Overview of Finnart Ocean Terminal

Incongruously located on the eastern shore of picturesque Loch Long, the Finnart Ocean Terminal is a petrochemical transfer facility, bisected by the A814 road, 2 miles (3.5 km) north of Garelochhead. It comprises a series of jetties which extend into the loch, with a tank farm built into the hillside. Since 1954, the facility has been connected by a 58-mile (93-km) pipeline system to the Grangemouth Oil Refinery on the opposite coast of the country. The deep berth of the terminal can accept very large tankers up to 324,000 tonnes and crude oil is piped though a 0.51m (20 inch) pipe to Grangemouth, while refined products are returned through a separate 0.3m (12 inch) pipe for export.

The terminal was built 1942-44 on the site of the Arddarroch and Finnart estates by the US Navy as an oil jetty, connected by a pipeline to Old Kilpatrick and to Rosneath. Arddarroch House is a substantial gabled villa built in 1838 for John McVicar, a Glasgow merchant, by William Burn (1789 - 1870). It was extended 1846-47 by David Bryce (1803-76) and now forms offices for the oil terminal. Finnart House, also by Burn, was built c.1835 for ship-builder John MacGregor but today lies empty. The parkland associated with both mansions has been lost. The terminal was operated by British Petroleum (BP) until 2005, when its ownership passed to INEOS, a privately-held British-based multi-national chemicals company.