Fuel Overview

Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Gulf region with a population of 33 million, and the largest economy in the Arab World with a GDP of $ 782 billion. It is the only G-20-member country in the region. The Saudia Arabian Government (SAG) exercises control over main economic activities of the country’s oil-based economy.  Saudi Arabia has almost 16 percent of the world's proven petroleum reserves, plays a principal role in OPEC, is one of the world’s largest producer and exporter of crude oil, and is a large-scale oil refiner and producer of natural gas. According to Forbes Magazine, petroleum accounts for roughly 87 percent of budget revenues, 32 percent of GDP, and 81 percent of export earnings.

 Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian public petroleum and natural gas company based in Dhahran. As of 2020, it is one of the largest companies in the world by revenue. Saudi Aramco has both the world's second-largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 270 billion barrels (43 billion cubic metres),and largest daily oil production of all oil-producing companies. It is the single greatest contributor to global carbon emissions of any company in the world since 1965.

Saudi Aramco operates the world's largest single hydrocarbon network, the Master Gas System. In 2013 crude oil production total was 3.4 billion barrels (540 million cubic metres), and it manages over one hundred oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabia, including 288.4 trillion standard cubic feet (scf) of natural gas reserves. Saudi Aramco operates the Ghawar Field, the world's largest onshore oil field, and the Safaniya Field, the world's largest offshore oil field.

In November 2019 Saudi Arabian- Oil Company (Aramco) announced its plan to list stock for public purchase for the first time in the company’s 86-year history.  It plans to sell 1.5% of its outstanding shares.  In 2018, Aramco made $111 billion dollars in profit, making it the most profitable company in the world (The second-most profitable company, Apple, made $60 billion that year).

For more information on government and fuel provider contact details, please see the following links: 4.1 Government Contact List and 4.7 Fuel Providers Contact List.

Information may also be found at: https://www.aramco.com/en/creating-value/products/retail-fuels which is updated monthly. 

Fuel Pricing

Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) – public petroleum and natural gas company– reviews and updates the domestic fuel prices on the 10^th of every month.  

Seasonal Variations 

Fuel Transportation

Transportation of fuel takes place through a huge fleet of road tankers equipped with the latest environmental, security and safety technologies that can carry different form of petroleum products produced by Saudi Aramco. The fleet of road tankers offers flexible transport options with various tankers sizes and capacities. (18,000 liters / 20,000 liters / 33,000 liters / 36000 liters). Fuel transportation operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week including public and national holidays, in order to fulfil the market needs.

Standards, Quality and Testing

SASO (Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization) is government body with regulatory tasks according to their specializations, which are responsible for the implementation and enforcement of technical regulations, whether in customs, markets, or manufactories. The Technical Regulation for Petroleum Products Transportation Tanks can be found through this link:  https://saso.gov.sa/en/Laws-And-Regulations/Technical_regulations/Documents/TR%20-%20Tanks%20%E2%80%93%20Part%201%20Petromleum%20Prodcuts%20Transportation%20Tanks.pdf

For the list of the Accredited fuel quality testing laboratory please check the following link https://www.saac.gov.sa/en/eServices/pages/accreditedbodies.aspx

Disclaimer: Inclusion of company information in the LCA does not imply any business relationship between the supplier and WFP / Logistics Cluster, and is used solely as a determinant of services, and capacities.

Please note: WFP / Logistics Cluster maintain complete impartiality and are not in a position to endorse, comment on any company's suitability as a reputable service provider.

The logistics industry in KSA is one of the major logistics markets in the world after UAE and is expected to be the next transshipment hub for Asian, African, and European countries, given the favorable location of KSA. Growth in the industry has been stimulated due to the high ease of doing business and ranked 89th position in the World. The industry is dominated by sea and land freight movements considering the strong position in oil exports and import dependency for all the essential products. The country has strong trade relations with Asian countries, European countries, and the US. Land freight is usually common with UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, and Egypt.

