Glencore Has Share Pledges as Security for Prax Debt

(Bloomberg) — Commodity trading giant Glencore Plc has security mechanisms as part of its agreement with the owners of the Lindsey oil refinery in northern England that give it a claim on parts of the company if the debt it’s owed isn’t repaid. 

Glencore has security mechanisms, including share pledges over various Prax entities, according to people familiar with the matter. That’s important as insolvency practitioners move to decide the destiny of one of just five refineries still operating in the UK, and on the verge of shutting down. 

Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery Ltd. — which owns and operates Lindsey — received a surprise liquidation notice on Monday, part of a wider process involving other entities within its parent company, State Oil Ltd. Not all of the parent company’s assets are being liquidated. Some are in administration, a UK insolvency process that aims to rescue a firm, while others remain a going concern.

“Glencore is continuing to work with key stakeholders in efforts to support a safe and responsible outcome for the refinery,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. FTI Consulting, appointed by the UK government to manage Lindsey, declined to comment.

Last year, Glencore signed an agreement to supply crude oil to Prax and to finance its storage in tanks around the Lindsey refinery. That means Prax’s liabilities to Glencore increase as more crude is processed, although the trading house does have a floating charge against refined oil product inventories, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private information.

One of the world’s biggest miners of copper, coal and zinc, Glencore has a large energy trading business with subsidiaries operating refineries in South Africa and Singapore.

A Glencore tanker, the Calypso, was headed towards Lindsey but has since been diverted to Rotterdam, ship tracking and Kpler data compiled by Bloomberg shows.

–With assistance from Rachel Graham and Prejula Prem.

(Updates to clarify the context of Glencore’s security mechanisms.)

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