Location within Cheshire | |
Country | England, United Kingdom |
---|---|
Province | Cheshire, North West England |
Coordinates | 53°16′22″N2°50′24″W / 53.27278°N 2.84000°W |
Refinery details | |
Operator | Shell UK (1924-2011) Essar Oil UK (2011-present) |
Owner(s) | Essar Energy (2011-present) |
Commissioned | 1924 |
Capacity | 296,000 bbl/d (47,100 m3/d) |
No. of employees | 960 [1] |
Stanlow Refinery is an oil refinery owned by Essar Energy in Ellesmere Port, North West England. [2] Until 2011 it was owned by Shell UK. The refinery is situated on the south bank of the Manchester Ship Canal, which is used to transport seaborne oil for refining and chemicals for Essar and Shell. [3]
Stanlow has a refining capacity of 12 million tonnes per year with a barrel per day capacity of 296,000. [4] Consequently, it is the second largest in the United Kingdom after Fawley Refinery, [5] and produces a sixth of the UK's petrol needs. [6] Stanlow is also a large producer for commodities such as jet fuel and diesel. [7]
Although situated in North West England, the refinery serves much of England as it is linked to the UK oil pipeline network. [8] [9] Oil is delivered to the Tranmere Oil Terminal via ship, then pumped to Stanlow for refining and stored for delivery.
The refinery occupies nearly 1,900 acres (7.7 km2) near the River Mersey and dates back to 1924, when a small bitumen plant was established. [10] Stanlow & Thornton railway station was opened in 1940 to give workers access to the site and the facility an extra mode of transport. However, this station is now only served by three trains daily towards each of Ellesmere Port (westbound) and Helsby (eastbound), with these services scheduled to depart at times which would be inconvenient for the workers.
In the 1974 an oil pipeline was commissioned from Amlwch, Anglesey to Stanlow. Crude oil was pumped ashore from tankers moored at deep-water pontoons to a holding station at Rhosgoch, from there it was pumped through two 36-inch diameter pipelines, 127 km to Stanlow. The pipeline had closed by 1990. [11] [12]
Crude oil is now received lower down river on the Mersey at the Tranmere Oil Terminal, operated by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company from its Liverpool headquarters, and is transferred via a fifteen-mile (24 km) pipeline to storage at Stanlow. Output is delivered via various means, including by pipeline via the UK oil pipeline network, road and the Manchester Ship Canal. There is also a pipeline for jet fuel to Manchester Airport.
In 2010, Royal Dutch Shell declared their desire to sell off some refineries in Europe to concentrate on emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East, which led to the possibility that Stanlow would be shut down indefinitely. [13] However, Shell said that a number of refineries in their portfolio offered over-capacity and consequently Stanlow, their last British refinery, was put up for sale. [14]
After a prolonged period of negotiation, Stanlow was sold by Shell to Essar Energy for approximately $1.3 billion (£814 million) in 2011. [1] Essar has stated their desire to expand the site with a 25% increase in output. [15] Following the bankruptcy of Petroplus which ran the Coryton Refinery in January 2012, Essar stated their belief that Stanlow, being a large refinery, would be able to compete with refineries in Asia and the Middle East. [16] Essar plan a £250 million expansion of Stanlow, with production of diesel and aviation fuel to be increased. [17] In April 2021 the company was reported to be heavily in debt after fossil fuel demand dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic. [18] In September 2021 it was reported that the facility is at the "brink of collapse". [19]
Stanlow Island is a small island found on the Manchester Ship Canal outside the Stanlow oil refinery. The island was occupied until the 1990s when the locals left due to isolation and the hazards of living nearby the refinery. [20] Notable structures are the remains of Stanlow Abbey founded in 1178 that remain at Stanlow Point. [21] Access to the island using a 24-hour request ferry that links the Essar refinery to Stanlow Island with special permission.
Country | England |
---|---|
State | Lancashire |
City | Haydock |
Coordinates | 53.47764 N, 2.65983 W |
Refinery details | |
Operator | BP and Shell-Mex |
Owner(s) | BP and Shell-Mex |
Commissioned | 1969 |
Decommissioned | 1980 |
Area | 90 acre |
Capacity | 22 million gallons (100,000 m3) of white oil and 42 million gallons (191,000 m3) of black oil per year. |
No. of employees | 260 |
No. of oil tanks | 30 |
Oil refining center | No, tank farm and taker filling |
In 1969 Shell-Mex & BP opened a £3 million joint venture bulk liquid distribution centre at Haydock, Lancashire (53.47764 N, 2.65983 W). [30] This was built on a 90-acre (36.4 ha), site although only 20.2 ha were developed in the first stage. The terminal was designed to store up to 1 million tonnes of oil, making it the largest inland oil depot in Europe. It handled 5,000 tonnes of oil products daily, comprising 22 million gallons (100,000 m3) of white oil and 42 million gallons (191,000 m3) of black oil a year.
