The first shipment of shale gas from fracking is to arrive in Scotland within weeks, Ineos bosses confirmed as they hit out at the Scottish Government’s “absurd” moratorium on the controversial practice.
A “Dragon Class” ship carrying the ethane gas will arrive at the Ineos petrochemical plant in Grangemouth, near Falkirk, from the United States in September.
Ineos says it has invested more than £1 billion in the Grangemouth facility since it acquired the site in 2005, with the company having already constructed the largest shale gas storage tank in Europe there.
But with the Scottish Government having placed a moratorium on fracking it has to import the gas to the complex, which employs more than 1,300 people.
An Ineos spokesman said: “The £1.5 billion investment to bring this project to fruition shows the importance that Ineos attaches to shale and its transformative potential for the UK economy – securing jobs and investment for decades to come.”
He added that the “renaissance” shale gas could be “so much more impactful for Scotland if domestic supply could be engaged”.
Holyrood’s Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham told MSPs in June that the Scottish Government is “deeply sceptical about fracking” and that the moratorium would remain until “thorough research” and a consultation have been carried out so that “any decision is based on both the evidence and public opinion”.
But the Ineos spokesman said: “With shale now helping to power the Scottish economy, the SNP Government has even more reason to accelerate the current study process and find in favour of a home-grown shale gas industry.
“The fact that Scotland is choosing not to end the moratorium and avoid the financial and carbon cost of transporting shale gas by utilising its own underground wealth is absurd. Equally absurd is that Scotland might not even make a decision until summer 2017, or after.
“Indeed, if Holyrood does not act soon, any future Scottish shale gas developments will need to import the specialist skills from either other parts of the UK, or from overseas.”
New UK Prime Minister Theresa May recently revealed that households south of the border could be given cash payments potentially running into thousands of pounds in recompense for fracking in their area.
“England is now in the process of considering shale gas development on a local and evidence-led basis,” the Ineos spokesman said.
“The Scottish Government should remember that over one million shale gas wells have now been drilled in the USA.
“The fact is that many hundreds of thousands of US citizens live perfectly safely in shale gas areas and benefit from the rewards that the gas brings.
“After consideration of the long history of evidence, independent and legitimate science-led bodies such as the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering have already concluded that shale gas development can be conducted safely when properly regulated – and all this evidence is available for the Scottish Government study teams to review.”
With the moratorium on fracking in place in Scotland, and the decline in North Sea gas in the last decade, Ineos has already said it has “no choice but to source our basic raw material (ethane) from outside the UK”.
The spokesman stated: “Scotland has already missed out on jobs and investment.
“Our shale gas strategy aims to keep the benefits and the energy on this island and we would like Scotland and the Scottish people to be part of this energy revolution.”
A statement on the petrochemical company’s website makes clear that its ethane supply project is “key to turning around the fortunes” of the Grangemouth complex.
The plant is “undergoing a radical transformation with significant investment that will herald a new era in petrochemical manufacture”, according to Ineos.
The spokesman confirmed: “Next month Grangemouth in Scotland will receive the first ever shipment of shale gas from the US.
“Specifically-commissioned Dragon Class ships will form a virtual pipeline from the US to UK industry, supplementing the decreasing gas production coming from the North Sea.
“The supplies of US shale provide a competitively priced alternative to natural gas sourced from less secure parts of the world such as the Middle East and Russia.
“The need for this new source and the prospect of domestic shale being some years away has forced Ineos to take matters into its own hands in order to give a new lease of life to its Grangemouth site.”
The comments come on the same day that Gary Haywood, the chief executive of Ineos Shale, wrote in the Daily Mail that “we respect the measured consideration of evidence that the SNP has taken via this process”.
Mr Haywood said Ineos does not believe the moratorium “is in the interests of the Scottish people and economy” and added: “It is worth noting that shale gas is coming to Scotland and the UK whether actual extraction takes places here or not.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government is taking a cautious and evidence-led approach to unconventional oil and gas. Our moratorium ensures that no fracking can take place in Scotland.
“As previously reported, the Scottish Government has commissioned a series of independent research projects to examine potential environmental, health and economic impacts to inform our evidence-led approach.
“This process is due to report later this year, with the public consultation taking place during winter 2016/17.”
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