Stanlow Refinery is 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 ...
owned by
Essar Energy
Essar Energy plc is Mauritius-based Indian energy company with assets in the power and oil and gas businesses. Headquartered in Port Louis, Mauritius and subsidiary of Essar Group, the firm has interests in both the power generation and petrol ...
in
Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south of ...
,
North West England. Until 2011 it was owned by
Shell UK
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yor ...
. 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.
Stanlow has a refining capacity of 12 million tonnes per year with a
barrel per day
A barrel is one of several units of volume applied in various contexts; there are dry barrels, fluid barrels (such as the U.K. beer barrel and U.S. beer barrel), oil barrels, and so forth. For historical reasons the volumes of some barrel units ...
capacity of 296,000. Consequently, it is the second largest in the United Kingdom after
Fawley Refinery
Fawley Refinery is an oil refinery located at Fawley, Hampshire, England. The refinery is owned by Esso Petroleum Company Limited, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation, which acquired the site in 1925. Situated on Southampton Water, it was ...
, and produces a sixth of the UK's petrol needs. Stanlow is also a large producer for commodities such as jet fuel and diesel.
Although situated in
North West England, the refinery serves much of England as it is linked to 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), a ...
. Oil is delivered to the
Tranmere Oil Terminal
Tranmere Oil Terminal is situated on the River Mersey, south of Birkenhead. It was opened on 8 June 1960 to handle vessels of up to 65,000 tons, at two berths (North and South). It is connected to the Stanlow Oil Refinery by a pipeline. Part o ...
via ship, then pumped to Stanlow for refining and stored for delivery.
History
![Manchester Ship Canal viewed from the air](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Manchester_Ship_Canal_viewed_from_the_air.jpg)
The refinery occupies nearly near the
River Mersey
The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...
and dates back to 1924, when a small
bitumen plant was established.
Stanlow & Thornton railway station
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 mo ...
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
Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south of ...
(westbound) and
Helsby
Helsby is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Overlooking the Mersey estuary, it is approximately north east of Chester and south we ...
(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
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 t ...
,
Anglesey
Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...
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.
Crude oil is now received lower down river on the Mersey at the
Tranmere Oil Terminal
Tranmere Oil Terminal is situated on the River Mersey, south of Birkenhead. It was opened on 8 June 1960 to handle vessels of up to 65,000 tons, at two berths (North and South). It is connected to the Stanlow Oil Refinery by a pipeline. Part o ...
, operated by the
Mersey Docks and Harbour Company
The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC), formerly the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board (MDHB), owns and administers the dock facilities of the Port of Liverpool, on the River Mersey, England. These include the operation of the enclosed nort ...
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
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), a ...
, road and the
Manchester Ship Canal. There is also a pipeline for jet fuel to Manchester Airport.
In 1969
Shell-Mex & BP
Shell-Mex and BP Ltd was a British joint venture between petroleum companies Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) and BP. It was formed in 1932 when both companies decided to merge their United Kingdom marketing operations,Reference and contact details: GB ...
opened a £3 million joint venture bulk liquid distribution centre at Haydock, Lancashire. 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 m
3) of white oil and 42 million gallons (191,000 m
3) 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. 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
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
and the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
, which led to the possibility that Stanlow would be shut down indefinitely. 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.
After a prolonged period of negotiation, Stanlow was sold by Shell to Essar Energy for approximately $1.3 billion (£814 million) in 2011.
Essar has stated their desire to expand the site with a 25% increase in output. 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. Essar plan a £250 million expansion of Stanlow, with production of diesel and aviation fuel to be increased. In April 2021 the company was reported to be heavily in debt after
fossil fuel demand dropped during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. In September 2021 it was reported that the facility is at the "brink of collapse".
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. A large fuel price protest was staged in May 2011 with the objective of "shutting down" the refinery.
During the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...
, dockworkers of the
Unite
Unite may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums
* ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London
* ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993
* ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005
Songs ...
union began to refuse to unload Russian oil from any ship. Despite sanctions on Russian shipping, Russian oil continued to arrive at port on ships owned and flagged in other countries. Dockworkers have called this a loophole in sanctions.
Statistics
![Ellesmere-port-stanlow](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Ellesmere-port-stanlow.jpg)
*Storage capacity: 2 million tonnes of crude oil and products
*Refining capacity: 12 million tonnes per year. The manufacturing complex employs 800 people.
*Barrel per day output:
*Product output
**
petrol
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic c ...
3 million tonnes
**
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 ...
3.5 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 2 million tonnes
**
LPG & petrochemical feedstocks 1.5 million tonnes
**
Fuel oil 1 million tonnes
Cultural references
In 1980,
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
band
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin Co ...
(OMD) from nearby
Wirral featured a song about the refinery called "Stanlow" on their second album, ''
Organisation
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose.
The word is derived from ...
''. Welsh band
Jesu's 2007 album ''
Conqueror'' features a track titled "Stanlow" that concerns itself with the refinery.
See also
*
Petroleum refining in the United Kingdom
*
Tranmere Oil Terminal
Tranmere Oil Terminal is situated on the River Mersey, south of Birkenhead. It was opened on 8 June 1960 to handle vessels of up to 65,000 tons, at two berths (North and South). It is connected to the Stanlow Oil Refinery by a pipeline. Part o ...
*
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), a ...
*
Oil terminals in the United Kingdom
References
Further reading
*
External links
Stanlow UnitedWebsite of the Stanlow unionised workforce.
{{Oil storage and distribution in the United Kingdom
Oil refineries in the United Kingdom
Buildings and structures in Cheshire
Ellesmere Port