The terminal was near the St Helens branch railway from which a branch led to loading and off-loading sidings in the terminal. [31] Heavy oils were delivered by two trains per day from Stanlow, and one daily train from Heysham refinery. [32] The terminal was supplied with light oils via a 41.6 km (150 mm diameter) pipeline from Stanlow refinery. Oil products were loaded into a fleet of 100 road tankers for distribution. Upon arrival at the terminal road tankers were directed automatically to an empty stand where filling took place from an overhead gantry. [30]
The terminal employed 260 staff including 170 drivers working a two shift, six days per week system. [30] Haydock terminal closed in the late 1970s; the site was redeveloped.
Amlwch is a port town and community in Wales. It is situated on the north coast of the Isle of Anglesey, on the A5025 which connects it to Holyhead and to Menai Bridge. As well as Amlwch town and Amlwch Port, other settlements within the community include Burwen, Porthllechog/Bull Bay and Pentrefelin. The town has a beach in Llaneilian, and it has significant coastal cliffs. Tourism is an important element of the local economy. At one time it was a booming mining town that became the centre of a vast global trade in copper ore. The harbour inlet became a busy port and significant shipbuilding and ship repair centre, as well as an embarkation point with boats sailing to the Isle of Man and to Liverpool. The community covers an area of about 18 square kilometres.
Tranmere Oil Terminal is situated on the River Mersey, 1.5 mi (2.4 km) south of Birkenhead. It was opened on 8 June 1960 to handle vessels of up to 65,000 tons, at two berths. It is connected to the Stanlow Oil Refinery by a 15 mi (24 km) crude oil pipeline. and a fuel oil pipeline. Part of the terminal occupies the site of a former ferry service to Liverpool, with the extant pier considerably modified.
Queen Elizabeth II Dock is a dock situated on the River Mersey at Eastham, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England.
Elton is a village and civil parish in Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire, England, 13 km (8.1 mi) northeast of Chester, between Helsby and Ellesmere Port, near the River Mersey. Its proximity to the Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal have contributed to its industrial character. The village is on the north-western edge of the Cheshire Plain, 2.5 km (1.6 mi) from Stanlow Refinery.
Buncefield oil depot is operated by Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd (HOSL) and officially known as the Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal. It is an oil depot located on the edge of Hemel Hempstead to the north of London in the United Kingdom (UK). In December 2005 a series of explosions on the site caused the largest fire in Europe since World War II.
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The Exolum Pipeline System, formerly the CLH Pipeline System and the Government Pipelines and Storage System (GPSS), is a fuel pipeline system in the United Kingdom. Originally constructed by the government to supply fuel to airfields in World War II, it is now owned by Exolum.
Stanlow and Thornton railway station is located within the Stanlow Refinery in Cheshire, England. It lies on the Hooton–Helsby line with services operated by Northern Trains. The station is surrounded by the refinery site, so as a result most station users are refinery employees. In 2018–19 it was the joint least-used railway station in Britain, tied with Denton in Greater Manchester. In 2020/21, the station was also one of the least used stations in Britain, with 0 entries/exits. Since 3 February 2022 the station has been temporarily closed due to safety concerns of the footbridge which is the only entrypoint to the station.
The Llandarcy Oil Refinery, also known as the National Oil Refinery, BP Llandarcy and Skewen refinery, was the United Kingdom's first oil refinery, initially opened by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company on 29 June 1922, although operations had begun on 1 July 1921. Before this, the only oil refined in the UK came from Scottish shale.
Plumley is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England, with a population of 643 at the 2011 census.
Coryton Refinery was an oil refinery in Essex, England, on the estuary of the River Thames 28 miles (45 km) from central London, between Shell Haven Creek and Hole Haven Creek, which separates Canvey Island from the mainland.
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Eastham Oil Terminal is situated close to the small town of Eastham on the Wirral Peninsula, beside the Manchester Ship Canal. It was commissioned in 1954 close to the Queen Elizabeth II Dock and is a storage and export facility for oil products refined at Stanlow Refinery, to which it is connected by pipeline. The site is currently operated by Nynas.
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Stanlow Island is a small island found on the Manchester Ship Canal outside the Stanlow Oil Refinery. The island was occupied until the 1990s when the locals left due to isolation and the hazards of living nearby the refinery. Notable structures are the remains of Stanlow Abbey founded in 1178 that still remain at Stanlow Point. Access to the island using a 24-hour request ferry that links the Essar refinery to Stanlow Island with special permission.
Located near Ellesmere Port in north west England, the Stanlow refinery is the second largest in the UK. With has a nameplate capacity of 296,000 barrels of oil a day, it is responsible for about one sixth of the UK's petrol supply.