A global chemical supply chain is a complex network of different world-wide companies producing, handling, and distributing specific chemical products. For improving the overall performance of such systems, it is necessary to view them on one hand as a whole, and on the other as an aggregation of lower-level constituents - the production sites, plants etc, linked through various business processes. Agent-based modeling is a proven approach for modeling complex network of intelligent and distributed actors. In this paper we will demonstrate how an agent-based model can be developed to evaluate the dynamic behavior of supply networks, considering both the system-level performance as well as the components' behavior particularly during abnormal situations. As an illustrative case, an agent-based model of a global supply chain is introduced. The behavior of supply network during an abnormal situation is also studied along with strategies to mitigate the effects of disruption. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.