Oil baron Winston Soosaipillai seemed to vanish into the sunset after he abandoned his Lincolnshire oil refinery and left a trail of £1.5billion debts behind last June.
The sudden collapse of Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery (PLOR) under a mountain of unpaid loans saw hundreds of workers left jobless, redundancy packages slashed and family livelihoods ruined.
Meanwhile, Mr Soosaipillai and his wife Arani are said to have deserted the refinery near Grimsby, their £5million Surrey mansion and repayments on a £783million loan riddled with ‘irregularities’, but took £11.5million with them in pay and dividends.
Refining will not continue at the site as new owners Phillips 66 are set to ‘mothball’ the PLOR after they bought it January, spelling misery for the angry and frightened community – confirming hundreds of permanent job losses.
One of those hit by the billionaire’s believed disappearance is pub landlord and hotelier Stephen Gorwood, 62, who has run the Black Bull Inn in the nearby village of East Halton since 2011 and said that the PLOR’s plight had harmed his business.
‘All went well until that fateful Monday when Prax announced its liquidation,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘I had a number of booking cancellations. And in the next five weeks, I had the equivalent of half a week’s worth of bookings – which, as you can imagine, was a bit of a cash flow hit.’
The Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery, owned by Winston Soosaipillai’s Prax Group, was made insolvent on Monday, July 30. Six months later it was bought by American rivals Phillips 66 who own the Humber Refinery opposite
Stephen Gorwood, 62, has said the occupancy in his hotel since the insolvency has been ‘pathetic’ and that he has had to let young people go from his business
Many in the area are furious at Labour for allowing Phillips 66 to end refining and so hundreds of jobs at the site. The Unite union say it will be turned into ‘a glorified storage tank’ and demanded it not be ‘mothballed’.
Mr Gorwood, who has 23 beds in his hotel across four buildings, said: ‘I worry more for the young. I’ve got a lovely team around me, but unfortunately, I’m having to let go of the younger elements of that team.
‘I can’t afford the investment and training to bring them on as I want to see them progress through their careers.’
Oil refineries do regular shutdowns for maintenance, and during these shutdowns, hundreds of contractors come to the area to carry out the essential work.
For Mr Gorwood and many others in the community, this was an important part of a financial ecosystem in the area. These contractors became hundreds of customers and a massive boost for the local economy for weeks or even months at a time.
‘That would happen several times a year,’ Mr Gorwood said.
‘You’d get the same guys coming back. I’d get a phone call asking for a room, and that was how it worked. But all that lot has come to a halt.
‘So my occupancy rate since June has been, well, I’d call it pathetic.’
Winston Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai (pictured), head of oil firm Prax, has faced demands from Government ministers to be questioned over the company’s collapse
Mr Soosaipillai’s £5million Weybridge property was advertised for rent on property website Rightmove not long before news of the move into administration was confirmed
The 250 staff still employed at the PLOR only have their jobs secured until March 31, the government’s Insolvency Service said. There had been 420 people employed there before the liquidation in June.
The Phillips 66 takeover did not fill Mr Gorwood with optimism either, who just saw it as yet more job losses.
‘Because we’re losing refining, all those jobs, all those careers – all the scaffolders, all the construction engineers, all the background, the whole lot – will just go with it.
‘Britain’s manufacturing capacity, again, takes another knock, and we don’t seem to have anything to replace it at the moment.’
Mr Soosaipillai bought the PLOR from the French oil company Total in 2021 and since then recorded £75million losses at the site. Lindsey was one of the last five oil refineries in the UK and responsible for 10 per cent of fuel production in the country.
Weeks after Mr Soosaipillai assured Energy Secretary Ed Miliband that operations at the refinery were running smoothly, Lindsey totally collapsed and Mr Soosaipillai was believed to have absconded to Dubai with £11.5million in pay and dividends, The Guardian reported.
This disaster all happened under government ministers’ noses, who were none the wiser until it was far too late.
Jimmy Weir, who runs The County pub-hotel, blames the government for the redundancies and says they’re doing nothing for PLOR after bailing out Scunthorpe steelworks
Another publican, Jimmy Weir, who runs the pub-hotel The County in the nearby town of Immingham, which has 37 rooms, was furious at Mr Soosaipillai’s disappearance and the lack of help from the government.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘It stinks. The government wants f****** actually. They stepped in and bailed the Scunthorpe steelworks out, and they’re not doing nothing here.’
He added: ‘Some of the men working there have been there for 20, 30 years. They’re all out of work. The contractors aren’t coming anymore either, which affects this place because the shutdown used to be eight to 12 weeks a year. Now, no one needs accommodation. They’re not coming.
‘It’s just rubbish – for the community and all. All the contractors were staying here and they’d go to the Chinese or shops or whatever. The government is rubbish.’
