Enter the Dragon
First consignment of shale gas arrives from US to keep refinery and 10,000 jobs alive But SNP ministers who bar fracking in Scotland refuse to show up at celebration event
THE first shipment of shale gas arrived in Scotland from the US yesterday – and immediately sailed into a political storm when Nicola Sturgeon refused to attend the docking ceremony.
Carrying 962,500 cubic feet of freezing shale gas, the mighty Ineos Insight sailed under the Forth Bridges at dawn, heading for Grangemouth and making a historic first step in what will be the biggest industrial investment Scotland has seen for decades.
But the high-profile ceremony to celebrate the start of a ‘virtual pipeline’ bringing shale gas from the US to be processed into plastic in Scotland was marred by the decision of every Scottish minister to stay away.
Despite invitations to every relevant minister and despite the SNP administration investing £8million in the Grangemouth development, the Scottish Govin
‘There’s a startlingly blatant hypocrisy’
ernment said all ministers were too busy to attend the arrival of the vessel – the first of eight Dragon-class tankers to make the trip.
Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire owner of Ineos, which runs the Grangemouth processing plant, said it was a ‘disappointment’ that no Scottish Government ministers had bothered to turn up and he suggested they all travel to the United States to see how fracking has transformed previously run-down industrial areas.
He added: ‘Ten thousand jobs is hugely important to Scotland and ten thousand jobs have been saved because of the shale gas.’
Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said the huge potential of fracking to transform the Scottish economy would be wasted if Miss Sturgeon continued her ‘infantile’ objections to exploiting Scotland’s own shale gas resources.
He added: ‘There is a startlingly blatant hypocrisy in the Scottish Government welcoming the arrival of shale gas, yet ruling Scotland out of ever generating its own. Frankly it’s insulting that no Scottish Government minister could be bothered turning up.’
Scottish Secretary David Mundell, who did accept an invitation to the ship’s arrival, said he was ‘saddened’ that Scottish ministers would turn up to events they had no stake in but not one for a project which they had invested £8million of public money.
A Scottish Government spokesman said senior ministers were busy attending Cabinet and the relevant junior ministers were doing other things. He added: ‘Grangemouth is a site of significant importance for the Scottish economy and we will go on working to support its long-term future.’ The snub marks a new low point in the Scottish Government’s relationship with Ineos, the industrial giant that accounts for 4 per cent of Scotland’s economy.
Mr Ratcliffe has licences to start fracking for gas in Scotland but has been prevented even from doing the exploratory work by a blanket ban imposed by Scottish ministers on the controversial gas extraction technique. The Scottish Government says it will review its moratorium when it has assessed the scientific evidence, in about a year’s time.
Mr Ratcliffe said he had no idea why Miss Sturgeon and her ministers were refusing to listen to his arguments and warned the First Minister was turning her back on an industrial revolution that could transform the Scottish economy. He disputed claims that Scotland was against fracking: ‘There is a vocal minority but it is a minority. Every time we do a poll, it is always two-thirds in favour.’
Unfortunately the ship could not dock yesterday because of high winds and had to wait in the Firth of Forth for calmer weather.