With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed and the situation tense in the Middle East, Asian petrochemical makers declared force majeure one after another. Operations of tankers are disrupted, and transport of crude oil and petroleum products has been halted. Iraq and Qatar already announced crude oil production cuts. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia are expected to have no choice but to reduce production. Market players in the petrochemical industry are paying attention to movements of the feedstock market and transportation caused by the Middle East situation.

According to an investigation by Rim Intelligence, the following companies declared force majeure by Mar 10. These companies include Chandra Asri (Indonesia), Hyosung Vietnam, Qatar Energy, YNCC (South Korea), Hanwha TotalEnergies (South Korea), PCS (Singapore), CSPC (China), Wanhua Chemical (China), IRPC (Thailand),　SCGC (Thailand), Aster (Singapore), Sumitomo Chemical Asia (Singapore), Singapore TPC (Singapore), Formosa Chemicals (Taiwan) and Bapco Energies (Bahrain).

YNCC was originally scheduled to deliver naphtha in March but this is expected to be delayed. YNCC is forced to operate its facilities at the "lowest level to capacity" from Mar 4. In South Korea, GS Caltex also reduced the operation rates of its olefin facility to 65-70% of capacity owing to a shortage of feedstocks.

In Japan, impacts are seen at facilities of several makers including Mitsui Chemicals, Idemitsu Kosan and ENEOS.

The present Middle East situation has more impact on the petrochemical industry than market players expected. Among petrochemicals, the methanol market is reported to be most affected because Iran is the world's second largest methanol producer. Production capacity of the country accounts for 9.2% of the world's total capacity. Iran is one of the largest methanol exporters and 80-90% of its domestic production is exported.