INEOS accelerates permanent closure of Canadian production plant

INEOS Group Ltd. subsidiary INEOS Styrolution Canada Ltd. is expediting the permanent closure of the operator’s 445,000-tonne/year styrene monomer production site in Sarnia, Ont.

Following its June 2024 decision to refrain from restarting operations at the then-idled plant for a planned sitewide permanent closure by June 2026, INEOS is now working closely with all necessary parties “to complete the [Sarnia site’s] decommissioning and orderly wind-down process by early fourth-quarter 2025,” the operator said on Oct. 24.

While the site’s permanent closure remains imminent, INEOS—which temporarily shuttered operations at the site in April 2024 upon regulatory orders that forced the plant to declare force majeure—said a precise date of when that process will be completed has yet to be determined.

“Since announcing the difficult decision to permanently close our Sarnia site [in June], we have conducted an extensive assessment to determine the operational viability of restarting the site on a temporary basis,” said Steve Harrington, INEOS Styrolution’s chief executive officer.

“Ultimately, the conclusion of the assessment was that temporarily restarting the site is not operationally feasible or economically justifiable,” Harrington said.

Instead, Harrington said the company is now focused on conducting a safe, responsible, and compliant closure process and supporting employees, contractors, customers, and partners, including offering transition support for impacted employees.

Upon announcing its initial decision in June, INEOS said long-term prospects for the Sarnia site had worsened to the point that it was no longer an economically viable operating asset.

In addition to large investments made in the past to ensure safe and reliable operations at the site, Harrington said in June that resuming operations at Sarnia would have necessitated additional near-term large investments unrelated to potentially costs required for immediately restarting the plant.

“Such investments would be economically impractical given today’s challenging industry environment,” Harrington added.

Despite the Sarnia closure, INEOS Styrolution said it remains fully committed to the styrenics business and will continue to serve customers across the globe via its 16 remaining global production sites.

The Sarnia plant produced styrene monomer used as a raw material for styrenics products across the automotive, electronics, household, and construction industries.