Difference between revisions of "Ineos"

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:INEOS Group own and run major plant at Runcorn (chlorine and caustic soda, used in many products – pharmaceuticals, synthetic fibres, bleach, water purification etc), Grangemouth in Scotland (two high energy ‘crackers’ to produce commodity chemicals used in fuels, solvents, nylon, packaging etc) and have plants based at Seal Sands, near and linked to the Wilton cluster, in the North East.
 
:INEOS Group own and run major plant at Runcorn (chlorine and caustic soda, used in many products – pharmaceuticals, synthetic fibres, bleach, water purification etc), Grangemouth in Scotland (two high energy ‘crackers’ to produce commodity chemicals used in fuels, solvents, nylon, packaging etc) and have plants based at Seal Sands, near and linked to the Wilton cluster, in the North East.
  
It co-owns Grangemouth with [[PetroChina]]. In July 2014 Ineos received a UK government loan guarantee to build Europe’s largest ethane storage tank at Grangemouth.
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It co-owns Grangemouth with [[PetroChina]]. In July 2014 Ineos received a UK government loan guarantee to build Europe’s largest ethane storage tank at Grangemouth. The following month Ineos bought the rights to explore fracking for shale gas in a 127 square mile area around Grangemouth and the Firth of Forth.
 
 
The following month Ineos bought the rights to explore fracking for shale gas in a 127 square mile area around Grangemouth and the Firth of Forth.
 
  
 
==The move into shale gas==
 
==The move into shale gas==

Revision as of 06:48, 11 March 2015

Ineos is a major chemicals company and a 50 per cent owner of the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland. It is part of the Ineos Group, a privately owned multinational chemicals company headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland, with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. Jim Ratcliffe is the founder, chairman and main shareholder.

Sometimes described as 'the biggest company you've never heard of', Ineos has more than 80 separate firms registered at the UK Companies House. It the largest privately owned company in the UK. [1] In 2013 the Group's turnover was £43 billion.

Since 2014 Ineos has made substantial investments in shale gas exploration in the UK, buying up licences from BG Group and IGas Energy, making it the UK's third largest shale explorer.

Background

INEOS Group is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell). It employs over 15,000 employees at 51 manufacturing plants in 11 countries.

In the UK:

INEOS Group own and run major plant at Runcorn (chlorine and caustic soda, used in many products – pharmaceuticals, synthetic fibres, bleach, water purification etc), Grangemouth in Scotland (two high energy ‘crackers’ to produce commodity chemicals used in fuels, solvents, nylon, packaging etc) and have plants based at Seal Sands, near and linked to the Wilton cluster, in the North East.

It co-owns Grangemouth with PetroChina. In July 2014 Ineos received a UK government loan guarantee to build Europe’s largest ethane storage tank at Grangemouth. The following month Ineos bought the rights to explore fracking for shale gas in a 127 square mile area around Grangemouth and the Firth of Forth.

The move into shale gas

Views

INEOS' website has a lengthy article outlining its views on Europe's 'dithering' in the debate over shale gas exploration and production. It believes that action to facilitate shale gas production in the UK is imperative or chemical production in other regions, particularly the US, will gain such a competitive advantage that UK production will become uneconomic.

The firm plans to use imported US shale-derived feedstock in their chemical plants at Grangemouth. INEOS is one of very few companies able to use shale gas as both a fuel and a feedstock.

INEOS has decided it cannot wait, and has struck a deal with the US to bring US raw materials to its European plants to maintain a competitive global Olefins & Polymers business. From 2015 INEOS Olefins & Polymers in Norway will begin taking ‘shipments of US-derived ethane – an essential ingredient necessary to produce ethylene.

INEOS warned in a report to the House of Lords EU sub-committee 'that rising energy costs threaten to undermine the ability of manufacturers in the EU to compete on the world stage'. Chemical industries that rely heavily on fossil fuels to run its plants were 'particularly at risk' it said.

