INEOS idles last three Acetyls plants in Europe

INEOS is idling all three of its world scale chemical plants in Hull, UK, which are the last remaining world scale Acetyls units in Europe, as energy prices hit 12 times higher than those in America.

INEOS’ chemical plant in Hull, UK.

All three units will stop operation until further notice. Two of the plants have already ceased production with the third due to come off line in a few days.

The three plants produced raw material for a huge range of the Europe’s critical materials including pharmaceuticals, clothing, cosmetics, detergents, construction materials and military explosives.

These units are also amongst the most efficient in the world and operate at the lowest possible level of CO2 emissions. The Hull units produce material with a carbon footprint that is 2 times lower than that produced in the United States and 8 times lower than Chinese material.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of INEOS, pointed out that the replacement products from the US and China is massively increasing the environmental burden.

“The European regulators need to wake up to the fact that the combination of high energy costs and the additional burden of unsustainable carbon taxes are destroying our European manufacturing base. Ironically this will result in higher CO2 emissions from less efficient Chinese and US production. The net result of these current policies is to encourage coal based production in China and the wholesale export of jobs to both China and the USA,” he commented.