Douglas Ross has insisted the decision by the UK Government to award a carbon capture and storage project to Humberside was not politically motivated despite concerns raised by the SNP.
The North East of Scotland's Acorn project lost out to Humberside and North West Wales for funding from the government in the first round of the scheme.
It is part of the UK’s initial attempt to bury polluting carbon dioxide underground.
The SNP's Stephen Flynn, business and energy spokesman, earlier this week said it was a "complete betrayal" of Aberdeenshire and added the Tories have "put holding seats in the 'red wall' of northern England ahead of saving jobs in Aberdeen and the North East".
The Scottish Conservative leader and Moray MP was asked if it was politically motivated decision by BBC Good Morning Scotland presenter Laura Maxwell.
He replied: "Absolutely not.
"This is a process that all the projects had to go through, they were determined on their merits and as we've heard from the Prime Minister, from myself, from the business Secretary earlier on this week it was a very strong bid, but there are other elements of the other bids that took them above the Scottish cluster."
The host interrupted: "But no one has told us what they are yet."
Ross replied: "This information will come out, this information will be very clear for everyone to see - that's my understanding.
"I've not seen it, you've not seen it but there is a decision process to go through and that process took the two other projects above the Acorn Project.
"That doesn't mean there was not a very strong bid that we can work on.
"We can put all that effort into to ensure that it goes from the reserve list to the final list of projects so that it can go forward hopefully as soon as possible."
Earlier this week it was announced the Acorn carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) project in Aberdeenshire will not form part of the UK’s initial attempt to bury polluting CO2 underground.
Energy minister Greg Hands confirmed the Scottish Cluster bid, which has the Acorn project as its backbone, has been selected as a “reserve cluster”.
The project, driven energy giants Shell, Storegga and Harbour Energy, hoped to offer a transition route for oil and gas workers out of the old North Sea industries and create as many as 26,000 jobs in the next decade.
The scheme, based at the St Fergus gas terminal near Peterhead, plans to use North Sea pipelines to store CO2 under the North Sea.
Hands said the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will “continue to engage” with the Scottish Cluster throughout “Phase 2” of the process.
Under the government’s £1 billion plan, four clusters due to be up and running by 2030 and it is understood the Acorn project is being held in reserve if the two selected projects run into difficulties with the unproven carbon capture technology.
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