The competition in the logistics market in KSA can be divided on the basis of different service segments including Freight Forwarding, Contract Logistics (Warehousing), and Express Delivery. Domestic and International players such as Bahri Logistics, Kanoo Terminal, Kuehne + Nagel, DB Schenker, DHL, Agility were identified to be dominant when it comes to air freight and sea freight, as they are associated with conglomerates or have a strong brand name in the global market.  Local domestic transporters dominate the road freight market on the basis of the type of fleets, number of trucks, prices, delivery periods, and more.

For more information on transport company contact details, please see the following link: 4.8 Transporter Contact List.

Disclaimer: Inclusion of company information in the LCA does not imply any business relationship between the supplier and WFP / Logistics Cluster, and is used solely as a determinant of services, and capacities.

Please note: WFP / Logistics Cluster maintain complete impartiality and are not in a position to endorse, comment on any company's suitability as a reputable service provider.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Development was established under the Royal Decree issued in the last month of 1380H under the name of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Since its inception, the Ministry has promoted the development of local communities and has taken care of community committees, provincial councils, centres, and its consolidation with three objectives:

• To formulate the general policy for social and labor affairs in the Kingdom within the values, principles and systems of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Project planning and implementation.
• To participate in guiding the social development in the Kingdom in a balanced direction aimed to raise the awareness of the citizens, improving their standard of living and creating the elements of a decent life within their spiritual and moral values and supporting them to build an integrated society.

The Saudi Labour law https://hrsd.gov.sa/sites/default/files/LABOR%20LAW.pdf

The Implementing Regulations of Labour Law and its Annexes https://hrsd.gov.sa/sites/default/files/The%20Implementing%20Regulations%20of%20Labor%20Law%20and%20its%20Annexes.pdf

Overview

Saudi Arabia’s telecom and ICT sectors continue to benefit from the range of programs aimed at diversifying the economy away from a dependence on oil and establishing a wider digital transformation over the next decade. An essential element of this has been the widening reach of 5G networks, which by mid-2021 reached about half of the population and the majority of cities.

The competitive mobile sector is serviced by Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Mobily, and Zain KSA, as also four licensed Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs). The Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have focussed investment on upgrading LTE infrastructure and further developing 5G. This in part is aimed at generating additional revenue from mobile data services, and also to their contribution to the Vision 2030 program. The ongoing pandemic has resulted in more people working and schooling from home during periods of restricted travel. This has stimulated growth in mobile data traffic, while the government has encouraged non-cash transactions and so helped develop the vast e-commerce market.

While Saudi Arabia’s fixed broadband penetration remains relatively low, there has been a concentration of fibre infrastructure and the Kingdom has developed one of the fastest services in the region.

Telecommunications Regulations

Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is the Government body that oversees all information and communication technology in the Kingdom. It is responsible for planning and implementing the Government’s policies and strategies for the telecoms sector.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) is responsible for regulating the ICT and postal sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Telecommunications Act, issued by Royal Decree, provide the legal framework for organizing this sector. This Act involves a number of objectives such as: Providing advanced and adequate telecommunication services with affordable prices, creating an appropriate atmosphere to encourage fair competition, using frequencies effectively, localization of telecommunication technology and managing recent advancements, clarity and transparency in procedures, equality and neutrality, protection of the public interest as well as the interest of users and investors.

Council of Ministers

The Council of Ministers (the “Council”) must sanction the granting of any licence under the Telecom Act.

Existing Humanitarian Telecoms Systems

There are no existing humanitarian telecoms systems set in the Kingdom however it is possible to be established under the rules and regulations sets by CITC as following:

In addition to the requirements and documents requested in Frequency Licenses Required section it is also requested to submit the following:

• Certified copies of the original documents authorizing the signatory(ies)
• Certified copies of the official identity documents (National ID or iqama) of the authorized signatory(ies) along with the original for verification.
• The Applicant shall submit a certified copy of a valid Commercial Registration along with the original for verification in the name of the Applicant which includes a business activity related to Communications or Information Technology

After CITC has verified that the Applicant has provided all of the required information and the required frequencies are available, the Applicant shall then be requested to:

