Iranian versus Saudi Arabian Petrochemical Industry

I created the following table in hopes of more easily comparing Iran’s petrochemical industry to Saudi Arabia’s:

category	data	iran	saudi arabia	positive iran or positive saudi arabia or equal
demographics	population	81 M	33 M	+ir
demographics	land area	1.6 M square km	2.2 M square km	equal
demographics	median age	29	25	equal
demographics	percentage of population less than 30 years old	60% less than 30	60% less than 30	equal
human development	percentage STEM graduates	44%	23%	+ir
human development	gnp per person	$5,500	$19,830	+sa
human development	human development index	0.75, 69th country from top	0.84, 38th country from top	+sa
human development	unemployment rate	11 to 14%	5 to 6%	+sa
human development	college graduates	13%	23%	equal
human development	global innovation index	65 on country ranking (fast ascension)	61 on country ranking	equal
human development	literacy	85 to 88%	75 to 80%	equal
human development	percentage goes to college	> 60%	> 60%	equal
human development	percentage of population with college degree	18%	23%	equal
macroeconomics	foreign direct investment (net inflows)	0.6% of GDP	1.1% of GDP	+sa
macroeconomics	gnp	$447 B	$646 B	+sa
macroeconomics	inflation rate	9.9% 2017	-0.8% 2017	+sa
macroeconomics	international sanctions	yes	no	+sa
macroeconomics	governance	theocracy	monarchy	equal
petrochemical industry	natural gas reserves	34 trillion cu m	8 trillion cu m	+ir
petrochemical industry	petrochemical number of special economic zones	2 with 34 chemical plants	0	+ir
petrochemical industry	percentage of global petrochemical market	5 to 10%	10 to 15%	+sa
petrochemical industry	petrochemical capacity	70 to 75 M mt	90 to 100 M mt	+sa
petrochemical industry	petrochemical exports	20 to 25 M mt $10 to $15 B	$30 to 35B	+sa
petrochemical industry	petrochemical major agreements with foreign chemical companies/ states	in Iran - China	in China - SINOPEC; in USA -ExxonMobil; in Jubail - Total; in South Korea - SK; in Malaysia - Petronas; in yanbu - ExxonMobil	+sa
petrochemical industry	petrochemical production	55 to 65 M mt - 2017	75 to 90 M mt	+sa
petrochemical industry	petrochemical raw material (natural gas) costs	$2 per M btu	$0.75 per M btu (fixed by state)	+sa
petrochemical industry	petrochemical revenues	$20 to 25 B - 2016	$60 to 65 B - 2014	+sa
petrochemical industry	export markets	Turkey, China, India, South Korea	China, India, South Korea, Japan	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical capacity goals	120 M mt by 2020;  160 M mt by 2025	115 to 120 M mt	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical hub land area	asaluyeh - 52 square km; mahshahr - 45 square km	jubail - 90 square km; yanbu -49 square km	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical hubs (clusters)	asaluyeh;  marhshahr	jubail; yanbu	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical imports	$7.3 B - 2011	$16 B - 2015	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical industry history	from 1960s	from 1970s	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical planned state investments	$41 B, completing 36 sites; $20B developing 3rd hub at chabahar	$20 B Saudi Aramco - SABIC; $42 B - state	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical plant numbers	57	70	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical plant numbers that are state-owned	80%	60%	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical production focus on high margin products	yes	yes	equal

Data is shown for both Iran and Saudi Arabia in 40 topic areas (e.g., population, land area, etc.).   These topic areas are ones that I concluded are relevant to accessing a company’s overall petrochemical industry capability.   Also, only topics could be used where I was able to find (researching the Internet) what I considered to be sufficiently accurate data for the topic.  

I have categorized the topics to whether they deal mostly with demographics, human development, macroeconomics, or a petrochemical industry’s characterization.

for each of the four categories, I compared the data on Iran against the data on Saudi Arabia.  The results of these comparisons (plus Iran, plus Saudi Arabia, or equal) appear in the table for each topic under the “positive iran or positive Saudi Arabia or equal” column.

Based on the comparisons I made the following conclusions about how Iran’s petrochemical industry compares to Sadia Arabia’s:

Demographics

Overall positive for Iran because of the 2.5 times population advantage (81 million population versus 31 million).

Human Development

Overall positive for Saudi Arabia because of being much higher on the human development index (the 38^th country from the top for Saudi Arabia versus 69^th from the top for Iran).

Macroeconomics

Overall positive for Saudi Arabia because more of its macroeconomic data is better and because of international sanctions affecting Iran.

Petrochemical Industry

Overall positive for Saudi Arabia because of lower production costs and greater access to technology.

It seems to me that a country’s demographics, human development, and aspects of tis macroeconomics do influence the success of an industry, such as petrochemicals.   So, considering this and the above conclusions, I would say Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical industry at present is stronger (more successful) than Iran’s.