BP sells UK oil refinery to Petroplus

BP has quit the business of making petrol in the U.K., selling its last remaining oil refinery to Petroplus, a Swiss-based company, for US$1.4 billion. The sale of the Coryton refinery in Essex follows the disposal of Grangemouth, BP’s Scottish refinery, in 2005 and completes the virtual abandonment of U.K. manufacturing by Britain’s largest industrial company. BP said that the sale of the half-century old Coryton plant would have no effect on supplies of fuel to BP’s petrol retail chain. Typically, big oil producers source petrol and diesel fuel for their branded retail chains on the open market from the cheapest available refiner. BP’s move reflects a continuing trend by the major oil producers to focus on more profitable upstream exploration and production activities. (February 1, 2007)