Stanlow refinery owner hit by legal resignations amid governance row

Stanlow refinery owner hit by legal resignations amid governance row

The owner of Britain's second-biggest oil refinery has been hit by the resignation of two blue-chip City law firms amid a deepening financial and corporate governance crisis at the company.Sky News has learnt that Linklaters and Ashurst both recently quit as legal advisers to Essar Oil UK - a relatively unusual move triggered, according to insiders, by anxieties over the running of the business.

The disclosure of the law firms' decision to step down comes just days after it emerged that the company was in urgent talks about its future.An insider said that a covenant waiver from Lloyds Banking Group, Essar Oil UK's main lender, had expired at the end of March, forcing the company to seek new sources of funding.Lloyds is said to have become frustrated by a failure to address repeatedly expressed concerns about the Stanlow refinery-owner's governance over a protracted period, as well as a series