The Occidental Refinery (or Occidental Thames Refinery) was a planned oil refinery on Canvey Island, Essex, England. Located in the Thames Estuary, the partly-built, non-operational, six million tonne/year refinery was planned and constructed by Occidental Refineries Limited in 1970–5 and demolished in 1996–7.
History
In 1970 Occidental Refineries Limited, a subsidiary of the American Occidental Petroleum Corporation, applied to build an oil refinery on a 323-acre (130 ha) marshland site on Canvey Island south of Northwick Road for the production of heavy fuel oils.'Plan A, Annex A, History' undated, The National Archives HLG 156/429.Letter J.E. Brading of Occidental to H.J. Dunster HSE 26 January 1978, The National Archives HLG 156/784/1. Planning permission was refused by the local planning authorities, Occidental appealed against the refusal so the Department of the Environment held a public inquiry in November 1970 to determine the case. Occidental Refineries Limited was initially in partnership with United Refineries Limited although the latter withdrew from the project just prior to the inquiry. At the public inquiry objections were raised by opponents of the development about air and water pollution; the impact on health; the loss of amenity; the risks of fire and explosion; and problems of traffic congestion. Nevertheless, the inquiry inspector recommended approval, which was endorsed by the Secretary of State for the Environment Peter Walker in November 1971.Letter Department of the Environment to ORL 23 November 1971, The National Archives HLG 156/784/1.
Oil processing Crude oil was to be delivered to the refinery from ocean-going vessels of up to 100,000 dwt (deadweight tons) via a mile long jetty extending into the deep water of the river Thames from Hole Haven creek. Crude oil storage capacity at the refinery was 3.75 million barrels in ten floating roof tanks (220 ft in diameter and 56 ft high) together with 160,000 barrels of ship ballast water storage.
The treatment and refining processes at the Occidental refinery were:
Crude oil desalting Primary distillation Product desulphurisation Fixed bed catalytic reforming Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) distillation Hydrogen sulphide extraction Sulphur production Sour water stripping Oily water separation (gravity separation)
Refinery products were to include those shown in the table below. +Occidental refinery products, storage facilities and exports ProductSite storageTotal storage capacity (barrels)Number and dimension of tanksExport routePropaneHorton spheres21,490 Ten, 30 ft diameterRoadButaneCylindrical 'bullet' vessels52,910 Three, 15 ft x 60 ftRoadPetrol (98, 99 and 101 Research Octane Number)Floating roof tanks180,000Six, 70 ft x 48 ft Road, ship, pipelineKeroseneFloating roof tanks60,000Two, 70 ft x 48 ftRoad, ship, pipelineJet fuelFloating roof tanks200,000Two, 180 ft x 54 ftRoad, ship, pipelineDiesel oilFixed roof tanks60,000Two, 70 ft x 48 ftRoad, shipFuel oilFixed roof tanks1,800,000Four, 220 ft x 48 ft; Four, 140 ft x 54 ftRoad, shipSulphurCylindrical 'bullet' vesselsRoad In addition to the above tanks, there were storage tanks for a range of intermediate products (reformate, naphtha, gas oil, etc.), and recovered oil and oily slops. There was to be about 70 tanks on the refinery site. The original design for the refinery included a rail loading facility for the export of some petroleum products. In 1972 British Railways obtained legal powersBritish Railways Act 1972 to build a railway branch line from the main London, Tilbury and Southend line onto Canvey Island to provide loading facilities for the Occidental and other refineries (see below) being planned on the island.
Construction and redesign Occidental started construction of the refinery in 1972.Letter Armand Hammer to Margaret Thatcher 6 September 1980, Margaret Thatcher Foundation PREM19/434 f.148. It built about twenty oil and product storage tanks, a 137-metre high concrete chimney for the furnaces and a deep-water jetty. In addition, 10,000 tonnes of refinery plant, such as distillation columns, were brought to the site and positioned ready for assembly. Construction work stopped in 1975 when, having invested £55 million, economic studies demonstrated that the proposed refinery was unlikely to be profitable.File note, October 1978, The National Archives EG13/131 This was a consequence of the Middle East oil crisis of 1973-4 when the price of oil increased from $2 to $11 per barrel between 1970 and January 1974, and the consequent slump in demand for petroleum products. The project went into abeyance and no further work was undertaken on the refinery site.
Meanwhile, local residents formed the Refinery Resistance Group which campaigned to stop hazardous industrial developments. The local Member of Parliament Bernard Braine spoke in Parliament in 1974 about the dangers of the agglomeration of hazardous industry on Canvey.Hansard, House of Commons Debates, vol.877, cols.1429-504, 23 July 1974.
In May 1977 Occidental Refineries Ltd applied to adapt the refinery to produce high-octane fuels with a reduction in the production of heavy fuel oil. The modified process plant included a hydrogen fluoride alkylation unit. Castle Point District Council refused planning consent in November 1977 on the basis that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) were undertaking an analysis of the overall industrial hazardous risks on Canvey. The HSE identified the hazardous inventory on the proposed refinery site to be the storage of more than 125,000 m3 of hydrocarbon liquids; 2,300 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gases (LPG); and 10-20 tonnes of hydrogen fluoride. In August 1978 Occidental announced it was not proceeding with this development, partly because of the increased costs associated with HSE's report; the project again went into abeyance.