• Pay the prescribed fees through the SADAD payment system. Details of the relevant invoice number can be obtained by contacting the CITC Financial Accounts Department
• Pay the annual spectrum fees in accordance with the CITC process which is required prior to issuance of the license.
• Submit the final agreement between the applicant and the satellite capacity provider.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

According to The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) report on internet speeds in the Kingdom (Meqyas) for Q3 2020 - In which the report compared the speeds of service providers in the Kingdom through download, upload and 5G speeds, ranks the best performing operators in each region - Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) came in the first place in terms of mobile internet average download speed, with 78.17 Mbps. Meanwhile, Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily) and Mobile Telecommunication Company Saudi Arabia (Zain KSA) came in the second and third places with 67.71 Mbps and 61.58 Mbps, respectively. Zain KSA ranked first in terms of fixed mobile internet average download speed, with 110.88 Mbps, followed by Integrated Telecom with 84.79 Mbps and Mobily with 76.68 Mbps.

Mobile Network Operators (MNOs)

Three main companies handle mobile phones in Saudi Arabia. These are STC (Saudi Telecom Company), Zain, and Mobily.

For information on MNOs please visit the GSM Association website.

In 2019 Saudi Arabia was the number 18 economy in the world in terms of GDP (current US$), the number 26 in total exports, the number 32 in total imports, the number 43 economy in terms of GDP per capita (current US$) and the number 33 most complex economy according to the Economic Complexity Index (ECI). The top exports of Saudi Arabia are Crude Petroleum ($145B), Refined Petroleum ($21.8B), Ethylene Polymers ($11.1B), Propylene Polymers ($5.88B), and Acyclic Alcohols ($4.28B), exporting mostly to China ($45.8B), India ($25.1B), Japan ($24.5B), South Korea ($19.5B), and United States ($12.2B). In 2019, Saudi Arabia was the world's biggest exporter of Crude Petroleum ($145B), Ethylene Polymers ($11.1B), Propylene Polymers ($5.88B), Acyclic Alcohols ($4.28B), and Ammonia ($1.78B).

The top imports of Saudi Arabia are Cars ($12.5B), Broadcasting Equipment ($4.1B), Refined Petroleum ($3.87B), Packaged Medicaments ($2.95B), and Telephones ($2.5B), importing mostly from China ($26.5B), United Arab Emirates ($17.9B), United States ($13.4B), Germany ($7.08B), and Japan ($6.55B). In 2019, Saudi Arabia was the world's biggest importer of Armored vehicles ($1.87B), Iron Reductions ($1.33B), Tug Boats ($889M), Sheep and Goats ($641M), and Nutmeg, mace and cardamoms ($195M).

The Observatory of Economic Complexity – MIT (OEC): https://oec.world/en/profile/country/sau

Disclaimer: Inclusion of company information in the LCA does not imply any business relationship between the supplier and WFP / Logistics Cluster, and is used solely as a determinant of services, and capacities.

Please note: WFP / Logistics Cluster maintain complete impartiality and are not in a position to endorse, comment on any company's suitability as a reputable service provider.

Accommodation

Though the increasing religious travel to the country is encouraging investments, the hospitality industry in Saudi Arabia is recording dynamic key performance indicators . The kingdom is focusing on improving investment opportunities through the introduction of several projects. Qiddiya, The Red Sea Development, Amaala, NEOM, Al Ula, Wadi Al Disah Development are the major projects launched by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia in 2018 and are aiming at fulfilling the target Vision 2030. The increasing religious and leisure travel to the Kingdom has opened investment opportunities in the hospitality industry and resulted in an increasing number of new hotels opening in the key cities. The top-performing international brands opened more than 20 new hotels a few directly with their brand name and a few through strategic partnerships with the leading domestic hospitality groups and added more than 8,200 rooms/keys to the existing supply covering all segments of the market. Jeddah recorded the highest average daily revenue value among the top competitive markets across the globe with USD 284. Makkah, Riyadh and Dammam/ Al Khobar are also among the top 10 locations that recorded the highest average daily revenue across the world with USD 176, USD 170 and USD 132 respectively during 2019 (pre-covid19) making the region an attractive market for investors.

