The British energy sector has been rocked by one of its most significant corporate failures in recent years, as Prax Group, the owner of the Lindsey oil refinery and hundreds of petrol stations across the UK, has crashed into insolvency. The collapse puts as many as 2,500 jobs at risk and highlights the mounting pressures facing Britain’s struggling oil refinery industry.
The Scale of the Crisis
State Oil, the parent company of Prax Group, has been forced to call in administrators amid mounting losses at its flagship Lindsey refinery facility in Lincolnshire. The crisis represents one of the most dramatic corporate failures in the UK energy sector, affecting not just the refinery operations but an extensive network of retail assets across Europe.
The official receivers have appointed FTI Consulting to act as special manager for the Lindsey facility, while Teneo has been hired as administrator for the rest of the group. About 180 people work directly at State Oil Ltd, Prax Group’s parent entity, while roughly 440 more are employed at the Prax Lindsey Refinery itself, with hundreds more across the wider group facing an uncertain future.
From Success Story to Corporate Collapse
Prax Group had been considered a remarkable success story in the British energy sector. Founded and led by entrepreneur Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai, who serves as both chairman and chief executive, the company had evolved from a trading operation into what it described as “a British multinational, independent global energy conglomerate”.
The group’s ambitious expansion strategy had seen it acquire significant assets across the oil value chain. In 2020, Prax Group purchased the Lindsey oil refinery from France’s Total, a 500-acre site located five miles from the Humber Estuary with an annual production capacity of 5.4 million tonnes. The facility processes more than 20 different types of crude oil, producing petrol, diesel, bitumen, fuel oil and aviation fuels.
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The company’s growth trajectory continued with its £249 million acquisition of Hurricane Energy in 2023, giving Prax Group ownership of the Lancaster oil field in the West of Shetland basin. This was followed by the purchase of TotalEnergies’ West of Shetland oil and gas assets, further cementing the group’s upstream ambitions.
The Retail Empire Under Threat
Beyond refining operations, Prax Group had built an extensive retail network through its subsidiaries. The group operates approximately 200 petrol stations in the UK under various brands including Harvest Energy, which partners with TotalEnergies to operate branded forecourts. The company’s European expansion saw it acquire OIL! Tankstellen in 2023, adding approximately 340 service stations across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark.
The retail operations represent some of the group’s most valuable assets, with industry executives believing there are likely to be buyers for many of the fuel retailing networks. These assets, including petrol stations and oilfields, are not themselves in administration but will be subject to insolvency practitioners’ decisions about their future ownership.
Britain’s Refinery Industry Under Pressure
The collapse of Prax Group reflects broader challenges facing Britain’s oil refinery sector. The UK has witnessed a dramatic decline in its refining capacity, with the number of operational facilities shrinking from 18 to just five active refineries. The Grangemouth refinery in Scotland, once responsible for supplying roughly 70% of Scotland’s fuel, ended crude oil processing in April 2025, leaving the UK with a total refining capacity of around 1 million barrels per day.
The Lindsey refinery, which Prax Group acquired from Total, had become “a growing drain on cash across the wider Prax Group” due to cross-guarantees between the facilities. This financial pressure echoes challenges faced across Britain’s dwindling number of oil refineries, where stalled oil demand growth and competition from lower-cost international facilities have squeezed margins.
Industry analysts warn that the Grangemouth closure could be the first of many, as refineries struggle to compete with bigger, more modern facilities in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The UK’s refining industry has been finding it difficult to adjust to rapid changes in the fuel market, including falling motor fuel demand and increasing environmental regulation.
The Human Cost
The human impact of Prax Group’s collapse cannot be understated. With up to 2,500 jobs potentially at risk, the crisis threatens to create what trade union leaders have described as “the coal miners of our generation”. The fear of mass unemployment echoes concerns raised during previous refinery closures, where entire communities were left devastated by the loss of well-paid industrial jobs.
However, administrators Teneo have stated there are “no plans for redundancies at this stage” while they assess the position of the company and its various operations. The administrators’ immediate priority is to establish the prospects for subsidiaries that remain outside the insolvency process, including retail operations under the Harvest Energy, TotalEnergies and Breeze brands in the UK, and the OIL! brand in Europe.
What Happens Next
The immediate focus for administrators will be determining which parts of Prax Group’s business empire can be salvaged. Industry sources suggest that while the refinery operations may struggle to find buyers given the challenging market conditions, the retail assets and oilfield operations are likely to attract interest from potential purchasers.
The collapse of Prax Group serves as a stark reminder of the volatility facing Britain’s energy sector. As the country transitions towards renewable energy sources while maintaining energy security, the fate of traditional oil and gas operations remains increasingly uncertain. The dramatic fall of what was once considered a British energy success story highlights the urgent need for a managed transition that protects both workers and communities dependent on these industries.
The administrators now face the complex task of unwinding one of Britain’s most ambitious energy conglomerates, while hundreds of workers and their families await news of their future in an industry that continues to face unprecedented challenges.
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