By Robert Harvey
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s insolvent Lindsey oil refinery will close down after no buyers were found for the site, Energy Minister Michael Shanks said in a statement on Monday.
The refinery was placed into the hands of an official receiver after its owner Prax fell into insolvency at the end of last month.
“After a thorough process to determine whether a sale was possible, no credible offers have been made to purchase the entire refinery, and it will be winding down operations,” Shanks said.
Lindsey was one of five remaining oil refineries in Britain, and had a capacity of 113,000 barrels per day. According to FTI Consulting, the refinery’s special manager through the insolvency process, it employs around 420 people.
Shanks slammed the “untenable position in which the owners left Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery,” and called on the owners of the refinery to “do the decent thing and publicly commit to making a voluntary financial contribution to support workers”.
Prax, led by Chairman and CEO Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai, could not immediately be reached for comment. All enquiries on the company administration have been directed to its administrator Teneo, which said it had no comment on the company and no contact information for Soosaipillai.
Legal filings with the High Court showed that Prax’s parent group State Oil Limited and other Prax companies filed a commercial claim against Soosaipillai on July 11 for a breach of fiduciary duty.
The refinery had resumed fuel deliveries after insolvency was announced, having been able to secure some crude supplies to stave off immediate closure.
The energy minister said all direct employees of the refinery are guaranteed jobs over the coming months.
He added that the official receiver is continuing to pursue buyers for the individual assets under the Prax group.
Prax Group has other interests in the UK energy sector, including the Lancaster oil field and fuel supplier Harvest Energy.
(Reporting by Robert Harvey; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Jan Harvey)
