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With his picture on the Front page too.
Here the unformatted and uncorrected translation
Ineos CEO Jim Ratcliffe: 'Does Europe still want a chemical sector?'
“If no more investments are possible in Europe, the chemical sector will slowly die, as the textile sector has died,” warns Ineos CEO Jim Ratcliffe.
Interviewer : WIM VAN DE VELDEN
"It would be foolish to say no to Project One," says Ineos CEO Jim Ratcliffe in a conversation with De Tijd, after the permit for the construction of an ethane cracker in Antwerp has been destroyed. 'It would mean the end of chemistry in Europe.'
The first sod for Project One of the British chemical group Ineos happened at the end of 2022 with a lot of festivities. The construction of a new ethane cracker in the port of Antwerp, the first in Europe in 25 years, was a 'gigantic step towards sustainable chemistry', it was said. Nevertheless, environmental organizations resisted from the start because of the 'devastating effects on the environment'.
Last week, the Council for Licensing Disputes dealt a blow to the project for the production of ethylene, one of the most widely used basic chemicals in the world, with the cancellation of the permit. It was also a blow to Jim Ratcliffe, the CEO of Ineos. The British billionaire has built up an entire business empire and wants to add the iconic British football club Manchester United to it, but for now his attention is mainly focused on Ineos' core business, chemistry.
Because after the initial partying, Project One is now hanging by a thread. Again, nitrogen is the bummer. The Council for Licensing Disputes ruled that the nitrogen impact on the Brabantse Wal nature reserve, just across the border in the Netherlands, had not been mapped out in sufficient detail. “The destruction of the permit was a complete shock,” says Ratcliffe in his first interview in Belgium in ten years, which is also the only one about Project One.
Didn't you see the destruction coming?
Jim Ratcliffe: "No. I honestly never thought that could happen. The permit has been taken away from us because we would emit too much nitrogen. Let me dwell on that for a moment. The chemical cluster in Antwerp produces 10,000 tons of nitrogen annually. Project One involves 167 tonnes per year, which is almost zero. Our project accounts for an annual emission of up to 0.12 kilos per hectare, while 33 kilos per hectare per year comes from other sources. In other words, a 250th part of the total nitrogen in the two Dutch provinces where the problem is located. The judge himself says that this is negligible. It's so little you can't even measure it. It's equivalent to driving a tractor for two hours a year, one-hundredth of a cow a year, or three barbecues a year. It makes no sense.'
Nevertheless, the ethane cracker has been criticized from the start.
Ratcliffe: 'Project One is really a good project for Belgium, for the Antwerp chemical cluster, for Europe and for Ineos, but above all it is good for the environment. It is the greenest and cleanest chemical plant in the world. The ethane cracker makes the building blocks essential to our way of life. Unless you want to crawl back into a cave, we enjoy life as we know it: we have medicine, we buy packaged food, we love our iPhone, we love our car, and we all have a toothbrush and a tennis racket. Project One is needed for all those things.”
“If you look at Europe, the question is whether you want to make those products here or push production elsewhere in the world. To places where they have less regard for the environment. Project One uses the best technology in the world and is the world's greenest ethane cracker. The carbon footprint of the ethylene that Project One would produce is 2 million tonnes per year lower than any cracker in Europe. To give you an idea: that corresponds to 1.6 million cars. So with Project One you take the equivalent of 1.6 million cars off the road.”
What if Project One has to be shut down?
Ratcliffe: “We have been at it for five years. 10,000 people around the world are working on the project. We invest 3 billion euros in the construction of the ethane cracker in Antwerp, another 1 billion to bring ethane - a by-product of shale gas - from America to Europe (to be converted into ethylene in the cracker, ed.) and we pump 2 billion euros in the construction of storage capacity in America. All in all, this is already a project worth 6 billion euros, to which we have already committed 80 percent of the total investment. And then suddenly they take away the permit.”
Is there still a future for the chemical cluster in Antwerp, or for chemistry in Europe as a whole?
Ratcliffe: 'Chemicals are a one trillion euro industry in Europe, just as big as the car industry. But there will only be a future if there is renewal. In the manufacturing industry you have to invest continuously to stay in the game. If you do not attract new investments, the existing assets will slowly but surely degrade. Factories get old and expensive to maintain, and eventually they close. If no more investments are possible in Europe, the chemical sector will slowly die, just as the textile sector has died. With Project One, Europe is sending a signal: does it want another chemical sector, or does it want to push it elsewhere in the world?'
Will there not always be a need for chemical products in Europe?
Ratcliffe: 'Europe is a gigantic market and the need for chemical products is just as great in Europe as in the US. But it's tough to invest there. Gas is four times cheaper in America than in Europe, electricity is two times cheaper. And nowhere else in the world does a carbon tax exist like in Europe. If they then take away the permit for the greenest chemistry project after five years, no one in Europe will ever invest in chemistry again. No one.'
Can the European Union's green agenda be reconciled with the dream of reindustrialisation?
Ratcliffe: Yes. See how they do it in America. There they demand that companies use the best possible technology. You are not allowed to build bad factories there anymore, only good ones. In Europe it seems that you are no longer allowed to build any factory, not even the best in the world. You don't help the climate and the environment with that, because you do need the products from that factory. As a result, you move those investments to Thailand or Indonesia. Europe does that, while America demands constant innovation. They use the carrot, not the stick.”
America loves innovation. By building new factories, the old ones close. No less than 20 Project Ones have been built there in the past ten years, zero in Europe. Project One is the first new chemical plant of that size in Europe in 25 years.”
Why did Ineos actually choose Antwerp?
Ratcliffe: 'Antwerp is the most important chemical cluster in Europe and the second most important hub for petrochemicals worldwide, after Houston in the US. Such a cluster is important, because you cannot build a chemical factory in an isolated environment. Its location on the coast is also an asset, as it makes transportation easy. The location is ideal, because the industrial part of Europe is located in the north. Antwerp is well managed and organised, and the Belgian government is always very supportive of the petrochemical industry, which is so important to Belgium and Europe.”
Do you expect that a permit will still be issued for the ethane cracker within six months?
Ratcliffe: 'I have received commitment from the Flemish and federal corner that the problem will be solved. In conversations, the Prime Minister indicated that it is important for Europe that new investments are still possible. That's what I wanted to hear. Otherwise we should have stopped. It would be foolish to say no to Project One. That would have disastrous consequences: it would mean the end of chemistry in Europe, it would be a disaster for Antwerp and a disaster for the environment.”
By the way, are you not interested in taking over FC Antwerp?
Ratcliffe: (laughs) "The focus is now on chemicals, Wim."
Bio Jim Ratcliffe (70)
Sir James Arthur Ratcliffe is a British billionaire who founded the chemical company Ineos in 1998. He is its owner and chairman. He made his fortune by buying up unwanted chunks of companies whose profits he believed could be doubled in five years.
For tax reasons, Ratcliffe moved Ineos' headquarters to Switzerland. He himself has a place in Monaco. He has a 250-foot yacht, the Hampshire II.
He founded Ineos Automotive to build a replacement for his Land Rover Defender. In 2019, he entered into a partnership with BMW and the car manufacturer Magna Steyr. The car project was codenamed Projekt Grenadier.
Ratcliffe is a sports fanatic. In 2013 he ran the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara. He owns several football clubs, including FC Lausanne-Sport and OGC Nice. He also made an offer for Chelsea, but it fell through. Now he has set his sights on iconic British club Manchester United.
Ratcliffe bought the Team Sky cycling team in 2019, now Team Ineos. In 2020, the chemical company became the main sponsor of Mercedes in Formula 1.
