Essar Oil UK Agrees New Funding Facilities for Stanlow Refinery

Essar Oil UK has secured new long-term working capital facilities for its Stanlow refinery in the northwest of England, it said on Tuesday, replacing an existing agreement with Barclays Bank.

Under the terms of a new five-year deal with J Aron & Company covering the supply of crude oil to Stanlow, J. Aron will provide inventory management services in relation to some 5.8 million barrels of crude oil and refined products.

J. Aron is the commodities trading arm of Goldman Sachs. It recently agreed a multi-year supply and offtake deal for Par Petroleum Corp's oil refinery in Hawaii, also previously handled by Barclays.

Management of customer relationships and product sales will remain with Essar Oil UK, the company said.

In addition, an invoice discounting receivables financing arrangement has been replaced with a three-year 300 million pound receivables securitisation, arranged by Lloyds Bank.

Barclays has been retreating from commodities globally in the face of tougher regulations and falling profits.

(Reporting by Claire Milhench)