Petroineos UK Grangemouth refinery operating at reduced capacity

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - UK-Chinese joint-venture oil company Petroineos is to cut 130 jobs at Scotland's 210,000 b/d Grangemouth refining and petrochemical complex, as operations at the refinery have been scaled scaled down to match falling demand, according to a report by Argus Media.

The 130 voluntary staff departures have been confirmed, according to the Unite trade union.

A Petroineos spokesman said the refinery will not employ more than 450 workers in future, which would require a total of 200 job losses, the company said.

The proposals were first announced in November last year, before a consultation process began.

The report said that Grangemouth, Scotland's only refinery, has been operating below capacity for some time.

One of its three crude distillation units and a fluid catalytic cracker, which converts vacuum gasoil to gasoline, will be kept 'in a mothballed state' to reduce costs, the spokesman told Argus.

These are both 'older units', he said, which have been offline since early in the pandemic.