The Cradle of Scotland's Refining Prowess

Grangemouth’s place in the chemical and oil industries goes back more than a century.

Long before oil was discovered in the North Sea in the mid-20th century, industrial pioneers led by a chemist named James Young, nicknamed “Paraffin,” figured out how to extract mineral oil from the rich coal and shale deposits in this part of Scotland. The network of small refineries that sprang up in the area shipped some of their output from the docks at Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth, an inlet that runs deep into central Scotland.

In 1919, BP, then known as Anglo-Persian Oil, acquired Scottish Oils, an amalgam that included Young’s Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil, and drew on its skills to help build its refinery at Grangemouth in the early 1920s.

In the following decades BP built and expanded the adjacent petrochemical plant, which benefited from the development of North Sea oil in the 1970s.

Oil and gas from dozens of North Sea fields comes ashore next door through the Forties pipeline, which is still operated by BP. The plant converts byproducts from oil and gas into industrially valuable chemicals like ethylene and propylene, as well as polyethylene for plastic bottles and food wrap and polypropylene for pipes and carpeting.

During BP’s reign Grangemouth was a classic company town. To house employees at subsidized rents, it built rows of semi-attached gray stucco houses that snuggle right up to the edges of the plant.

Residents like Joan Paterson, who represents Grangemouth on the Falkirk Council regional government and whose father was a laborer on BP’s jetties, recall growing up in BP housing and going for cheap drinks at the BP club, which is now a community center. Taxes from BP also built an indoor swimming pool and a soccer stadium, Ms. Paterson said.