Grangemouth owner Ineos to expand European facilities

Ineos is expanding capacity at its Grangemouth cracker facility. Picture: Michael Gillen

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Chemicals giant Ineos has announced plans to increase the capacity of the cracker facility used to break down gases at its Grangemouth site as part of a major European expansion programme.

The company said it was also looking at constructing a huge facility to produce propylene, with potential sites including Antwerp in Belgium under consideration.

The expansion of the Grangemouth cracker plant, along with one at Rafnes in Norway, will see capacity at each increase to more than one million tonnes from about 600-700m currently.

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Jim Ratcliffe, chairman of Ineos, said the investments represent the “first substantial investments in the European chemicals industry for many years”.

He said: “It has only been made possible because of INEOS’s massive $2 billion investment in our Dragon Ships programme which allows us to import ethane and liquefied petroleum gas from the US in huge quantities.”

Ineos currently produces 4.5 million tonnes of ethylene and propylene a year.

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