Saudi Aramco has halted liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) exports from its Juaymah plant after structural damage to part of the delivery system, the company said on Wednesday, declaring force majeure on shipments.
“On February 23, a small segment of the delivery system carrying propane and butane at the Juaymah NGL facility was structurally damaged,” Aramco said in a statement to The National.
The company said it immediately activated its emergency response plan and suspended LPG export operations at the site. No leaks or injuries were reported and local supplies were not affected.
The scope and duration of the disruption remain under evaluation. Scheduled propane and butane cargoes from Juaymah, in eastern Saudi Arabia, will be cancelled over the coming weeks while corrective measures are completed. LPG shipments from the kingdom’s west coast facilities continue as normal.
An analyst told The National that Aramco had issued a force majeure for at least some February loadings, meaning it would not be able to meet contractual delivery obligations this month. The extent of the impact beyond that “depends on how severe it is”, he said.
Asian buyers, including China and other major importers, are likely to feel the disruption, although Saudi Arabia is not the dominant supplier in the region. “They are a large one,” the analyst said, noting that the kingdom’s sizeable domestic petrochemical sector can absorb part of its LPG production, at times limiting export volumes.
The Juaymah terminal, near the Jafurah gasfield and Aramco's Ras Tanura refinery, is one of the world's largest exporters of natural gas liquids (NGL), which include propane and butane.
The halt in deliveries hits propane and butane markets at the worst possible time as Saudi exports are critical for buyers in Japan, South Korea, China and India, Dubai-based NitrolTrading told clients in a note.
Average monthly exports of LPG from Juaymah averaged about 450,000 tonnes in 2025 and 2024, Kpler shiptracking data showed.
Last year, at least 60 per cent of LPG exports from Juaymah were bound for India, data from Kpler showed, while China received around 15 per cent of the exports.
Propane futures for March on the Far East index surged nearly 5 per cent after the Asian market closed above $590 per tonne, LSEG pricing data showed, hitting its highest level since early April 2025.
