SABIC’s Fujian petrochemical complex in China is on schedule to begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2026, following successful trial runs of three key plants, the company’s CEO announced during the third quarter earnings call. The complex, SABIC’s largest investment in China, primarily produces polyethylene and polypropylene.
The Saudi petrochemicals firm reported adjusted net income of $224.3 million for the third quarter of 2026, a significant turnaround from an adjusted net loss of $101.4 million in the prior quarter. Revenue increased 14 percent quarter-on-quarter to $7.52 billion, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 40 percent to $1.26 billion.
CEO Faisal Al-Faqeer highlighted the importance of China and the wider Asian market for SABIC’s growth, describing them as “key growth markets” due to their comparatively robust expansion. The Fujian complex forms part of SABIC’s “selective growth” strategy, which targets advantaged value chains and includes other projects along similar lines.
In Saudi Arabia, SABIC Agri-Nutrients approved a final investment decision on a seventh plant in Jubail, with an estimated cost of around $3.5 billion. The new facility is expected to produce 2.6 million tonnes of urea and 1.2 million tonnes of ammonia annually, increasing urea capacity by 54 percent. Commercial operations are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2030. Additionally, SABIC has secured feedstock allocation for a methanol plant with an annual capacity of 1.8 million tonnes.
Despite its growth investments, SABIC reduced its capital expenditure guidance for 2026 to $3.3 billion, reflecting ongoing efforts to improve capital efficiency and prioritize projects.
Launched in 2024, SABIC’s transformation program aims to enhance recurring annual EBITDA by $3 billion by 2030 compared to the 2024 baseline. The company has already achieved $950 million of this target in the first nine months of 2026. Al-Faqeer emphasized that the program remains “well on track” to meet its goal, driven by structural cost reduction, improved production reliability, and commercial performance.
The EBITDA improvement target is divided between $1.4 billion from cost reductions and $1.6 billion from value creation and synergies. Cost-saving measures focus on general and administrative expenses, manufacturing cash costs, procurement, and supply chain efficiencies, while value creation efforts include manufacturing yield and throughput, commercial excellence, and feedstock quality improvements. CFO Salah Al-Hareky noted that 55 percent of the $950 million delivered year-to-date came from cost excellence and 45 percent from value creation.
SABIC has also made progress in portfolio optimization, generating $2.3 billion in cash proceeds through divestments. The company completed the sale of its engineering thermoplastics business in the Americas and Europe during the third quarter, with the sale of its European petrochemicals business anticipated to finalize by year-end 2026. These divestitures remove units that collectively recorded average annual operating losses of approximately $1.4 billion in 2024 and 2025.