Plans for Saudi Cracker Are Buried

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. When the Innovene investment was announced in autumn 2005, on the eve of a purported stock listing, 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. /Plastics Information Europe/