Sadara Chemical Company names new CEO
Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara), which recently announced commercial operations of the full chemical complex in Jubail Industrial City II, has appointed Faisal Al-Faqeer of Saudi Aramco as the new chief executive officer. Al-Faqeer also subsequently resigned from Sadara’s board of directors.
Al-Faqeer brings with him years of experience in the oil and gas industry, having led different functions within Saudi Aramco including engineering consulting services, research and development, and refining. Most recently, he was nominated to the Sadara board of directors as a member in January and acted as the general manager for Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura refinery, the largest refinery in the Middle East.
“I am excited by this opportunity to lead Sadara as the company enters into the full operations phase,” said Al-Faqeer. “The Sadara family has built a solid foundation and gained impressive momentum during its commissioning and startup phase, and I eagerly look forward to joining the team and leading the company forward to become a global player in the chemical industry,” he added.
Ahmad Al-Saadi, Sadara’s chairman of the board, said: “Sadara is beginning an exciting new chapter, and Al-Faqeer was appointed to help guide the company through this new reality. He is an accomplished leader with strong business insights and a passion for what we are trying to accomplish in Sadara. We are lucky to have someone of his caliber to lead Sadara as the company continues to grow and evolve.”
Al-Faqeer replaces Ziad Al-Labban who joined Sadara in October 2012 and was responsible for building the company including its physical assets, organization, processes and procedures and then bringing those assets on stream. During the last five years these objectives have been met and Sadara is commercially operational. The CEO transition was planned and Ziad will assume new responsibilities with Saudi Aramco.
Comprising 26 world-scale manufacturing units, the Sadara chemical complex is the world’s largest to be built in a single phase and is the only chemical company in the Middle East to use refinery liquids, such as naphtha, as feedstock.