Market Flash

Phillips 66 has locked out approximately 385 union-represented employees at its Bayway refinery and Linden terminal in New Jersey following the expiration of a labor contract extension, while the company plans to maintain operations with qualified management and technical personnel.

• Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery
• US Refinery Labor Dispute
• Crude Oil Refining
• Gasoline and Diesel Supply
• North American Energy Market

Shipping disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz have affected nearly 20% of global ethylene capacity and up to 40% of Asia's naphtha supply, tightening polyethylene markets and shifting some demand toward North American and European producers despite the Middle East's enduring cost advantage.

• Global Ethylene Capacity
• Strait of Hormuz Disruptions
• Polyethylene Supply Chain
• Global Petrochemical Market
• Middle East Chemical Exports

Two commercial vessels were confirmed sunk near the Strait of Hormuz within 24 hours, including a Singapore-flagged container ship whose 21 crew members escaped unharmed, while another Singapore-registered vessel was damaged in a separate attack.

• Strait of Hormuz
• Global Maritime Security
• Commercial Shipping Attacks
• Container Ship Incidents
• International Supply Chain

Explosions were reported near Saudi Aramco's headquarters in Dhahran on October 13, with one source reporting a building fire and four others confirming an evacuation order, as the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted a missile over the city.

• Saudi Aramco Headquarters
• Saudi Arabia Missile Attack
• Middle East Energy Security
• Global Oil And Gas Industry
• Energy Infrastructure Security

Crude tanker freight costs from the Americas to Asia have exceeded $80 million per voyage, or approximately $40 per barrel, as vessel shortages and disrupted Middle Eastern shipping routes leave heavy crude accumulating across the Americas despite strong demand from Asian and European refiners.

• Global Tanker Freight
• Crude Oil Shipping
• VLCC Freight Rates
• Global Energy Trade
• Heavy Crude Oil Market

A U.S. fighter jet struck a Panama-flagged commercial cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman on October 10, disabling its propulsion after the ship allegedly attempted to breach a naval blockade against Iran, as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to a two-month low.

• Gulf Of Oman Ship Attack
• US Iran Naval Blockade
• Strait Of Hormuz Shipping
• Global Energy Trade
• Maritime Supply Chain Disruption

Shandong's basic organic chemicals exports surged 19% in the first eight months of 2026, nearly seven times the province's overall export growth of 2.8%. Exports reached RMB 60.31 billion, or 4.1% of Shandong's RMB 1.46 trillion total. These upstream materials feed polyurethane, nylon 66, coatings, adhesives, polycarbonate and polyester supply chains, where Shandong holds a key position. Overseas plant outages, broken technology monopolies and supply chain restructuring have amplified demand for

• Shandong
• basicorganicchemicals

Shell said on October 8 that its Pearl gas-to-liquids plant has partially restarted following a six-month outage caused by damage, allowing limited inventory building while shipments stay exposed to regional security conditions, particularly the Strait of Hormuz.Traders said QatarEnergy has issued a spot tender for up to 50,000 tonnes of naphtha on an FOB basis, covering four grades including Pearl GTL naphtha, loading at Ras Laffan Port on October 20-25. A prior tender with the same grade settl

• Shell
• Qatar
• GTL
• QatarEnergy

At least 12 attacks, attempted attacks or harassment incidents involving oil tankers, LNG or LPG vessels were recorded around the Strait of Hormuz from September 28 to October 5, while commodity-vessel traffic fell to its lowest level in more than two months.

• Strait of Hormuz
• Tanker Shipping
• LNG Logistics
• LPG Market
• Energy Supply Chain

Saudi Aramco is discussing discounts of up to around USD 9 per barrel on selected second-half October crude cargoes transferred ship-to-ship off Oman as Asian refiners face sharply higher freight and logistics costs.

