Another Oil Refinery Bites the Dust

 On the last day of June, reports emerged that owners of the Prax Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire had filed for insolvency. The news follows the closure of the INEOS Grangemouth refinery last year (and its conversion into an import terminal), putting another and even bigger question mark over Britain’s capacity to sustain its industries. The Prax site provided the UK with 10% of its crude oil-derived products, including Heathrow Airport – which itself suffered a catastrophic loss of power earlier this year, further signalling the state of the country’s infrastructure. In their attempt to understand what happened, however, much of the press is ignoring the Net Zero elephant in the room.

Details about the refinery going into receivership are thin on the ground because the news has only just emerged and the company is privately owned. But to my ears, the loss of petrochemicals plants sounds like an echo of the Net Zero policy agenda. The Labour Party came to power very clearly signalling its intention to destroy what remained of Britain’s domestic oil and gas sector. Leading the party’s green chorus, Ed Miliband promised blob lobbyists that there would be “no new North Sea oil and gas licences” – reversing the preceding government’s last-minute wobbles on the Net Zero agenda. So impressed with the Secretary of State were the Just Stop Oil collective, they cited his policy as the reason for winding down their operations....<<<Read More>>>...