According to operator Petroineos, the only oil refinery in Scotland, Grangemouth will close in 2025, resulting in the loss of 400 jobs, as reported by Reuters.
Pegging it to the current state of the energy market in Nigeria, BrandSpur national news stories report that this is happening concurrently with the Dangote refinery’s introduction of premium motor spirit (PMS), which drastically decreased PMS imports.
According to a company representative, Petroineos told Reuters that it was getting ready to close Grangemouth, the oldest refinery in Britain when output ends in the second quarter of 2019. However, this is contingent upon employee consultation. Politicians and trade unions, however, opposed the decision.
According to Ed Miliband, the UK’s Energy Secretary: “It is deeply disappointing that Petroineos have confirmed their previous decision to close Grangemouth oil refinery.”
According to other sources from Reuters, the location would serve as an import and distribution hub for finished fuels, resulting in a 2-year reduction in staff from 475 to approximately 75. A joint venture between INEOS Group, a British chemicals company founded by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and PetroChina International London (PCIL) is called Petroineos.
The company stated that it had invested $1.2 billion since 2011 and returned losses exceeding $775 million during the same period, citing economic challenges as the cause of the shutdown.
Continuing, the company went on to say: “Grangemouth is increasingly unable to compete with bigger, more modern and efficient sites in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Due to its size and configuration, Grangemouth incurs high levels of capital expenditure each year just to maintain its licence to operate.”
The report claims that the factory is now losing almost $500,000 every day and projects a $200 million deficit by 2024.
According to analysts, the Dangote refinery’s start of operations would drastically cut gasoline imports, which would have an impact on the operations of several refineries outside of Africa. Refineries are volume-driven businesses, and economists predict that if more African nations engage in domestic refining, more refineries in Europe will close.
Reviving its refineries at Port Harcourt, Kaduna, and Warri is another project of the Nigerian federal government.
