The fate of the Prax oil refinery and the forecourt operators it supplies has taken another twist with the BBC reporting today that a potential buyer wants to continue the operation.
Lindsey Oil Refinery was taken over by liquidators in June after owner Prax Group went into administration. Energy minister Michael Shanks previously said “no credible offers” had been made to buy the entire refinery and it would be “winding down operations”.
However, according to the BBC, two local politicians have claimed there is a prospective bid to buy the whole site, alongside “a number of parties interested in parts of the business”.
The broadcaster quotes Martin Vickers, MP for Brigg and Immingham, and North Lincolnshire Council leader Rob Waltham as saying there is a potential buyer to retain the site and continue running the refinery, but that they cannot disclose details of the interested party.
It reports Waltham saying: “To have people who are interested in protecting jobs at this stage of the game is very heartening.
“We’re urging the government to keep advocating and supporting someone to buy the site as a whole.”
The last two units of petrol and kerosene came off the production line on Saturday, with deliveries likely to continue until September, says the BBC.
The news has left Harvest Energy dealers in a spin, still under contract with the Prax subsidiary and unsure of what this could mean for them. They have been making alternative arrangements to buy fuel on the spot market – which is more expensive. And now in the sixth week of being unable to get supplies from the refinery have been looking for solutions longer-term.
Meanwhile, Harvest Energy has refused to release owners of the 125 dealer Harvest Energy and Total Energies branded sites from their contracts.
One dealer Harriet Cookson, of Lawford Service Station in Manningtree in Essex, has entered a six-month contract with Murco this week, after estimating that her family business is out of pocket by around £15,000 since her contracted deliveries ended.
She also wrote to Harvest Energy on Monday stating that she wanted to terminate her contract.
“I’m not sure how this latest news will affect me,” says Cookson. “Even if they sell the refinery they have no logistics in place to get the fuel to us. It’s a very difficult situation.”
Other retailers, who have retained lawyers to release them from their contracts, are making plans to switch brands as soon as they are free to do so. Seevaratnam Muresh wants to move his 10 Harvest Energy sites to Jet, and Tom Dant, who manages three Total Energies-branded forecourts in Lincolnshire, is looking to transfer the trio to Jet as well.
Jet’s parent Phillips 66 has its own Humber refinery, near the Lindsey refinery in North Lincolnshire.
Tom Dant says this is a big draw for him. “As soon as I receive confirmation that I am out of contract I will move to Jet,” says Dant. “I like the security of Jet having its own refinery. It is not going anywhere and it can give better cost prices than others we have spoken to because it has its own refinery.”
FTI Consulting, which was appointed special manager of the Lindsey Oil Refinery by the Official Receiver, has declined to comment.
