Page 50 - Plastics News May 2017

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

E E F s i gn s p a rt n e rs h i p Gas leak at Ineos petrochemical

agreement with US counterpart site in Grangemouth contained

03-May-17
EF, the British manufacturers’ organisation,
Ehas signed a partnership agreement with its
American counterpart, the (NAM), at a ceremony in as leak that had occurred at the Ineos
Washington DC. The agreement, signed by EEF Chief Gpetrochemical site in Grangemouth has
Executive, Terry Scouler, and NAM President and Chief been contained.
Executive, Jay Timmons, will last for an initial period Acco rding to
of three years and will focus on promoting and raising reports the major
awareness of trade opportunities in both countries for incident occurred
engineering and manufacturing companies. This will on May 3 following
include sharing market intelligence, data and policy a gas leak inside the
work, facilitating visits and economic delegations for
promoting trade, investment and commercial exchanges refinery’s Kinneil
and, opportunities for shared promotion at trade fairs, Gas manufacturing
events and the two organisations’ respective major pl ant which
annual conferences. forced staff to
be e va cua t e d
The two groups plan to establish opportunities to and a number of
meet both UK and US politicians, as well as senior
manufacturing leaders from both countries. As part of surrounding roads to be closed off to vehicles and
the agreement, EEF will also place an associate member pedestrians.
of staff in Washington who will co-ordinate and manage Ineos issued a statement saying “Ineos can confirm
day-to-day engagement activities to include setting up that at there was an incident at our KG (Kinneil
a Policy Forum between EEF and NAM. Terry Scuoler, Gas) plant today. “Staff were evacuated from the
Head of EEF, said: “The ties between the United Kingdom immediate area and, our well-practised emergency
and the United States go back a long way and we have procedures were implemented, with the incident
significant political, economic and trade connections. management team being mobilised. The incident was
The US is a vital market for UK industry and is likely to
assume even more importance in the wake of Brexit caused by a leak on a pipe carrying ethylene gas which
with the opportunity to widen our trade links across has been identified and is being isolated.
the globe. Measures were put in place to contain the leak in
“I am delighted to sign this agreement with our US the immediate vicinity of the affected plant and as
counterpart which will hopefully provide mutually an ongoing precaution road closures remain in place.
beneficial opportunities for manufacturers in both All of the people working in the area have been
countries.” Jay Timmons, NAM President, said: “This accounted for and there were no injuries.
agreement offers a tremendous opportunity for the Other areas within the Grangemouth complex,
NAM to deepen our relationship with EEF. As the UK including the adjacent refinery were unaffected by
gears up for Brexit negotiations with the EU, and the
United States and UK lay the groundwork for a potential the incident. A full investigation into the cause of the
bilateral free trade agreement, close ties between incident is underway. The regulators have been kept
manufacturers in our two countries are important to fully informed throughout.”
ensure we can seize the many opportunities before us.”

Plastics News | May 2017 50