Grangemouth manager says it will take weeks for site to fully reopen

The oil refinery and petrochemicals plant at Grangemouth will take “two to three weeks” to fully reopen, the site manager has said.

Gordon Grant said time has to be taken to ensure the complex is recommissioned safely after winning an 11th-hour reprieve last week.  It had been due to shut completely with the loss of 800 jobs until workers agreed to a raft of demands from operators Ineos over working conditions. The site had been shut for almost a fortnight as the industrial row played out.
Mr Grant said: “It’s a very integrated site, with stock and raw materials going into one plant, producing products which then feed into another plant. “So the sequence has a chain where we move from one plant to another plant. “There’s nothing coming out of the petrochemical plant. There are some fuels coming out of the refinery but low volumes.  “We will start to see chemical products probably towards the end of next week, with full chemical production the week after.  “That’s similar to the refinery — we’ll start to see products emerging and growing as we go through the week, with the full refinery being up and running in two to three weeks.”

Ineos now plans to press ahead with a £300 million investment in a new gas terminal at Grangemouth.  Mr Grant added: “This is a new start for Grangemouth, a start that modernises Grangemouth, with new materials, new equipment and a project worth £300m.
“And it’s also a time for a new, modern way of communicating and consulting with our employees.”