Electricity and Power

By end-2020, Saudi Arabia had an installed generation capacity of 79.7 GW, of which nearly 87 per cent (69.1 GW) was owned by SEC and the remaining 13 per cent by independent power producers (IPPs). SEC’s capacity includes 15.9 GW of capacity that is jointly owned in partnership with other companies. Majority of the country’s capacity is based on thermal sources comprising natural gas, crude oil, diesel and heavy fuel oil.

Saudi Arabia has started adding RE capacity to its generation mix by setting up solar PV plants over the last couple of years. In November 2019, the ACWA Power-led joint venture (JV) completed Saudi Arabia’s first utility-scale solar farm—the 300 MW Sakaka PV IPP project.

Saudi Arabia has four interconnections with the neighbouring countries of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE through the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) interconnection project. As of 2020, Saudi Arabia’s transmission network comprised about 89,100 circuit-km of line length and 1,150 substations at voltage 110 kV to 380 kV. Around half the network comprises of 110 kV−132 kV transmission lines, while SEC also owns 80,900 circuit-km of fibre optic lines and about 702,100 circuit-km of distribution lines.

Financial Services

According to The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) annual report for the year 2020 indicated the stability of the financial system to support economic growth. Additionally, in 2020, money supply grew by 8.3 percent to SAR 2,149.3 billion. Despite the circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Saudi banking sector remained resilient and stable, owing to the actions and measures undertaken collectively by SAMA and Saudi banks. Such actions and measures played a significant role in mitigating the adverse impacts of the pandemic on the private and banking sectors. Commercial banks displayed its good performance in 2020, with their total assets increasing by 13.2 percent to SAR 2,979.5 billion and total banking deposits by 8.2 percent to SAR 1,943 billion. Furthermore, the Report shed light on SAMA's efforts in the area of oversight and supervision through effective supervision of the financial sector in order to boost the sector's sentiment and ensure its soundness and achieve highest levels of efficiency. At the end of 2020, the Basel III capital adequacy ratio reached 20.3 percent, the liquidity coverage ratio 200.58 percent and the net stable funding ratio 127.19 percent. These indicators demonstrate the resilience of the Saudi banking system and its satisfactory liquidity levels that are available to support all sectors of the national economy. 

The Report also included SAMA's endeavours to fulfil the mandates entrusted to it in line with national economy requirements to counter global challenges and realize the Saudi Vision 2030. This includes promoting financial inclusion, developing the finance ecosystem for SMEs, supporting real estate finance, developing modern payment systems and methods, developing the FinTech sector, and continuing the regulation and development of the insurance sector

List of Banks in KSA : https://www.swiftbic.com/banks-in-SAUDI-ARABIA.html

Clearing and Forwarding Agents

Conditions to Practice Customs Clearance Activity in KSA https://www.customs.gov.sa/themes/custom/customs/files/agreements/customs_clearance/en.pdf

Postal and Courier Services

Parcel transfer regulations in KSA https://www.citc.gov.sa/en/services/licensing/Documents/parcelregulations.pdf

List of licensed  courier companies in KSA https://www.citc.gov.sa/ar/services/licensing/Pages/postalissuedlicenses.aspx

Printing and Publishing

KSA ranked one of the top three in the publishing business in the Middle East, with investments in the local sector valued at over ASR 5 billion annually, comprising 400 publishing houses and 4000 personnel in printing, publishing, distribution and selling. the number of high-production-volume publishing houses that publish 500 titles is 100, while the rest publish between one and five books each year. some publishing houses produce quality books made with ink and papers imported from Japan, Russia and Germany, which explains the high cost of Saudi books in the Kingdom compared to other books in Egypt and Lebanon, which are made using local raw materials.

Taxi Companies

The Public Transport Authority (PTA), in cooperation with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), has started to implement qualitative changes in the Kingdom’s taxi sector. Taxis are obliged to use a regulated fare system for inner-city and inter-cities travel, meters, as well as electronic payment facilities. Vehicles are also linked to modern tracking technologies and maps, as well as green exterior to be clearly identifiable.

