The £7.6m grant awarded to INEOS to upgrade its Grangemouth refinery and petrochemical complex will help safeguard more than 500 high value jobs and keep the country's oil supply flowing, First Minister Alex Salmond said today.

The FM was at Grangemouth to meet engineers and technicians at the plant. Already £45 million has been invested by the company and the Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) grant of £7.6m is in support of a further investment of £65m - bringing total investment to £110m.

Mr Salmond said: "The sheer scale of the economic contribution made by Scotland's sole refinery, INEOS Grangemouth, is vast. Their entire industrial complex employs more than 1,300 people and produces almost all of Scotland's vehicle fuel. It literally keeps Scotland moving.

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"Set against a recession and unprecedented economic challenges, the benefit of INEOS' total £110m investment over the period of the project is clear.

"Our support of the chemicals industry with £7.6m RSA funding has enabled INEOS to develop and move forward while helping to retain these 551 high value, highly skilled jobs."

Gordon Grant, works general manager at IMSL said:"We are very pleased to have received the RSA grant and the support from the Scottish Government in recognising the valuable contribution Grangemouth makes to the Scottish economy.

"The 'KG Flex' project will see important modifications to our existing plant. These modifications will allow INEOS, here at Grangemouth, to fully utilise a wider range of the gases extracted from the North Sea which in turn will add considerable value to the Scottish economy."

(GK/JM)