Puma Energy acquires Murco Oil’s shuttered Milford Haven refinery

Singapore-based Puma Energy Group Pte. has purchased a series of UK midstream and downstream assets from Murco Petroleum Ltd., a subsidiary of Murphy Oil Corp., including the shuttered 135,000-b/d Milford Haven refinery at Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Under the agreement’s terms, Puma Energy will convert the closed refinery into a state-of-the-art storage facility, the company said.

In addition to the Milford Haven refinery, the acquisition includes three inland terminals at Westerleigh, Theale, and Bedworth, as well as Murco’s UK wholesale and distribution business, Puma Energy said.

The purchase of Murco’s assets will increase Puma Energy’s midstream storage capacity by about 1.4 million cu m from its previous 5.6 million cu m, the company said.

This latest deal follows several failed attempts by Murphy to sell the Welsh refinery and inland terminals, the most recent of which occurred late last year (OGJ Online, Nov. 5, 2014).

While Murphy earlier had tried to work with local unions, staff, and government to find a solution to keep the Murco plant in operation (OGJ Online, Apr. 3, 2014), the company formally announced in November 2014 following the failed sale that it would officially decommission the already idled refinery to be operated as a petroleum storage and distribution terminal.

The refinery’s closure and conversion into a storage and distribution hub follows Murphy’s decision to divest its UK downstream operations as part of the company’s global exit from the midstream and downstream sectors, (OGJ Online, Oct. 16, 2012; July 23, 2010).