The new chief executive of Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), Abdulrahman al-Fageeh, has been appointed as an executive board member at the company’s ordinary general assembly.

The move comes weeks after Al-Fageeh was named as the company’s chief executive.

Al-Fageeh succeeded Yousef al-Benyan, who resigned from his position as Sabic’s chief executive to assume his role as Saudi Arabia’s new education minister.

During the firm's ordinary general assembly meeting, the chairman of Sabic, Khalid al-Dabbagh, said: “The year 2022 was exceptional, with its fluctuations and challenges, yet Sabic managed to face the challenges by intensifying its development programmes to achieve record numbers in terms of production, sales and revenues that exceeded the achievements of the previous year.

“However, its net profits have not met its aspirations and have shrunk compared to last year due to the worsening global conditions.”

He added: "Over the past year, Sabic has been strengthening its integration activities with Saudi Aramco, which resulted in many achievements.

“Sabic marketed chemicals and polymers from Aramco’s joint ventures, supplying them to customers in China, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

“The integration between the two companies extended to include several new projects planned to be established.

“Sabic continues to operate its business responsibly and profitably for the long term, incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into all investment decision-making processes and complying with these practices at all levels,” he added.

Sabic has successfully faced the challenging global conditions by investing in its collaborative relationship with Saudi Aramco, Al-Fageeh said. This led to the supply of the world's first commercial shipment of independently certified blue ammonia to South Korea.

“It is also focusing on strong capital discipline to enhance profitability and future growth opportunities, adding more investments to develop information technology infrastructure, benefit from digital transformation and rely on the effective use of Big Data tools to be more proactive and data-driven,” he added.

Al-Fageeh said that Sabic is pursuing plans to manage working capital through the Cash Cost Transformation programme, and is trying to achieve sustainable growth, adopt long-term strategic goals for sustainability and reduce emissions related to the life cycle of its products across the value chain.