In 1980 the Occidental Petroleum Corporation revised its plans and proposed to build a 60,000 barrel (9,539m3)/day residue-upgrading refinery on the site. This aimed to 'satisfy the requirements of the planning and safety authorities as well as our own economic criteria'. But this proposal too was not developed, a consequence of the Iranian revolution when the oil price increased from $13 to $34 per barrel between 1979 and 1981. No further work was undertaken by Occidental on the Canvey site.
Demolition and legacy
In 1993, CMN Enterprises of China purchased the unused refinery process plant and had it shipped via Tilbury Docks to Ko Fung Oil Refinery in Hainan China. The unused tanks and the chimney on the Occidental site were demolished in 1996–7, only the concrete foundations of the tanks and the jetty remain. Despite the expenditure of £55 million (1975 prices) no oil or petroleum was ever stored or processed at the Occidental Canvey Refinery. Part of the refinery site is now Canvey Wick nature reserve designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 2005.
Other Canvey Island refineries In addition to the partly-built Occidental refinery several other refineries were proposed for Canvey Island. However, none proved to be economically viable and were not developed beyond the design and planning stage. The proposed developments included the following. +Planned, unbuilt oil refineries on Canvey IslandCompanyRefinery capacity (million tonnes/year)Site (ha)DatePlanning permissionAGIP2941964–5YesURL/Murco42191970–1No, refusedURL41271972–3YesURL/ORL101973–4Joint refinery project, abandoned
AGIP refinery In 1964 the Italian oil company AGIP (Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli), a subsidiary of the Italian state-owned Eni (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi) S.p.A., was granted an Industrial Development Certificate (IDC) by the UK Board of Trade to build an oil refinery on a 94 ha site in the north-west of Canvey (51.5367°N 0.5500°E).'Annex A History' undated, The National Archives HLG 156/429 The IDC was introduced in 1947 as a means of influencing the pattern of industrial location throughout Britain and was required before seeking planning permission. In granting this Industrial Development Certificate in a rural area the Board of Trade implicitly identified Canvey as an appropriate site for industrial development. Over 20,000 local people signed a petition opposing the development; the principal concern was air pollution and fumes from the refinery.'Thousands join battle against refinery', Daily Express, 15 September 1964.
AGIP formally applied for planning permission for a two million tonne/year refinery, but were refused by the planning committee of Essex County Council in December 1964. AGIP appealed against the decision and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government held a public inquiry between 25 May – 3 June 1965.The inquiry was extensively reported in the local press, e.g. Canvey News and Benfleet Recorder, 28 May 1965. The local Member of Parliament, Bernard Braine, raised the issue of the refinery in the House of Commons.Hansard, House of Commons Debates, vol. 704, cols. 1011–22, 21 December 1964. He noted that residents 'would be exposed for short periods to high concentrations of sulphur dioxide’ and 'the additional nuisance of the oily smell which arises from the mercaptan products of refinery operations'. Braine had previously raised the issue of air pollution from the Thameside refineries firstly in 1953 during a Commons debate and in 1958 had presented the Minister of Housing and Local Government with a petition signed by 6,000 Canvey residents protesting about atmospheric pollution from the Thameside refineries (Shell Haven and Coryton).Hansard, House of Commons Debates, vol. 518 cols. 1791–3, 20 October 1953. In 1965 United Refineries Limited (URL), another Eni subsidiary, took forward the refinery development on Canvey.
Following the 1965 public inquiry the Ministry inspector upheld the planning refusal on the grounds that the refinery would 'seriously diminish the value of the green wedge separating the Thameside industrial belt from residential areas between Basildon and Southend’.Letter from H.F. Yeomans (Inspector) to Richard Crossman (Minister) dated 26 July 1965, The National Archives POWE 61/378. In addition there were concerns about air pollution, the size of the plant, the height of the chimneys, and road congestion. The Labour Minister of Housing and Local Government, Richard Crossman, was sympathetic to the views of Canvey residents. However, senior civil servants in the Ministry, the Permanent Secretary Dame Evelyn Sharp and the Deputy Secretary Sir James Jones insisted Crossman should over-rule the inspector in the national interest. At a Home Affairs Committee meeting on 29 October 1965 together with the Foreign Office, the Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Power, the Department of Economic Affairs and the Treasury 'all insisted that we couldn't afford to upset a foreign oil company'.Tam Dalyell, Obituary: Sir James Jones, The Independent 23 September 1995. Crossman succeeded in delaying the decision as it was revealed that AGIP wanted to sell their British interests to Esso on the ground that 'there wasn't enough market in the UK for them to worry about'. Crossman eventually overturned his Inspector's decision and granted consent for the £15 million refinery; he ruled that national economic interest should override local interests.'Oil refinery for Canvey Island Minister decides on planning appeal', The National Archives POWE 61/378.