INEOS suffers reduced output at UK synthetic ethanol plant

08 January 2010 13:36  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--INEOS, Europe’s largest producer of synthetic ethanol, has been hit by a production shortfall at its plant at Grangemouth, UK, because of technical difficulties, a company source said on Friday.

The company expects the problem, which arose on 7 January and was continuing on Friday, to be resolved by early next week, the source said.

The source declined to disclose the exact extent of the production fall, but it said the decrease was not severe enough for INEOS to fall behind with its contractual deliveries.

However, the shortfall has left INEOS unable to service the spot market, the source said.

The source added that the production issue was confined to the ethanol plant and was unrelated to the recent shutdown of the company’s linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit at the same site, which INEOS said was due to problems caused by cold weather conditions.

INEOS has two synthetic ethanol units at Grangemouth, which have a total nameplate capacity of around 310,000 tonnes/year, according to the ICIS plants and projects database.

INEOS increased its first-quarter prices of synthetic ethanol by €2/hectolitre ($2.86/hl) in mainland Europe and by £10/tonne (€11.11/tonne) in the UK.

($1 = €0.70/€1 = £0.90)

For more on ethanol visit ICIS chemical intelligence
For more on INEOS visit ICIS company intelligence
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By: Florian Neuhof
3214

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