Press Releases

• The INEOS Insight, has today docked at Grangemouth near Falkirk in Scotland carrying 27,500m3 of ethane from US shale fields
• This is the first time that ethane from US shale gas has ever been shipped to the UK and represents the culmination of a $2bn investment by INEOS
• Due to strong winds yesterday, the INEOS Insight was unable to safely enter the Grangemouth terminal so remained in the Firth of Forth overnight
• Jim Ratcliffe, chairman and founder of INEOS, says, “I am pleased to say the INEOS Insight has now docked. This is a game changer for British manufacturing. Its arrival guarantees the security of thousands of jobs in Scotland and could spark a shale gas revolution.”
• Stills are attached

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INEOS has confirmed that the INEOS Insight today safely docked at the Grangemouth terminal in Scotland, carrying 27,500m3 of ethane from US shale fields.

This is the very first time that ethane from US shale gas has ever been exported from the USA to the UK. INEOS have invested $2bn into this world first project.

It will provide British industry with the chance to benefit from US shale gas economics which has done so much to revitalise manufacturing in the USA.

Arriving in Grangemouth yesterday, the Insight was due to dock at midday but strong winds of 50-knots, four times above the safe limit, prevented the boat from safely entering the terminal. The Insight stayed anchored in the Firth of Forth overnight before it successfully docked late at lunchtime.

Jim Ratcliffe, chairman and founder of INEOS, says, “I am pleased to say the INEOS Insight has now docked. This is a game changer for British manufacturing. Its arrival guarantees the security of thousands of jobs in Scotland and could spark a shale gas revolution”.

ENDS.

Media contacts

Richard Longden (INEOS)               0041 21 627 7063 or 0041 7996 26123

Mark Killick (Media Zoo)                020 7384 6980 or 07836 634449

Andrew McLachlan (Media Zoo)     020 7384 6980 or 07931 377162

Joseph Wade (Media Zoo)             020 7384 6980 or 07758 074576

 

Notes to Editors

The INEOS Insight

• The Insight and her sisters are the world’s largest specifically built ethane multi-gas carriers (27,500 cbm)
• A world first with proven ethane fuel capability significantly improving efficiency and cost.
• Twin engines offering full redundancy
• Shaft generators offering reduced power needs
• As long as 2 football pitches
• You could park 15 BMW 525's side by side across the deck
• During the course of the contract, each vessel will travel the equivalent of 5 return journeys from the earth to the moon
• If the Cargo tanks were removed from one of the Dragon Ships we could carry around 5,750 Mini Coopers in the void space

 

Main dimensions

• Length                        180 m
• Beam                         26.6 m
• Depth                         14.8 m
• Dead weight               20900 tonnes

 

The Mariner Project

• The ethane gas being shipped to Europe originates from the Marcellus Shale in Western Pennsylvania
• The Marcellus Shale is 300 miles from the nearest port
• The Mariner East Pipeline has been constructed by Sunoco to deliver ethane to the Marcus Hook facility near Philadelphia
• The pipeline has the capacity to transport 70,000 barrels of natural gas liquids per day
• The ethane will be loaded onto ships at the Marcus Hook Terminal in Philadelphia.
• The terminal is an 800 acre site on the banks of the Delaware River
• It has been an oil and gas processing site since 1902
• However, changing market conditions meant that the refinery shut down in 2012
• The INEOS Dragon ship project meant that the site could be reopened

 

INEOS at Grangemouth, Scotland

• Scotland’s biggest manufacturing complex
• TGE Gas Engineering constructed a 40 metre-high ethane storage tank
• This is Europe’s biggest ethane storage tank
• The roof was successfully raised on the 10th July 2015
• 60,000 cubic metre capacity
• It can store 33,000 tonnes of liquid gas
• New docks and a new pipeline network has been built to receive the gas