Market recovery still insufficient to resume production
Today, management informed the staff of INEOS Phenol in Doel that the planned restart of the Phenol Doel plant will be delayed. A possible late 2027 restart had previously been announced in June of last year however due to continued volatile market conditions in the European and global markets, on both supply and demand, the economic conditions required for a restart have not yet been sustainably reached and therefore a delay in necessary. An example of the volatile market conditions is the European automotive industry, a major consumer of INEOS Phenol’s products, where demand for European produced cars has been under severe pressure due to significantly increased imports of Chinese cars this directly impacts phenol and acetone demand in Europe. In addition to pressure on the demand for European petrochemical production high energy costs in Europe and carbon taxation, costs that our competitors do not have, have also made European petrochemical production economics extremely challenging.
As a result of today’s announcement, INEOS Phenol’s other operating site in Gladbeck (Germany) will continue production beyond 2027. The announcement was made now because resuming production at Antwerp next year would require preparation to begin immediately. In the meantime, the site in Antwerp continues to provide logistics services to supply its local customers. Importantly all necessary investments are being made to maintain the INEOS Phenol Doel plant and preserve the option to restart when market conditions have sustainably recovered to support this and all options remain open.
ENDS
Press contacts:
INEOS Agency ineos@firstlightgroup.io
Richard Longden richard.longden@ineos.com +41 7996 26123