Corrected: UK union warns govt of chemicals crisis following Dow closures

13 July 2009 18:01  [Source: ICIS news]

Correction: In the ICIS news article headlined "UK union warns govt of chemicals crisis following Dow closures" dated 13 July 2009, please read in the final paragraph ...a plant run by Croda... instead of ...a plant run by Uniqema... A corrected story follows.

LONDON (ICIS news)--Britain's biggest trade union Unite warned the government on Monday of a potential crisis in the UK chemical industry driven by the planned closure by Dow Chemical of the sole ethylene oxide (EO) plant in the country.

Dow Chemical said last week that it would close its EO/EG (ethylene glycol) plant at Wilton on Teeside in 2010 with the loss of 55 jobs.

The planned closure prompted Croda to announce the shutdown of its speciality chemicals plants on Teeside and the union to warn of potential job losses.

The loss of the UK’s sole supplier of EO/EG was expected to have a considerable knock on effect across the sector.

“I have now written a strongly worded letter to Lord Mandelson [the UK's Business Secretary] warning him of the dire situation facing the UK chemical industry and urging him to intervene immediately to avert a crisis in the sector,” said Unite’s national officer for the chemical sector, Phil McNulty.

“It now seems that Artenius, Croda and Petroplus are all set to announce similar job  cuts with a risk of closures of many more sites across the UK,” he said.

Artenius’ 500,000 tonne/year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant at Wilton has been idle for around four months because of poor market conditions.

Petroplus said in February that it would put its Teeside refinery up for sale.

Shell Chemicals is arranging alternative ethoxylation capacity in the US and the Netherlands following the closure of the Dow plant. It uses EO to make NEODOL ethoxylates at Wilton in a plant run by Croda and makes the ethoxylates at Stanlow in Cheshire.

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By: Nigel Davis
+44 20 8652 3214

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