由于对石油部门的依赖性增加，中东暴露于经济不稳定，并且一直试图通过发展下游石化行业来使其收入来源多样化。根据GlobalData的报告，石油部门在中东地区有很大一部分GDP的贡献，突然的价格波动会影响该行业产生的收入。为了减少他们对石油部门的依赖，中东的国家开始了经济多样化，这导致了过去十年初的强大基本石化工业（上游）行业的基础。现在，该地区正在迈出一步，并鼓励下游石化行业，这将进一步增强塑料树脂的产量。中东已经拥有大型下游石化行业，此举将进一步提高该地区的下游石化能力。多元化驱动器还将鼓励塑料加工行业，该行业目前很小且分散。许多高价值塑料（例如丙烯腈丁二烯苯乙烯（ABS），乙酸乙烯乙烯酯（EVA）（EVA）和聚碳酸酯等许多高价值塑料的能力也有望在未来五年内增加。到2016年，该地区的ABS，聚碳酸酯和EVA容量将分别达到每年0.283亿公吨（MMTPA），0.285 MMTPA和0.345 MMTPA。中东的下游石化行业将依靠亚洲的需求来吸收这些石化能力。亚洲和欧洲是该地区的两个最大的塑料树脂进口商。 Producers in this region will target Asian markets due to the higher demand growth in these markets. Asian countries, especially China and India are supporting the downstream petrochemicals demand with their fast growing GDPs and large populations. China is already the largest importer of the downstream petrochemical from the Middle East and is expected to import huge quantities of downstream petrochemicals in the future also. Other major importers of downstream petrochemicals from the Middle East are Singapore, Turkey, Belgium and India. China's share in downstream petrochemicals imports is much higher due to the indirect consumption which occurs via Singapore which has established itself as the transshipment hub in the Asian petrochemicals industry. Turkey also imports one third of its downstream petrochemicals from the Middle East.
沙特阿拉伯和伊朗是最大的两个petrochemical exporters in the region. Saudi Arabian ethane has the lowest cost in the Middle East region. This feedstock subsidy makes Saudi companies the global low cost producers of downstream petrochemicals. Due to this production and exports of major plastics from Saudi Arabia has increased substantially. Iran has the second largest petrochemicals industry in the region and is growing at a fastest pace. It has the second largest natural gas reserve in the world which provides both energy and petrochemical feedstock to the producers. Both these countries are leading the Middle East downstream diversification drive and continuous government support will help them to enhance their competitiveness in the global downstream petrochemical industry. To take advantage of the downstream diversification drive many companies in the region have taken initiatives. Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemicals Company have entered into a joint venture to establish Sadara Chemical Company which will construct a mega petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia with various plastics production units. Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company will also benefit from the diversification drive since polymers is the second largest revenue generating segment among all the petrochemicals exporting segments. The Qatar Petrochemical Company has already planned three downstream petrochemical complexes and is has just entered into a JV with Qatar Petroleum to construct polyethylene and polypropylene plants in Ras Laffan.

根据毕马威（KPMG）和GPCA的报告，随着对中东对商品和下游衍生化学产品的巨大需求的增长机会，必须应对和克服的挑战。全球竞争正在加剧 - 页岩气是改变北美竞争力的游戏改变者，并且在亚洲的MTO等煤炭技术的发展可能会从根本上影响进口需求。尽管海湾合作委员会生产商将保持其全球成本优势，但低成本的乙烷原料却很紧张。转向较重的原料，通常，美国墨西哥湾沿岸基准基准资本工厂的建设成本20％的溢价将降低利润率。地理政治紧张局势很高，在刺激后世界中，贸易保护主义的风险更大，信心不确定。波动性困扰着金融投资者寻求的确定性，并试图遏制过度刺激的经济体的通货膨胀可能导致世界上一些最大的化学市场的艰苦地。在区域上，社会动荡暂时影响了当地市场，而印度洋的盗版成本仍然与该地区至关重要的供应链与亚洲，欧洲及其他地区的财务成本保持同样的关注。此外，海湾合作委员会地区的本地市场相对较小，但是与欧洲和美国的竞争对手相比，GCC石化生产商在地理上更接近亚洲市场。在某些情况下，他们可以利用长期以来作为原料供应商和合资企业合作伙伴的业务关系。因此，亚洲对中产阶级产品的需求不断增长将是海湾合作委员会下游开发的战略驱动力。 Over the coming years, Gulf producers will be competing more intensively to successfully capture downstream demand in the emerging markets. Each region is starting this race with different strengths and weaknesses and it is the region that best leverages their existing strengths that is likely to be successful. Like many GCC chemical companies, Chinese chemical majors benefit from government support and funding, but the sheer size and proximity of local markets in China will remain a key competitive advantage over the Gulf. At the same time, Chinese companies face significant challenges in terms of higher priced and less accessible petrochemical raw materials and a lack of advanced technology for downstream products. Diversifying its petrochemical feedstocks away from naphtha to coal will not be without its challenges.