Bilfinger UK doubles up in Scotland with Ineos contracts

Bilfinger UK has been awarded multi-million-pound contracts to maintain two Scottish sites for chemicals giant Ineos in a move that will see the transfer of more than 100 workers.

Phill Maurer is the managing director for Bilfinger UK. Picture: Contributed

The agreements, which will run over an initial period to January 2021, will see Bilfinger UK deliver a range of services to the Ineos site at Grangemouth and the Forties pipeline at Kinneil.

The Grangemouth contract marks a new agreement for the business and includes the option of a two-year extension. It will see the firm double its workforce in Scotland to 220 people, with 110 workers transferring to the business under Tupe regulations.

Grangemouth is one of Ineos’ largest manufacturing sites globally, producing some 1.3 million tonnes of chemical products each year.

The Forties pipeline deal is an extension of a previous agreement signed in 2017, where Bilfinger UK currently employs 110 people.

The pipeline system transports up to 40 per cent of the UK’s crude oil from the North Sea to the Ineos processing facility at Kinneil, close to the Grangemouth refinery and petrochemical complex.

Under the contract, Bilfinger UK will deliver maintenance services to a number of onshore assets that form part of the Forties pipeline system. It will provide the likes of scaffolding access, insulation, painting, asbestos management and passive fire protection services.

Phill Maurer, managing director for Bilfinger UK, said: “The awarding of these contracts consolidates our significant footprint in the oil and gas and petrochemicals sectors, securing continuous employment in central Scotland.

“They demonstrate our capability to deliver maintenance works on a major scale.”

He added: “The Ineos Grangemouth site and the co-located Forties Pipeline System Kinneil asset is a large, complex facility that presents significant opportunities from a maintenance perspective.

“We have developed a sophisticated programme of support that puts safety first while delivering high levels of efficiency. Our maintenance concept will help underpin the reliability and productivity of the plants.”

Bilfinger UK said it provides its partners with a “unified, multidisciplinary support” across the lifecycle of an asset to “drive new efficiencies and reduce costs”. Services include design and build, automated control and electrical systems, installation, commissioning, and operations and maintenance.

Bilfinger UK is a separate business to Bilfinger Salamis, which operates offshore operations in Aberdeen, though both are part of the wider Bilfinger Group.

Ineos is majority owned by the billionaire businessman Sir Jim Ratcliffe.