Ineos (Lyndhurst / UK; www.ineos.com) has buried plans for a giant ethylene cracker at Al Jubail / Saudi Arabia, according to US press reports. The UK group inherited the project with the acquisition of Innovene from BP (see Plasteurope.com of 16.09.2005).

When the Innovene investment was announced in autumn 2005, on the eve of a purported stock listing that morphed into the sale of the company, experts wondered where the “Delta project” would draw its ethane feedstock. As the Saudi cracker was never confirmed, its output is not reflected in estimates of looming capacities on the Persian Gulf.

Ineos also announced recently that it would not pursue plans for an ethane cracker at Wilhelmshaven / Germany (see Plasteurope.com of 20.09.2007). Few actually believed that this project planned some time ago would materialise.