Ineos will acquire BP’s chemical unit

In a divestiture of almost all that’s left of its once-sprawling chemical operations, BP has agreed to sell its aromatics and acetyls business to Ineos for $5 billion. The BP business is one of the world’s largest producers of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), the most important raw material for making polyethylene terephthalate, also known as polyester. The business is also a major producer of acetic acid. The deal includes the oil company’s PTA plants in South Carolina, Belgium, China, Indonesia, and Taiwan. BP operates an acetic acid plant in Hull, England, and has smaller acetic plants across Asia. According to BP, the assets it’s selling produced 9.7 million metric tons of chemicals last year. The company won’t disclose a revenue figure but says the business employs 1,700 people and generated pretax profits of about $400 million in 2019. BP will retain a vestige of its old petrochemical business: ethylene crackers