An anonymous Lindsey Oil Refinery employee of 16 years faces losing his job in two months. His father reported that his redundancy package would be reduced from around £100,000 to just £11,000, while the oil baron was left with tens of millions.
The employee told the Daily Mail that he and his colleagues ‘still don’t know’ what will happen to them.
He explained the huge reduction for his redundancy payout: ‘It’s through statutory because the refinery went into liquidation.’
Statutory payouts are the legal minimum required, based on employee age and length of service.
Unite has been campaigning to save the refinery since June, with general secretary Shannon Graham saying: ‘Phillips 66 should not be allowed to just mothball the site and turn it into a glorified storage tank’
He continued: ‘I’ve got a trade that I can fall back on, so I’ll go do that, but apart from that, nothing. They are offering packages for training, but nothing’s in motion yet because we haven’t been made redundant yet, so we can’t do training beforehand.’
The government has now frozen £150million of Mr Soosaipillai’s assets, which include North Sea oil fields and hundreds of petrol stations acquired on mountains of debt.
It is believed that he owes £250million to the taxpayer alone. He now faces legal claims from administrators.
Local mother and retired pensioner Catherine Bell said her son, her daughter and her daughter’s husband all work at Lindsey Oil Refinery.
She said: ‘They’ll have to look for jobs when there are none. My daughter’s got three kids.
‘Obviously, they’re wondering what they’re going to b***** do once they all got told to go.’
Mrs Bell used to work at the PLOR herself in the mid-seventies as a caterer and then a security guard. The refinery was opened in 1968. Her daughter has worked in the catering unit for the past 12 years, she said.
There was just £203 left in Prax’s bank account when oil supplier Glencore called in a £53.6million debt, The Times found
Teneo, which is administrating for the Prax Group, is trying to sell the £112.2million in shares the oil giant has in North Sea oil fields
‘A lot of people are going to have to sign on, and they’re going to have to find a job, but there are no jobs,’ Mrs Bell said, weighing up the effects on her community.
‘It’s just one of those things, I blame the government. They can’t be asked to do anything.’
Despite the hardships, these local institutions are refusing to bow to the barrage of financial troubles caused by Mr Soosaipillai’s terrible debt fallout. All of them cite the community as a lifeline.
Hotelier Mr Gorwood said he wasn’t worried for the survival of his business because, he said, ‘I’ve got a great team. The community have been absolutely wonderful. Absolutely fantastic.
‘I’ve enjoyed absolutely tremendous local support from the community over Christmas.’
Landlord Mr Weir said, ‘It will affect the business, but you’ve just got to keep going.’
Jessica Gleddhill, 43, who runs the Pelham Hotel in Immingham, joined in the sentiment, saying, ‘That’s the thing about Immingham, when things go wrong, we all stick together.’
However, the accommodation side of her business is currently running at a £200 loss as of this week, she said.
Jessica Gleddhill, 43, said the thing about Immingham, when things go wrong, we all stick together’
Two of Phillips 66’s refineries in the US Gulf Coast can process Venezuelan crude oil
‘We’ve hardly got any bookings at all since June. We’ve got 10 rooms, and I’ve only had two bookings since the end of November. They’ve only just come in on Monday.’
The presence of the PLOR redundancies has been noticed in the pub below the hotel too, with Mrs Gleddhill reporting that those who lost their jobs were unhappy and ‘haven’t been in much because they’ve had no work, so they haven’t been able to come in and spend.
‘There’s definitely a real presence of it in the community.’
Stoic Mrs Gleddhill said that she was not worried for her business yet due to the community support, saying, ‘We’ll see what happens this year.’
Elsewhere in Immingham, shopkeeper Louise Spalding, 45, has also noticed how affected members of the community have had to behave differently in the Heron Foods shop.
She said: ‘People are coming in less and budgeting. They’re concerned about spending and how much it is.
‘The only reason you notice is that you’re at the till and you hear they’ve got a set budget. But it’s not nice at all.
‘For a lot of people, it was just before Christmas as well – what can you do?
Louise Spalding, 45, ‘people are coming in less and budgeting’ following the Lindsey Oil Refinery insolvency
Cafe owner Natasha Brown, 38, said many in the community are ‘worried about their jobs’
‘And it’s not just the people who were employed through PLOR, it’s all those employed through agencies on the site – it’s everyone, there just aren’t enough jobs for them to go into anywhere.’
The Phillips 66 takeover did not fill her with joy either, she said: ‘Either way, whatever they do with it, it’s not going to get the amount of people unemployed from it back into work, especially in this day and age when there are too many people unemployed.’
Natasha Brown, 38, owner of The Kiddies Cafe, just down the street from Heron Foods in Immingham, also heard about struggles in the community through her customers.
‘They’re just worried about their jobs, to be honest, because it’s a big employer,’ she said from behind the counter in her cafe, which opened in November last year.
Despite the difficulties, she said business is going well because ‘It is a strong community – it’s an industrial town, so lots of people work on and around the refineries and the docks, so it is important to them.’
