Crude processing ends at Scotland's Grangemouth oil refinery
LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - Scotland's only oil refinery ceased crude oil processing as of Tuesday, operator Petroineos said in a statement, as the site transitions to an import terminal.
UK-Chinese joint venture Petroineos confirmed in September that the Grangemouth refinery would stop production in the second quarter of 2025.
The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here.
"From today, we will be importing all the products necessary to meet Scotland's demand for transport fuels," said Iain Hardie, region head of legal and external affairs at Petroineos, adding that the firm had invested 50 million pounds in the transition to an import terminal.
The closure comes against a backdrop of falling refining capacity in Europe as firms look to close or convert oil refining assets. Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab is also shutting down its German Wesseling refinery this year.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
40 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Father-son duo 'ghost brokers' scammed drivers out of more than £60,000 by selling worthless car insurance: How to keep yourself safe
A father and son duo from Leicester scammed drivers out of more than £60,000 by selling worthless car insurance policies that left dozens of drivers uninsured. Ilyas Rauf charged unsuspecting customers up to £300 for invalid policies, which left drivers facing potential fines and vehicle seizures, while secretly sharing thousands of pounds with his son Amer Ilyas. The scams, known as 'ghost broking' are often advertised on social media, promising cheap quotes for a car insurance policy. In the scam, bogus insurance middlemen will claim they can get you car or home insurance as a discount. They may either hand over a fake policy or a genuine one, which they subsequently cancel to keep the refund for themselves. Alternatively, they take out a real policy with incorrect information to bring the premium down - which would likely leave it void should you try to make a claim. Rauf, 51, made £61,763 from August 2016 to January 2020 by providing forged employment letters to secure discounted premiums for his victims. Between September 2019 and June 2020, he shared more than £11,000 of his profits with his 28-year-old son, who was given the job of recruiting victims through social media. An investigation found he used letters from a company called Eastern Catering to fraudulently obtain no claims discounts. He falsely claimed his clients had worked for the company for multiple years without crashes or insurance claims. It was later discovered that the address Eastern Catering was registered to was the same used by Rauf to sell the fake policies. Police found that his son had also messaged 31 contacts about insurance on his phone between October 2015 to March 2021, often telling customers that his father would provide quotes for them the next day. Amer Ilyas would then tell victims to visit the office or send photos of bank cards for processing of payment. Rauf was linked to 52 fraudulent motor insurance policies across four different insurers. Ilyas Rauf's brother Ziaed was caught on CCTV removing two computers from the office while police raided his nephew's home. Four phone calls had been made between the brothers before Ziaed Rauf unsuccessfully tried to block a CCTV camera and fled. How to avoid falling victim to 'ghost brokers' Karl Parr, from AXA UK, said customers can protect themselves by following the below advice: • Steer clear of purchasing insurance policies promoted through social media platforms and instant messaging apps. • Be cautious of insurance brokers who market their services in private community forums or through advertisements in public places like pubs, cafes or newsagents. • Don't engage with insurance brokers who request payment in cash or through bank transfers. Reputable brokers will offer payment options via an online portal. • Avoid insurance brokers who use personal email addresses or mobile phone numbers to sell policies. • If you're worried about a policy you've purchased or the details don't look right, contact the insurance provider directly – don't use the details provided by the broker. • To ensure you're dealing with an authorised insurance broker, check the Financial Conduct Authority's website or the British Insurance Brokers' Association websit. Their scam was uncovered when financial investigators discovered that he e claimed to have earned £27,366 from 2016 to 2020 despite pocketing more than £61,000 from the insurance fraud alone. When questioned by police, his son told officers he could not remember being given money by his father and claimed he did not know what it was for. The three men appeared at Leicester Crown Court on Friday, June 6. Ilyas Rauf, 51, of Normanton Road, Highfields, Leicester, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation, breaching the Financial Services and Markets Act and transferring criminal property and was jailed for 21 months. Amer Ilyas, 28, also of Normanton Road, pleaded guilty to money laundering offences and was given 16 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work. Ziaed Rauf, 47, of Thurnview Road, Evington, Leicester, was given 18 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice. The latest figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) show the price of the average car insurance policy in January to March 2025 was £589, a 6 per cent drop from the year before. However, premiums remain more expensive today than two years ago, with the average policy £478 in January to March 2023 - 23 per cent less than the first quarter of 2025. It follows a dramatic rise in social media and email hacking reports last year, according to Action Fraud. A total of 35,434 reports were made to the fraud and cyber crime reporting service in 2024, compared with 22,530 in 2023. Hacking methods include fraudsters gaining control of an account and impersonating the owner to convince others to reveal authentication codes. Many victims believe they are being messaged by a friend. The most common motives for social media hacking were investment fraud, ticket fraud or theft, Action Fraud said. Fraudsters can also gain account details via phishing scams or data breaches. People often use the same password across accounts, so when one is leaked several accounts are left vulnerable. Action Fraud has launched a campaign, supported by Meta, to encourage people to take extra online protection by enabling two-step verification. Victims often don't realise they have been scammed until they try to claim on their policy or if they happen to be stopped by police and asked to show their insurance documents. Karl Parr, Claims Technical Director, AXA UK, told MailOnline: 'Ghost brokers typically offer premium prices far cheaper than customers can find elsewhere. 