OREANDA-NEWS. May 11, 2012. INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe has today confirmed that it is considering strategic options for the future of its HDPE businesses at Rosignano and Sarralbe, including a divestment to interested third parties. The decision follows a recent strategy review of INEOS O&P Europe.

 Rosignano (Italy) and Sarralbe (France) have been a part of INEOS since December 2005, when the company acquired the Innovene business from BP. Since that time INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe has significantly improved the performance such that today both sites are highly “cycle-resistant” producing a sophisticated range of differentiated polymers with top quartile SHE, reliability and cost leadership of both sites. Today, both sites are profitable and cash generative.

 INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe plans to focus on the growth of its assets that are highly integrated upstream and downstream. Rosignano and Sarralbe are not integrated with INEOS feedstocks and hence are being considered for divestment; however, both have the potential to grow further in response to the increasing demand from the market for their differentiated products.

 This announcement is being made at a very early stage in the evaluation process, to enable discussions to take place with employees, works councils and interested third parties. The outcome of these discussions is not considered to be a foregone conclusion, as INEOS will only divest these sites if it is in the interest of its Business and the long term future of these sites. In the meantime, INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe will continue to operate these businesses as normal, rigorously focussed on the safe, reliable operation of its sites, to provide high quality products and service to its customers.

 INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe is the leading supplier of olefin and polymers to its main markets in Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Its olefins portfolio is built around four of the most integrated and differentiated cracker complexes in Europe; at Koln (Germany), Rafnes (Norway), Lavera, (France) and Grangemouth (UK). Its polyolefin capabilities profit from very strong differentiation, based on leading edge-technology, placing its business as one of the top suppliers to the PE and PP market world-wide.