Wilton, Teesside Sabic LDPE plant set for September startup

Sabic will be hoping demand grows quickly to soak up production from its new low density polyethylene (LDPE) chemical plant at Wilton, Teesside, UK.

This long-delayed project is now scheduled for startup in September, according to the UK's Institute of Chemical Engineers.

With all the other chemical plant closures at the UK site, Saudi Arabia's Sabic will be relying on this plant to soak up excess ethylene from its 800,000 tonne/year world scale cracker. My recent feature "Wilton closures highlight challenges for Europe chemical sites" highlight this issue.

According to IChemE: "The plant, owned by Huntsman until Sabic’s takeover, had an original start-up date of the fourth quarter of 2007. This was put back to February 2008 following delays to construction work, which eventually began in 2006. Full capacity is expected to be reached during 2010. Sabic says that the commissioning work at the plant is “well advanced”.

The 400,000 t/y plant will be the largest of its kind in the world, and has been built at a cost of £250m ($407m). Around 110 permanent jobs have been created at the site."

Picture credit IChemE

Artenius Wilton workers lobby in Spain

Beleaguered workers from the Artenius site at Wilton, Teesside, are going to Spain in the hope of convincing parent company La Seda de Barcelona's shareholders that this site is worth saving.
The blog is not convinced: the Artenius PTA plant relied on Sabic's aromatics unit at Wilton for paraxylene feedstocks. This site closed at the end of 2008.
The downstream PET unit relies on ethylene glycol from a Dow plant which is also scheduled to close early next year. Where will these plants get their feedstocks from?

Closures at Wilton, Teesside, chemical site threaten UK industrial base

The blog has been researching an article on the Wilton, Teesside chemical cluster. This site - a key part of the UK chemical industry - has suffered a spate of closures in the last 12 months, accelerating in the last few weeks.

With little scope for exporting large amounts of surplus ethylene, the future of Sabic's cracker must now be under discussion.

Here is the latest on the site from local paper The Northern Echo

"EFFORTS to safeguard Teesside’s chemical industry were stepped up yesterday as both the Government and the debt-ridden owner of a threatened plant were warned of the potentially catastrophic effect of the sector’s demise.

Numerous companies in the sector’s supply chain have come together to write to the Government, stressing the necessity for both financial and skills support to be given during this turbulent time, which has seen several plants on Teesside announce their closures, and more left with question marks hanging over their futures.

Over 1,000 jobs have been, or are set to be, lost through the closures of the Invista and Elementis plants, the impending closures of Dow and Croda, the administration of Artenius, and the lingering doubts over the North Tees Petroplus refinery – a number which could increase ten-fold nationally, as their demise hits the supply chain.

In a statement, the companies involved said that although emphasis now seems to be on emerging technologies, the traditional skills must not be lost.

It said: “Our main concern is that the job losses in our businesses will result in a reduction in the total engineering expertise and capacity in the region and the UK.""