Grangemouth gas leak: Major incident at huge Scottish oil refinery

Police in Scotland have evacuated a major oil refinery near Edinburgh after a gas leak.

Emergency services, including a hazardous response unit, are at the Ineos petrochemical plant in Grangemouth, near Falkirk, 20 miles west of the Scottish capital.

The company confirmed a gas leak in one of the plant's pipelines. No injuries have been reported and police said the leak has been contained.

People living nearby described hearing “air raid sirens” coming from the site shortly after midday.

Members of the public were advised to stay inside, with the south side of the plant evacuated and local roads closed.

Eight fire engines and around 40 crew from Scotland's Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) attended.

A spokesman for SFRS said: “At 12.12pm on Tuesday, May 2 the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was alerted to reports of a gas leak at the Grangemouth petrochemical site.

“Eight appliances are currently in attendance to assist emergency service partners.”

Ineos said in a statement: "At noon we detected a leak on a pipeline inside our KG (Kinneil Gas) manufacturing plant at Ineos Grangemouth.

"Emergency services are in attendance and we requested that Police Scotland close the Wholeflats Road as a precautionary measure.

"The incident management team have been mobilised to manage the situation.

"Purely as a precaution and to allow our response team to manage the situation, we have closed a number of access gates and are allowing only essential personnel to enter the south side of the site.

"All non-essential Ineos personnel who would normally be working in this area have been requested to report to their line manager."

Falkirk Police said in a statement: "Emergency services are currently at the scene of an incident at Grangemouth which happened at around 12.15pm today, Tuesday 2nd May. All emergency services, local authority and partners are in attendance.

"A number of access roads in Grangemouth area are closed and drivers are asked to avoid the area and find alternative routes."

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said: "We received a call at 12.32 hours today from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to attend an incident at an address in Grangemouth.

"We dispatched our special operations response team to the incident."

The refinery provides the bulk of fuels used in Scotland and also supplies parts of northern England.

​The petrochemical plant at Grangemouth was threatened with closure in 2013 amid a dispute with the union Unite.

Up to 1,400 jobs were put at risk but a deal was eventually reached and the site was able to remain open.

In 2008, about 70 North Sea platforms were forced to shut down or reduce production when a strike at Grangemouth temporarily closed the terminal.

Grangemouth produces around nine million litres of fuels each day and one million tonnes of petrochemicals every year.

It provides aviation fuel for Scotland's major airports at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Prestwick, and also supplies fuel for the Rolls Royce engine testing facility in Derby.

Ineos says the site contributes four per cent of Scottish GDP and makes up approximately eight per cent of Scotland's manufacturing base.