An energy-based jointly owned by the Ineos Group and Chinese company PetroChina is seeking a government loan package worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Petroineos, which is based at Ineos's Grangemouth refinery has been in talks for weeks with the Scottish and UK governments about the loan, according to reports.
The request for the joint venture's loan follows Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe's move to Monaco for what were reported to be tax reasons.
One government source was reported as saying a loan was unlikely to be granted to Petroineos without further evidence of the extent to which the company had sought to access its existing shareholders' resources.
Petroineos processes 420,00 barrels of oil at Grangemouth and at its other refinery at Lavera in France.
It is unclear whether the company has also sought support from President Emmanuel Macron's government.
The company produces 19 million tonnes of oil products annually, and is one of the biggest refiners of its kind in Europe.
