‘Essential’ flaring finally ends at industrial chemical plant

The flaring which has lit up the skies over Mossmorran is finally at an end.

ExxonMobil Chemical has completed work to recommission a failed pump and return to normal operations.

The latest incident started on Saturday evening and since then more than 30 complaints have been lodged with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency from worried members of the community.

A spokesman for ExxonMobil said the elevated flaring stopped at 7.44pm on Wednesday.

The company’s plant manager at Fife Ethylene Park, Sonia Bingham, said her team had worked around the clock to restore normal operations.

“I recognise that flaring can cause inconvenience and frustration to local residents, and we have made every effort to minimise the size of the flare and any disturbance to the local community,” she said.

She added she was grateful to local residents for their patience and understanding and apologised to neighbours who may have been disturbed by the flaring.

“I would like to assure everyone that we never flare unless strictly necessary and are working to minimise such occurrences,” she added.

“Flaring is an essential part of the plant’s safety systems, designed specifically to handle gas when there is an interruption to the production process.”

ExxonMobil Chemical will be conducting a thorough review into the root cause of the most recent flaring.

The company and fellow plant operators Shell UK were given a final warning from Sepa after a probe into an incident last June. Two other incidents are still under investigation.