Tom Crotty

Tom Crotty is the external affairs director of Ineos UK, previously Chief Executive Officer of INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe.

Views

In 2013 Crotty was asked by Chair: Do you think it might restrict the extent to which prices might otherwise rise in the European market?

My personal view is, yes. That is our biggest worry. But if you look at what is happening in the European market today, prices are rising inexorably. For producers of chemicals or steel, we find ourselves in an increasingly uncompetitive position as a result of those prices. Something needs to happen to address that. We would hope that, at a minimum, it would stop that further rise. I should say, from a chemicals point of view, we must not forget the other aspect of shale gas, which is potentially a key raw material for the chemicals industry, not from its energy content but from its chemical content. That has probably been the most transformational impact of it on the US chemical industry.