What happened to Murco's Milford Haven refinery workers?

Murco closed last November after a takeover deal collapsed at the last minute

The loss of nearly 300 jobs at Murco in Milford Haven with the closure of the refinery last November was a big blow to the local economy - but what happened next to the workers?

BBC Wales At Work has found that more than two-thirds of those made redundant have new jobs.

Most are in Pembrokeshire - but a fifth work outside Wales - as far away as Saudi Arabia and even in Switzerland, on the Large Hadron Collider.

Another 41 are leaving this summer after being kept on for the shutdown.

A further 49 workers will be working at the storage depot, which is being left on the site.

A deal to take over the refinery last autumn after four years of uncertainty was so tantalisingly close that a marquee had been set up for a celebratory party.

It was estimated to be worth £30m a year to the Pembrokeshire economy and supported a further 4,200 jobs in the area.

Mike Deakin faces a four hour trip back home after his round of shifts finishes

Mike Deakin, 51, former senior process technician and team leader, now commutes 200 miles between Milford Haven and Stanlow, Cheshire. He was out of work for three months before starting a new job in April.

"I was very lucky that I had a couple of job offers. It means travelling away from Pembrokeshire but my family are staying here because my boys, 16 and 17, are doing exams in school and my daughter - who's 21 - is at a local university.

"It's worked out quite well. A number of us got jobs at Stanlow and are travelling back to Pembrokeshire."

He said there was still a "hurt" back in Milford Haven, with a Murco a good place to work.

His old shift still have a monthly breakfast to meet up - and they have a Facebook group - but he misses his old colleagues.

Patrick Owen now works on the particle accelerator research project

Patrick Owen, 34, spent nearly five years over two periods at Murco and is now working at CERN in Switzerland on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project.

"It was a surprise because we'd been led to believe that a deal was 99% complete and then we heard by email the refinery was going to close.

"Due to the uncertainty over the previous six months I'd been looking very tentatively at employment alternatives, locally, nationally and internationally."

He knew a former colleague was working on the LHC so he looked at the CERN website and saw they were looking for people and applied.

Mr Owen has a five year contract and works on maintaining the liquid helium to cool the LHC's magnets.

"Never in a million years did I think I'd be working in Switzerland and on the Large Hadron Collider.

"My wife was able to move with me and we have a two-year-old daughter who is young enough so it was not disruptive and we were all able to move as a family.

"We have the lake, the mountains, good food and wine.

"But I'm a firm believer in the harder you work, the luckier you become. There was a lot of competition to get this job.

"It's very different from a refinery which is in a competitive industry; this is about getting academic results, which of course you know they share with everyone."

As for Pembrokeshire, he said he could not imagine giant employers there in the future, but smaller ones in industries like renewable energy.

Mark Shone, 51, a former contractor - contractors are not included in the official figures.

He has children aged 20, 17 and 15 and had been "lucky" to find work at Murco in his home town for the last five years. Now he would be prepared to go away to work.

"Between contracts" at the moment, he has already worked in North Lincolnshire and South Humberside. Previously he has worked all over the UK and offshore and lived in London for 22 years.

"It was a big blow to the local community for local jobs even contractors like myself who once again have to travel further afield for employment, leaving their family and friends at home," he said.

"I have always tried to seek employment where I live with my family, and have been fortunate enough to watch my children grow up.

Tom Johnston formed a new business with former colleagues

Tom Johnston, ex-refinery operations manager, had worked at Murco for 12 years. He set up his own business with five colleagues called InSite Technical Services.

It offers project design and consultancy and has work as far afield as Bolivia, South Korea and Kuwait.

"It's really taken off," he said.

"For the first few months it was about business development and we were getting a lot of support from the Welsh government, Pembrokeshire Lottery and county council but we're getting more and more busy and getting business from local energy companies and further afield."

They have taken on eight former workers and looking to take more on.

Paul Thomas is considering taking work away from home

Paul Thomas, 55, a senior technician for nine years, stayed on at Murco until recently but is now unemployed.

The ex-Royal Navy man is one of a new round of 41 people losing their jobs between June and the end of August.

"We've had support at the refinery by Penna [HR consultants] but apart from that I can't see a lot happening around the town or county to help people find work.

"I'm hoping to get back into the refinery in some capacity but possibly I'll have to go away to work. It could mean leaving my partner behind."

He is now claiming Job Seekers' Allowance after being employed since leaving school in 1976.

"I'm fortunate I haven't got a mortgage or young children to look after but I've got to start earning or anything I received from the refinery will be gone in no time."

OTHER BUSINESSES AFFECTED

Main Port Engineering in Pembroke Dock makes pipe work and steelwork and a third of its business was with Murco. It had to make 95 of its 257 workers redundant.

"If you take in all the suppliers and contractors and where Murco spent its money in the county you must have been talking about 1,200-1,500 people [affected], said managing director Dave Harris.

"We're now working on fuel terminals all over the country, renewing pipe work, we're making up a little of what we lost."

"The Pembrokeshire economy has always been resilient and it will come back up, we've had closures like the Esso power station and Gulf refinery. We will get over it but it will take time."

The Murco taskforce held its last meeting in April, although the Welsh government has told us some of the work will be continued by the Haven Waterway Enterprise Zone Board.

It is clear the impact of the closure of the refinery is still being felt across Pembrokeshire.

There is more on this story on Wales At Work on BBC Radio Wales at 18:30 BST on Thursday 23 July and on the BBC iPlayer.