The aromatics and acetyls units comprise businesses that are already leaders in their market segments, boosting Ineos’ profile in areas where it has been underrepresented up to now. The aromatics unit has facilities at six sites with capacity to produce 7.5 million t/y of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and 2 million t/y of paraxylene (PX). The acetyls company’s portfolio includes acetic acid and a range of derivatives produced at nine sites.

With the deal, financed through borrowing on existing business organized through styrenics arm Ineos Styrolution, production activities at 15 former BP sites in Asia, Europe and the US will transfer to the Swiss-based, UK-managed chemical group.

Unloading the assets will allow BP to concentrate on clean energy, reaching its $15 billion target for agreed divestments a full year ahead of schedule, then-chief financial officer Brian Gilvary, who led the negotiations with Ineos, said at the time.

Gilvary retired from the UK oil group shortly after the deal’s closing, and in December Ineos chairman and majority shareholder Jim Ratcliffe announced the appointment of the ex-oil executive to head a new energy company called Ineos Energy.

To date, Ineos has revealed no information about the energy company apart from saying that it would incorporate all the chemical group’s oil and gas assets and play a major role in its transition to low carbon technologies.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist