1. Why have I heard of Grangemouth before?
Its oil refinery is of huge strategic importance, providing 80pc of Scotland’s fuel and large chunks of England’s too. That’s why a 2008 strike at the site hit the news: it led to panic-buying of petrol in Scotland. The plant’s owners had, then, put forward proposals to phase in a contributory pension scheme for new workers, leading to the workers walking out for two days. Pension liabilities is the big problem (below).
2. What’s closing?
At the Grangemouth site there’s an oil refinery – one of seven in the UK – that processes oil from fields in the North Sea. There’s also a petrochemicals site which produces other chemicals, mostly used as precursors in manufactuing, and that’s what’s under threat. The petrochemicals plant depends on supplies of ethane. Production from North Sea oil and gas fields has slumped, and the owners’ agreements with North Sea operators also expire in 2017.
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