WORKERS at the Petroplus oil storage site on Teesside, which went into administration last week, are hoping finance can be secured so it can continue operating.

The storage facility at Seal Sands and Petroplus marketing office in Stockton, which between them employ 60 staff, are now being operated by administrator PwC along with the Swiss company’s other UK interests.

These include the Coryton oil refinery in Essex, which is responsible for around 20% of London and the South East’s fuel needs.

The administrators yesterday negotiated the delivery of a cargo of oil to Coryton for processing, which will allow work to continue in the short term.

The refinery supports around 850 staff and agency workers.

Joint administrator and PwC partner, Steven Pearson, said: “It has required extensive discussions and intense negotiations to acquire this cargo of oil. It provides vital breathing space.

“Discussions have been ongoing with a number of parties who have expressed an interest in sustaining refining at the site and this purchase provides more time to allow those discussions to be assessed by all parties.

“We continue to work through the day and night to find a solution which buys more time and which ultimately could result in a sale.”

He said that support from the management, employees and unions at Coryton had been “outstanding and a critical factor in getting to this stage”.

Pearson added: “The costs of operating the site are very significant and this means we are living from hand to mouth.

“We cannot guarantee anything at this stage, but at least we have extended the period which the site can operate for by a number of days.

“This extra time is critical in maximising our options.”

Stockton MP Alex Cunningham, who last week met with the administrators, Industry Minister Charles Hendry, unions and others seeking to save Petroplus’s UK interests, has now been in touch with the management at Seal Sands.

He said: “The challenge they have at the moment is to get the financial flexibility to continue to import diesel, gas, oil and kerosene, which is what they store there.

“My understanding is that is has been a profitable business [but] there is a concern that they don’t the overdraft facilities to continue.”

He called for similar efforts to those that have allowed Coryton to continue working to be made to secure Seal Sands’ future.

“I’d have hoped there would be something parallel happening on Teesside,” said the MP. “It’s absolutely critical we do get the finance to allow it to continue. If we can get the stuff in and sell it on, it’s quite a straightforward thing.”