• Saudi Aramco
• Crude Oil
• Ship to Ship
• Oil Freight
• Asian Refiners

Between September 22 and 25, India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry opened anti-dumping investigations into several Chinese chemical and pharmaceutical raw materials. The products named include glycine, copolymer polyols, amoxicillin trihydrate, montelukast sodium, and 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA) — all key inputs for India's domestic pharma and chemical sectors. Glycine was filed first on September 22, followed by copolymer polyols on September 23, amoxicillin trihydrate and montelukast

• Anti-Dumping
• India
• FineChemicals

In September, U.S. oversight of the GLP-1 supply chain intensified on two fronts. On September 18, attorneys general from 20 states, led by Alabama, urged federal agencies to tighten or suspend new admissions to the FDA's GLP-1 Green List, citing traceability gaps that let foreign firms repackage and falsify batch data to funnel unapproved semaglutide and tirzepatide APIs into compounded weight-loss drugs. That same day, the FDA issued a warning letter to Empower Pharmacy, a major compounding su

• GLP-1
• API
• pharmaceutical industry

Middle Eastern crude exports are rebounding sharply, with Kpler data showing September volumes from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait reaching 12.8 million bpd, the highest since late February. Saudi Arabia leads the recovery at roughly 5.4 million bpd, more than double August, as Aramco shifted loadings to Ras Tanura after the East-West pipeline was attacked. Iraq is also recovering, while Iran remains stalled under the U.S. maritime blockade, with August loadings of only 220,

• crude oil
• MiddleEast

Canada has ended more than a decade of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and laminates. On September 17, 2026, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal terminated the second sunset review and revoked the duty orders, so the Canada Border Services Agency will stop collecting the levies. Chinese PV exports to Canada now receive most-favoured-nation treatment, cutting tariffs to 0%. The change is significant. Anti-dumping duties previously

• crystallinesiliconphotovoltaic
• PVModule
• Tariffs
• FineChemicals

A deflagration occurred during maintenance work at BASF's Ludwigshafen site on September 21, leaving two external contractors hospitalized with burn injuries while the cause and affected production unit remain undisclosed.

• BASF Ludwigshafen
• Chemical Safety
• Plant Incident
• Process Safety
• Chemical Industry

Celanese announced immediate price increases on September 21 for acetic acid, VAM, ethyl acetate and acetic anhydride across several global markets, with increases reaching USD 150/MT and EUR 150/MT for selected products.

• Celanese Acetyls
• Vinyl Acetate Monomer
• Acetic Acid
• Chemical Pricing
• Acetyl Chain

Asia’s propylene market tightened in September as a wave of planned maintenance hit supply. PDH, cracker, and FCC units across China, South Korea, and Japan shut down or cut loads, with several outages clustered between September 15 and 18. Hyosung, Zhenhua Petrochemical, and Idemitsu Kosan were among the units taken offline. South Korea’s YNCC crackers had already stopped in late August. Meanwhile, Brent crude briefly topped $103 a barrel on September 21, keeping feedstock costs high. The resul

• Propylene
• CrudeOil
• FineChemicals

Europe is projected to face a jet fuel deficit of around 510,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter as disrupted Middle Eastern supply forces buyers to source more cargoes from the U.S., Canada, Nigeria and South Korea, while ARA inventories have fallen to a seven-year low.

• Jet Fuel
• European Refining
• ARA Inventories
• Energy Supply
• Global Trade

A large-scale drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region early on September 20 damaged a facility at the Gazprom Neft-operated Moscow Oil Refinery and triggered a fire, adding another strike to a plant already hit several times this year.

• Moscow Refinery
• Gazprom Neft
• Oil Refining
• Energy Infrastructure
• Fuel Supply

Saudi Aramco has told at least two European refiners they will get no long-term crude in October after drone strikes on the East-West Pipeline forced a precautionary shutdown, cutting loadings at Yanbu. The line normally moves about 3.5 million b/d and lets Saudi Arabia avoid the Strait of Hormuz. Aramco aims to restore partial capacity within days and full capacity in roughly six weeks. European buyers are scrambling: Poland's Orlen bought 16 extra cargoes from Norway, the UK, Algeria, Kazakhst

• FineChemcials