THERE is still flaring at Mossmorran but ExxonMobil say they are making "good progress" as they try to return to normal production.

After the storms that raged from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, with incessant heavy rain, thunder and lightning, there was a "process upset" and flooding at Fife Ethylene Plant.

The company said that, as a result, they had to use their elevated flare to burn off excess gas.

An announcement to local communities today from Jacob McAlister, plant manager, said: "We are making good progress towards safely returning to normal production following the extreme weather early yesterday morning.

"Our team has taken a number of actions to significantly reduce the size of the flare and we continue to look for ways to further optimise.

"As we move through these final stages, you may see some fluctuations in flare size but, as always, we will work hard to keep this to a minimum.

"As you will appreciate, we are putting safety first, but we are committed to completing the required steps as quickly as possible.

"We thank you for your continued patience and apologise for any disruption to local communities."

Last night, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency said: "SEPA has had ongoing engagement with both ExxonMobil and Shell UK at the Mossmorran complex throughout the day.

"We have deployed staff in the area to assess community impact and monitoring of noise and air quality will continue.

“We understand that the flaring which began this morning was a result of disruption to power for both operators due to extreme weather conditions.

"Use of the ground flares to minimise elevated flaring was limited due to flooding on the site.

“We are continuing to speak directly with both companies regarding the restoration of normal operations.

“As always we have been in contact with our partners in Fife Council and NHS Fife over the course of the day and this will continue until normal operations are resumed.”