Kingdom FM visits Mossmorran's ethylene plant after start of £140 million work

Kingdom FM has visited Mossmorran's ethylene plant after work worth £140 million to improve the facility started this month.

ExxonMobil's project aims to reduce the frequency of flaring and improve operational reliability.

It comes after episodes of unplanned flaring in recent years, which has caused inconvenience to local people living near the plant.

There was a delay to the start of the project last year, which lasted for many months due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

But work has now got well underway.

850 jobs have been created as part of the upgrade.

More than 48,000 parts will be fitted, with the project having more than 4,000 tonnes of scaffolding being erected.

Once it is completed with the enclosed ground flare in place next year, 98% of elevated flaring will no longer be visible.

Although the company does insist that flaring is safe, it wants to make sure the investment being made makes any future episode less of a negative effect on people's lives.

The firm has claimed it has communicated extensively to locals during the last 18 months to provide insight into its programme of work.

You can watch a video report above from our reporter Anas Hassan, who was at the facility interviewing plant manager Martin Burrell during the visit.