She said that the timing of the PLOR insolvency was particularly hard on Immingham because another major employer at the Immingham Docks – biofuel company Greenergy – had also announced redundancies the day before the refinery collapsed. Their biodiesel plant is currently being shut down.
At the time the PLOR was made insolvent, there was just £203 left in the bank for the refinery, The Times discovered. Oil provider Glencore had just called in a £53.6million debt for crude it had supplied to the Prax group, which it immediately defaulted on.
Gelncore then seized control of all oil and products from Prax, as per the terms of its supply agreement, which meant Mr Soosaipillai could not sell any of it from his petrol stations or to airports without Glencore’s approval.
Andrew Smith, 62, said the Ashbourne hotel has taken a hit but said it had ‘not really affected’ business much
The Ashbourne Hotel has been in business for 19 years and is a regular place to stay for many employees of the extensive industry in the area
The Ashbourne Hotel is an upmarket establishment, overlooking the oil refinery whose chimneys are seen in the background here
This sped up the cataclysmic folding of Prax and began the six-month saga ending in Phillips 66 taking over the Lindsey Oil Refinery site.
However, not all companies have felt the pressure equally, Andrew Smith, 62, who runs the upmarket Ashbourne hotel right next to the PLOR said.
The mess at Lindsey has ‘not really affected us greatly, but there is some impact’, Mr Smith said.
The hotel relies less on the contractors than other establishments, though Mr Smith said the hotel did enjoy ‘bursting at the seams with customers for shutdown periods’, but it hosts lots of employees from other industries in the area.
Mr Smith actually met the runaway oil baron, Mr Soosaipillai, when he was buying the PLOR and stayed with his family and entourage of 20 employees.
‘He was nice enough. I mean, I didn’t work for him. Nice enough family,’ Mr Smith said.
Mr Soosaipillai previously said in September last year that he had remained in the UK and had been available to comply with liquidators ever since the refinery was made insolvent, The Telegraph said.
Contrary to government statements, Mr Gorwood claimed that there were some bidders for the PLOR who would have kept the site refining oil, but instead Phillips 66 was chosen.
The American company plans to refine Venezuelan crude after US involvement in the country.
An Insolvency Service spokesperson said: ‘The Official Receiver’s statutory duty is to act in the best interests of creditors. As part of this work, a rigorous assessment of all bids by credible parties was undertaken.
‘Every aspect of the sale, the liquidation and the management of the site has been carried out thoroughly and fairly, and within the strict legal requirements of such a process. To suggest otherwise is incorrect.’
One anonymous local claimed he had heard scrappers had already been asked to come in and take apart pieces of the PLOR that Phillips 66 did not want. Phillips 66 confirmed to The Daily Mail that this was not true.
A spokesperson from Phillips 66 said: ‘The transaction, which is subject to satisfaction of certain conditions including customary regulatory clearances, will be completed over the coming months.
‘We can confirm that no decommissioning activities will occur before completion of the transaction, nor will any occur before we develop strategic plans for integration into the Phillips 66 Limited portfolio following completion of the transaction.
They added: ‘While the Lindsey Oil Refinery site will not reopen as a refinery, the acquisition of the assets will support employment at the Humber Refinery, bolster the local economy, and encourage investment in the region.
‘We will also be engaging with local contractors and supply chain partners to maximise regional economic benefits. We understand there are concerns, particularly following the closure of other UK refineries.
‘However, it’s important to note that this milestone is an important step in investing in the UK’s energy security. We will be working with government and community leaders to ensure our plans align with regional strategies and opportunities for long-term employment.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks told the Daily Mail: ‘This agreement marks the next step in securing an industrial future for the Lindsey site and the workers, who were badly let down by their former owners.
‘After a thorough process to identify a buyer for the site, the Official Receiver has determined Phillips 66 is the most credible bidder which can provide a viable future for this site.
‘Phillips 66 is an experienced and credible operator, and today’s sale agreement allows them to quickly expand operations at its neighbouring refinery, with all remaining staff guaranteed employment until the end of March.
‘This will expand the company’s ability to supply fuel to UK customers, boosting domestic energy security and securing jobs – including hundreds of new construction jobs over the next five years.’
Phillips 66’s Humber Refinery, next door to Prax Lindsey, is one of the biggest refineries in the UK and has turned a consistent profit in recent years, unlike PLOR.
The sale to the American company is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026. There had been other bids for the site made to the official receiver at the government’s Insolvency Service, but none were credibly put forward that would see a return to refining operations in the next few years and that would allow for all employees to be retained, a spokesperson from the Department for Energy and Net Zero said.
The Humber Refinery is Europe’s largest producer of anode-grade coke used in the aluminium industry and Europe’s only producer of speciality-grade graphite coke used in battery production. It is already producing sustainable aviation fuel at a commercial scale.