Latest news with #PraxLindsey
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Miliband eyes refinery support after Lindsey collapse
Ministers are exploring ways to hand state support to Britain's remaining oil refineries as they scramble to deal with the fallout from the collapse of the Prax Lindsey site in Lincolnshire which has cast a shadow over hundreds of jobs. Sky News understands that Ed Miliband, the energy security secretary, wants to devise a mechanism for refineries to become eligible for the Energy-Intensive Industries Compensation Scheme - from which they are currently excluded. Energy costs were at the heart of the government's industrial strategy launched last week. Money latest: Such a move would hand a welcome financial boost to the sector by assisting them with energy costs amid a slew of challenges which culminated in the appointment of compulsory liquidators over the Prax Lindsey refinery on Monday. The site's insolvency - revealed by Sky News - has drawn strong criticism from the government, with energy minister Michael Shanks calling the development "deeply concerning". "There have been longstanding issues with this company and workers have been badly let down," he said. "The secretary of state is today writing to the Insolvency Service to demand an immediate investigation into the conduct of the directors, and the circumstances surrounding this insolvency. "The government will ensure supplies are maintained, protect our energy security, and do everything we can to support workers and the local community, including engaging with trade unions and industry bodies. "The company has left the government with very little time to act." Prax Group is owned by Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai, who also acts as its chairman and chief executive and is the sole director of the refining subsidiary. The crisis at the Lindsey refinery, which is located on a 500-acre site five miles from the Humber Estuary, echoes that at Britain's dwindling number of oil refineries. According to the company, the site has an annual production capacity of 5.4 million tonnes, processing more than 20 different types of crude including petrol, diesel, bitumen, fuel oil and aviation fuels. The refinery, which was bought from France's Total in 2020, is understood to have become a growing drain on cash across the wider Prax Group, with which it has cross-guarantees. About 180 people work at State Oil Ltd, Prax Group's parent entity, while roughly 440 more are employed at the Prax Lindsey Refinery. Read more from Sky News: The rest of the group, which includes oilfield assets in the Shetland Islands and hundreds of UK petrol stations, employs hundreds more people. The other assets are not in administration themselves but are expected to be sold as part of the reorganisation of the group.
Sky News
2 days ago
- Business
- Sky News
Miliband eyes refinery support after Lindsey collapse
Ministers are exploring ways to hand state support to Britain's remaining oil refineries as they scramble to deal with the fallout from the collapse of the Prax Lindsey site in Lincolnshire which has cast a shadow over hundreds of jobs. Sky News understands that Ed Miliband, the energy security secretary, wants to devise a mechanism for refineries to become eligible for the Energy-Intensive Industries Compensation Scheme - from which they are currently excluded. Energy costs were at the heart of the government's industrial strategy launched last week. Such a move would hand a welcome financial boost to the sector by assisting them with energy costs amid a slew of challenges which culminated in the appointment of compulsory liquidators over the Prax Lindsey refinery on Monday. The site's insolvency - revealed by Sky News - has drawn strong criticism from the government, with energy minister Michael Shanks calling the development "deeply concerning". "There have been longstanding issues with this company and workers have been badly let down," he said. "The secretary of state is today writing to the Insolvency Service to demand an immediate investigation into the conduct of the directors, and the circumstances surrounding this insolvency. "The government will ensure supplies are maintained, protect our energy security, and do everything we can to support workers and the local community, including engaging with trade unions and industry bodies. "The company has left the government with very little time to act." Prax Group is owned by Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai, who also acts as its chairman and chief executive and is the sole director of the refining subsidiary. The crisis at the Lindsey refinery, which is located on a 500-acre site five miles from the Humber Estuary, echoes that at Britain's dwindling number of oil refineries. According to the company, the site has an annual production capacity of 5.4 million tonnes, processing more than 20 different types of crude including petrol, diesel, bitumen, fuel oil and aviation fuels. The refinery, which was bought from France's Total in 2020, is understood to have become a growing drain on cash across the wider Prax Group, with which it has cross-guarantees. About 180 people work at State Oil Ltd, Prax Group's parent entity, while roughly 440 more are employed at the Prax Lindsey Refinery. The rest of the group, which includes oilfield assets in the Shetland Islands and hundreds of UK petrol stations, employs hundreds more people.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Lindsey oil refinery owner Prax falls into administration as ministers urged to intervene
One of the UK's largest oil refineries – and the only big one owned by a British company – has collapsed into administration, prompting calls for the government to intervene urgently to protect fuel supplies and jobs. State Oil, which owns the Prax Lindsey refinery in north Lincolnshire, called in administrators on Monday, Sky News reported first, prompting concern from the trade union, Unite. The failure is likely to cause a headache for government officials, given that the company's 5.4m tonne-a-year capacity represents nearly a tenth of the national total. About 180 people work at State Oil, and 440 more are employed at the Prax Lindsey refinery, according to Sky. State Oil is part of the Prax Group, which is majority owned by the seldom-seen husband and wife team Winston and Arani Soosaipillai, who bought the company from the French oil group Total in 2021. A further 20% is held by family trusts connected to them. Prax Lindsey is the only one of the UK's five leading oil refineries to have a UK owner; the remainder have US and Indian parent companies. The group also has oilfield investments in Shetland and owns roughly 200 petrol stations in the UK under the Breeze and Harvest Energy brands, but these are outside the insolvency process. The City consultancies FTI Consulting and Teneo have been appointed by the government's official receiver to manage the Lindsey refinery and as administrator, respectively. Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said: 'The Lindsey oil refinery is strategically important, and the government must intervene immediately to protect workers and fuel supplies. 'Unite has constantly warned the government that its policies have placed the oil and industry on a cliff edge. It has failed to act and instead put its fingers in its ears. 'The government needs a short-term strategy to keep Lindsey operating and a sustainable long-term plan to fully protect all oil and gas workers.' The administrator of the company, Teneo, said: 'On 30 June 2025, the high court appointed the official receiver as liquidator [and] appointed special managers from FTI Consulting LLP to assist the liquidator in ensuring the continued safe operation of the site.' Joint administrator Clare Boardman, of Teneo, said that all options would be considered, including a sale of Prax's upstream business and retail operations in the UK and Europe, all of which remain outside insolvency. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Prax's upstream business consists of the Lancaster oilfield in the British North Sea, a geologically complex project which has been in an early production phase for years. It is the second time in four years that Prax Lindsey's financial performance has become a matter for government officials. In 2021, the company said it had swung from a £1.9m profit to a £228m loss in the year to February 2021, hurt by the Covid pandemic crushing demand for fuel. That year, the French oil company Total sold the refinery to Prax, a unit of a little-known outfit headquartered in Surrey called State Oil, which has grown at meteoric pace, its revenues surging nearly tenfold between 2010 and 2020. Its controlling party, Winston Soosaipillai, who goes by his middle names of Sanjeev Kumar, is rarely spotted in public or at industry events and has almost no public profile. The Guardian has approached the Prax Group and FTI Consulting for comment.
