“We believe in British manufacturing and will support it whenever we can,” said INEOS chairman Jim Ratcliffe.
“This new investment at INEOS Oxide, underpinned by our Scottish shale gas project, will enable us to significantly increase product for sale all over Europe and across the world.”
The Hull site will also benefit from INEOS’ $1 billion decision to import US shale gas to Scotland. A pipeline linking INEOS’ petrochemicals plant at Grangemouth with INEOS Oxide in Hull means the site will be able to use ethylene produced from imported US shale gas as its main raw material, increasing production of Ethyl Acetate (EtAc) by 100,000 tonnes per year by the end of 2017.
EtAc is in high demand for use in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, inks and flexible packaging.
“We’re the largest producer of EtAC in Europe and we’re about to get a lot bigger,” added Graham Beesley, CEO INEOS Oxide.
“Growth in demand for our products is strong and this investment will support our customers’ needs over the long term.”