Lindsey Oil refinery owner Prax goes into administration

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 urgent calls for government intervention to protect fuel supplies and jobs.

State Oil, owner of the Prax Lindsey refinery in north Lincolnshire, called in administrators on Monday, according to Sky News. 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 at the refinery.

State Oil is part of Prax Group, majority owned by Winston and Arani Soosaipillai, who bought it from French oil group Total in 2021. Prax Lindsey is the only UK-owned major refinery; others have US and Indian owners.

Prax also has oilfield investments in Shetland and owns about 200 petrol stations under the Breeze and Harvest Energy brands, which are not affected by the insolvency.

FTI Consulting and Teneo have been appointed by the government’s official receiver to manage the refinery and act as administrator.

Sharon Graham, 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.”

Teneo said: “On 30 June 2025, the high court appointed the official receiver as liquidator [and] appointed special administrators from FTI Consulting LLP to assist the liquidator in ensuring the continued safe operation of the site.”

Joint administrator Clare Boardman said all options would be considered, including a sale of Prax’s upstream business and retail operations in the UK and Europe, which remain outside insolvency.

Prax’s upstream business includes the Lancaster oilfield in the North Sea, a complex project still in early production.

This is the second time in four years Prax Lindsey’s finances have drawn government attention. In 2021, it swung from a £1.9m profit to a £228m loss due to the pandemic. That year, Total sold the refinery to Prax, then a rapidly growing company headquartered in Surrey.

Its controlling party, Winston Soosaipillai (also known as Sanjeev Kumar), has almost no public profile.

This appears to be a Special Administration

What is Special Administration?

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Similar to ordinary administration, special administration means giving control of the company to administrators who will take steps to turn a company’s situation around if possible – or to wind it down in the most efficient manner.

However in a special administration, client assets must be recovered as soon as possible. Also the running of the company must be done in a way that does not impact the users of the services too much. This is due to the strategic importance of the company. As such large banks (Lehman Brothers) energy companies, hospitals, or other national utilities tend to go into a special administration. Given there are worries about panic buying fuel at forecourts this seems sensible.  Special administration is actually run by a court process a bit like Chapter 11 in the USA. This means the administration can take longer.