INEOS confirms Seal Sands ACN site closure plans

LONDON (ICIS)–INEOS confirmed on Wednesday plans to close its Seal Sands, UK, acrylonitrile (ACN) plant, early in the New Year, while a unit producing materials for industrial nylon at the complex will continue to operate.

Following a consultation launched in October on the future of the site, INEOS is to begin separating the ACN plant from other operating activities at the site, with decommissioning to take place through 2020.

A spokesperson for the office of Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham confirmed that INEOS had emailed informed local authorities of the closure, with 145 potential job losses.

INEOS also operates a hexamethylenediamine (HMD) industrial nylon plant at the site on behalf of BASF, which will continue to operate, with site services to be restructured to account for the ACN unit closure.

The company announced in October that it was launching a consultation on the future of the plant, but stated at the time that ”nothing more can be done” to make operations safe and profitable, claiming that the level of investment necessary for the site to be competitive was unviable.

“Following an extended consultation with employees at Seal Sands it is with great regret that I now have to announce the closure of [the] acrylonitrile plant at the site,” said Jon Howard, INEOS Seal Sands site director.

“Over the last 59 days we have worked closely with employees and Unions to consider ways to avoid closure but without a safe, long term economically viable alternative, this has not been possible.”

The facility has been under INEOS control since 2008, and the company has invested €200m in operations there after what it has described as “decades of significant underinvestment”.

It would cost a similar sum to bring the unit up to environmental standards and improve the efficiency of its operations to a competitive level, according to the company.

“What a blow before Christmas though it was clear from the outset that the company planned closure,” Cunningham said, commenting on social media.

“Shame [INEOS] don’t invest in the NE [northeast England] instead of Middle East,” he added.

The 280,000 tonne/year capacity site is understood to have been on force majeure for ACN from the site since February, but poor market demand means that market pricing has remained weak despite tighter supply, hitting a two-year low in November.

(update adds INEOS commentary throughout)

Front page picture: INEOS Nitriles’ Seal Sands facilities
Source: INEOS