Grangemouth’s coastal location confers many advantages. It is directly connected to the North Sea oil fields via the Forties Pipeline System, from which it sources the majority of its crude oil at a significant freight advantage versus its competitors. It is also connected to its own deep water terminal at Finnart on the west coast of Scotland via which it imports alternative crudes (North Sea, Russia and Africa etc) and exports deep-sea cargoes of fuels. As the only refinery on mainland Scotland we supply a significant portion of the Scottish market and that of Northern England; making this asset of considerable strategic importance to the UK.
Lavéra also benefits from an advantaged location on the coast of the Mediterranean basin, both for crude sourcing and proximity to markets.
This is a prime trading hub for multiple sources of crude oil on the international market. Lavéra is one of the most flexible refineries in Europe, capable of processing multiple types of non-standard crudes.
Lavéra benefits from its ability to export both to continental Europe and other Mediterranean markets, including the Middle East and north Africa.
Both of our refineries are able to produce clean fuels meeting current European Union specifications (50ppm sulphur). Grangemouth is also able to manufacture clean fuels in accordance with the stricter rules currently applicable in certain parts of the United States and the even more stringent specifications that are expected to become applicable in the European Union in 2009 (10ppm). Lavéra is compliant with current European Union specifications, and we are in the process of making further investments in the refinery to achieve compliance with the expected 2009 European Union specifications by the end of 2006.