UK Chemicals Giant Ineos Shuts Down Europe's Last Acetyls Production Over Soaring Gas Costs

British chemicals group Ineos announced on 22 September 2026 that it is idling all three of its chemical plants at Saltend Chemicals Park in Hull, on the Humber estuary in northeast England. The company said two of the units had already stopped producing and that the third would be taken offline within days. The plants are being mothballed until further notice, and Ineos has not given any timetable for a restart or for a possible permanent closure.

The Hull units are Europe's last world-scale acetyls plants, since every other comparable facility on the continent has already closed because of uncompetitive energy costs. With Hull offline, European buyers of acetic acid and related chemicals now depend almost entirely on imports.

Ineos was founded in 1998 by British businessman Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who still chairs the group and remains its main shareholder. Headquartered in London and privately owned, the company grew by buying chemical businesses that larger groups such as BP and ICI no longer wanted. It has become one of the largest chemical producers in the world, with dozens of businesses and sites across Europe, North America and Asia. Its core activity is petrochemicals, the basic building blocks used to make plastics, solvents, detergents, medicines and construction materials. The group has also expanded into oil and gas, the automotive industry and sport.

Ineos has warned for several years that high energy prices and carbon taxes are pushing chemical production out of Britain and Europe. It previously closed the last synthetic ethanol plant in the UK at Grangemouth in Scotland, and it already cut 60 jobs at its Hull acetyls business last year, blaming energy costs and cheap imports.

What the Hull plants produce

The Saltend units make acetyls, a family of chemical intermediates derived from natural gas. One plant produces acetic acid, which is used in adhesives, paints, vinegar and the fibres that go into clothing. Another produces a key ingredient needed to make aspirin. Together, the plants supply raw materials for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, detergents, construction products, food and military explosives, and they sell their output across Europe.

Gas plays a double role at Saltend. It is used as a feedstock in the production process, and hydrogen made from gas is also burned to power the units. This makes the site particularly exposed to any rise in wholesale gas prices.

Why Ineos pulled the plug

According to Ineos, the UK gas price is now 12 times higher than in the United States and eight times the cost of coal-based production in China. Sir Jim Ratcliffe said the company simply cannot compete at those levels, even though the Hull units rank among the most efficient in the world. Ineos also argues that its Humberside production has a carbon footprint about half that of US producers and roughly one-eighth of Chinese output, so replacing it with imports will increase global emissions.

UK wholesale gas prices roughly doubled between July and September 2026. In early September, the British NBP benchmark climbed above 180 pence per therm after new US strikes on Iranian oil tankers, and it later approached 200 pence per therm, its highest level since late 2022. Prices remain close to those levels as Europe heads into winter with gas storage below its five-year average.

Jobs and regional impact

The three plants directly employ about 245 people, and around 1,000 workers are expected to be directly affected once contractors are included. Ineos says the units support almost 4,000 skilled jobs across the Humber region through the supply chain and apprenticeship schemes. The announcement is another blow for Saltend Chemicals Park, which lost the Vivergo Fuels bioethanol plant last year after the UK cut tariffs on US ethanol imports. Hull had already been identified as one of the British cities most exposed to the Middle East energy crisis.

The UK government described the move as a commercial decision by Ineos and said it recognised the concern for workers and their families, pointing to the support measures it has already put in place for the chemicals sector. Ineos is calling for rapid action to lower industrial gas prices and cut carbon levies. It also wants the UK to work with the European Commission on anti-dumping measures and tariff protection against cheap US and Chinese chemicals.

Consequences for the supply chain

The idling of Hull removes Europe's last large-scale domestic source of acetyls. European manufacturers of paints, coatings, adhesives, textile fibres, solvents and pharmaceuticals will now have to rely on shipments from the United States, the Middle East and Asia, with longer lead times, higher freight costs and greater exposure to shipping disruptions. Buyers who relied on Hull material are expected to face tighter availability and higher prices in the coming weeks as they switch suppliers.

The shutdown also raises strategic concerns. Acetyls are used in the production of military explosives and in several essential medicines, and Europe now has no significant domestic capacity to fall back on. Industry groups have warned that the loss of basic chemical production weakens the resilience of downstream sectors such as defence, healthcare and construction.

The situation is also a warning for other energy-intensive industries in Britain and continental Europe. Ten large chemical complexes have closed in the UK in the last five years, and if gas prices stay high through the winter, more producers of fertilisers, glass, ceramics and chemicals could be forced to cut output. A restart at Hull will depend on a lasting fall in gas prices or on government support, and neither appears likely in the short term while the conflict in the Gulf continues.