⚡ When Aramco hits pause, everyone should take notice.

The world’s richest energy company just put three Saudi chemical projects on hold. It’s not about the money — Aramco can fund anything it wants. It’s about timing. Margins are scraping the bottom… yet projects in Asia are still full speed ahead.

So why the sudden pause at home?

🏠 Home turf usually wins — until it doesn’t

Building domestically normally has clear advantages:

1️⃣ Capital safety – When the world’s unpredictable, it’s safer to spend close to home. Think return of investment over return on investment.

2️⃣ Logistical efficiency – Better to ship finished products to final customers than ship crude feedstock halfway across the globe + ship the molecules again to customers once processed.

So what’s changed? Why pull back on domestic projects while doubling down abroad?

🏒  It’s all about where you are on the “hockey stick”

Every mega-project starts slow — then spending rockets once shovels hit dirt .

🕐 Pause early, and you save capital.

🕦 Pause late, and you torch billions.

✅ Asia’s projects are already racing up the stick — no turning back.

⏸️ Saudi projects haven’t left the starting line — easy to freeze.

💡 What it really means

Even Aramco is tightening the purse strings in an overbuilt market. This comes on the heels of other deferred/cancelled projects by ExxonMobil and Dow in that same polyolefin space. 

And it’s another sign we’re nearing the bottom of the petrochemical cycle.