The death knell for UK energy security
The end of Grangemouth and Lindsey oil refineries marks a worrying trend across Europe amid cost and transition pressures
The closure of the 150,000b/d Grangemouth refinery and the insolvency of the owner of 110,000b/d Lindsey refinery highlight the growing threat to the UK’s energy security posed by increased dependence on refined product imports. The UK boasted 18 operational refineries around 1970, but only four will remain after the shutdown of Grangemouth and Lindsey. This marks a sharp decline that underlines the fragility of domestic refining capacity and the country’s increasing exposure to global supply shocks. Grangemouth, built by Scottish Oils in 1924 before being bought by BP, stopped crude processing operations at the end of April. In 2023, current owner Petroineos—a joint venture between UK chemi
Also in this section
10 November 2025
The Russian firm made a significant attempt to expand overseas over the past two decades but is now trying to divest its global operations
10 November 2025
OPEC+ has proven to be astute at bringing back oil production, but mysteries around Chinese buying, missing barrels and oil-on-water have left the group in wait-and-see mode
7 November 2025
The Russian company’s German assets are under Berlin’s management and are exempt from sanctions, for now, but a permanent solution still needs to be found
6 November 2025
After years of pursuing ideologically driven climate leadership, Western powers are now stepping back under mounting political pressure and rising populist opposition—prompting concern essential climate action could be sidelined






