Essar Oil UK in talks With Apollo amid dash for cash

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Apollo Global Management is one of the parties in talks to provide about £400m in funding to Essar Oil UK, which owns and operates the 210,000 b/d Stanlow refinery in the UK.

A person close to Apollo said the New York-listed firm was one of several parties negotiating with Indian-owned Essar Oil UK and that a transaction was far from certain.

Part of any new funds secured by Stanlow's parent would be earmarked to repay at least part of a large outstanding bill owed to HM Revenue and Customs, according to Sky.

Essar Oil UK was reported last Friday to have scheduled talks with Whitehall officials this week amid financial difficulties due to a collapse of fuel demand.

"We are not a levered business and currently we do not have any short term or long term bank debt on the company, other than working capital lines," Essar Oil UK said in a statement.

The identity of other prospective funders was unclear.

The Stanlow refinery produces around 15% of the UK's transport fuels, equating to 4.4 billion litres of diesel, 3 billion litres of petrol and 2 billions of jet fuel.