Thread Content
Costing 3 billion euros! Ineos' "Project No. 1" was stopped? Author/Source: Enable dynamic date: 2023-07-28 Click rate: 13 According to media reports, Belgian authorities have suspended the construction and environmental permits obtained in 2021 and 2022 for Ineos's "Project One" cracker project in Antwerp, which is a heavy blow to the company. Flanders Province, Belgium * * A new decision on the project must now be made within six months. The €3 billion cracker is expected to have an annual ethylene production capacity of 1.45 million tons per year. It was originally planned to be put into operation as early as 2024, but the start-up time has recently been postponed to 2026. Now, the project, powered by U.S. shale gas, may be on the verge of cancellation. A spokesman for Ineos told Plasteurope.com Expressed "disappointment" with the decision and said the company would review and discuss possible options. Environmental group ClientEarth has been opposing the project for several years, along with 13 other organizations including Greenpeace. This time, the neighboring Dutch provinces of Noord Brabant and Zeeland also lodged separate complaints because, according to Clean Earth, the environmental protection assessment was insufficient. A court complaint is said to have been filed against regional authorities for underestimating the risk of nitrogen emissions near a nature reserve. Project Origin Ineos confirmed in July 2018 that it would build world-class gas cracking units and PDH units in Europe. At that time, the site selection scope had been narrowed to between Antwerp and the Dutch port city of Rotterdam. On January 15, 2019, Ineos said that the company has selected Antwerp, Belgium, as the location for its 1.45 million tons/year gas cracking unit and 750,000 tons/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Europe. “We believe this investment will reverse years of decline in the European chemicals industry,” INEOS CEO * said executive officer Jim Ratcliff. “The final decision is based on our cooperation with the Port of Antwerp, the City of Antwerp and the Region of Flanders * * and belgium * * long-term cooperative relationship. ”McNally said. This is not the first time that this project has been suspended. In January 2021, Ineos announced that it would suspend the construction of the propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit located in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium, to avoid the loss of biodiversity in the nature reserve near the site. INEOS's entire project construction requires the clearing of 56 hectares of forest land. However, since the project site is close to the protected area of the EU Nature 2000 Habitat Protection Network, many wild animals will lose their habitat once logging begins. Therefore, in November 2020, lawyers from the European Environmental Protection Association and 13 other environmental organizations jointly applied to the Flanders Licensing Dispute Settlement Committee in Belgium for an emergency injunction to stop cutting down trees. The commission subsequently suspended the logging permit, noting that the project's environmental impact assessment failed to adequately assess the project's overall impact on the environment and climate. The committee's decision means Ineos cannot continue construction until the case is concluded. After the ban was approved, in December 2020, the European Environmental Protection Agency and 13 other environmental organizations jointly appealed again against the approval of the forest land clearing permit on the grounds that the current project environmental impact assessment failed to fully assess the overall impact of the project on the environment and climate.