Ineos Group AG has tapped TGE Gas Engineering GmbH as the preferred supplier to build a new ethane tank at its Grangemouth site in Scotland, in what it terms is the “latest milestone in its 300 million pound ($439 million) survival plan” to import U.S. shale gas to the location.
TGE, based in Bonn, Germany, was a solid choice because the company built Ineos' ethylene import tank in Antwerp, Belgium, and is currently building an ethane tank for it in Rafnes, Norway.
Importing shale gas in Grangemouth will allow Ineos to use the aging Grangemouth site to compete long term by replacing the existing North Sea feedstocks, which are running out.
Ineos of Rolle, Switzerland, previously announced plans to shut down its old ethylene cracker and an associated butadiene plant at Grangemouth and replacing it with a more modern ethylene cracker.
“Both [plants] are no longer commercially viable,” said Harry Deans, CEO of Ineos O&P UK. “Both facilities date from the 1960s and their closure is another key part of our survival plan.”
