Ineos Polyolefins plans PP restructuring

10-Jul-07

Ineos Polyolefins has announced plans to restructure assets to ensure a robust production platform to maintain a long term leading market position. Consistent with this strategy, Ineos Polyolefins plans to exit PP production from two of their three PP lines at Sarralbe in France. The two slurry lines have become unsustainable due to feedstock issues and their exposure to grades/markets unable to provide sufficient returns through the cycle. The third PP line (65,000 tpa) and all HDPE lines (200,000 tpa) at Sarralbe remain strategic to the business. This restructuring plan follows investment projects of more than Eur150 mln over the next three years, notably in high density polyethylene (HDPE) at Lillo and polypropylene (PP) at Geel. PP production on Line 2 (165,000 tpa) is expected to cease by the end of 2008. Key customers from this site will be transitioned to the company's plants in Lavera, France (debottlenecked by 10,000 tpa in Q4 2006 to 300,000 tpa) and Grangemouth, Scotland (currently being debottlenecked by 50,000 tpa to 285,000 tpa). PP production on Line 1 (50,000 tpa) is expected to cease by the end of 2009. Key customers from this site will be transitioned to the company's plants at Geel, where copolymer capacity will be increased by 220,000 tpa to 500,000 tpa during 2009.