A new dawn for the home of UK’s oldest oil refinery?

The history of Granjmoth is built on fossil fuels – but now its future depends on its reinforcement as the Green Energy Industrial Hub of Scotland.

The site on the south coast of the Fourth of the Forth is home to the oldest oil refinery in the UK, which is from 1924.

It is being closed by the owner Petroinos, with a loss of 400 out of 2,000 jobs which are based on the huge industrial complex.

The governments of Scottish and UK have funded a report – known as Project Willow – in site options, which are expected to be published in the coming days.

It is likely to say that Granjmoth must switch to green energy to meet its vast requirement of electricity, and then use it to produce new permanent products.

The site already has many underlying benefits.

The location may not be better. It sits at a shelter port that already receives a weekly shipment of shell gas from the US.

Since it was produced from the North Sea in 1999, local gas supply fell dramatically and in 2016 replacement shell gas started coming from Pennsylvania.

Granjmouth is also associated with central and incredibly well, with electric piles connecting it to all directions and underground pipelines with Scotland and North East of North England.

Some of those oil and gas pipelines are used and can be rebuilt to carry greenery fuel such as hydrogen or exit gases for disposal.

A just transition preacher – who wants to ensure that people and communities are treated properly during changes away from fossil fuels – told me that if you were looking for an ideal place to install these new green industries, you will choose Granjmouth.

With refinery closing, the main industry at the plant is now the production of chemicals such as ethylene, polyethylene and polypropylene, which are components in plastic manufacture.

They are then used for a full range of applications, from making PPE to cable, construction materials and dyes.

But it is incredibly energy-intensive, causing Granjmoth the most polluting site in Scotland.

According to the Justice Commission, the cluster of business was responsible for 7.2% of Scotland emissions in 2022.

Preference to carbon capture and storage scheme – called acorn project – is seen as an important step in reducing the carbon footprint of Granjmoth.

It will catch planetary-warming gases before entering the atmosphere, pipes them undergone for St. Fergus in Aberdendinashire and stores them in oil and gas wells under the North Sea.

But the project missed the first round of UK government support and campaigners should clearly indicate that it would be given full support by ministers.

One thing that is definitely being built in Granjmoth is a new import terminal to change the closing refinery.

This would mean that a procession of tankers offering aviation fuel at Edinburgh Airport can be maintained.

In the long term, a feature that makes durable aviation fuel may use some skills of the existing workforce.

It is on political agenda.

Since January, the UK government has stated that 2% of the UK’s jet fuel has to come from renewable sources – meaning fossil fuel options. This will increase by 10% by the end of the decade.

But there is no commitment that Granjmouth will be the source of some of that fuel.

Other possible options include a “bayorephinery” that may use waste whiskey and food in chemical production processes to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Advanced recycling methods can also be developed that will produce high quality plastic used in food packaging and health care.

This will include a process called “cracking” that breaks the products into small molecules.

It is a technique that is already done on fossil-fuel-based chemicals on the INEOS site.

Hydrogen will play an important role in our economy in the coming decades as a clean energy, especially in heavy transportation and industry.

Scotland’s abundance means that there is a huge possibility of generating green hydrogen from electricity.

Some hydrogen is already built in Granjmouth, and plans have been announced to increase production significantly by 2030.

That hydrogen will then be used to displace the gas to generate high temperatures in industrial processes.

However, granjmoth does not have the right position to store hydrogen in significant amounts currently.

Large underground salt caves are ideal – but the nearest potential sites are in the East Yorkshire and Cheshire.

Therefore either expensive storage units must be built above the ground near Granjmouth, or pipe the hydrogen at a distance of hundreds of miles.

Project Willow Report, when it is released, is expected to put data of some of these proposals.

This will cover the price of potential costs, potential jobs and the economies of Scottish and UK.

This will not end the case; In fact, this is barely the beginning.

Attracting public and private investment will be far more challenging than underlining options.

But talking about it early – and in a coordinated manner – will definitely maximize the possibility of achieving a long -term future for a site so that fossil is internally associated with fuel.