Milford Haven 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 ...

situated on the Pembrokeshire coast in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The refinery began operating in 1973 under

Amoco Amoco () is a brand of filling station, fuel stations operating in the United States, and owned by BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and petroleum, oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a oil re ...

's ownership, but in its final years it was owned by Murco Petroleum. The closure of the refinery was announced in November 2014. The site was sold to

Puma Energy Puma Energy is a Swiss multinational mid- and downstream oil company, majority-owned by Singapore-based Swiss company Trafigura. Its operations span around 40 countries across five continents and encompass the supply, storage, refining, di ...

in 2015 for use as a petroleum storage and distribution terminal.

History

Milford Haven Refinery is situated on a 1200-acre site near Milford Haven. The refinery came on stream in 1973 under

's ownership. A major upgrade was carried out in 1981, and a catalytic cracker was added. Since then further units have been added, notably a naptha isomerisation unit and a hydrodesulphurisation unit. In August 1983, a major boilover fire required 150 firemen, 50 fire engines and two days to extinguish.

Ownership

The refinery was originally owned and operated by Amoco. In 1981 Murco (a subsidiary of

Murphy Oil Murphy Oil Corporation is a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company is ranked 625th on the Fortune 500 and 1860th on the Forbes Global 2000. As of December 31, 2020, the company had of estimate ...

) purchased a 30% share of the refinery.

Elf An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...

bought Amoco's interest in 1990 and Elf was acquired by Total in 2000. In December 2007 Murco purchased Total's 70% interest in the refinery to become the 100% owner. In 2010 Murco expressed a desire to sell the refinery. In April 2014 the company warned that it may have to close the site, and began a consultation process with staff. In June 2014 it was reported that the refinery had been sold to the Klesch Group, safeguarding 400 jobs at the site. In November the deal fell through and it was announced that the refinery will be converted into a 'storage and distribution facility' with a loss of over 300 jobs. The refinery entered a 'shut-down' period and was decommissioned while the company looked for a new buyer. In March 2015 the site was acquired by

, along with three English inland terminals at Westerleigh,

Theale Theale () is a large village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England, southwest of Reading and 10 miles (16 km) east of Thatcham. The compact parish is bounded to the south and south-east by the Kennet & Avon Canal (which here incorp ...

and Bedworth. Puma Energy said it would convert the site into a petroleum storage and distribution terminal. At 0900 BST Sunday 21 July 2019 the two large stacks were demolished via controlled explosion.

Production

At its close the refinery had an annual processing capacity of 5.5 million tonnes (108,000 barrels per day). The refinery imported all its feedstocks from the nearby marine terminal, to which the refinery was linked by mainly underground pipeline. Refined products were distributed by road, rail, sea and pipeline to the Midlands and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. The refining units and capacity were:

1983 fire

In August, 1983, an accidental fire occurred at the facility's number 11 crude storage tank. Filled with more than 46,000 tonnes of oil, the flaming storage tank experienced multiple boil overs, spreading the fire nearly four acres. In all, 150 firefighters and 70 fire appliances were needed to tackle the blaze. While six firefighters were injured during the two day fire, no one was killed.

References

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