Ineos Oxide has confirmed it will build its proposed ethylene oxide (EO) and derivatives complex at its Chocolate Bayou site, south of Houston on the US Gulf of Mexico. Start-up is expected in 2023. Some of the output will be used internally by Ineos with the rest to be sold on the merchant market.

The company announced in March 2019 that it was considering several sites on the US Gulf Coast for the project, which will add around 520,000 t/y of new EO capacity.

Chocolate Bayou hosts two olefins crackers, two PP units and two cogeneration facilities that are operated by Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA. Ineos Oligomers is also currently building a linear alpha olefins unit and downstream polyalphaolefins plant at the site.

Ineos said the selection of Chocolate Bayou will reinforce on-site integration to the benefit of both the crackers and the derivative assets. It added that the availability of additional land close to the unit will also enable interested third-parties to co-locate and consume EO by pipeline.

In separate news, Ineos has appointed Wood Group as program management partner on its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and ethane gas cracker project in Antwerp, Belgium. Wood will oversee the execution of the new complex. The value of the contract, which is effective immediately, was not disclosed.

Last month, South Korea’s SK Engineering & Construction said it had signed a $14 million contract with Ineos to carry out a one-year front-end engineering and design study on the 750,000 t/y PDH plant. The contractor added that it has also been selected as the preferred bidder to build the PDH facility.