Petrochemicals firm Ineos submits plans for £150m manufacturing plant in Hull

The vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant, at the Saltend chemicals site to the east of the city, will produce 300,000 tonnes a year and aims to “partially fill a significant European market gap”.

The firm’s founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe is a former Beverley Grammar School pupil and Britain’s wealthiest man.

The new facility will replace the “inherently unreliable” former VAM plant built by BP in the late 1990s and bought by Ineos in 2008. It was knocked down last year.

The investment will double the workforce to 80, as well as providing construction jobs and should also help local businesses who supply the Saltend site with plant, equipment, supplies, food, transport, and accommodation.

The news was welcomed by Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, and the plans are also supported by Paull Parish Council.

The chamber's External Affairs Manager, David Hooper said: “This is a huge investment which will help to strengthen UK manufacturing and boost exports from the UK to Europe and the rest of the world, as well as securing the future of this important Hull site and the jobs of those who work there.

“At a time when a lot of businesses in the Humber are facing serious challenges because of coronavirus and a second national lockdown, this is a very welcome bit of good news for the region which bodes well for a brighter future!”

The plans on East Riding Council’s planning portal state: “In simple terms, the new VAM plant will look very similar to the former one, be of similar proportions and capacity, and will be located on the same plot.”

VAM is a key building block for a wide range of industrial applications like paints, windscreens, films, adhesives as well as for production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

Documents say to minimise impact the largest project construction deliveries will be made by ship to Hull Docks nearby and then be transported to Saltend via the private road which runs from the docks.

Much of the proposed new plant will be built in modular form away from Saltend.

Half of the finished product will leave by ship, with most of the rest leaving by road tankers.

Ten per cent will be used by other companies on the Saltend site.

Saltend, where Ineos manufactures ethyl acetate, gets feedstock ethylene down a pipeline from Grangemouth, and will source its other key raw material, acetic acid, from the BP plant on the site.