Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) said late Wednesday it will pause more than $100M in planned spending for two European chemical recycling projects because of concerns over new draft rules the company believes would undermine the investment case for the projects.
Exxon (NYSE:XOM) Senior VP Jack Williams said the projects, which it had planned to develop in Belgium and the Netherlands, are now on hold, as a European Union proposal on chemical recycling threatens to lower the amount of recycling credits the company can claim for processing that takes place at existing petrochemical plants, rendering its European recycling projects unfeasible.
The two recycling projects were intended to recycle 80K metric tons/year of plastics, and the company had planned to spend €100M (~$119M) on the projects, Williams said during a visit to Brussels on Wednesday.
“We’ve had local support. We want to make these investments,” Williams said. “The only thing standing between us and doing this project is E.U. policy.”
Other companies have raised concerns about the heavy hand of Europe’s regulations; Peter Huntsman (HUN), CEO chemicals manufacturer Huntsman recently said “Europe is uninvestable” in many sectors, blaming energy costs and red tape.