INEOS chooses Antwerp for €3bn cracker and PDH investment

ANTWERP, Belgium (ICIS)–INEOS has chosen Antwerp, Belgium as the location for its European 1.25m tonne/year gas cracker and 750,000 tonne/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant, the company said on Tuesday.

INEOS confirmed in July 2018 that it would build a world-scale gas cracker in Europe as well as a PDH unit.

This would be the biggest capital investment by the company to date, estimated now at €3bn, and the first new cracker to be built in Europe for decades.

The plants will be built on the existing INEOS site at Lillo, in the Antwerp port area, and on neighbouring land.

This will allow integration with existing chemical logistics and pipeline connections to the northwest European hinterland.

The plants will use ethane and propane gas feedstock imported principally from the US.

“We believe this investment will reverse years of decline in the European chemicals sector,” said INEOS CEO Jim Ratcliffe.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) for both projects was signed on Tuesday.

INEOS is a significant net buyer of ethylene and propylene for its downstream intermediates and polymer units in Europe.

It has established an extensive logistics and trading network for US shale gas ethane and revamped its gas crackers in Scotland and Norway to consume the feedstock and to take advantage of shale gas economics.

“We believe this will significantly strengthen the whole of the ethylene and propylene derivative chains within INEOS,” said Rob Ingram, CEO of INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe North.

Pictured: Location for the investments in Antwerp’s chemical park
Source: INEOS