The decision reflects broader efforts by global petrochemical producers to address persistent industry losses linked to excess capacity. Singapore serves as a major Asian oil and trading hub, and the closure marks the exit of ExxonMobil's first cracker in the region.
"As a matter of practice, we do not comment on market rumors or speculation," an ExxonMobil spokesperson said when contacted.
The move follows the successful start-up earlier this year of a new, larger steam cracker in Huizhou, southern China, with annual ethylene capacity of approximately 1.6 million tons. Over the past two years, ExxonMobil has gradually reduced term contract volumes with customers in Singapore, one of the sources said.
After the shutdown, local buyers are expected to source ethylene from the two remaining producers on Jurong Island, according to market participants. ExxonMobil will continue to operate its second, newer cracker at the site, which started up in 2013 and has a capacity of 1.1 million tons per year of ethylene.
The company is evaluating whether to keep some downstream polyolefin units running by purchasing external feedstock, depending on economic viability.
"Assuming no operational changes at its second cracker and corresponding downstream units, running the polyolefin units associated with the shut cracker will necessitate the purchase of feedstock," said Catherine Tan, senior manager for chemical analytics at ICIS. "Unless they can secure very low olefins prices, this is unlikely to be economically viable in the long term," she added.
As a result of the upcoming closure, ExxonMobil's naphtha imports into Singapore are expected to decline. For the first eleven months of 2025, the company imported around 1.5 million metric tons (equivalent to 13.4 million barrels) of naphtha, compared with nearly 2.5 million tons for the whole of 2024, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler.
Separately, ExxonMobil announced in October that it plans to reduce its Singapore workforce by 10–15% by 2027. The company also recently agreed to sell its local petroleum retail business to Indonesia's Chandra Asri and, in September, commissioned a new refining unit at its 592,000 barrel-per-day Singapore refinery.
