INEOS invests €150m

INEOS Polyolefins recently announced its intention to invest in excess of €150m in its European assets over the next three years. The company will focus on growing and upgrading its polyolefins capacities.

Polypropylene capacity expansions will take place at its facilities in Geel, Belgium and Grangemouth, Scotland.

At Geel a 220ktpa expansion of the Innovene P gas phase polypropylene unit will increase this unit's capacity to 500ktpa, transforming it into one of the largest units in the world. The smaller slurry/dry flash polypropylene asset at Geel will close later this year.

At Grangemouth the 220ktpa liquid pool polypropylene unit will undergo a 30ktpa de-bottleneck raising its capacity to 280ktpa, with a further 30ktpa de-bottleneck to be implemented when market demand permits.

High-density polyethylene capacity expansions will take place at INEOS Polyolefins' Lillo manufacturing site, whereby the capacity of its proprietary bi-modal slurry phase unit will be increased by 200ktpa to 630ktpa. The new capacity, which will be in place by 2009, will also make this asset one of the largest in the world.