Two Western players, Italy’s Italmatch Chemicals and Colonial Chemicals of the US, have recently signed investment plans that will see them manufacturing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for the wider Gulf region. Terms were not disclosed in either case.

Together with Biolab Arabia, Genoa-based Italmatch has created a 60-40 joint venture called Italmatch Biolab Industrial. This will make performance additives for applications in water and process treatment, and the oil and gas sector, with a focus on thermal and membrane based desalination, at Al-Jubail.