Chamber and committees

Good morning, cabinet secretary. As we heard earlier, the wider impact of the closure on the decarbonisation programme is, as I would argue, the opposite. There is a carbonisation, if you like, with the offshoring of refining and the importing of the refined product into Scotland. To combat that—this follows on from Murdo Fraser’s questions—we need to develop the site. It is a major industrial hub and one of the biggest in Scotland. Ineos is already working with blue hydrogen, and the previous panel talked about potentially going into green hydrogen. We have also talked about the development of SAF. However, one of the biggest barriers to the development of hydrogen at scale is the initial capex that is required to develop the size of site that is required. The infrastructure is there, as are the skilled workers.

Something else that Ineos said this morning that came over loud and clear to me was that Government policies, decisions and support will need to move much more quickly to allow the jobs to be there for the workers who are going to lose their current jobs. You said that you are already creating jobs. I spoke to a recruitment company that is currently stripping out the oil and gas sector in the North Sea, and it is almost exclusively going abroad. We need to move more quickly on that.

What is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that we develop the site into a hydrogen hub, a SAF hub and an import hub?

I have a final small question on an issue that has been niggling away at me for some time. Did the hostility that seems to be being heaped on the oil and gas industry at the moment have any impact on the decision-making process?

Thank you.

If you were to play back an earlier part of the meeting, you would find that one of the witnesses said that they could increase capacity at Grangemouth and use that at other sites in other areas.

We are behind the curve on the development of hydrogen and offtake in this country, but we have a huge opportunity. Yes, currently, production takes place at the site and the offtake is at the site, but it was mentioned that the capability is there—with the right policies and the right support—to develop more for other areas.

Just to be clear, the blending level is around 10 per cent currently but it could go up to 20 per cent. Is that right?

Good morning, gentlemen. I have a couple of quick questions to get clarification, so that I understand exactly where we are. We understand that, at some point, you will no longer be importing and refining crude at the plant, but you will be importing refined fuel into the plant. What assessment have you made of the impact of that on the decarbonisation process?

Also, will you clarify how that potentially impacts on production of hydrogen and SAF at the plant?

You said that you have an offtake for the blue hydrogen that you produce at the plant. Is that a particularly promising area for development of the site? Looking down the line, do you have potential for much greater offtake of hydrogen?

Have you thought about moving to green hydrogen production? Do you have the capability to do that?

I will again ask you a simple question: are the revenues from the wind farms being ring-fenced for mitigation and not for any other measures?

Just so you know, I spoke to NATS last week, specifically, so that I understood the issue. I have also spoken to wind farm developers. I know that there are other on-going public inquiries, but I am talking specifically about Clauchrie and Sanquhar, and these things are in the public domain. I will quote from the Sanquhar report, which said that the minister’s response agreed with the reporter’s conclusion that

“there is no basis to require ongoing compensatory payments to be made.”

My concern here is that you are using wind farm money specifically—[Interruption.] Do not shake your head, Mr. Forgie, that is what it says in the report. It says that you are using wind farms as an income stream. It also says you must show how you are using that money specifically to mitigate any demonstrable issues with wind farms. That is what the report says. Do you agree that, if that is the case, and those things are sitting in your ledger, they will have to come out, which will impact the profitability of the airport?