Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA has broken ground on a new facility at its La Porte manufacturing complex. The US$500 mln project is a joint venture between the North American subsidiary of the privately owned Swiss-chemicals company Ineos and Sasol, energy and chemical company headquartered in South Africa. Ineos will operate the facility, which is expected to produce 470,000 tpa of high-density polyethylene once it begins operations in 2016.
“The economics of shale gas have been a real game-changer for the ethylene market and thus the downstream business as well,” said Charles Saunders, chief legal officer at Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA in an interview with Fuel Fix. “Gas in the U.S. has been so price advantaged for so long – and will continue to be price-advantaged – that the economics are just there for this type of expansion.” Although the plunging price of international crude may steal away some of the competitive advantage of cheap domestic gas that has fueled a petrochemical building spree in North America, Saunders said Ineos remains optimistic about the viability of the market for such projects.
08-Dec-14 
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