Ineos to buy TotalEnergies out of French petchem JVs

Ineos is to buy TotalEnergies' stakes in several 50/50 petrochemical joint ventures the two companies currently operate at Lavera, southern France, with assets including a 720,000 mt/ year steam cracker plus polypropylene (PP) and aromatics plants.

The value of the transaction has not been disclosed, with completion expected around the end of 2023, subject to consultation and regulatory approval, Ineos said.

The deal includes TotalEnergies' entire stake in the Naphtachimie, Appryl, Gexaro and 3TC JVs as well as related pipeline infrastructure. The Naphtachimie JV's naphtha-fed ethylene cracker and integrated refinery is one of the largest in Europe and the largest in southern France. The cracker produces ethylene, propylene, butadiene, butenes and pyrolysis gasoline (pygas) for external customers and on-site for use by Ineos, Appryl, Kemone, Oxochimie and Gexaro.

The Appryl JV operates a PP plant at Lavera with a nameplate capacity of 300,000 metric tons per year, while the Gexaro aromatics JV at Lavera has a production capacity of 270,000 mt/year. The 3TC JV operates naphtha storage facilities at the site. Ineos and TotalEnergies said in separate statements that a number of other infrastructure assets were also contained in the deal including part of TotalEnergies' ethylene pipeline network in France.

Ineos said the deal would fully integrate the Naphtachimie, Gexaro and Appryl petrochemical businesses, assets and infrastructure into its existing Ineos Olefins & Polymers (O&P) South business at Lavera. Gexaro is on the refinery site and will continue to be operated by Petroineos, it said. Gexaro produces benzene and gasoline for the Petroineos refinery.

The acquisition of TotalEnergies' ownership stake will allow Ineos to fully integrate the assets and enhance its competitiveness, said Xavi Cros, CEO of Ineos O&P South.

Ineos will continue to invest in the businesses, including reducing CO2 emissions to meet the company's net zero commitment by 2050, he said.

The agreement will have no operational impact on TotalEnergies' refining and petchem sites, it said.

Ethylene pipeline

Ineos will also buy the southern sections of TotalEnergies' ethylene pipeline network running from Lavera to the Lyon region. The central and northern sections, from the Lyon region to the Lorraine region, will be held equally by both companies, it said.

TotalEnergies said the agreements with Ineos will "realign their respective stakes in their production assets and logistics infrastructure to better reflect the balance between their production and internal use of ethylene in eastern France." The deal will support the integration between TotalEnergies' petrochemical sites at Feyzin and Carling in eastern France, it said.

The three sites are connected by a pipelines and storage network starting at Lavera and passing through Feyzin to Carling in the north-east of France. TotalEnergies said it "does not itself use its share of production from the Lavera steam cracker, which is equally (50/50) owned with Ineos, and sells it mainly to Ineos."

TotalEnergies said it was "thus consolidating the key role of the Feyzin petrochemical platform as the integrated supplier of ethylene to the Carling platform."

"This operation allows us to strengthen the links between our Feyzin and Carling petrochemical sites, with Feyzin becoming Carling's integrated ethylene supplier, in line with our strategy to focus on our integrated platforms," said Jean-Marc Durand, senior vice president/refining base chemicals for Europe at TotalEnergies.