Grangemouth refinery workers to march on Holyrood in bid to stop Petroineos closure

They are expected to be joined by colleagues from other Scottish oil and gas sites, along with trade unionists and politicians.

News of the intended closure was announced by the firm 12 months ago with it indicating that up to 400 jobs could be lost by the summer of 2025, although there are fears the knock on impact on employment locally would be much higher.

Petroineos has said it will then transition the site into an import and export only facility.

Unite the Union launched a Keep Grangemouth Working campaign to highlight what it has called “an act of industrial vandalism” with the proposed demise of Scotland’s last oil refinery.

In a video message this week, Chris Hamilton, a Unite union official at the refinery, thanked everyone for their support and urged people to join them on the march.

He said: “Since the announcement there has been a plenty activity. While we might be closer to the potential closure, the message from Grangemouth is that it’s not too late to save that asset. It is for that reason on Thursday we will head to the capital to Holyrood to have a rally and ask all politicians to support our campaign and do the right thing. We need to save Scotland’s last oil refinery and we need to keep Grangemouth working.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “To throw highly skilled workers at Grangemouth on the scrapheap would be a monumental act of industrial vandalism. Grangemouth is essential to the success of the Scottish economy and politicians from all parties need to focus on finding a viable solution.

“Politicians from all sides need to come together and ensure a viable future for Grangemouth, not at some time in the distant future but here and now. A failure to act by either Westminster or Holyrood government will not be forgiven or forgotten.”

Iain Hardie, regional head of legal and external affairs at Petroineos, writing in a daily newspaper, said: ““Despite meaningless statements about pausing the closure or confusing suggestions that the refinery can become a biofuels plant overnight, politicians and the trade unions have left it too late.

“But it is not too late for us all to co-develop a bright future for Grangemouth, producing low-carbon fuel and eventually creating hundreds of jobs here again.”

Acting energy secretary Gillian Martin said: “We have made clear our extreme disappointment that Petroineos has made the commercial decision to cease refining at the site in the second quarter of 2025. Despite sustained and concerted efforts by both governments, Petroineos have opted not to continue operations at the site for longer to allow a longer transition timeline for the workers.

“Our focus now is on delivering immediate support for affected workers to secure new jobs and give access to any necessary training, and to secure a sustainable, just transition for the wider Grangemouth industrial cluster.

“With the UK Government we are providing funding to support Petroineos’ exploration of viable options for the future of the site via the Project Willow cross-site study and look forward to exploring routes to supporting the future phases of low carbon projects at Grangemouth via the UK Government’s national wealth fund.

“Project Willow is building on earlier studies funded by the Scottish Government with the refinery operators and is being accompanied by accelerated and focused work on inward investment into the area by Scottish Enterprise.”