HAMPSHIRE’S biggest heavy industrial site has seen a £28m investment.

ExxonMobil has pumped the cash into Fawley Refinery where they have built a new plant to produce Isopar products – described as a “new family” of solvents – which are used as a base in paints, inks, air fresheners and cosmetics.

Previously the Fawley had been involved in the initial stages of Isopar production but the product was then finished at ExxonMobil’s Antwerp refinery. Now the whole process will happen in Hampshire and Fawley will be Europe’s leading producer of Isopars.

About 75 per cent of the the product will be for export.

The new hydrogenation plant, which will be capable of producing 50,000 tonnes of Isopars per year, took just over 12 months to build and was largely constructed using prefabricated sections brought in from the Netherlands.

The plant – the first new production line at Fawley since the 1980s – began tests in December is now fully operational.

Although it is a major investment in hardware the plant has only created six new jobs.

As a mark of the importance of the new plant, Matt Aguiar, senior vice president of the Exxon Chemicals flew in from Huston for yesterday’s opening ceremony.

Mr Aguiar said: “Isopars are a high value chemical for us. We look forward to seeing good production and profitability out of this operation.”

Earlier Richard Henderson, Fawley chemical site manager had explained the process which took low value oil – 80 per cent of which came directly from the refinery – and broke into up into smaller carbon molecules.

Isopars (a trademark name devised by ExxonMobil) are “designer molecules” said Mr Henderson as they are odourless - which makes them very useful in the cosmetics industry - and are very stable and have a very specific boiling point.

Speaking at the opening ceremony New Forest East MP Julian Lewis welcomed in the investment which he described as a much-appreciated “vote of confidence” in the UK at the time of some uncertainty caused by Brexit.

“The national economy benefits from the work Fawley does in the refinery and the chemical plant and their work is valued by the government,” said Dr Lewis.

Touching on terror attack on Westminster the previous day Dr Lewis took a moment to praise the security at Fawley - which he described as an “important strategic location” and added: “We always depend on our safety on the people who guard the perimeter of of these targeted locations.”