The Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association holds the 20th Annual GPCA Forum at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai from 22 to 24 November 2026. The forum is the principal annual gathering of the Gulf chemicals industry and brings together the chief executives of the region's producers, their international partners and customers, technology licensors, logistics providers and financiers.
The 2026 edition marks the forum's twentieth anniversary and runs under the theme Persistence with Purpose. GPCA's membership includes the large regional producers such as SABIC, Aramco, Borouge and Sipchem, and international majors with Gulf operations such as ExxonMobil, and the forum's plenary sessions are traditionally led by their chief executives and chairs.
The agenda addresses the questions that define the sector's strategy: feedstock availability and pricing as Gulf producers move further into chemicals, the build out of downstream and specialty capacity, trade flows to Asia and Europe, decarbonisation and circularity commitments, and the consolidation and partnership activity that has reshaped ownership across the industry in recent years.
For boards and executive committees in chemicals, energy, industrial gases and the engineering and logistics groups that serve them, the GPCA Forum is the reference point for the year. Leadership changes at the major producers are often visible in who appears on the forum stage, and strategic announcements are frequently timed to coincide with it. Investors and advisers covering the sector treat the forum's outlook sessions as a signal of capital expenditure intentions for the coming cycle.
