Ineos has named TGE Gas Engineering as the preferred bidder to build a large ethane tank at Falkirk, Scotland, near its Grangemouth production complex. 

The choice of a contractor for the £125 million, 40-meter-high storage tank capable of holding 33,000 t of liquefied ethane and due for completion in 2016 is being called a "key milestone" in the Swiss-based group's plan to import shale gas from the U.S.  

Local company representatives described the tank, which would be Europe's biggest, as "a crucial part" of the survival plan for the Scottish site, adding that, "by 2016 Grangemouth will be a shale gas based facility, essential for it to become a profitable business again."

The overall investment of £300 million in revamping Grangemouth to operate on light ethane feed is to be supported in part by grants and loans from the UK and Scottish regional governments.

Ineos said its older ethylene cracker and associated butadiene plant will close "with immediate effect," with production to be concentrated at more modern facilities on the same site.

No jobs are now planned to be lost in the reshuffle, which reflects terms of a package agreed with employees after a protracted labor dispute in October 2013. Affected staff are to be redeployed across the site.