The Fourth Development Plan (1985–90), the first published during King Fahd’s reign, gave a clear and succinct description of the industrial sector of the Saudi economy.

Industrial development of the Kingdom is of comparatively recent origin and essentially comprises three components:

First, are the SABIC (Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation) enterprises, which comprise mainly the downstream hydrocarbon industries and, to a lesser degree, the heavy metals industry. These industries are capital-and energy-intensive, utilizing raw material feedstock from the oil and gas industries, and their petrochemicals output is primarily for export. The production plants are technologically very advanced, and the controlling companies are usually joint ventures with foreign partners who have varying degrees of control, but never above 50%. These industries are normally referred to as the “basic” industry sector.

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