Collapse of oil refinery linked to 'irregularities' in £783m loan facility

The Prax Lindsey oil refinery collapsed after "material irregularities" were discovered in a complex £783m loan facility that funded the wider group, it has emerged.

- Rob Davies

The refinery on the Humber estuary in northern England - one of just five left in the UK - was suddenly plunged into administration in late June, prompting calls from furious government ministers for an investigation into Winston Soosaipillai, Prax Group's oil tycoon owner.

Amid uncertainty about the whereabouts of Soosaipillai, who goes by his middle names, Sanjeev Kumar, administrators sifting through the rubble of the refinery's parent company, State Oil, published a progress report yesterday.

Among details disclosed by Teneo, which is serving as the administrator for State Oil and five other group companies, is a £70m debt owed to HM Revenue and Customs by the group entity Prax Petroleum. Including sums owed by the refinery unit itself, which is being liquidated separately, taxpayers are thought to be owed up to £250m by the wider Prax Group.