To the Tele Postbag:

Having interests in both the wellbeing of all in Scotland and also in Green/Freeports, in spring this year I did some research into the Petroineos decision to shut down Grangemouth oil refinery and the establishment of the Forth Green Freeport.

I was disturbed by what I found both easily and quickly.

Firstly I came across this statement about Grangemouth posted by Ineos on its website on September 20, 2023: “Grangemouth is an integrated refinery and petrochemicals centre of excellence. As INEOS’ largest manufacturing site by volume, it is home to a pool of talented engineers who produce essential chemical building blocks vital to modern life and beneficial to society.

“Petroineos helps keep Scotland on the move. The products we manufacture on site serve a wide variety of industry sectors, from health and pharmaceuticals to food and beverage packaging, to construction and utilities.”

Given the above statement, perhaps it is surprising that only two months later, in November 2023, Petroineos announced its intention to close its Grangemouth refinery in spring 2025.

In November 2023 Petroineos, a joint venture between Petrochina and Ineos, stated that the (refinery) site would become an import and distribution hub.

Prior to this, on August 4, 2022, Ineos at Grangemouth, on its website, announced its backing for the Forth Green Freeport bid. This bid was announced as successful in January 2023. The Petroineos announcement of its intention to close its Grangemouth refinery was made 10 months later.

The plot thickens more when considering that the then Conservative Westminster government (despite austerity policies and its fiscal “penury”) guaranteed £600 million to underwrite Ineos owner and tax exile, Jim Ratcliffe’s latest scheme, to build Europe’s largest petrochemical plant in Antwerp.

How many folk are aware of this arrangement? How can Conservatives justify it? Why did Keir Starmer and his Labour Party not challenge it in the Westminster Parliament?

Why would any Government seek to underwrite the capitalist business plans of one of the richest men on the planet?

What is clear is that the Conservative government at Westminster were not accepting the Grangemouth closure proposals on environmental grounds of reducing fossil fuel dependency, when they went ahead with underwriting a brand new Ratcliffe refinery/petrochemical plant elsewhere in Europe!

So now we have Scotland’s oil being diverted to Antwerp where it will be refined, with useable fuels and by-products being returned to a Grangemouth now within the Forth Green Freeport, from which those fuels and materials manufactured using the Antwerp by-products can be be put out to market with (Petro)Ineos having benefited again – this time from Green/Freeport status tax relief.

This all seems like a huge Ineos/Petroineos asset strip to me.

Why did the last Westminster Conservative Government agree to it all?

Why did Labour, then in opposition, keep so silent about bit all?

Why are the BBC, STV and all press media not publicising and further investigating this?

Could it perhaps be because all of the resultant community hardship, unemployment due to the removal of the only oil refinery in Scotland – by far, far the so called “UK’s” largest oil and gas producer – is considered by Labour and Conservatives to be a fair price to pay to keep Scotland in its “UK” box?

James Dippie

Templand Crescent, Dalry