Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) has confirmed it intends to close the Olefins 6 facility in Teeside, UK.
The cracker plant has been a staple of Teeside’s chemical industry for 46 years, though the plant has been offline since the end of 2020 awaiting conversion projects to enable it to run entirely on gas feedstocks. Since it has been down, workers have been paid to keep the plant safe and to have it ready to come back online for future operations. It is not yet clear how many jobs will be lost.
In a statement Sabic said: ‘Sabic has made the decision to permanently close the Olefins 6 cracker at Teesside, United Kingdom’s manufacturing site. The company regrets this decision which has been communicated today to employees and external stakeholders. This decision is the result of a thorough analysis aimed at optimising competitiveness and aligning with SABIC’s long term strategic priorities to ensure the company remains agile and resilient in an evolving global landscape.’
The firm’s nearby low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant – which had been fed by the cracker – will remain open with feedstocks coming from elsewhere.
Ben Houchen, mayor of the Tees Valley has released a statement on LinkedIn offering support to affected workers, while also calling on the UK government to take action. He says: ‘This is yet another symptom of a national policy failure. The chemicals sector is a foundation industry – the lifeblood of our economy in the North East – yet it didn’t even feature in the government’s Industrial Strategy earlier this week…Along with ENSUS recently, we can’t keep watching critical industrial assets shut down while Whitehall fiddles with more strategies, reviews and working groups. The time for warm words is over. We need urgent intervention to protect skilled jobs, secure our supply chains and make the UK competitive for manufacturers again.’
