GIANT flame booms lit up the sky above Grangemouth as surplus gas was burned off but today the steel towers stand dormant.

Scotland's only oil refinery and petrochemical complex remained idle amid fears that the jobs of hundreds of workers may have gone up in smoke as a war of words continues to be played out.

Grangemouth is dubbed the nation's powerhouse.

It supplies the petrol and the diesel needed to keep Scotland's motorists on the move and the aviation fuel used by the airlines which fly in and out of Glasgow and the country's other airports.

Today's there's a giant question mark hanging over one of the oldest industrial plants of its type in Europe.

The First World War had been over for just six years when Scottish Oils opened a refinery to process crude oil from the Persian Gulf.

It was 1924 and Scottish Oils was part of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company which became better known worldwide as British Petroleum - BP.

Nestled on the banks of the Firth of Forth the site was deemed ideal.

Today the plant is sprawled over 1,730 acres. The refinery is owned and operated by Ineos which bought it from BP in 2005.

It is estimated that Grangemouth produced 400,000 tonnes of oil each year until the start of World War Two.

The refinery has grown for decades.

Redevelopment work began more than 60 years ago when capacity was increased in stages to 4.5million tonnes. Expansion continued through the 50s, 60s and 70s.

The capacity today has more than doubled to 10m tonnes a year.

Britain's first hydrocracker installation was set up at Grangemouth to produce jet fuels and an alkylation unit was opened a few years later in 1981 to produce petrol while a low sulphur diesel plant opened in 1996.

Grangemouth really is Scotland's powerhouse.

Until the dispute it produced two million gallons of fuel every day and not just to keep the nation's drivers on the road and the planes in the sky.

The refinery also helps keep homes warn particularly in the winter by supplying domestic heating oil.

Figures show that diesel accounts for 24% of overall production, petrol at 22%, fuel oil at 15% and kerosene paraffin at 13%.

The remaining 26% accounts for products such as methane natural gas, propane and butane petroleum gas, jet fuel and a range of chemicals such as hydrogen, benzene and ethylene as well as industrial solvents.

Ineos is one of the the world's chemical giants. It has a workforce in Grangemouth of around 1,400 - and another 1000 contractors - and works hand in glove with neighbouring chemical and manufacturing firms.

Refinery products are used in as range of goods from plastic containers to textiles, from pharmaceuticals to adhesives and from car tyres to belts and hoses.

Ineos generates global sales of tens of billions of pounds while claiming Grangemouth is a loss maker despite denials from staff and union officials.

Time will tell whether the flame booms are ever fired up again.

gordon.thomson@eveningtimes.co.uk