South African-based energy and chemical company, Sasol and UK-headquartered Ineos’s US subsidiary have signed an MOU with the intent to form a joint venture to manufacture 470 kilotonnes/year of bimodal high density polyethylene (HDPE) using Ineos Technologies’s Innovene S process. The final investment decision is expected to be made in the first half of 2014 with start-up of the plant expected at the end of 2015. Though no location was specified it is expected that it will be in Lake Charles, based on Sasol’s plans to build an ethane cracker to produce ethylene on the site.

“This partnership will leverage the expertise of two global players in the chemical market. Together we will develop a world-scale HDPE plant which will allow us to monetise ethylene and supply a high quality product,” said André de Ruyter, Sasol Senior Group Executive for Global Chemicals and North American Operations. “The joint venture expands on our greater North American strategy and will complement the products produced from the ethane cracker and derivatives project in southwest Louisiana.”

Upon start up, the intention is to produce a limited number of grades allowing high grade efficiencies.

“This joint venture demonstrates Ineos’s continued commitment to the HDPE market and to growing end-use applications that benefit from bimodal technology. It enables two global companies to integrate with each partner’s upstream businesses the leading bimodal slurry technology on a world-scale asset,” said Dennis Seith, CEO of Ineos USA.