Apology and investigation after early morning flaring at Mossmorran

The incident at Fife Ethylene Plant was blamed on “ a process interruption” by operators, Exxon Mobil.

It happened around 3:30am, and the flare was still visible from the other side of the Queensferry Crossing early on Sunday evening.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) confirmed officers were sent to the area to record community impacts at five locations.

Mossmorran has had a strained relationship with local communities after several unscheduled flaring incidents and faced action from the regulator.

Exxon Mobil apologised for the flaring, and said it would try to reduce the disruption to people living nearby who have complained about the noise and light intrusion it causes.

It said engineers are progressing with the replacement of a faulty part in a compressor, and will continue a re-start process on Monday.

A spokesman added: “During this time, we will continue working to minimise elevated flaring wherever possible.

“We understand that our elevated flare can cause frustration, but it ensures we maintain safe operations and is not something we would ever use without good

reason.

"As production at FEP is a single connected process, diverting some gas safely via the flare allows us to keep other major machines in operation and return more quickly to normal operations.

“We stress that the use of our flare is completely safe but we apologise for any disturbance caused by its operation.

"Our commitment to reducing the frequency and impact of flaring is well documented and underlined by an additional £140 million investment due to commence in April 2021 to upgrade key infrastructure and introduce new technologies."

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Chris Dailly, SEPA’s head of environmental performance, said flaring was an authorised and important safety feature of the plant - but that it had been happening too often.

He said: “The community impacts are often significant.

"Whilst we don't know yet from the company the cause of the latest flaring or expected duration, we will provide further updates as soon as further information becomes available."

Mark Ruskell, Scottish Green MSP, and a long-standing critic of the plant, tweeted: "Local people woken up yet again at 3.30am!! Mossmorran not fit for purpose for years, making lives a misery."

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