UPDATED: Middle East supply disruptions spread across key hubs

*Updated following the airstrikes on Assaluyah Hub in Iran and Jubail Hub in Saudi Arabia on April 7, 2026 – The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and escalating geopolitical tensions have sent shock waves across global petrochemical markets, triggering steep price hikes since the onset of the war. The Middle East, a critical supplier to Asia, Europe, and neighboring regions, holds a dominant position particularly in polyolefins exports, making any disruption in the region immediately felt across global supply chains.

Aramco outage marks first major disruption

The first major disruption came on March 2, when Saudi Aramco halted operations at its Ras Tanura refinery following a drone strike. With a capacity of around 550,000 barrels per day, Ras Tanura is one of the kingdom’s key refining hubs, and its shutdown marked the beginning of a series of escalating disruptions across the region.

As the largest oil and petrochemical supplier in the Middle East, Aramco’s outage immediately raised concerns over feedstock availability and downstream production continuity, although the company restarted operations on March 13.

Qatar LNG disruption ripples through petrochemical chain

Soon after, the crisis spread to Qatar, where strikes targeting LNG-related infrastructure disrupted gas flows that underpin the country’s petrochemical chain. The damage to upstream gas supply forced QatarEnergy-linked facilities to suspend production and declare force majeure on exports. The affected chain includes approximately 2.6 million tons/year of ethylene capacity, 2.1 million tons/year of PE, and around 350,000 tons/year of PVC, alongside EDC and VCM units.



Force majeures and shutdowns widen across the Gulf

Disruptions continued to cascade across the region in the following weeks. Around mid-March, Equate Petrochemical Company declared force majeure on monoethylene glycol (MEG) supplies, impacting roughly 1.15 million tons/year of capacity.

This was followed on March 26–27 by a broader force majeure declaration from SABIC, covering methanol, styrene monomer, and MEG. SABIC’s affected capacities include approximately 5–6 million tons/year of methanol, around 1.9 million tons/year of styrene, and about 7 million tons/year of ethylene glycol, largely concentrated in Jubail and Yanbu.

By the end of March, physical damage to petrochemical assets became more widespread. Tabriz Petrochemical Company shut production after a strike hit its facilities, taking offline around 150,000 tons/year each of ethylene and PE.

Around the same time, Sadara Chemical Company temporarily suspended operations at its integrated complex in Jubail, removing approximately 1.5 million tons/year of ethylene, 400,000 tons/year of propylene, and 1.1 million tons/year of PE capacity.

Mahshahr and Ruwais outages deepen supply shock

The disruptions intensified further into early April. On April 4, Iran’s Mahshahr hub —one of the key backbones of the country’s petrochemical industry—was hit, impacting an estimated 2 million tons/year of ethylene and around 1.5 million tons/year of PE capacity across Marun, Amir Kabir, Bandar Imam, and Laleh complexes.

A day later, Borouge halted operations at its Ruwais complex in the UAE, disrupting roughly 3.5 million tons/year of ethylene, 3 million tons/year of PE, and 2.2 million tons/year of PP capacity.

Disruptions expand to Kuwait and Bahrain

By April 6, the conflict had extended to Kuwait and Bahrain. Drone strikes caused fires at facilities operated by Kuwait National Petroleum Company and Petrochemical Industries Company, affecting around 850,000 tons/year of ethylene and 1 million tons/year of PE capacity. In Bahrain, a fire broke out at Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, which produces around 1.5 million tons/year of methanol, ammonia, and urea, further adding to regional supply concerns.

UPDATE: April 7 sees Assaluyeh and Jubail hubs hit by strikes

Strikes targeting Assaluyeh first, followed by Jubail, highlight two different structural risks in the Middle East: disruption at a gas-based ethylene hub and potential outages at a fully integrated petrochemical complex, both of which could ripple across global olefin and polymer markets.

Assaluyeh: Iran’s ethylene-heavy gas-based hub hit first

Strikes initially targeted Iran’s Pars Special Economic Energy Zone, the country’s core gas-based petrochemical cluster. The hub hosts key producers including Arya Sasol, Jam Petrochemical Company, Kavyan Petrochemical, Morvarid Petrochemical and Mehr Petrochemical, forming the backbone of Iran’s olefin and PE production.

The complex is estimated to host around 5 million tons/year of ethylene capacity and roughly 1–1.5 million tons/year of PE, with limited propylene and PP exposure. As strikes reportedly hit utility infrastructure, any disruption to power, water or gas supply could force widespread shutdowns across the site, even if individual plants remain intact.

Jubail: Fully integrated petrochemical hub under threat

The escalation later spread to Saudi Arabia’s Jubail Industrial City, one of the world’s largest petrochemical clusters . The hub hosts a broad producer base including SABIC and affiliates such as Petrokemya, SHARQ and KEMYA, alongside major players including Sadara Chemical, Saudi Kayan, Chevron Phillips Saudi Arabia, Advanced Petrochemical Company, Al-Waha Petrochemical Company, Ibn Zahr and Saudi Polyolefins Company.

Jubail accounts for roughly 12 million tons/year of ethylene capacity, supported by 6–7 million tons/year of PE, alongside a strong propylene chain exceeding 5 million tons/year and more than 4 million tons/year of PP capacity. Its high level of integration means that any disruption—especially to shared utilities or feedstock flows—could quickly impact both upstream olefins and downstream polymers.

UPDATED: Cumulative impact points to unprecedented tightening

Taken together, the disruptions point to an unprecedented tightening of supply across the Middle East petrochemical system. Total affected ethylene capacity is estimated at over 28 million tons/year, while PE disruptions have reached approximately 18 million tons/year.
These figures underscore the scale of the shock, as multiple key production hubs across the Gulf and Iran have been simultaneously impacted, leaving global markets increasingly vulnerable to further price spikes in the weeks ahead.