MOSCOW (MRC) -- Swiss-based chemicals major Ineos is building a new furnace at its petrochemical plant in Rafnes, Norway, as it expands capacity to use ethane made from US shale gas it will store in a tank under construction at the site, the chemicals and refinery, according to Reuters.
Ineos is building an ethane storage tank that will enable the plant to produce 570,000 tonnes per year of ethylene, a key substance in making plastics. The extra furnace will enable it to produce 620,000 tonnes per year.
The Norwegian plant currently houses 11 furnaces which process ethane gas and some oil-based liquids into ethylene. By the end of 2015 it will have built a 12th, Geir Tuft, the commercial director, told journalists at the site.
Tuft said that the company was spending around USD160 million on building the tank, the furnace and import facilities.
The move, taking advantage of the availability of cheap shale gas now being produced in the United States, will enable Ineos to stop buying more costly propane and make it more profitable on a long-term basis.
"It's more than likely now that the plant will be here in 2030," Tuft said.
As MRC informed earlier, in October 2012, Ineos announced it signed an agreement to secure ethane from the US that it will use as a feedstock to operate its steam crackers in Europe. It has agreed a long-term deal with Range Resources Corp. for the lifting of ethane from the Marcus Hook facility, located near Philadelphia, from 2015.
Ineos operates steam crackers in Grangemouth in the UK, Cologne in Germany, Lavera in France and Rafnes in Norway.
INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
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