WATCH: US shale gas shipment arrives at Grangemouth as fracking debate continues
The shipment of the gas arrived earlier today.
The first shipment of controversial shale gas has arrived at Grangemouth as campaigners step up calls for a ban on fracking.
A tanker carrying 27,500 m3 of ethane from US shale fields sailed down the Forth in central Scotland to the Ineos refinery in the town, but it was unable to dock straight away due to high winds.
Forth News political correspondent Alan Smith watched the vessel arrive:
Jim Ratcliffe, the founder and chairman of the petrochemicals giant, said unconventional gas extraction could transform communities that have been blighted by a collapse in manufacturing, as has happened in the United States.
Ineos says the shale gas will replace dwindling North Sea supplies and secure essential raw material for Grangemouth, supporting some 10,000 jobs there.
Protestors opposing fracking gathered outside the firm's headquarters as the shipment arrived.
Friends of the Earth Scotland has spoken out about environmental damage'' caused in the US, where fracking is now a well established industry.
Head of campaigns Mary Church said: ''It is completely unacceptable to attempt to prop up Ineos's petrochemicals plants on the back of human suffering and environmental destruction across the Atlantic.
The fact that Scottish public money is tied up in this project is disgraceful.
''Setting aside the devastating local impacts of fracking, the climate consequences of extracting yet more fossil fuels are utterly disastrous.
The Scottish Government currently has a moratorium on fracking in place while ministers consider the evidence.