Shell confirms Stanlow will be sold
OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell has confirmed plans, first flagged last summer, to sell its Stanlow site.
The huge refinery near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, is the Anglo-Dutch firm’s last remaining UK refinery and produces a sixth of the country’s petrol.
Confirmation of the sale came as the company revealed lower fourth quarter profits and cut 1,000 jobs worldwide.
Stanlow and other sites in Germany and Canada are being sold as Shell shifts its focus in this “downstream” part of the business to China and Asia.
It is cutting 560,000 barrels a day of capacity in the light of a $1.8bn loss from downstream operations over the last three months.
In a statement the company said: “There is a significant overhang of industry refining capacity, exacerbated by the economic downturn.
“That’s why we have initiatives in place to refocus Shell’s downstream footprint to fewer, more profitable markets with potential growth.”
Around 800 people work at Stanlow, which is the UK’s second-largest oil refinery. The 173-acre site processes 12 million tonnes of crude oil every year, mostly from the North Sea.
When it emerged that Shell was looking at selling the refinery last year, there was reportedly interest from bidders in India and the Middle East. A price tag of £1,5bn was suggested for Stanlow and the company’s two German refineries.
