Operating one of the biggest oil refineries in the UK on the banks of the Mersey, Essar Oil (UK) has appointed experiences operator Stephen McCaffrey as its new chief financial officer. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool city region-based Essar Oil (UK) has appointed Stephen McCaffrey as its new chief financial officer.

Mr McCaffrey joins Essar, which operates one of the biggest oil refineries in the UK on the banks of the Mersey, and is highly experienced in the oil and gas, renewables and infrastructure sectors.

He has specialist expertise in financial control, business development, strategic planning and working capital and project finance management and implementation. Having spent 13 years at Greenergy, the last four as chief financial officer, he has a detailed understanding of the UK downstream industry.

He was most recently chief financial officer at Avenir LNG. He has also previously held roles with the BOC Group, Merrill Lynch and PWC. He has a degree in business (accounting and finance) and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia.

Essar chief executive, Stein Bye, said:  “This is an important and strategic appointment for the company, with Stephen bringing with him a wealth of experience at the very highest level.

“The year ahead will be key to our long term sustainability as we look to recover from the effects of COVID-19 and transform our business to meet the demands of a low carbon economy and deliver the energy solutions of the future for the UK.”

Essar’s Stanlow facility employs around 1,000 people. It supplies 16% of all UK road transport fuels and each year produces 4.4bn litres of diesel, 3bn litres of petrol and 2bn litres of jet fuel.

The global Essar Group acquired the then loss-making Stanlow in 2011 from Shell and has since invested £650m turning it into a sustainable and profitable business which now generates annual revenues of more than £4bn.