INEOS to expand production at Grangemouth site with GBP 60 million investment

INEOS announced plans to invest GBP 60 million (USD 78.44 million) to expand its Grangemouth site. It has awarded a contract to build an additional furnace on its KG ethylene plant to Germany’s Selas-Linde GmbH.

INEOS declared that this significant investment affirms its commitment to UK manufacturing, at a time when it is in decline across many industrial regions across the country. The addition of a tenth furnace, will improve the efficiency of the plant and increase its production capacity, to ensure the business can continue to meet the growing demand for its products.

“Our plans to invest in the UK with the further expansion of our plant at Grangemouth, has been made possible because we now have access to the raw materials that we need. The successful completion in 2016 of our project to bring to Grangemouth plentiful supplies of competitive U.S. shale gas ethane over a long-term agreement, has breathed new life into the plant,” said John McNally, CEO of INEOS O&P UK.

Two years ago, INEOS started importing ethane from U.S. shale gas, representing the culmination of a USD 2 billion investment by INEOS, which saw the second manufacturing unit at Grangemouth’s KG ethylene plant being brought back to life eight years after being mothballed.

“Production from Grangemouth provides vital raw materials used extensively throughout the UK industry. Having additional furnace capacity will provide a range of future opportunities not just for INEOS and for the site but also for the heartlands of manufacturing in Scotland and the North East and North West of England.”

“It is entirely fitting that we make this announcement in the year we celebrate 25 years of continuous manufacture of ethylene on the KG plant. Investment in our Chemicals’ business in Scotland alone has already surpassed GBP 500 million (USD 653.6 million) in the last five years. This latest announcement demonstrates INEOS’ on-going commitment to its manufacturing operations at Grangemouth and investment into the UK.”

Subject to planning approval, preparatory project work will begin later in 2018, with the main construction work starting in 2019 and commissioning towards the end of 2020.