Oil & Gas News – Late July 2025
Estimated reading time 3 minutes
An oil refinery is to shut after the government said it was unable to find a buyer for it. The Official Receiver took over the Lindsey Oil Refinery in North East Lincolnshire last month after its owner Prax went into administration, putting 420 jobs at risk.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks said, “no credible offers have been made to purchase the entire refinery, and it will be winding down operations”.
Prax Group, which is led by chairman and chief executive Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai, purchased the refinery from French company Total in 2021.
A government contract for a hydrogen production facility in Bradford has been signed by project partners N-Gen Energy Solutions and Hygen Energy.
The low carbon hydrogen agreement provides the scheme with government subsidies to enable the hydrogen produced to be sold at a rate which is comparable to fossil fuels, such as diesel, for 15 years. Bradford Low Carbon Hydrogen is the largest of 11 schemes in the government’s first hydrogen allocation round, which provides a total of £2bn of funding to stimulate hydrogen production.
The low carbon hydrogen production facility and fuelling station will give companies in the area and operators of heavy vehicles access to hydrogen fuel from 2027. The facility is designed to produce up to 12.5 tonnes of hydrogen per day, enough to power 800 buses.
The amount of gas extracted from North Sea oil and gas fields will fall below the level used to heat the UK’s homes by 2027, even if new mega-projects like Rosebank go ahead.
This is according to an analysis of official North Sea production figures by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition. The data shows that gas output from the North Sea is declining faster than previously projected.
Heating homes currently accounts for 38% of national gas use, but within two years, domestic production will be insufficient to meet that need. By 2027, more than two-thirds of the UK’s overall gas consumption will rely on imports. Even with new licences and approved fields, the trajectory does not change.
Skilled jobs will be created in Britain’s industrial heartlands, as the first commercial-scale green hydrogen projects in the country sign long-term contracts to fuel heavy industry with clean, homegrown energy.
In an update to the hydrogen market, the government has confirmed that 10 projects from the first phase of its flagship hydrogen programme – Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR1) – can begin construction, supporting the government’s mission to become a clean energy superpower.
This means spades can now enter the ground across the country in a major boost to the UK’s hydrogen industry, creating highly skilled jobs in industrial cities and regions such as South Wales, Bradford (North West), North Scotland and Teesside (North East). https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jobs-unlocked-as-first-wave-of-hydrogen-projects-sign-contracts?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications-topic&utm_source=2019b859-2edd-4c35-93e3-6be52e3e8067&utm_content=daily
