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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Rupert Neate Wealth correspondent

The billionaire amateur racing driver who runs the Poole oil leak pipeline

François Perrodo during the 2018 FIA WEC World Endurance Championship at Silverstone
François Perrodo during the 2018 FIA WEC World Endurance Championship at Silverstone. Photograph: DPPI Media/Alamy

The company that through a subsidiary operates the pipeline involved in the “major incident” oil leak within Poole harbour is owned and run by a multibillionaire amateur racing driver who owns 46 sports cars including a £12m McLaren F1 GTR.

François Perrodo, 46, and other members of his family, own the global oil drilling company Perenco, which controls the Wytch Farm oilfield in Dorset, from which about 200 barrels of “reservoir fluid” – water with 15% of oil – leaked into Poole harbour on Sunday night.

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