AN AMERICAN company is understood to be in talks to buy one of Dow Chemicals' plants on Teesside, where workers have been concerned for their future after Dow said it wanted to sell or shut the site as part of a global cost-cutting programme.

Sources close to the negotiations say Texan company Third Coast Chemicals is interested in buying Dow’s ethelyne oxide operation at the huge Wilton International Centre. The plant is the only one of its kind in the UK. Dow, which employs more than 200 people at its Wilton, Billingham, Seal Sands and Middlesbrough sites, announced at the turn of the year that it would shed 5,000 jobs worldwide and close 20 plants globally as it tried to make annual savings of £473m by 2010.

It is understood negotiations between Dow and Third Coast have been going on for some time.

Bob Bolam, a regional officer with the Unite union, with responsibility for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, said the union had been working to support Dow.

He said: “We realise what a major player this ethelyne oxide plant is. Dow, when they made the announcement in January, said that come the end of June, they’d have to review it. The contracts run out in January 2010. We are hoping good news will come our way fairly soon.”