By Malini Hariharan Saudi Arabia's growing oil demand is rapidly
becoming a matter of concern for the country's planners. A new
report forecasts that the Kingdom could fail to meet domestic
demand in 2030 if current consumption trends are maintained.
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter, is already
consuming a third of its output and has one of the highest per
capita consumption levels. And demand is projected to grow
rapidly in the coming years especially from the power sector
which is expected to expand at 7-8% annually for the next ten
years. How the government responds to this challenge has
implications for the rest of the world and also extends to the
petrochemicals industry. The efforts so far are focused on
boosting crude oil production and investing in alternatives such
as solar and nuclear power which would free up oil for lucrative
exports. Plans have already been made to build 16 nuclear
reactors over the next 20 years at a cost of more than $300bn
and nuclear power is projected to