KUWAIT CITY, Aug 4: The Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) announced a net profit of KD58.5 million for fiscal 2024/2025 – an increase of KD19.5 million or 33.3 percent compared to the profit of KD39 million in the last fiscal year. Oil sector sources pointed out that this strong financial performance was achieved despite the challenges posed by geopolitical instability; specifically, the disruptions in global supply chains and widespread shift to long-haul shipping routes, which significantly increased logistics costs. Sources attributed the company’s robust performance to several factors as follows:

Strategic Acquisitions and International Expansion Looking ahead, PIC is well-positioned for continuous profitability, driven by recent and upcoming acquisitions approved by KPC.

Among the most significant is the April 2025 agreement with China’s Wanhua Chemical Group to acquire a 25 percent stake in a group of petrochemical plants in Yantai, China. The deal covers several high-value industrial units, including propylene oxide, tert-butyl alcohol, acrylic acid, butyl acrylate, and other specialty chemical products PIC is also evaluating new investment opportunities, both locally and internationally, over the next two years, with the aim of expanding its chemical production portfolio.

Its current investment portfolio includes 80 percent stake in Kuwait Paraxylene Production Company (KPPC), 46 percent in Kuwait Stearin Company (KTSC), 24.5 percent in Equate Petrochemical Company (EQUATE), 42.5 percent in The Kuwait Olefins Company (TKOC), 33.3 percent in Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC), 25 percent in SK Advance (South Korea) and 49 percent in SKPIC Global (South Korea) The company reaffirmed its commitment to environmental stewardship, emphasizing ongoing initiatives to reduce industrial pollutants and support Kuwait’s national goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Furthermore, PIC’s strategic direction aligns with the 2040 strategy of KPC, aiming to strengthen Kuwait’s position as a leading player in the global petrochemical industry.

Meanwhile, the Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) has announced the extension of the deadline for submitting bids for the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) tender to establish a new excess water injection network in Rawdatain in North Kuwait until Aug 19, instead of Aug 5. It was also published in Kuwait Al-Youm that the tender for the construction and installation of the fourth water injection station in the South Kuwait, affiliated with KOC, was postponed until Aug 26, instead of Aug 5.

The tender for the construction and installation of separation center three and water injection station three in South Kuwait was postponed until Aug 19, instead of Aug 5. Moreover, CAPT postponed the submission of bids for the KOC tender for the construction and installation of the oil separation center one and water injection station one in East Kuwait until Aug 26, instead of Aug 5.

By Najeh Bilal
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff

A currency trader smiles near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), (left), and the foreign exchange rate between US dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, on Aug 4. (AP)

BANGKOK, Aug 4, (AP): Global shares advanced Monday after Wall Street had its worst day since May following the release of weak US jobs data. France’s CAC 40 added 0.8% in early trading to 7,609.44, while the German DAX rose nearly 1.0% to 23,702.42. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.4% to 9,108.28. US shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures up 0.6% at 43,951.00. S&P 500 futures rose 0.6% to 6,302.75.

Markets in Asia had already reacted on Friday to US President Donald Trump’s announcement late Thursday of sweeping tariffs on imports from many US trading partners. The new import duties are set to take effect on Thursday. The signs of trouble on the US economic horizon have raised hopes that the Federal Reserve may relent and cut interest rates, analysts said.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 1.3%, bouncing back from bigger losses earlier in the day to finish at 40,290.70. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 0.9% to 24,733.45, while the Shanghai Composite index climbed nearly 0.7% to 3,583.31. In South Korea, the Kospi surged 0.9% to 3,147.75. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was nearly unchanged at 8,663.70.

Investors’ worries about a weakening US economy deepened after the latest report on job growth in the U.S. showed employers added just 73,000 jobs in July. That is sharply lower than economists expected. The Labor Department also reported that revisions shaved a stunning 258,000 jobs off May and June payrolls. “The labor market, once a pillar of resilience, is now looking more like a late-cycle casualty, as soft data begin to replace soft landings in market discourse,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

Trump’s decision to order the immediate firing of the head of the government agency that produces the monthly jobs figures raised concern over whether there might be interference in future data. The surprisingly weak hiring numbers led investors to step up their expectations the Fed will cut interest rates in September. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.21% from 4.39% just before the hiring report was released. That’s a big move for the bond market. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed actions, plunged to 3.68% from 3.94% just prior to the report’s release.  

Workers assemble a car at the Vinfast electric vehicle plant in Thoothukudi , in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu on Aug 4. (AP)

THOOTHUKUDI, India, Aug 4, (AP):  Vietnam’s Vinfast began production at a $500 million electric vehicle plant in southern India’s Tamil Nadu state on Monday, part of a planned $2 billion investment in India and a broader expansion across Asia. The factory in Thoothukudi will initially make 50,000 electric vehicles annually, with room to triple output to 150,000 cars.

Given its proximity to a major port in one of India’s most industrialized states, Vinfast hopes it will be a hub for future exports to the region. It says the factory will create more than 3,000 local jobs. The Vietnamese company says it scouted 15 locations across six Indian states before choosing Tamil Nadu. It’s the center of India’s auto industry, with strong manufacturing, skilled workers, good infrastructure, and a reliable supply chain, according to Tamil Nadu’s Industries Minister T.R.B. Raaja.

“This investment will lead to an entirely new industrial cluster in south Tamil Nadu, and more clusters is what India needs to emerge as a global manufacturing hub,” he said. VinFast Asia CEO Pham Sanh Chau said the company has aspirations to export cars across the region and it hopes to turn the new factory into an export hub.

The new factory could also mark the start of an effort to bring other parts of the Vingroup empire to India. The sprawling conglomerate, founded by Vietnam’s richest man Pham Nhat Vuong, began as an instant noodle company in Ukraine in the 1990s and now spans real estate, hospitals, schools and more. Chau said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had invited the company to “invest in a big way” across sectors like green energy, smart cities and tourism, and said that the chief minister had “promised he will do all what is necessary for us to move the whole ecosystem here.”

Vinfast’s foray into India reflects a broader shift in strategy. The company increasingly is focusing on Asian markets after struggling to gain traction in the US and Europe. It broke ground last year on a $200 million EV assembly plant in Indonesia, where it plans to make 50,000 cars annually. It’s also expanding in Thailand and the Philippines.