KUWAIT CITY, Dec 21, (KUNA): Kuwait’s Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) said Wednesday its 2040 strategy aims at expanding the volume of its petrochemical production up to 16 million tons annually.It said in a press release that its current output stands at eight million tons, including three millions of fertilizers, two millions of olefins and two millions of aromatics. It added that its 2040 strategy being worked out by the Kuwait Petroleum Cooperation (KPC) would pave the way for a threefold increase in the number of the company’s employees who are required for future projects.PIC’s CEO Mohammed Al- Farhoud was quoted in the release as saying that his business has managed to post KD 431 million in profits for the fiscal year 2015-2016 thanks to its workers’ great efforts. The rise accounted for 141 percent over last year’s figures, KD 263 million higher than the company’s KD-168-million target, he added. He ascribed the surge in net profits to the acquisition by Equate Petrochemical Company, a PIC subsidiary, of the MI Global.The company’s operating profits amounted to KD 50 million in late September compared with estimated profits of KD 54 million for the same period of last year, Al-Farhoud said, expecting it to post profits worth KD 106 million for the FY 2016-2017. Furthermore, the company has saved a total of KD 20 million in operating expenses during 2015- 2016 through great efforts being exerted in order to save spending and boost revenues, he pointed out.The PIC’s CEO estimated his company’s net financial surplus at around KD 9 million by means of applying the Six Sigma approach which is primarily meant to overhaul the company’s various operations in 2016. Based in Kuwait, Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) was founded in 1963 as the first chemical fertilizer complex of its kind in the region.Today, PIC is a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and is a petrochemical industry leader in Kuwait and throughout the Middle East, and a growing leader worldwide. In addition to manufacturing and marketing fertilizers, olefins and aromatics in Kuwait, the Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) participates in multiple joint ventures that also produce and market chemicals both locally and internationally.