Work has started to shut down Scotland’s last remaining oil refinery as a political blame game intensifies over whether more could have been done to save it.
The Record understands the decommissioning process at Grangemouth is already well under way and is expected to be completed by May.
The demolition of the refining apparatus could take several years and will be carried out while the site transitions to a fuels import terminal.
The news will come as a blow to campaigners who have led calls for the lifespan of the refinery to be extended to avoid hundreds of job losses at Scotland’s largest industrial complex.
The confirmation of the the closure comes just days after workers at the refinery received letters from owners Petroineos formally notifying of them of their impending redundancy.
Petroineos – a joint venture between Ineos and Petrochina – first announced its intention to cease refining operations at Grangemouth in November 2023.
It sparked a political row amid claims the then Conservative Government at Westminster could have done more to step in and save the plant.
The SNP Government at Holyrood has also faced a backlash from unions over what is viewed as a tepid response to the impending closure and job losses.
Keir Starmer’s Labour Government has also faced criticism over its rejection of calls to bring the refinery site under public ownership.
Ed Miliband, the UK Energy Secretary, today insisted there remained “huge potential” for the wider Grangemouth site and the UK Government was “absolutely determined” for it to have a future:
“We are determined to have a future for that Grangemouth site and for the Grangemouth community,” he told Times Radio.
“That’s what we’re working on actually, alongside the Scottish Government, something called Project Willow, which is a whole project which will be published later this month looking at how we can how we can make the most of the potential resources at Grangemouth. Carbon capture and storage could be part of it, sustainable aviation fuel could be part of it.
“There’s huge potential on that site and we are absolutely determined for the sake of that community, the Scottish economy, the UK economy to do that because there’s huge benefits.”
A spokesman for Petroineos said: “From Q2 this year, Grangemouth will be ready to operate as a national fuel distribution hub that ensures Scotland’s supply of finished fuels is protected.
“The process of safely transitioning the site from a refinery into an import terminal is underway and will continue over a number of months. Fully winding-down and dismantling the refinery is anticipated to take around five years in total, so the new terminal business will operate in parallel with this process.”
During the general election campaign, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar stated his party would “step in to save the jobs” at Grangemouth and would put “hundreds of millions of pounds behind it”.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Sarwar repeatedly said the refinery’s closure was a decision made by the “privately-run company” that owned it.
A £1.5m report examining options for the furture of the Grangemouth site – dubbed Project Willow – is expected to be published at the end of this month.
Gillian Martin, the SNP energy minister, said: “We are ensuring that both governments and Petroineos get sight of the full report. But more than that, we are teeing up potential investors to see the report as well.”
She told MSPs on Thursday “a substantial amount of voluntary redundancies” have been applied for by workers at Grangemouth while there are “people that have been re-deployed across the site as well”.
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here