FUNDING problems over the sale of a former Bromborough oil refinery mean it may have to be put back on the market.

Owner D1 Oils agreed a £2.6m deal with an unnamed buyer in February this year.

But the London-based biofuels firm has revealed “material uncertainty” over the likelihood of its completion.

The buyer was due to settle the acquisition in cash, but earlier this month it raised concerns over the timing and structure of the deal.

D1 proposed a solution involving a £1.8m cash payment and two further £400,000 staged payments in a bid to resolve the issue.

But it has announced that funding issues still remain and while it will continue talks for a “further short period” it said an option is to remarket the site “against a backdrop of improving fundamentals in the UK biodiesel industry”.

D1 Oils bought the former Lubrizol site in 2006 in a £7m investment.

But the company introduced a policy change from refining to sourcing biofuel materials which led to the site’s closure in 2008 with the loss of 40 jobs.

D1 then sought a buyer for the site and in February this year it announced it had exchanged contracts with a prospective buyer based on a cash settlement on completion.