The minimum rate is fixed for short-distance travel, the distance travel would determine the rates for long trips, and this is also applied to bus and train tickets. The PTA proposed that the cost of daily commute should not exceed 5% of a family’s daily average income and it should not exceed 10% of income when travelling long distances in trips from small cities and suburban areas.

Training program for taxi drivers has also been started by the PTA in all regions of the Kingdom. This also includes major airports and contains specialized training courses, focusing to develop the skills of drivers in serving tourists and visitors, raise the level of professional competence of drivers in dealing with customers and enrich the experience of visitors to the Kingdom in general.

Vehicle Rental

The car rental and leasing market in Saudi Arabia was valued at ~SAR 6.9bn in 2019. The sector has witnessed consistent growth in the past few years. However, in 2020, the sector was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and the subsequent restrictive measures, including travel ban and suspension of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. The car rental business was the most impacted, while vehicle leasing was relatively stable. Companies in the sector with diverse fleet utilization, across renting and leasing, were able to mitigate the impact to some extent. Furthermore, an increase in used-car sales helped in partly offsetting the effect of lower revenue from car renting. The sector is slowly recovering, although operating conditions are yet to normalize fully. The improved in 2021, with recent opening of international borders, and anticipated increase in the vaccination rate and a better Hajj and Umrah season compared to 2020. In the long run, in-line with the higher vaccination drive, both renting and leasing businesses are likely to regain the growth momentum, driven by increased business activities, opening of the economy, high disposable incomes, the new visa policy, and focus on boosting tourism.

Waste Management and Disposal Services

Saudi Arabia has been witnessing rapid industrialization, high population growth rate and fast urbanization which have resulted in increased levels of pollution and waste. Solid waste management is becoming a big challenge for the government and local bodies with each passing day. With population of around 29 million, Saudi Arabia generates more than 15 million tons of solid waste per year. The per capita waste generation is estimated at 1.5 to 1.8 kg per person per day.

More than 75 percent of the population is concentrated in urban areas which make it necessary for the government to initiate measures to improve recycling and waste management scenario in the country. Solid waste generation in the three largest cities – Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam – exceeds 6 million tons per annum which gives an indication of the enormity of the problem faced by civic bodies. 

Waste Disposal - Non-hazardous

In Saudi Arabia, garbage is collected from individual or community bins and disposed of in landfills or dumpsites. Saudi waste management system is characterized by lack of waste disposal facilities and absence of tipping fees. Most of the landfills are expected to reach their capacities within the next 10 years. Recycling, reuse and energy recovery is still at an early stage, although they are getting increased attention. Waste sorting and recycling are driven by an active informal sector. Recycling rate ranges from 10-15%, mainly due to the presence of the informal sector which extracts paper, metals and plastics from municipal waste. Recycling activities are mostly manual and labour intensive. Composting is also gaining increased interest in Saudi Arabia due to the high organic content of MSW (around 40%).  Efforts are also underway to deploy waste-to-energy technologies in the Kingdom. All activities related to waste management are coordinated and financed by the government.

The Saudi government is aware of the critical demand for waste management solutions and is investing heavily in solving this problem. The 2017 national budget allocated SR 54 billion for the municipal services sector, which includes water drainage and waste disposal. The Saudi government is making concerted efforts to improve recycling and waste disposal activities.  Recently the Saudi Government approved new regulations to ensure an integrated framework for the management of municipal wastes. The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs will be responsible for overseeing the tasks and responsibilities of the solid waste management system.

waste management Companies in Saudi Arabia https://www.environmental-expert.com/companies/keyword-waste-management-272/location-saudi-arabia

Waste Disposal - Hazardous

Hazard waste disposal manual produced by King Fahd university http://www.kfshrc.edu.sa/Packages/ForEmployees/SafetyManualDocuments/employee%20safety%20manual-8.pdf

Disclaimer: Inclusion of company information in the LCA does not imply any business relationship between the supplier and WFP / Logistics Cluster, and is used solely as a determinant of services, and capacities.

Please note: WFP / Logistics Cluster maintain complete impartiality and are not in a position to endorse, comment on any company's suitability as a reputable service provider.