INEOS is idling three of its plants in the UK as soaring natural gas prices in Europe make operations uncompetitive, the chemicals giant said on Tuesday, warning that with the idling of these plants, Europe is losing its last remaining world-scale Acetyls units.
The three plants which are being idled in Hull in the UK are Europe’s last remaining world-scale Acetyls units producing the raw material for a wide range of the Europe’s critical materials including pharmaceuticals, clothing, cosmetics, detergents, construction materials, and military explosives, INEOS said.
“I’m sure people will find it hard to believe that we are being forced to mothball some of the most efficient plants in Europe but with gas prices now 12 times the level in the US and 8 times that of China, we just cannot compete,” INEOS chairman, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, said.
While the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub price is about $2.83 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) this week, the front-month contract of the UK wholesale gas price is above $23 per MMBtu.
“Not only is the ridiculously high gas price destroying our manufacturing base and the jobs of hard-working people on Humberside, it is also massively increasing the environmental burden with replacement products supplied from the USA at double the carbon emissions and from China at 8 times the emission level,” said the billionaire owner of INEOS, who has criticized “Europe’s crippling energy and carbon policies” driving many industries, including the chemicals industry, to the brink of extinction.
“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,” Ratcliffe said in today’s statement by INEOS.
“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,” the executive said.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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