News

INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe has today confirmed that it is considering strategic options for the future of its HDPE businesses at Rosignano and Sarralbe, including a divestment to interested third parties. The decision follows a recent strategy review of INEOS O&P Europe

Rosignano (Italy) and Sarralbe (France) have been a part of INEOS since December 2005, when the company acquired the Innovene business from BP. Since that time INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe has significantly improved the performance such that today both sites are highly “cycle-resistant” producing a sophisticated range of differentiated polymers with top quartile SHE, reliability and cost leadership of both sites. Today, both sites are profitable and cash generative.

INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe plans to focus on the growth of its assets that are highly integrated upstream and downstream. Rosignano and Sarralbe are not integrated with INEOS feedstocks and hence are being considered for divestment; however, both have the potential to grow further in response to the increasing demand from the market for their differentiated products.

This announcement is being made at a very early stage in the evaluation process, to enable discussions to take place with employees, works councils and interested third parties. The outcome of these discussions is not considered to be a foregone conclusion, as INEOS will only divest these sites if it is in the interest of its Business and the long term future of these sites. In the meantime, INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe will continue to operate these businesses as normal, rigorously focussed on the safe, reliable operation of its sites, to provide high quality products and service to its customers.

INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe is the leading supplier of olefin and polymers to its main markets in Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Its olefins portfolio is built around four of the most integrated and differentiated cracker complexes in Europe; at Köln (Germany), Rafnes (Norway), Lavéra, (France) and Grangemouth (UK). Its polyolefin capabilities profit from very strong differentiation, based on leading edge-technology, placing its business as one of the top suppliers to the PE and PP market world-wide.

Press contacts: 

Anne-Gret Iturriaga Abarzua
Phone: +49 221 3555 1096
Email: anne-gret.iturriaga.abarzua@ineos.com

Richard Longden
Phone: +41 21 627 7063
Email: richard.longden@ineos.com

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Note to Editors

INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe (http://www.ineospolyolefins.com) is the number one producer of olefin and the number three producer of polyolefins in Europe. In 2011 the company had a turnover of € 5.5 billion and employed around 3,700 people. The heritage of its manufacturing facilities includes BP, Solvay, Amoco, and Borealis. It has capacity to produce around 5.5 million tonnes per annum of olefins and aromatics; 1.1 million tonnes per annum High Density Polyethylene (HDPE); 1.0 million tonnes per annum Low Density/Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LD/LLDPE) and around 0.9 million tonnes per annum PP.

The Rosignano plant (Italy) was founded in 1912. The first polyethylene plant at the site was built in 1959. The site was acquired by INEOS in December 2005 when the company bought the Innovene business from BP. The site has capacity to produce 200kt per annum of HDPE. It has four production lines that are optimized for producing 100% specialties. Applications include pressure pipes, organoleptic caps, textiles, moulding and other speciality niches.

The Sarralbe plant (France) is a stand-alone unit initially established by Solvay. Polyolefins activity began in 1970.The site is located in Lorraine in the North-East part of France and has capacity to produce 195 ktpa of HDPE. It has three production lines that are optimized for producing 100% specialities. Applications include pressure pipes, organoleptic caps, long life food packaging, moulding and other speciality niches.