Ineos, owner of Scotland's Grangemouth petrodoil refinery, has struck a deal with subsidiaries of ExxonMobil and Shell to supply ethane derived from U.S. shale gas which it is to import into Scotland to their nearby chemical plant, the company said on Nov. 10.

Ineos, the Swiss-based chemicals giant which recently acquired the British North Sea natural gas field interests of Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne investment fund, will supply ethane from Grangemouth to the Fife Ethylene Plant at Mossmorran in Scotland from mid-2017.

The plant is owned by ExxonMobil Chemical Limited and Shell Chemicals Europe B.V. has 50 percent capacity rights.

"We know that ethane from US shale gas has transformed U.S. manufacturing and we are now seeing this advantage being shared across Scotland," said Geir Tuft, business director at Ineos Olefins & Polymers UK.