Al Toraifi. It shows that the friction between Saudi Arabia and Iran is not just sectarian, that is, between Sunni and Shi’a powers, but has a very real geopolitical aspect. Basing his comments on a book by former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam (not necessarily the most reliable of sources) he details the 1984 military confrontation between the Kingdom and Iran over the waters of the Gulf. Following an Iranian attack on a Saudi tanker, in Saudi waters, the Kingdom took a much more aggressive stance, using information from AWACs aircraft – at the time, still being flown by the US Air Force – to intercept Iranian planes before they got to Saudi airspace. According to Khaddam, the strong Saudi response, including the shooting down of Iranian aircraft, led Iran to change its policies.
King Fahd and the tanker war
Adel Al ToraifiOn 5 June, 1984, two Iranian fighter jets violated Saudi airspace. This was not the first time that the Islamic regime in Iran had sought to threaten Saudi Arabia by illegally infiltrating its airspace. Saudi Arabia later sent personal messages to Imam Khomeini and then President Ali Khamenei via Syrian mediators, informing them that Saudi Arabia would not remain silent in the face of these provocations.
At that time, the Gulf was witnessing what came to be known as the “Tanker War”, with Iraq and Iran attacking each other’s oil tankers, with Saudi and Kuwaiti oil tankers also being affected by this. As a result, King Fahd – God rest his soul – issued an order to confront Iranian fighter jets [infiltrating Saudi airspace]. Saudi Arabia was able to shoot down one Iranian fighter jet, although another account reports that two planes were actually shot down. Tehran was enraged and dispatched more than a squadron of fighter jets to illegally enter Saudi airspace. Saudi Arabia responded by deploying two aircraft squadrons [to defend Saudi airspace] and thanks to the capabilities of Saudi Arabia’s air force – being equipped with Airborne Early Warning and Control system [AWACS] – Saudi Arabia was able to force Tehran to retreat. Furthermore, for a period of time Iranian aircraft was unable, for some time, to even cross outside of Iranian airspace.
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I find the publication of photos of King Abdullah on his sick bed, recovering from back surgery, to be interesting. Usually, photos of the King tend toward the hagiographic. There’s never a public photo showing him smoking, or in the white athletic shoes he normally wears, for instance. So, a photo of him, bare headed, without his eqal and ghutra is something new. I can’t tell whether he’s wearing a thobe or a hospital gown in the picture that’s running in all the papers, but he definitely not wearing the golden bisht cloak he’s usually shown in.
The release of this photo was, of course, intentional and official – is was released by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). I suspect that it was likely ordered released by the King himself. He has acquired the aura of an elder father to Saudis and showing him recuperating is something that Saudis can deal with as an image of that father figure. Even as Crown Prince, Abdullah has not liked the extremes of obeisance many of his subjects have tended to show, whether it was kissing his hand or worse. He’s pulled people from their knees before him and bluntly told them to knock it off. I think publishing this photo is another measure of his taking the public image of ‘king’ down a notch and asserting what he sees as the correct relationship between a sovereign and his subjects. It is, in fact, another little step in Saudi political reforms.
SPA Photo
Saudi media are all running stories about preparations for the upcoming Haj, due to start on/about November 4. Whether it’s new transportation systems, new security regulations, new inspections of food and housing facilities, the government has ramped up its efforts.
It is also reminding people that space is limited and there are regulations about who can attend. Arab News and Saudi Gazette both report on a statement given to the Arabic Al-Watan newspaper by the Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Aal Al-Sheikh. He points out that sinning in order to take part in a holy enterprise is, well, counterproductive. The warning applies not only to those who would seek to take part in Haj without permits, but also to those who would aid others in breaking the rules. Smuggling un-permitted pilgrims into Mecca, for example, earns no points for righteous behavior and in fact breaks the law.
As one of the greatest gatherings of humans in a single space, Haj presents considerable challenges. Pilgrims need to be housed and fed, of course, but their medical needs need to be attended. With many pilgrims performing their one-in-a-lifetime visit at advanced ages, that is not a trivial exercise. Then there’s traffic and crowd control, an area where mistakes and miscues have caused hundreds of deaths in the past. As it is, the Saudis try to limit participation fairly. They issue Haj Visas to 1,000 people per million of a country’s population, with a certain ‘fudge factor’. They ask Saudis – and expats living in the Kingdom – to limit their attendance to once every five years. Once Haj has been performed, it is no longer necessary to perform it again, but many see it as a way to accrue additional blessings. Breaking laws to get those blessings just really isn’t on.
Haj without permits unlawful: Mufti
P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR | ARAB NEWSJEDDAH: Saudi Arabia sought to discourage Saudis and expatriates from performing pilgrimage this year without valid Haj permits with an intensified public awareness campaign through the media.
The country’s grand mufti also said it was unlawful to do Haj without permits. “Helping pilgrims to enter the holy sites without Haj permits goes against the law and the ruler, and those who perform Haj without permits are doing an unlawful thing,” Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh said in a statement distributed by the Makkah governorate.
The mufti also spoke against the practice of squatting in public places by pilgrims, saying such practice would reduce their rewards as they cause problems to the Kingdom’s Haj managers and fellow pilgrims by obstructing walkways.
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Asharq Alawsat runs commentary by its Deputy Editor-in-Chief Ali Ibrahim who sees both Syria and Iran behaving like merchants in a bizaar, haggling over issues while the roof is collapsing over their heads. Iran is backing off of some of its blunt repudiation of any assassination bid and being schooled that the Geneva Conventions on Consular Relations do not apply to dual-nationals, as well as having to acknowledge the fact that the US has met with Iranian officials on the matter despite Iranian claims to the contrary. Syria is trying to bargain for a delay in international sanctions by claiming it needs time to write new laws and in the meantime gunning down protestors.
Iran and Syria: Bazaar tactics
Ali IbrahimThere are a lot of similarities between Iran and Syria’s crisis management strategies. Often the methods are comparable to the bazaar merchants in terms of bartering, bargaining, and buying time in the hope of improving the terms of the deal and securing the best price!
In Iran, after a series of fiery statements in response to the plot that the United States recently declared to have uncovered, – the plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in Washington – the Iranian authorities have taken a small step backwards by declaring, in the words of the Iranian Foreign Minister, that they are prepared to calmly consider the charges lodged against them. In a letter to Washington, Iran requested that America provide it with the relevant information, and facilitate a consular visit to the accused Iranian who is currently being detained in connection to this plot.
This shift came after this unprecedented case was referred to the [UN] Security Council, which may yet discuss the plot and issue resolutions. Remarkably, the shift also came after the harsh comments issued by the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and hard-line members of parliament, threatening doom and despair.
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