A PETROCHEMICALS firm is “here to stay for another generation” after a major factory conversion, bosses have claimed.

Sabic has modified its Olefins 6 plant at Wilton, near Redcar, which it says has secured more than a thousand jobs at the company and in the supply chain.

The factory, also known as the Cracker, produces goods used to make food packaging, detergents and shampoo by taking feedstocks and cracking apart components, and has been adapted to take US ethane gas as a raw material in its manufacturing process.

Bosses previously said the changes would make the plant more costeffective, since ethane is cheaper than naphtha fuel, which has been used on the Cracker in the past.

However, they said the factory will still process naphtha, as well as propane, butane and condensates as feedstocks, making it the most flexible base of its type in Europe.

John Bruijnooge, Sabic’s Teesside site director, said: “The completion of the project is hugely significant on a number of fronts.

“It would be difficult to overemphasise its importance because, quite simply, it is a lifeline for Teesside.

“It means Sabic is here for another generation.

“These are not easy times for our industry but it is a statement of Sabic’s commitment to Teesside, the UK and Europe. We’re here to stay.”

Mr Bruijnooge also said the changes would help Sabic overcome an anticipated rise in US imports.

He added: “We will be better equipped to defend ourselves against those imports compared to other European crackers whose feedstocks are solely based on naphtha.”

The project, which included the conversion of the Cracker and its 17 furnaces, also involved the building of an ethane terminal at Sabic’s sister North Tees site, between Port Clarence and Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool.