Coryton Refinery was an
oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...
in Essex, England, on the estuary of the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
from central London, between
Shell Haven Creek and Hole Haven Creek, which separates
Canvey Island
Canvey Island is a town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office ...
from the mainland.
It was a part of the
Port of London
The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary (since 1968, a line drawn from Foulness Point in Essex via Gunfleet Old Lighthouse to Warden Point in Kent) with the North Sea ...
and was the last of the three major refineries on the
Thames Estuary
The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain.
Limits
An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...
to remain in operation, following closure of Shell Haven and BP Kent. Output was delivered by road, sea and rail, and it was linked to
Stanlow Refinery
Stanlow Refinery is an oil refinery owned by Essar Energy in Ellesmere Port, North West England. 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 o ...
in
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
by the
UK Oil Pipeline (UKOP). There is a 753 MW gas-fired
power station
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many p ...
, opened in 2002 and run by Coryton Energy Co Ltd, part of Intergen.
In January 2012,
Petroplus
Petroplus Holdings AG was Europe's largest independent oil refiner by capacity. When the now defunct company was first formed in 1993, it was known as Petroplus International N.V., and was based in the Netherlands. In August 1998, it was list ...
filed for bankruptcy. Coryton Refinery ceased production in June 2012. The site is being turned into an industrial hub to be called Thames Enterprise Park.
History
Explosives factory
In 1895, the ammunition firm
Kynoch
Kynoch was a manufacturer of ammunition, later incorporated into ICI but remaining as a brand name for sporting cartridges.
History
The firm of Pursall and Phillips operated a 'percussion cap manufactory' at Whittall Street, in Birmingham, i ...
s built an explosives factory at the site. This opened in 1897, with an estate for employees called Kynochtown. Products included
cordite
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom since 1889 to replace black powder as a military propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burni ...
,
guncotton
Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...
,
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...
, and cartridges. Kynochs also built the
Corringham Light Railway
The Corringham Light Railway (CLR) in Corringham, Essex, England was incorporated on 10 July 1899 and opened to freight on 1 January 1901, to passengers on 22 June 1901. It closed to passengers on 1 March 1952 and was absorbed into the Mobil Oil ...
(CLR), with a passenger branch from the works to
Corringham and a goods branch to the
London, Tilbury and Southend Railway
The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including , , , T ...
at Thames Haven. The Kynoch works closed in 1919.
Oil storage depot
In 1921, the site and CLR were taken over by coal merchants
Cory Brothers
As a given name, Cory is used by both males and females. It is a variation of the name Cora, which has Greek origins and is the maiden name of the goddess Persephone. The name also can have origins from the Gaelic word ''coire'', which means "in ...
Ltd of Cardiff to build an oil storage depot, with Kynochtown renamed Coryton. Sources differ as to whether Corys, who sold a well-known brand of petrol, ''Corys' Motor Spirit'', also built a refinery at the site. Cracknell states that Cory Bros 'turned to the manufacture and distribution of oil products' for which they 'constructed oil storage tanks and a cross-cracking plant'.
In 1937, the annual throughput of Coryton refinery was 250,000 tonnes.
Refinery
![Coryton_refinery_flare_stacks_and_Occidental_jetty_-_Mar_1981](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Coryton_refinery_flare_stacks_and_Occidental_jetty_-_Mar_1981.jpg)
In 1950, Coryton and the CLR were sold to the American
Vacuum Oil Company
Vacuum Oil Company was an American oil company known for its ''Gargoyle'' 600-W steam cylinder motor oil. After being taken over by the original Standard Oil Company and then becoming independent again, in 1931 Vacuum Oil merged with the Standar ...
, later
Mobil
Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.
...
. The CLR to Corringham was closed, but the branch from Thames Haven was upgraded to main-line standards.
A new refinery came on stream in 1953. In 1954, the annual throughput of Coryton refinery was 850,000 tonnes.
By 1964, the annual throughput of Coryton refinery was 2.4 million tonnes, with a planned extension of a further 0.9 million tonnes. Coryton village was demolished and absorbed into the refinery site in the 1970s. In 1977, work started on an extension to the refinery including a hydrogen fluoride alkylation unit to produce more gasoline.
In 1978, about 1.5 million tonnes of oil and refined products were stored in the refinery tank farm, and about 800 people worked on the site. The alkylation unit was commissioned in late 1981 and included a water spray system to dissolve any releases of hydrogen fluoride.
BP
Coryton was operated by
BP from 1996, when Mobil's fuels operations in Europe were placed into a joint venture with BP. In 1996, BP purchased land to the west of the refinery from the neighbouring Shell refinery; the Shell facilities were demolished and the land was proposed for future expansion.
Following the merger in 1999 of Mobil with
Exxon
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
, the remaining interest in the refinery was sold to BP Amoco in 2000.
Petroplus
In 2007, the plant was sold by BP to
Petroplus
Petroplus Holdings AG was Europe's largest independent oil refiner by capacity. When the now defunct company was first formed in 1993, it was known as Petroplus International N.V., and was based in the Netherlands. In August 1998, it was list ...
for £714.6m (around $1.4 billion).
