US-backed Murphy Oil Corporations Murco oil refinery in Milford Haven, Wales, UK, has now joined five out of the nine UK oil refineries currently on sale.
Murphy Oil will exit the refining businesses and sell its plants in Wisconsin and Louisiana, US, along with its UK petrol stations.
It anticipates a transaction on the 5 million tonnes a year refinery being completed in the first Q1 2011.
The company would not disclose how many people worked at the site but the refinery has been a major employer at the port since it opened in 1973. In addition to petrol and diesel, it produces propane and butane, typically used for cooking and heating, kerosene for aircraft fuel and fuel oil for ships and industry.
If all the refineries in the UK were to close, the national UK government would have a major strategic problem over the security of the country's oil supplies, Pembrokeshire council's deputy leader John Allen-Mirehouse says. We will of course be seeking talks with Murco management to seek further details over their proposals for the plant.
US-based Chevrons Pembrokeshire oil refinery is also on the market.