'Remember, if something sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.' Young driver Wayne Simpson bought a cheap car insurance policy on social media before realising it was fake after he was unable to claim following a crash, landing him with a loss of £500. 'We called up Aviva and they told me there wasn't a policy taken out in my name and that the number we had given them was not a number they would use,' he told Sky News. 'That's when the dust settles, and you realise it's been a scam.' Mr Simpson said the insurance documents looked so real that they managed to fool a police officer at the scene of the crash. 'She said, ''Your car's not popping up as insured''. Straight away I went to my glove box, pulled the insurance documents, showed her the documents and she read through it and said, ''That's totally fine'',' he said.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
UK to spend more than $8 billion on submarine-building capacity
LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - Britain will invest over six billion pounds ($8.13 billion) in its submarine building capacity, supporting firms like defence group BAE Systems and engineering multinational Rolls-Royce, finance minister Rachel Reeves is set to announce on Tuesday. Responding to U.S. President Donald Trump's insistence that Europe take more responsibility for its own security, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged the largest sustained increase in British defence spending since the end of the Cold War. Last week, Britain said it would increase the size of its nuclear-powered attack submarine fleet to as many as 12, up from the current seven, responding to an independent review of its current military capacity and ability to meet future threats. No cost was given at the time but in a speech on Tuesday Reeves will say that investments in the defence nuclear sector will include over six billion pounds to boost the "capacity, capability and productivity of the UK's submarine industrial base", including at BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce Submarines, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce. The investment, which will cover the four-year spending review period, will help companies deliver the increase in submarine production rate announced last week, the government said in a statement. Reeves will announce the results of her first multi-year spending review on Wednesday, including an investment of four billion pounds over the next decade in its Plymouth naval base. The finance minister will also announce an investment in the redevelopment of a naval base in Scotland and in Sheffield Forgemasters, a steel company that produces components for submarines. ($1 = 0.7387 pounds)
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Britain's dysfunctional finances are stifling aspiration and opportunity
SIR – As the Chancellor prepares for her Spending Review tomorrow, it is striking that no political party appears willing to confront the scale of Britain's fiscal problems. Now retired, I reflect on a life in which my generation enjoyed real opportunity. I left school at 16, completed an apprenticeship, studied further, bought a modest home, and raised a family. We lived carefully, but the path to security was there. Today's younger generation faces soaring taxes, student debt (we had grants), unaffordable housing, and strained public services – all while the state borrows heavily and spends over £100 billion a year on debt interest. Despite record tax receipts, driven by stealthy fiscal drag, the public gets little in return. When David Cameron's government attempted to rein in the deficit, this was attacked as 'austerity'. Yet no one now dares say what must be said: we must gradually pay down the national debt if we are to free up resources for housing, education and the NHS. The Government should focus not on how much it spends, but on what it delivers. A country that keeps dodging difficult choices will end up with no choices at all. Paul Allen Fleet, Hampshire SIR – As we await Rachel Reeves's Spending Review, we can only hope that the Government will cut up the national credit card, rather than grant itself a higher limit. But such an outcome would be controversial, not least because state-run institutions are bureaucratic and financially insatiable. We have reached the point where a major spending review should go far beyond manipulation of spreadsheets. It is time for serious questions as to what government does and why, and how it goes about it. However, these questions are too challenging for mere bean-counters. Are there any thinkers and innovators out there, or have they already left the country? David Porter Plymouth, Devon SIR – Britain is the sixth largest economy in the world, but it really doesn't feel like it. The country is seriously in debt and high interest rates mean that the cost of servicing that debt has also risen. This is being compounded by an ever-increasing welfare bill, an immediate demand to boost our spending on defence and a frankly unachievable net zero policy. The only plausible way out of this situation is to encourage economic growth, improve productivity and reduce uncompetitive energy costs. Yet this Government appears to have no solution except to tax and spend. The country is going broke fast, and at some point – perhaps even within this parliament – the IMF or the markets will call time on the situation.
