Oil refinery to shut after no buyer found

The government has been unable to find a buyer for troubled Lindsey Oil Refinery in North East Lincolnshire

An oil refinery is to shut after the government said it was unable to find a buyer for it.

The Official Receiver took over the Lindsey Oil Refinery in North East Lincolnshire last month after its owner Prax went into administration, putting 420 jobs at risk.

Energy Minister Michael Shanks said "no credible offers have been made to purchase the entire refinery and it will be winding down operations".

Prax Group, which is led by chairman and chief executive Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai, purchased the refinery from French company Total in 2021.

In a statement, Shanks said: "We are deeply disappointed with the untenable position in which the owners left Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery.

"Our sympathies are with the workers, their families and the local community.

"While we continue to strongly encourage the owners to do the decent thing and publicly commit to making a voluntary financial contribution to support workers, all those directly employed at the refinery are guaranteed jobs over the coming months.

"The government will immediately fund a comprehensive Training Guarantee for these refinery workers to ensure they have the skills they need and are supported to find jobs in the growing clean energy workforce."

He added that the Official Receiver "continues to pursue interest in individual assets".

Local Conservative MP Martin Vickers described the closure as "very bad news" for the area.

He called for the government to support the plant for longer "while more possible offers came in".

"Of course, it's not the government's fault that it's got into difficulties, " he said.

"But I would have hoped they would recognise the importance of a piece of the national infrastructure."

Vickers said he had tabled a question in the House of Commons about the refinery's future.

The refinery's owners, the Prax Group, went into administration last month

The Unite union previously said the closure of the Immingham refinery could affect up to 1,000 jobs when taking into account contractors and the supply chain.

Mick Simpson, from Unite, said the insolvency team had told the union there would be no redundancies of core workers "before 31 October".

"People are going to be worried for their livelihoods," he said.

"Things like mortgages and their bills still need paying and it's going to be very difficult to find alternative suitable employment for so many people all at one time."

Worker Dan Wood described the mood at the refinery as "very low", adding that staff were in limbo.

"Why can't the government do what they've done with British Steel?," he said.

"They are funding the running cost of British Steel, I believe. Why can't we do something similar?"

The Department for Energy Security said the Prax Group's financial reports indicated the plant had recorded losses of about £75m between the takeover in 2021 and February 2024.

Lindsey is the smallest of the UK's oil refineries, according to the government.

It is located next to the larger Phillips 66 Humber refinery, which continues to operate.

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