The homeowners of Scotland’s handiest oil refinery absorb rejected a US-led system about a doubtless repeat for it months before its scheduled closure.

Sky News has learnt that a consortium talked about to be led by Robert McKee, an American vitality industry outdated, wrote to Petroineos, the proprietor of the Grangemouth region, to particular an hobby in trying to search out it.

The style, which is understood to had been made earlier this month, used to be rejected by Petroineos, which is 50%-owned by the petrochemicals empire founded by the Manchester United FC shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

The consortium is understood to comprise The Canal Neighborhood, which is reportedly organising a inexperienced vitality refinery in Texas, and Buying and selling Stack, a Heart East-basically basically based mostly commodities dealer.

Mr McKee spent virtually four an extended time with ConocoPhillips, one among the ideally suited vitality companies within the US.

Sources shut to the scenario talked about that Petroineos had rebuffed the provide in expose to listen on a publicly announced knowing to transform the century-dilapidated plant into a performed fuels import terminal.

They added that the nature of the consortium’s system had raised questions about its entry to financing and abilities in working an asset of this kind.

The Grangemouth refinery, which employs about 450 of us, loses about £200m yearly.

Its other shareholder is the pronounce-backed Chinese vitality big PetroChina.

The region is attributable to shut subsequent year.

A particular person shut to the consortium insisted that its financing used to be sturdy and talked about it could presumably assess the feasibility of making a up to date refinery in numerous areas within the gap.

They added that the consortium had had “obvious interactions” with change union officers, and believed that there used to be scope to rapidly invent Grangemouth’s refinery operations winning.

On Monday, a spokesman for Petroineos talked about: “Since the Petroineos joint enterprise used to be shaped 13 years within the past, our shareholders absorb invested virtually £1bn within the refinery, handiest to absorb losses of £600m.

“Final week, the refinery misplaced £385,000 on moderate each day and we search info from to lose extra than £150m in total for the length of the path of this year.

“We now absorb no longer obtained any credible or viable bids for the refinery.”

A spokesman for the consortium declined to declare.