Stanlow Oil Refinery

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 Oil Refinery
The Refinery from a distance
Location within Cheshire
CountryEngland, United Kingdom
ProvinceCheshire, North West England
Coordinates53°16′22″N 2°50′24″W
Refinery details
OperatorShell UK (1924-2011)
Essar Oil UK (2011-present)
Owner(s)Essar Energy (2011-present)
Commissioned1924
Capacity296,000 bbl/d (47,100 m3/d)
No. of employees960[1]

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. Oil is delivered to the Tranmere Oil Terminal via ship, then pumped to Stanlow for refining and stored for delivery.

History
Stanlow Oil Refinery from the air

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.[8] Stanlow and 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.[9][10]

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 1969 Shell-Mex and BP Ltd. opened a £3 million joint venture bulk liquid distribution centre at Haydock, Lancashire.[11] This was built on a 90-acre site and was designed to store up to 1 million tonnes of oil. 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 supplied with light oils via a 41.6 km pipeline from Stanlow refinery; heavy oils were delivered by two trains per day from Stanlow, and three daily trains from Heysham refinery.[12]  Oil products were loaded into a fleet of 100 road tankers for distribution.

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]

Protests

Stanlow's position as one of the largest and well-known refineries in the country, has led to numerous protests over a number of decades. In the UK fuel crisis of 2000, protests over government taxation on fuel began at Stanlow.[18][19] A large fuel price protest was staged in May 2011 with the objective of "shutting down" the refinery.[20]

Statistics
Manchester Ship Canal from Ellesmere Port Dock towards Stanlow Refinery
  • Storage capacity: 2 million tonnes of crude oil and products [8]
  • Refining capacity: 12 million tonnes per year. The manufacturing complex employs 800 people.
  • Barrel per day output: 272,000 bbl/d (43,200 m3/d)[21]
  • Product output
    • petrol 3 million tonnes
    • diesel 3.5 million tonnes
    • kerosene/jet fuel 2 million tonnes
    • LPG & petrochemical feedstocks 1.5 million tonnes
    • Fuel oil 1 million tonnes

Cultural references

In 1980, electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) from nearby Wirral featured a song about the refinery called "Stanlow" on their second album, Organisation. Welsh band Jesu's 2007 album Conqueror features a track titled "Stanlow" that concerns itself with the refinery.

See also

References
  1. "Royal Dutch Shell to sell Stanlow refinery for $1.3bn". BBC News. 29 March 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  2. http://www.essar.com/section_level1.aspx?cont_id=kTlcETqPrco=
  3. "Manchester Ship Canal". Peel Ports. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  4. "Raring to grow". Essar Energy. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2012. 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.
  5. https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/essar-energy-acquires-shell-s-stanlow-refinery-for-350-mn-111032900204_1.html
  6. "Stanlow Manufacturing Complex". Shell. Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  7. "Stanlow refinery sold for £219m". Manchester Evening News. 18 February 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  8. Interactive Guide to UK Refineries: Stanlow (Shell), energyinst.org.uk, retrieved 28 August 2007
  9. Sallery, Dave, The Associated Octel Company and the Amlwch branch, retrieved 1 August 2008
  10. "Anglesey marine terminal". Amlwch History. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  11. "Europe's biggest oil depot opened at Haydock". commercial motor. 1969. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  12. Sinha, Shatrughna (1993). Instant Encyclopaedia of Geography, volume 23. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. pp. 260–1. ISBN 9788170994831.
  13. "Future of oil refinery in doubt as Shell considers sale of Stanlow". The Guardian. 10 August 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  14. Macalister, Terry (4 February 2010). "Shell to axe another 1,000 jobs and sell last UK refinery". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  15. Barrett, Jayne (30 March 2011). "New Stanlow refinery boss promises expansion". BBC News. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  16. Milmo, Dan (27 February 2012). "Oil refineries likely to close across UK and Europe, Essar Energy boss warns". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  17. Hodgson, Neil (7 November 2011). "Essar Energy says Stanlow oil refinery integration in line with expectations". Liverpool Daily Post. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  18. "Refinery hit by fuel protesters". BBC News. 8 September 2000. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  19. "Fuel protest at oil refinery". Manchester Evening News. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  20. "Fuel protesters' Ellesmere Port oil blockade bid". BBC News. 8 May 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  21. "Shell receives offer for Stanlow refinery in the UK". Shell UK. 18 February 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2012.

Further reading
  • Shannon, Paul (11–24 March 1998). "End of an era for Stanlow oil". RAIL. No. 326. EMAP Apex Publications. pp. 32–36. ISSN 0953-4563. OCLC 49953699.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.