'We are acutely vulnerable to fluctuations in energy prices,' said Tom Crotty. INEOS Group Director. 'We sell our products in fiercely competitive international markets and cannot pass on costs to our customers. But we cannot afford to operate in jurisdictions with uncompetitive energy prices.'

INEOS believes that Europe 'should shield energy-hungry industries from steep price rises' while it moves towards creating affordable low-carbon energy sources.

'If it doesn’t, production will be forced out of Europe to more competitive locations which will mean the loss of jobs, investment and tax revenue,' he said. Decarbonisation should not mean deindustrialisation, said Tom. 'The aim must be to connect industry to green energy supplies, not push industry away,” he added. He said energy-intensive industries were not ‘sunset industries’ standing in the way of environmental improvements. 'They are actually a vital source of raw materials and innovations required to make the green economy a reality,' he said.

Buying up shale exploration licences

In August 2014 Ineos made its first move into onshore shale gas exploration in the UK, buying from BG Group a 51 per cent share of a shale licence covering 329 square km of the Midland Valley in Scotland, which includes the area around the Grangemouth refining and petrochemical complex. Dart Energy (now owned by IGas Energy) owned the other 49 per cent [2] however in March 2015 Ineos announced it was buying IGas's stake in the shale licence around the Grangemouth plant, thus giving it full ownership of the site.

In March 2015 IGas agreed a deal with chemicals giant Ineos to sell it at least a 50% interest in seven of IGas’ shale gas licences in the North West along with the option to acquire a 20% interest in two further IGas licences in the East Midlands. The deal is worth £30 million in cash and a further £138 million committment to fund a two phase work programme to develop the sites. [3]

Ineos also pledged an extra £138m to help IGas expand its shale gas operations in the North West and East Midlands regions in England. [4]

Meetings on shale gas with UK government ministers and officials

Legal action against Chinese companies over misuse of trade secrets

In March 2014 Ineos announced it was taking legal action against a number of Sinopec and Sinopec subsidiaries (SNEC, Anqing and others) for breach of contract and/or misuse of trade secrets.

INEOS says that Sinopec Ningbo Engineering Company has broken a long established technology agreement which, together with trade secret misuse by other Sinopec companies, has enabled development of a series of new world scale Acrylonitrile plants without INEOS agreement or consent. INEOS, which has otherwise excellent relationships with Sinopec and with China, has no choice other than to protect its intellectual property. INEOS fears that these breaches of rights will cause major harm to its Acrylonitrile business which generates up to $500m per annum of profit and has a replacement value of $3 billion. It supports around 5,000 direct and indirect jobs in the USA and Europe. [7]

Affiliations

People

Lobbying and PR firms

External

Internal

Resources

Freedom of information requests

Contact

Website: http://www.ineos.com/

Resources

Notes

  1. Nick Mathiason, Ineos tax deal sparks fury as firm plans move to Switzerland, theguardian.com, Thursday 4 March 2010 21.05 GMT
  2. Ineos, INEOS moves into UK shale gas exploration, Press release dated 18 August 2014
  3. INEOS to acquire significant share of key IGas North-West shale gas assets, Ineos press release, 10 March 2015, accessed same day
  4. IGas signs £30m shale gas deal with Ineos to expand, BBC News, 10 March 2015, accessed same day
  5. 5.0 5.1 Email exchanges of 30th June between Ineos and DECC Officials. Briefing material for 28th June Meeting 3. Email exchanges between Ineos and DECC Officials, see page 7 of 17 for this reference.
  6. Transparency data BIS ministerial meetings: October to December 2013, Published May 2014, acc 6 November 2013
  7. INEOS announces legal action against Sinopec and Sinopec subsidiaries, 21 March 2014, acc 5 May 2014
  8. Glen Munro, Grangemouth owner Ineos awards corporate work to Media Zoo, prweek.com, 21 January 2014
  9. Mark Killick, The comms battle for Grangemouth, PRWeek, January 07, 2014, acc 20 August 2014
  10. PRCA Public Affairs Register: Consultancies – March to May 2013