Aster Ends Six-Month Force Majeure at Its Singapore Cracker

Aster Chemicals and Energy, the Singapore refining and petrochemical company jointly owned by Indonesia's Chandra Asri and commodities group Glencore, has lifted the force majeure it had declared on its ethylene cracker complex on Bukom Island. Market sources said the declaration was withdrawn on 19 September 2026, and a company spokesperson confirmed the decision on 22 September without giving further details, while thanking customers and partners for their support during the disruption. The move ends more than six months of restricted contractual deliveries of ethylene and propylene from one of the most important olefin producers in Southeast Asia.

The Bukom cracker can produce about 1.1 million tonnes of ethylene per year and operates alongside a refinery able to process 237,000 barrels of crude per day. Aster also runs roughly 2.5 million tonnes per year of downstream chemical capacity on nearby Jurong Island, which depends on ethylene supplied by pipeline from Bukom. Ethylene and propylene are the basic building blocks of polyethylene and polypropylene, the plastics used in packaging, car parts, pipes, textiles and many consumer goods, so any cut at the site quickly spreads to converters across the region.

A difficult year for the Bukom cracker

The plant was already fragile before the Middle East crisis began. A scheduled maintenance started on 1 August 2025, but unexpected problems during the works led Aster to declare a first force majeure on petrochemical supplies at the end of August 2025. The restart, initially planned for the first half of September 2025, was pushed back several times as recovery works dragged on, and the cracker only came back online at the end of February 2026, running at around half of its capacity.

Feedstock shock from the Iran war

The restart came just as the regional energy landscape collapsed. The US and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February 2026 triggered Iranian attacks and threats against merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which choked off crude and naphtha exports from the Gulf. Asian steam crackers buy more than 60% of their naphtha from the Middle East, and several producers across the region cut runs or declared force majeure within days. On 6 March, Aster declared a second force majeure covering ethylene and propylene, citing disruptions to feedstock shipments and raw material flows from the Middle East. Its partner Chandra Asri took the same step on all contracts at its Indonesian complex.

Aster presented the declaration as an administrative measure taken after assessing its ability to meet customer obligations, and said it had lowered run rates across all its plants to manage feedstock carefully and keep operations safe. According to market sources, the cracker then ran at about 50% to 60% of capacity for most of the following months, which reduced ethylene pipeline supply to users in Singapore.

Pressure on Asian plastics chains

The prolonged outage tightened olefin availability in Southeast Asia at a time when the whole region was struggling to secure feedstock. Downstream polyethylene and polypropylene makers faced firmer prices and had to look for replacement volumes on the spot market or reduce their own operating rates. The situation also raised wider concerns about supply security for buyers who had counted on Singapore as a stable export hub for petrochemicals.

Why the force majeure is ending now

Aster has not explained what allowed it to lift the declaration, but the change coincides with a partial improvement in Gulf energy flows. On 19 September, US Central Command said oil and LNG volumes moving through the Strait of Hormuz over the previous two weeks had reached their highest level in six months, and that the main transit lanes had been cleared of mines. The recovery remains limited, however. Iran still claims the strait is closed, regional talks on agreed shipping routes have stalled, and independent trackers continue to report only a small number of commercial transits per day compared with about 85 before the war. Brent crude was still trading above $100 per barrel in mid-September.

Risks have not disappeared

Aster is expected to resume deliveries gradually under its existing contracts, and market participants anticipate some restoration of pipeline ethylene supply in Singapore in the near term. The real impact on the market will depend on how fast the cracker can raise its operating rate and whether it can secure steady feedstock cargoes. If output stabilizes, the extra ethylene and propylene could ease spot tightness in Southeast Asia and put moderate downward pressure on olefin and polymer prices, although the recovery is likely to be progressive.

Shipping through Hormuz remains fragile, Houthi attacks on Saudi energy sites and Red Sea ports continue to threaten alternative export routes, and freight and insurance costs stay high. Over the longer term, Aster is pushing ahead with its plans for the complex. In July 2026, the company awarded engineering contracts for an investment of about US$80 million aimed at doubling ethylene export capacity at Bukom, a project that should strengthen supply links with the wider regional market once feedstock flows are fully normalized.