Hampshire defence firm TBG International submits weapons factory plan for shuttered Fife chemical plant site

Hampshire-based TBG International Limited has approached Fife Council through a pre-application screening request, seeking to establish an energetics manufacturing facility at Mossmorran, Fife, on the site of the former ExxonMobil ethylene plant. The plant shut in February after ExxonMobil reported losses of £1 million a week, with roughly 400 jobs lost as a result. The UK Government had invited defence firms to put forward proposals for expanding munitions and energetics production, supporting the initiative with up to £9 million for workers affected by the closure.

Energetics materials — explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics — are core components of weapons from small arms to missiles and the UK's nuclear deterrent.

Fife Council has requested an Environmental Impact Assessment, with full site decommissioning not expected to be completed until early 2028.