BRITISH Petroleum plc (BP) is to close or sell three refineries, resulting in a £1.1 billion sterling charge in a move which highlights the three year overcapacity crisis in the oil refining industry.

BP announced it plans to sell refineries at Lima, Ohio, in the United States, and at Lavera in southern France and to close the Pernis section of the Nerefco refinery near Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

The measures, which had been well flagged, will trim the oil giant's capacity by about a third and follow earlier worldwide industry restructurings to raise oil prices at the factory gate.