INEOS suspends EO/EG project in La Porte, Texas

HOUSTON (ICIS)–INEOS has indefinitely suspended its proposed ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol (EO/EG) plant that it planned to build at its Battleground complex in La Porte, Texas, a company spokesman said on Friday.

While suspended, the project has not been cancelled, said Charles Saunders, spokesman.

The company was not commenting on why it had suspended the project, he said.

Earlier this month, INEOS wrote to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the project had been discontinued.

The EPA issues air permits for such projects, and INEOS had applied for a permit in August 2013.

The plant would have had 500,000 tonnes/year of EO and derivatives capacity, the company said in December 2011.

Construction was supposed to have started in June, according to the company’s air-permit application. It was supposed to start operations in January 2016.

INEOS and other companies had announced new projects in the US to take advantage of low-cost feedstock, made possible by the advent of shale gas.

However, a small number of these companies have started withdrawing their plans.

A joint venture made up of Mitsui and Idemitsu Kosan has withdrawn its air permit application for a 330,000 tonne/year alpha olefins plant in Freeport, Texas.

PetroLogistics, now owned by Flint Hills Resources, abandoned its plans to expand its propane dehydrogenation capacity.

In December 2013, Shell decided not to build a $12.5bn gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Louisiana because the project became too expensive.