Total agrees deal to sell Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire, UK

French energy major Total has signed an agreement to sell the Lindsey refinery and its associated infrastructure to London-headquartered trading and logistics firm Prax Group for an undisclosed sum.

Established in 1968, the Lindsey oil refinery is wholly-owned by Total, and is located five miles from the Humber River in North Lincolnshire, UK.

The refinery has an annual production capacity of about 5.4 million tonnes (Mt).

Total Refining & Chemicals president Bernard Pinatel said: “This transaction is in line with our forward-looking strategy for Total’s European refining base, which involves focusing our investments on integrated refining and petrochemical platforms.

“Since the sale of our British retail network in 2011, the Lindsey refinery hasn’t been part of Total’s downstream system, it will be put to better use within the Prax Group, an independent player with a growing UK network.”

Prax, which specialises in the trade and sale of oil products, hopes that the deal will make the company more integrated across the oil value chain from upstream to downstream in the UK.

The deal will also secure local supply of Prax.

Prax Group CEO Sanjeev Kumar said: “Acquiring Lindsey Oil Refinery is a natural progression for the Prax Group, providing the opportunity to integrate the refinery and associated product flows into the company’s UK distribution and retail footprint, which operates under the Harvest Energy brand.”

The sale is expected to be finalised by the end of this year.

In June 2010, an explosion at the refinery’s crude oil distillation unit killed an oil worker and injured two other members of staff.

In a separate development, India’s refiner and petroleum products marketer Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Total have announced a 50:50 joint venture (JV) to manufacture and market bitumen formulations for India’s road-building industry.