Ineos is to invest in the construction of a new ethane tank at its Rafnes site in Norway. The company has signed a Letter Of Intent with TGE Gas Engineering to build a new tank and expanded infrastructure, to be commissioned in 2015. The new facility will complement the existing storage at Rafnes.

The investment in the tank and infrastructure at Rafnes quickly follows the recent completion of supply and infrastructure agreements by Ineos, to access ethane feedstock from the US for use in its European cracker complexes. The additional ethane will supplement existing supplies and provide the opportunity to replace more expensive Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG).

Ineos has agreed to long term deals with Range Resources Appalachia for the lifting, of ethane from the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex in Philadelphia from 2015. In addition it has finalised Pipeline Transportation Services and Terminal Services Agreements for the shipping of ethane from Houston, Pennsylvania, to Markus Hook, Philadelphia, (via the Sunoco-operated Mariner East project) with subsidiaries of Sunoco. These agreements will be for a duration of 15 years and will provide Ineos Olefins & Polymers Europe with essential supply options for the future.

Subject to signature of the final contractual agreements, the construction work is planned to commence in February / March 2013 and will continue for 24 months. The tank will be capable of storing first ethane loads from the second quarter of 2015.

Ethane from the Mariner East Project will become available from 2015.