Saudi state owned oil company Sabic is to invest $500 million (£320 million) to create four new R&D centres: two in Saudi Arabia, one in India and one in China.

The two centres in Saudi Arabia will be established at high profile research institutes: the Corporate Research & Innovation Center at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal near Jeddah and the Sabic Plastic Applications Development Center at King Saud University in Riyadh. Together they will create 150 new jobs.

The Indian centre (set to open in the second quarter of 2013) will be established in Bangalore; the Chinese centre (set to open in the third quarter of 2013) in Shanghai. These two centres will employ a total of 500 people.