THE owner of Grangemouth oil refinery has turned down an offer to buy out the site ahead of its proposed closure next year.
It came after an approach from a consortium to Petroineos and the Scottish Government was deemed "not credible".
More than 400 jobs are expected to be lost when the site fully closes, with Petroineos planning to turn it into a fuel import terminal.
This was the second approach by the consortium, with Canadian businessman Garth Reid’s Newfoundland company Hudson Reid Inc reportedly in talks in September about a potential takeover.
But there were also "concerns" about the viability of that approach.
A Petroineos spokesman said: "Since the Petroineos joint venture was formed 13 years ago, our shareholders have invested nearly £1bn in the refinery, only to absorb losses of £600m.
"Last week, the refinery lost £385,000 on average each day and we expect to lose more than £150m in total during the course of this year.
"We have not received any credible or viable bids for the refinery."
