Sabic Engineering Polymers Arm to Shut West Virginia ABS plant

Sabic Innovative Plastics, the engineering polymers arm of the Saudi group, will close its ABS plant at Washington, West Virginia in the U.S. and sell the property to investors seeking to establish a shale gas processing center at the site.

The plant on the Ohio River, adjacent to facilities owned by DuPont, is due to be shut down in mid-2015 with the loss of at least 109 positions. Some of the affected employees will accept retirement plans. Others, mostly those with process knowhow, will be offered transfers to Sabic sites at Ottawa, Illinois, and St. Louis Bay, Mississippi.

The West Virginia plant, which Sabic acquired with its takeover of GE Plastics in 2007, produces 75,000 t/y of ABS according to some estimates, while other sources put capacity at 50,000 t/y. It is the oldest ABS plant in the U.S., possibly worldwide, started up in the 1950s by Marbon and later known operated by Borg-Warner and GE Plastics.

Odebrecht, parent company of Brazilian petrochemicals giant Braskem, is said to have an option on the Sabic property. The company has confirmed it is in negotiations with the U.S. state about participating in the Ascent (Appalachian Shale Gas Enterprise) project. 

The U.S.market for ABS is under increasing pressure from cheap Asian imports. Sabic in 2009 quit the European ABS market in 2009 for the same reasons.

The Ascent complex, if realized, could eventually include an ethane cracker and three polyethlene plants.