Shortly after the Saudi Cabinet approved the Petroleum and Petrochemical Law, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday the regulation aims to achieve a set of goals, mainly regulating petroleum and petrochemical operations, in a manner that contributes to economic growth.
The law also backs efforts to attract investments, elevates employment rates, upgrades energy efficiency, safeguards consumers and licensees, while ensuring product quality and creating a competitive environment that fuels fair economic yields for investors, the Minister said.
Prince Abdulaziz expressed his gratitude to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, for the Cabinet’s decision to approve the new law.
He praised the Saudi leadership for its support and empowerment of the energy sector, and its contribution in boosting the sector’s productivity to achieve the targets of Vision 2030.
The new law helps in building the local energy sector’s legislative framework, Prince Abdulaziz went on to say.
“This is accomplished by leveraging the top-tier international practices, boosting performance, achieving national objectives, and ensuring the optimal use of petroleum and petrochemical resources,” he said.
The new law, replacing the Petroleum Products Trade Law, helps ensure the security and reliability of local petroleum and petrochemical supplies, the minister explained.
This is on top of achieving optimal utilization of raw materials, supporting the localization of the industry’s value chain, enabling national strategies and plans, and enhancing the control and supervision of petroleum and petrochemical operations to step up compliance with laws and regulations, he added.
The new law combats practice violations by regulating the activities of use, sale, purchase, transportation, storage, export, import, packaging, and processing of these resources.
It also regulates the establishment and operation of distribution channels and petrochemical facilities, said Prince Abdulaziz.
