Plant closures: ExxonMobil to shut UK ethylene cracker; Continental to shut down tyre cord facility in US

Faced with tough market conditions, US firm ExxonMobil has said it will close its Fife ethylene plant in Mossmorran, Scotland, in February 2026. A spokesman for the company said there was not a “competitive future” for the site because of the UK’s current economic and policy environment combined with market conditions.

Meanwhile, the BBC news reported the UK government has said it will not offer financial support to keep the Exxon Mobil plant at Mossmorran open.

Business Minister Chris McDonald said there was no realistic business plan to go with investment. He said ExxonMobil’s chairman Paul Greenwood had told him that the plant was inefficient and would need nearly £1bn of spending to make it profitable.

Hundreds of staff have been told their jobs are at risk as the petrochemical company prepares to close part of the site.

The Scottish government has said it would support workers, and the Grangemouth investment taskforce would be expanded to also consider the future of the Mossmorran site.

ExxonMobil said 179 directly employed jobs will be at risk, along with 250 contractors. There is a possibility of 50 staff transferring to the Fawley Petrochemical Complex 780 km away in Hampshire.

The site has produced ethylene for about 40 years through a process known as thermal or steam cracking.

ExxonMobil said it had been seeking a buyer for several months and it would clean up and then demolish the site once production ends.

Shell, which processes natural gas liquids on the Mossmorran site, said it was unaffected by the closure. Its operations at St Fergus in Aberdeenshire, which provides natural gas to the ExxonMobil facility at Mossmorran, were also unaffected, it added.

The closure of the plant, which had been a “cornerstone” of chemical production in the UK, reflected the challenges of operating in a policy environment that was “accelerating the exit of vital industries, domestic manufacturing, and the high-value jobs they provide”, an ExxonMobil spokesperson said.

A statement from the company said: ”We understand and regret the impact this will have on our loyal and valued workforce, contractors and local communities. Our priorities are now to support our people through this challenging period, while ensuring continued safe operations through to end of production.”

Meanwhile in other news, German tyre maker Continental says it will discontinue operations at its Aldora Mills textile manufacturing plant in Barnesville, Georgia (U.S.), by the end of 2026. The facility employs approximately 230 people and produces textile reinforcement materials, including tyre cord fabric, hose yarn and knitted fabric, which are used exclusively within Continental’s Tires and ContiTech group sectors. Continental acquired the Aldora Mills facility in 1988.

The decision to discontinue operations at the Aldora Mills plant follows a comprehensive business review to safeguard the company’s profitability, competitiveness, and business performance in the Americas region.

It adds that the plant has not been cost competitive for many years despite continuous turnaround efforts. In addition, ongoing changes in global market dynamics and supply chains have made it necessary to take this decision.

“The US remains a key market for Continental. The company reaffirms its commitment to its customers and partners in the US,” the firm stated, adding that it has tyre manufacturing operations in Plymouth (Indiana), Clinton (Mississippi), Sumter (South Carolina), and Mount Vernon (Illinois), that have an annual production capacity of more than 16 million tyres.

In total Continental employs more than 8,800 people in the US, in both its group sectors Tires and ContiTech.

Furthermore, the firm says that in the last decade it has invested around US$1.5 billion in its tyre manufacturing operations in the US.

In October, the company announced a more than US$85 million investment to expand its manufacturing operations at the ContiTech plant in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. In September 2024, the company broke ground on its first fully owned tyre distribution centre in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, scheduled to open in early 2026. The new facility will enhance service levels and customer support across the region, complementing the seven partner-owned distributions centres that currently serve the US market.

SUBSCRIBE to Get the Latest Updates from PRA    Click Here»