On 24 January 2012, it was announced that Petroplus had filed for bankruptcy, putting the refinery's future into doubt. To alleviate a possible surge in fuel prices, oil supplies were ordered from other refineries in the UK, such as the
Stanlow Refinery
Stanlow Refinery is an oil refinery owned by Essar Energy in Ellesmere Port, North West England. 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 o ...
via the
UK oil pipeline network
The United Kingdom petroleum pipeline network is principally made up of three pipelines systems: the former Government Pipeline and Storage System (GPSS) now the CLH Pipeline System; the Esso pipelines (principally the mainline and midlines), an ...
. Shipments from Coryton resumed on 26 January following agreements signed by the administrators.
Shutdown
;PwC (Administration)
On 28 May 2012, it was announced that the refinery would close due to
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
, the administrators, having failed to find a buyer.
Igor Yusufov
Igor Khanukovich Yusufov (russian: Игорь Ханукович Юсуфов; born 12 June 1956) is a former Russian energy Minister who served during Vladimir Putin's first term as President. He is Founder and Chairman of Fund Energy ("Fond Ener ...
's Energy Investment Fund was the only potential bidder ready to keep the refinery operating. On 28 February 2013, the gas supply to the site was shut off. Around twelve hours later the
flare
A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, ...
went out, bringing to an end over 60 years of operations at the refinery.
Deepwater fuel import terminal
In 2012 the refinery was planned to be turned into a diesel import terminal by
Vopak
Royal Vopak N.V. ( nl, Koninklijke Vopak) is a Dutch independent multinational company that stores and handles products ranging from chemicals, oil, gases and LNG to biofuels and vegoils. Its purpose is to "Store vital products with care", which ...
,
Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard ou ...
and
Greenergy
Greenergy International Ltd is a British distributor of petrol and diesel for motor vehicles and has over a quarter of the UK market. It blends fuels at terminals on the Thames estuary in the south and on Teesside
Teesside () is a built-up ...
, with an initial capacity of .
In 2014 the partners delayed the project to consider options, as the existing plant was in a poorer condition than expected.
Coryton Power Station
Coryton Power Station was commissioned on part of the site in 2002, and continues to operate.
Process units
![Flare Stack Coryton Oil Refinery - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Flare_Stack_Coryton_Oil_Refinery_-_geograph.org.uk_-_591057.jpg)
Their main operating units were:
* Crude oil distillation unit (CDU)
* Vacuum distillation
* Fluid catalytic cracker
* Catalytic reformer
* Hydro desulphurisation units
* Gas recovery unit
* Isomerisation unit
* Alkylation unit
The thermal reformer unit and the Thermofor catalytic cracking unit (TCC) produced different grades of petrol and diesel. Along the south side of the refinery area, the propane de-asphalting unit, solvent refining furfural unit, MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) dewaxing unit and continuous percolation unit (TCP) constituted consecutive stages in the production of lubricating oils and waxes.
Statistics
The Coryton refinery site covered an area of 370 acres (150 ha).
The main processing units were to the western end of the site, with the tank farm occupying the north and eastern part of the site.
Crude oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
was received from tankers of up to . There were five jetties on the Thames, the most easterly extended into the deep water channel.
In 2005, BP acquired a fleet of three new 32 m
tug
A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...
s for towing, mooring, fire-fighting and pollution control at the plant. They were named 'Corringham', 'Stanford', and 'Castle Point' after nearby locations.
The maximum refining capacity was 11 million tonnes per year or 208,000 bbl/day.
In 2000, the principal sources of crude oil for refining at Coryton were: North Sea (60%); Middle East (20%); Africa/Mediterranean (10%); and Russia (10%).
There were about 220 storage tanks on the site, the largest were the floating-roof crude oil storage tanks each with a capacity of 80,000 tonnes.
Cooling water for the refinery was taken from the Thames. After use, the water was treated and discharged into Hole Haven Creek. A moat around the site collects run-off, this was taken to the water treatment plant and was oxygenated prior to discharge into the Thames.
Product output:
*petrol 3.6 million tonnes (One source states that in 2000 Coryton produced 13 million litres of gasoline each day.)
*
diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
2.7 million tonnes
*
kerosene
Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...
/jet fuel 1.1 million tonnes
*
LPG 0.2 million tonnes
*
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...
1.7 million tonnes
*
Bitumen
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
0.3 million tonnes
The principal product from the refinery were fuels (90.5%), comprising:
* Liquefied Petroleum Gases 2.5%
* Gasoline 40.0%
* Diesel 23.0%
* Fuel Oil 15.0%
* Kerosene 10.0%
About 5.0% of the fuel was used on site for the refinery processes.
Non-fuels comprised 4.0% of the production comprising Lubricants, Bitumen and Wax.
About 40% of the production from Coryton was exported abroad by ship. The majority (60%) was distributed around the UK by pipeline, road tanker, rail or coastal shipping.
Fire
A major fire occurred on 31 October 2007. Despite the scale of the blast, which was reported to cause buildings to shake away,
[BBC News. (1 November 2007). England , Essex ]
Inquiry into refinery fire begins
Retrieved 11 April 2008. there were no physical injuries and only partial disruption to the refinery.
References
External links
The Coryton Refinery former Petroplus website, on the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
, 3 July 2012
Thames Oilport Vopak website
{{Oil storage and distribution in the United Kingdom
Petroplus
Oil refineries in the United Kingdom
Buildings and structures in Thurrock
Infrastructure in London
Economy of London
Ports and harbours of Essex
Ports and harbours of the Thames Estuary
Port of London
Industry on the River Thames