Current status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 June 2026
To ask the Scottish Government when it became aware that the Grangemouth refinery was a bottom quartile-performing refinery on the Solomon Associates Energy Intensity Index, and what measures it proposed to address this.
The Scottish Government has a long established relationship with Petroineos, and our engagement has centred on progressing transition options for the asset and site, in particular following the onset of Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions which further intensified challenges associated with the refinery’s operational efficiency and commercial performance. These challenges were explained publicly by the refinery’s owner in the lead up to and following its closure. This engagement has resulted in a number of Scottish Government co-funded feasibility studies from 2021 onwards, culminating in the Project Willow study.
It is regrettable that, with the exception of the Project Willow study, the UK Government did not come to the table alongside the Scottish Government and the company to consider transition options for the asset in the years leading up to its closure.
The closure of the Grangemouth refinery is a matter of deep regret for the Scottish Government, despite Labour promising during the 2024 General Election campaign to save it from closure. I am also disappointed that, to date, not a penny of the National Wealth Fund’s £200 million Grangemouth allocation has been spent despite numerous pleas from this Government to do so.