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Saudi Arabia’s Sadara halts chemical production

1 April 2026

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Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara), the Saudi Aramco-Dow Chemical joint venture producing petrochemicals and specialty chemicals, has announced a temporary shutdown of production, citing ongoing supply chain disruptions.

Sadara operates a sprawling chemical production complex in Jubail in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, with a total output capacity of more than 3 million metric tonnes a year. Aramco and Dow established the Sadara petrochemicals complex – estimated to have cost $13bn – in 2016.

The suspension was announced in a filing on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) by Sadara Basic ​Services, which issues sukuk, or Islamic bonds, ​for its parent. “The shutdown was successfully completed in accordance with Sadara’s high safety standards and in a manner that safeguards operations and reduces risk,” the entity said in its filing on 31 March. 

“Sadara cannot provide, at the present ‌time, ⁠an estimate for the return to production, as this is contingent on domestic and international factors,” it said, ​adding ​the shutdown ⁠is expected to impact this year’s financial results.

The month-long war between Israel, the US and Iran has spread across the Middle East, disrupting energy supplies and threatening the global economy, as Tehran has responded to US and Israeli attacks by targeting regional energy and industrial infrastructure, as well as shipping.

ALSO READ: Sultan Al-Jaber calls Strait of Hormuz blockade “economic terrorism”

Separately, Sadara, in another Tadawul filing on 31 March, announced a net loss of SR5,793bn ($1.54bn) for the full year 2025, a further decline of about 40% compared to 2024. The company’s revenue in 2025 fell by about 15% year-on-year to $2.63bn.

The chemicals producer attributed the deepening of its losses in 2025 to a reduction in sales volumes, “which resulted from unplanned operational events and extended maintenance activities that temporarily impacted production availability”.

Sadara also pinned its augmented losses to “margin compression, and higher fixed costs associated with unplanned operational events and extended maintenance activities.

“In addition, the company experienced lower average selling prices across certain portfolio lines, which further contributed to the overall decrease in revenue,” Sadara said in the disclosure.

In addition, “the net loss for 2025 increased compared to 2024, mainly due to an accounting adjustment related to a debt modification that had a favourable impact on the prior year’s results,” the company added.

ALSO READ: Sabic registers $6.87bn net loss in 2025

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Indrajit Sen

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