Grangemouth Refinery began operating in 1924 and celebrates its centenary this year. In this final part, we go back to the late 1970s and, following the sale of the Grangemouth site to Ineos in 2004, we finish with the announcement by Petroineos that the refinery is to cease operations as soon as 2025 when it will be transformed into a pure fuel import and export terminal.
In the May 2024 bps news, we concluded part two of Grangemouth at 100 with the late Queen Elizabeth II turning on the taps for the flow of oil to start from the Forties Field. As the 70s moved into the 1980s, the expansion of the refinery continued.
I was there . . .
Leah Buchanan (below) emailed to say that she ‘worked at the Refinery from 1964 until 1978 when I left to start my family. I was initially employed as an accounting machine operator. In 1966 they installed one of the first mainframe computers. I was trained as an operator and loved my work. It was a great place to work.’
I was there . . .
Tom Anthony also remembers the first computers. He moved to Grangemouth in 1965 after a stint in London for BP and worked in accounts until the first computer was installed, an ICL 1903, and he was put in charge of operations. In 1980 he moved to Aberdeen to manage operations there and retired 1990.
An Alkylation Unit was successfully commissioned towards the end of 1981. This unit produced a high-octane gasoline component by alkylating propenes and butanes with iso-butane in a hydrofluoric acid catalyst. The propene and butane feedstocks were derived from the site’s FCCU, whereas the iso-butane was supplied from the Hydrocracker. The unit had a design capacity of approximately 500 tons a day.
A Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) Unit was also commissioned in 1981. This was a hydrogen purification plant which was designed to produce a high-purity hydrogen stream from hydrogen-rich gas. Impurities in the hydrogen-rich gas feed stream were removed by the unique absorption system, so producing ultra-pure hydrogen. The high-purity hydrogen from the PSA unit was then fed to the hydrogen plant. Not everything was growing, however. Due to falling demand for plastics, the Xylenes complex was mothballed in 1981.
Being a large site with many employees, Grangemouth Refinery was very community focused. Richard Gordon was employed at the Refinery from 1979 to 2002 and remembers how the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service availed themselves of two visit opportunities a year. In March 1993 he was able to make my 50th donation.
BP ran a Schools Link Scheme in which an employee was linked to a local school and the Refinery had several Link Officers.
To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the commencement of operations at Grangemouth, a Refinery Open Day for employees’ families was held on 3 September 1994. The activities included a refinery tour, police dog display, Robbie the Robot, Mini Quad ride, free prize draw and a crèche.
I was there . . .
Richard Gordon remembers the open day well: ‘Employees were asked to volunteer to assist in the day’s activities and it was a pleasure and privilege to help take groups of visitors round one of the activities.’ However, it all came to a rather abrupt end: ‘There were five tours – The refinery round trip; the jetties; Kinneil terminal; power station and central control building. The day was a great success but the number of visitors who wanted refinery tours exceeded what was planned and as 5pm approached the remaining ones were ferried into the refinery causing crowding in the control rooms. Unfortunately, this resulted in a lack of concentration by the Hydrocracker Control Desk that there was a depressurisation of the plant and an evacuation of the site!’
Due to more stringent levels of discharge of oil in water imposed by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) – the new requirement was less than five parts of oil per million (ppm) – an Effluent Treatment Plant was constructed in the early 1990s and commissioned in 1993/94. The first stage was to collect all discharges of process water and rainwater and remove free oil which was returned to the process. The oily water entered the clarifiers where the remnants of free oil were removed. Then the water entered the Activated Sludge Basins (ASBs) which contained oil-eating bacteria and where oxygen was fed into the ASBs to keep the bacteria alive. The bacteria were then removed and used as fertiliser and the water containing less than 2ppm was discharged into the Firth of Forth.
Following many years of the Refinery being headed up by General Managers and BP Chemicals by Works Managers, the main board decided that the Grangemouth site should be operated under a single Site Director. This took place on 2 December 1999 with the appointment of site director Susan Caito. The invisible wall between the Refinery and Chemicals was torn down!
The Grangemouth site with the exception of Kinneil was acquired by Ineos in 2004. In 2011 Ineos entered into a 50/50 joint venture with the Chinese state oil company, PetroChina, to form Petroineos. In 2017 the Forties Pipeline System, which included Kinneil’s crude oil stabilisation and gas recovery plant and Dalmeny’s stabilised crude despatch, were also acquired by Ineos.
Celebrating Grangemouth’s centenary in 2024 is tinged with sadness as Petroineos has announced the refinery is to cease operations as soon as 2025. The aim is to transform Grangemouth into a pure fuel import and export terminal. It is not yet known what impact closing one of the UK’s six remaining large oil refineries will have on fuel supplies.
Our thanks go to everyone who kindly responded to our request for memories of working at Grangemouth Refinery. It seems right to close the door on these memories in this edition of bps news so that the new editor can have a fresh start in November. When writing this history, we have drawn on an article written by Richard Gordon entitled ‘The centenary of Grangemouth oil industry’ which he wrote for the Falkirk Local History Society.