INEOS announced in September 2026 that it would fully shut down its three acetyls plants at Hull in the United Kingdom, describing them as Europe's only remaining world-scale acetyls production facilities. Two units were already stopped and the third was due to halt within days.
The three units have combined capacity of 500,000 tonnes per year of acetic acid, 150,000 t/yr of acetic anhydride and 200,000 t/yr of ethyl acetate, according to Chinese industry press reports. The company attributed the closure to persistently high natural gas prices and carbon taxes.
INEOS had invested 30 million pounds in 2025 to switch part of the process from natural gas to hydrogen, cutting gas consumption by 33 percent. The company has said the Hull products' carbon footprint is about half that of US output and one-eighth that of Chinese output.
Gas costs nevertheless undermined competitiveness, since the plants use gas both as fuel and feedstock. INEOS chairman Jim Ratcliffe has said the business could not compete.
The plants will be mothballed with no restart date announced. The closure affects around 4,000 skilled jobs at the site and shifts European supply of acetyls intermediates toward imports from the US and Asia.
