The Esso Refinery at

Milford Haven Milford Haven ( cy, Aberdaugleddau, meaning "mouth of the two Rivers Cleddau") is both a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has ...

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 ...

situated on the Pembrokeshire coast in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Construction started in 1957 and the refinery was opened in 1960 by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

. Construction cost £18 million and the refinery had the initial capacity to process 4.5 million tons of crude oil a year.

Background

As originally conceived the refinery worked in conjunction with Esso's older, larger refinery at Fawley on Southampton Water. Milford Haven refinery supplied the west coast and Fawley the rest of the country. Milford Haven also supplemented Fawley's fuel oil deliveries to the London area. The refinery shipped semi-refined heavy gas oil to Fawley for further refining. There were also shipments to Ireland and northern Europe. Most of the refinery's crude came from the Persian Gulf shipped in tankers such as the ''Esso Scotia'' of 249,952 deadweight tons.

Design

The Milford Haven refinery was a 'simple' refinery designed to produce a small range of products, these included: *

Propane Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used a ...

Butane Butane () or ''n''-butane is an alkane with the formula C4H10. Butane is a gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Butane is a highly flammable, colorless, easily liquefied gas that quickly vaporizes at room temperature. The name but ...

* petrols * turbo

jet fuels Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by Gas turbine, gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for c ...

* auto

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 ...

gas oil Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

* fuel oils The refinery was designed to blend into the area. Storage tanks were located within folds of the landscape, A ground flare was provided to eliminate the visual intrusion of an elevated flare. The jetty was 1200 yards long extending into the haven. The refinery occupied an area of 375 acres.

Air cooling Air cooling is a method of dissipating heat. It works by expanding the surface area or increasing the flow of air over the object to be cooled, or both. An example of the former is to add cooling fins to the surface of the object, either by maki ...

by fans was used to cool oil products, these reduced the amount of water that was required to be handled. The refining distillation capacity over the operational life of the refinery was as follows. The labour force was 350 upon opening in 1960 and had fallen to 280 by 1970. The peak labour force during construction was 3,500. Most of the product from the refinery, about 95 per cent, was sent out by ship. However, the refinery was connected to the national rail network. Trains carrying liquefied gas were sent to the Midlands and Scotland. During the period January to June 1969, there were 656 ships delivering to or from the Esso refinery, handling 2.81 million tons of oil products.

Closure

The refinery closed down in March 1983. Today, the site has been converted by the owners

ExxonMobil 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, ...

into the

South Hook LNG terminal South Hook LNG terminal is an LNG regasification terminal near Milford Haven and is the largest LNG terminal in Europe. Together with the smaller Dragon LNG terminal nearby, it can handle up to 25% of the UK's gas requirement. The first tanker ...

References

{{ExxonMobil Oil refineries in the United Kingdom ExxonMobil buildings and structures Buildings and structures in Milford Haven

Background

Design

Closure

See also

References