Ineos And Sasol Move On U.S. Gulf Plants

Ineos says it has completed early-phase engineering work for a new linear α-olefins plant for the U.S. Gulf Coast. The company expects to complete the plant, which will have 350,000 metric tons of annual capacity, by the third quarter of 2017. The company completed a 10% expansion of its α-olefins plant in Joffre, Alberta, late last year and says it sees opportunities for further expansions. Separately, South Africa’s Sasol has broken ground on an $8.1 billion complex in Westlake, La. The company says the Gulf Coast facility, which will feature a 1.5 million-metric-ton-per-year ethyl­ene cracker, will be ready in 2018.