Hundreds of jobs are at risk after global energy giant ExxonMobil announced plans to close its manufacturing facility in Fife. The Fife Ethylene Plant (FEP) in Mossmorran, which produces the base material for plastics, is expected to close in February next year, subject to full staff consultation.<\/p>\n
A total of 179 directly employed jobs and 250 contractors are at risk, and there is a possibility that 50 employees could move to the Fawley Petrochemical Complex in Hampshire, almost 500 miles away. The company acknowledged the impact this will have on its workforce, contractors, and local communities.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the company said: "We have considered various options to continue production and tested the market for a potential buyer, but the current economic and political environment in the UK, combined with market conditions, high supply costs, and plant efficiency do not create a competitive future for the site." The company added that the closure reflects the challenges of operating in a policy environment that is accelerating the withdrawal of vital industries, domestic manufacturing, and the high-value jobs that come with it.<\/p>\n
The UK government said it was \u201cready\u201d to support those affected through the Department for Work and Pensions\u2019 rapid response service and the Scottish Government\u2019s Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) initiative. A spokesman added: \u201cThis is of course a commercial decision for the company.\u201d The UK government has examined all possible options to support the site, but Exxon has faced major global challenges and this move follows the closure of another chemical plant in France.<\/p>\n
Scotland’s Deputy Prime Minister expressed extreme disappointment at the sudden news, describing it as a "significant blow" to the country’s economy. The Scottish Government will set up a taskforce to look at what it can do to support workers. The Deputy Prime Minister called on UK ministers to think about what more they can do for workers at the plant and take urgent action to tackle the high energy costs that are slowly crippling the industry.<\/p>\n
A senior organizer at the GMB union called on politicians to organize a "planned and measured" transition. He said: "This is even worse news for workers, their families, and communities, but exactly how much more bad news is needed before ministers protect jobs and our country’s energy security?" The union representative emphasized the need for politicians to stand up and demand an industrial strategy that protects the UK\u2019s vital oil and gas while delivering a planned and measured transition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ExxonMobil to Close Fife Manufacturing Facility Hundreds of jobs are at risk after global energy giant ExxonMobil announced plans to close its manufacturing facility in Fife. The Fife Ethylene Plant (FEP) in Mossmorran, which produces the base material for plastics, is expected to close in February next year, subject to full staff consultation. Impact on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[85,751,17789,67,79,3554,18867,18864,18868,18866,1982,1352,392,18865,763,18869,1967,3448,8745],"class_list":{"0":"post-27292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-competition-economics","9":"tag-cost","10":"tag-department-for-work-and-pensions","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-employment","13":"tag-energy-security","14":"tag-ethylene","15":"tag-exxonmobil","16":"tag-fawley-refinery","17":"tag-fife","18":"tag-fossil-fuel","19":"tag-france","20":"tag-market-economics","21":"tag-mossmorran","22":"tag-partnership","23":"tag-petrochemical","24":"tag-policy","25":"tag-production-economics","26":"tag-world-energy-supply-and-consumption"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27294,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27292\/revisions\/27294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}