GRANGEMOUTH could be saved from closure after a Dubai firm has expressed its interest in saving the oil refinery.
Middle Eastern trading firm Trading Stack DMCC has said it is interested in buying Grangemouth, which is threatened with closure.
We told how the current owner of Grangemouth turned down an offer to buy out the site earlier this month from Canadian businessman Garth Reid’s Newfoundland company Hudson Reid Inc.
The Times reported that the Dubai firm is working with a partner in the United States as well as engaging with unions, politicians and other stakeholders in Scotland.
The company’s website suggests that as well as trading in oil and gas, it also has interests in cryptocurrency, precious metals and sugar.
However, Petroineos – which runs the refinery – said it had not yet received any “credible” expressions of interest.
Grangemouth is currently set to close by next summer, as four-fifths of the workforce risks losing their jobs.
We told how Petroineos is set to receive a £6 million windfall when the plant closes, due to a climate scheme loophole.
Ihsan al-Sabbagh, chief executive of Trading Stack, said the business had finance in place and expressed their belief that the refinery could become profitable.
He told The Times: “We have a clear strategy to return Grangemouth to profitability while maintaining the current workforce and ensuring security of supply for Scotland and the UK.
“This entails an element of shared ownership with employees, as we look to align our interests and the refinery as a profitable operation with the workforce.
“We call for urgent action by all parties while there is still time to save the Grangemouth refinery.”
It was reported earlier this week that The Canal Group, a Louisiana-based energy business, was involved in working with Trading Stack.
A spokesman for Petroineos said: “None of the parties to have approached Petroineos about buying the refinery have passed the most basic due diligence checks carried out by us and the Scottish Government.
“We have not received any credible expressions of interest in the refinery, never mind a viable bid.”
Previous notes of interest in September had come from Garth Reid, a Canadian businessman who used to head a shrimp harvesting concern, and Stacey Oil Services, an Aberdeenshire oil equipment company, but were also felt not to be credible.
We told how unions have suggested the refinery site could be converted into providing sustainable aviation fuel.
Meanwhile, Petroineos is working with governments at Holyrood and Westminster on Project Willow, a feasibility study looking at the potential for low-carbon manufacturing and fuels on the site.
That report is expected to be published early next year.
