INEOS Styrolution (“the Company”), the world's leading supplier of styrenics materials, announced today its decision to permanently close its styrene monomer production site in Sarnia, Ontario by June 2026.
“This difficult business decision to permanently close our Sarnia site was made following a lengthy evaluation process and is based on the economics of the facility within a wider industry context. The long-term prospects for the Sarnia site have worsened to the point that it is no longer an economically viable operating asset,” said the Company’s CEO Steve Harrington. “The production site in Sarnia is currently shut down due to recent orders from regulatory authorities that forced us to declare force majeure. We are currently assessing what is required to restart the site—a process that could take approximately six months.”
“Our decision to permanently close the Sarnia site by June 2026 is irrespective of the current situation. The economic reality is that we have made significant investments in the Sarnia site for many years to ensure safe and reliable operations. Additional large investments that are unrelated to the potential costs of restarting operations would be necessary in the near future. Such investments would be economically impractical given today’s challenging industry environment,” Harrington continued.
INEOS Styrolution understands the uncertainty the current temporary shutdown has presented for its Sarnia stakeholders and appreciates the patience of its employees, contractors, customers, and partners. Looking ahead, the Company will work closely with all necessary parties to complete an orderly wind-down process and a permanent closure of the site in a safe, responsible, and compliant manner. Aligned with our core value of “Valuing and Respecting People,” transition support will be provided to impacted employees.
The Company is fully committed to the styrenics business and will continue to serve customers across the globe with its leading portfolio of differentiated, high-performing products and innovative solutions that enable customer growth.
About SARNIA SITE
The Sarnia styrene facility was built by the Canadian Polymer Crown company in 1943 with a capacity of 50 MMlbs/yr. Over the years, the site continued to expand its footprint under different ownership structures to ultimately be wholly owned by INEOS in 2014. The site has a nameplate capacity of 430kta of styrene monomer and employs ~80 employees and a large number of contractors.
