Thailand’s SCG Plans to Restart Vietnam’s Long Son Petrochemical Complex in Mid-2027

Thailand’s Siam Cement Group (SCG) plans to restart Vietnam’s Long Son petrochemical complex in mid-2027. The group announced in April 2026 that it was suspending operations at the complex, saying the closure of the Strait of Hormuz had made it difficult to obtain feedstocks including naphtha. Naphtha is a petroleum-derived feedstock used to produce plastics.

The Long Son petrochemical complex in the Long Son area of Ho Chi Minh City.（VietVance）

SCG CEO Thammasak Sethaudom told Nikkei Asia that the group had originally planned to resume operations around November 2026, but later decided to use the shutdown to speed up a switch from naphtha to lower-cost U.S. ethane. He said the conversion was expected to be completed six months ahead of schedule, allowing the complex to restart in mid-2027.

Before the Middle East crisis, SCG had begun building ethane storage tanks at the Long Son petrochemical complex to make its products more competitive as Chinese plastics and other goods entered the Southeast Asian market. SCG said ethane was estimated to cost about 40% less than the feedstocks previously used. Thammasak Sethaudom said the switch would also help reduce supply security risks and emissions.

The war between the United States and Iran also led SCG to suspend some chemical operations in Thailand and declare force majeure. Thammasak Sethaudom said that before the war, about 50% of the group’s feedstocks, including naphtha and propane, came from the Middle East; the group plans to reduce that share to below 25%. He said governments in Thailand and other countries contacted SCG after it announced that about half of its chemical production capacity would have to shut down, asking it not to cut plastics supplies.

Source: VietVance