MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos, one of the world’s largest chemicals company, has announced plans to give 6% of its shale gas revenues to homeowners, landowners & communities who live above its Shale gas operations, reported the company on its site.
Ineos anticipates being a major player in the shale gas industry and believes it will give away over GBP2.5 billion over the life of its business.
The sharing of shale gas profits is commonplace in the USA and Ineos believes this will encourage communities to support shale gas production in their neighbourhoods.
Jim Ratcliffe, INEOS founder and chairman says, "We think this is a game changer for Britain. Giving 6% of the revenues to those living above our shale gas operations will give them a real stake in the success of the venture and encourage the development of the whole shale gas industry".
Typically, those living in a shale gas community (approximately 100 square kilometers) would benefit from the output of 200 wells and split GBP375 million between them.
Home and landowners directly above the wells would share GBP250 million. The rest of an Ineos Shale gas community would share GBP125 million between them. Over the lifetime of a single well, home and land owners would get over GBP1.3 million and the community GBP600,000.
Jim Ratcliffe adds, "Giving 6% of revenues to those directly above Shale gas wells means the rewards are fairly shared by everyone. It’s what they do in the USA and we think it is right to do this here. It democratises the Shale gas revolution".
Ineos is one of very few businesses that can use shale gas as both a fuel and a feedstock in its manufacturing plants. It is already spending hundreds of millions of pounds to import large quantities of shale gas from the USA to its Grangemouth facility in Scotland, a necessity as the availability of gas in the North Sea has declined.
As MRC informed previously, in August 2014, Ineos bought rights to explore for shale gas in the area surrounding its Grangemouth refinery complex in Scotland, in the petrochemicals giant's debut move into the fracking industry. The licence covers 127 square miles in the Midland Valley, spanning the Firth of Forth and including Grangemouth, Falkirk and much of Stirling.
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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