This business need combined with BP's interest in petrochemical development resulted in 1947 in the formation of a joint company, British Hydrocarbon Chemicals Ltd.

In the 1990s, a second line was also installed, to allow the direct supply of finished refinery products to the Finnart terminal, primarily for export to markets in Ireland.

[4] Ineos Refining, which included both the Grangemouth and Lavéra (outside Marseilles, France) Refineries, in 2011 entered into a 50%/50% joint venture with the Chinese state oil company Petrochina, to form Petroineos.

Beside the Refinery, Finnart Oil Terminal on Loch Long as well as the two cross-country pipelines connecting the two will close, in the same timescale.

[10] The Grangemouth Refinery is a major landmark, with its numerous gas flares and cooling towers visible across a wide area of the Scottish Lowlands.

[14] The INEOS-owned North Sea Forties pipeline system terminates at the Kinneil processing facility, and surplus crude is exported via pipeline to the Dalmeny tank farm, and subsequently shipped out from the Hound Point marine terminal onto oil tankers of up to 350,000 DWT which are able to navigate the shallow water of the Forth.

[15] Just 9 days earlier on 13 March, another incident occurred involving the refinery flare line, the resulting fireball killed two workers.

)[20] This was disputed by the Deputy General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, Dave Moxham, who stated that they earn £30,000 per year.

[22] The Retail Motor Industry Federation stated that there was a stock of fuel that could last 70 days, easily covering the lapse in production so long as no panic buying occurred.

[23] With the shutdown of the plant, BP closed the Forties pipeline system as their Kinneil terminal relies on power from the Grangemouth refinery.

[24] With the shutdown of Kinneil, 70 North Sea oil platforms were forced to shut down or reduce production, at the cost of 700,000 barrels per day (110,000 m3/d).

[28][29] Following bullying and a misinformation campaign by Ineos on 24 October the unions accepted a survival plan put forward from the management of the plant.

[30] On 25 October 2013, it was announced the plant will stay open and Unite had agreed to taking no strike action for three years, moving to a new pension scheme and accepting a three-year pay freeze.