INEOS O&P UK has announced a proposal to shut down ethanol production at its Grangemouth refinery in the first quarter of 2025.
The firm has said that all staff affected are to be redeployed at other parts of its plant if its proposal is approved with the firm launching consultations with its employees and the Trade Union.
There are currently 44 people involved in ethanol production for INEOS at Grangemouth, bringing the firm’s total headcount at the site to almost 1000.
INEOS O&P UK chief executive, Stuart Collings said: “It is never easy to close any plant and we are making this proposal only after a very thorough analysis.
“Beginning consultation now with our colleagues, means that we can begin to plan for redeployment and phase the programme for closure in a structured manner. All ethanol-based employees will be offered an alternative role within our business.”
The firm has said that its ethanol business has been running at a loss for “several years” now, prompting the decision.
INEOS says that it made the decision after a “lengthy review” and comes from dwindling demand for ethanol in Europe and “increasing pressure from imports of ethanol from other regions.”
Crude refinery closure at Grangemouth
In November, the plant’s owner said that it could be looking to close crude refinery at Grangemouth, Scotland’s only remaining site of its type.
This could come into effect as soon as 2025 following an 18-month process to transition to a fuel import terminal.
It was reported that around 400 of some 500 roles at the site could be axed in the process, prompting an outcry from unions and just transition campaigners.
Late last year INEOS chairman Jim Ratcliffe took aim at UK politicians over what he described as a “total lack” of energy policy, as flows through the Forties pipeline tailed off by 40%.
The Forties Pipeline System (FPS) is one of the main arteries of UK hydrocarbon infrastructure, transporting about 40% of UK North Sea oil and gas to shore and into the INEOS-led refinery complex at Grangemouth.
With a nameplate capacity of over 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), INEOS acquired the 235-mile-long network from BP in a 2017 deal worth around $250 million. At the time flows stood at around 450,000 bpd.
Recommended for you
