Engineering and services provider Bilfinger UK has won two multi-million-pound contracts with INEOS to deliver maintenance services for the Forties pipeline and a large production facility in Grangemouth.

The deal will mean that the firm will double its workforce in Scotland to 220 people, with 110 people transferring to the business under Transfer of Undertaking Protection of Employment.

Phill Maurer, Bilfinger UK managing director, said: “The awarding of these contracts consolidates our significant footprint in the oil and gas and petrochemicals sectors, securing continuous employment in central Scotland.

“They demonstrate our capability to deliver maintenance works on a major scale.”

He said the Grangemouth site and the Kinneil assset make up a “large, complex facility that presents significant opportunities from a maintenance perspective”.

“We have developed a sophisticated programme of support that puts safety first while delivering high levels of efficiency.

“Our maintenance concept will help underpin the reliability and productivity of the plants.”

Bilfinger UK will employ 110 people at the site, which is one of INEOS’ largest manufacturing sites globally, producing 1.3 million tonnes of chemical products each year.

The Forties pipeline deal is an extension of a previous agreement signed in 2017, where the business currently employs 110.

The pipeline system transports up to 40 per cent of the UK’s crude oil from the North Sea to INEOS’s processing facility at Kinneil, close to the Grangemouth refinery and petrochemical complex.

Under the contract, Bilfinger UK will deliver maintenance services to a number of onshore assets that form part of the Forties Pipeline System.

The Forties pipeline had to be closed for repairs after a crack was found in 2017.