Pembroke Refinery

Pembroke Refinery
Pembroke Refinery in Pembrokeshire
Country UK
City Hundleton, Pembrokeshire
Coordinates 51°41′10″N 5°01′44″W / 51.686°N 5.029°WCoordinates: 51°41′10″N 5°01′44″W / 51.686°N 5.029°W
Refinery details
Owner(s) Valero
Commissioned 1964
Capacity 220,000 bbl/d (35,000 m3/d)
Number of employees 700 (2000)[1]

The Pembroke Refinery is an oil refinery situated on the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales at Rhoscrowther in the community of Hundleton. It first came on stream in 1964. The refinery occupies a prominent position on the south bank of the Milford Haven Waterway and can be seen for many miles. Around a quarter of the site is within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park which was created in 1952.

History

The refinery came on stream in 1964. It was initially owned by the Regent Oil Company, a large domestic marketer of Trinidad-produced oils.[2] Regent was fully acquired by Texaco in 1956 (although the brand name was only phased out in the UK in favour of Texaco in the late 1960s). Chevron acquired Texaco in 2000. Valero Energy Corporation bought the refinery from Chevron in 2011.[3]

In August 1992, Texaco offered to purchase the entire village of Rhoscrowther[4] which lies immediately adjacent to the refinery. Many of the residents accepted the offer - especially after a large explosion which occurred two years later - which included their properties being purchased at market price plus reasonable expenses. Once the properties were acquired by the refinery, they were demolished. Today, only five houses, a 14th-century church and an abandoned farm are all that remain of Rhoscrowther.

Production units

The refinery has a fluid catalytic cracking unit that came on stream in 1982. The refinery also has an HF Alkylation unit, catalytic reforming unit and three hydrotreating type units.

Pembroke refinery has the capability of refining high Total Acid Number crude oils like Captain and Doba crudes.[5]

Incidents

See also

References

  1. "£44m investment at Pembroke refinery". BBC News. 2000-07-26. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  2. Report by the Monopolies Commission on the Supply of Petrol to Retailers in the United Kingdom, 1965
  3. "Chevron and Valero's deal to buy Pembroke oil refinery". BBC News. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
  4. Prestage, Michael (9 August 1992). "Texaco offers to buy village". The Independent (London).
  5. Texaco press release, 24 June 2004
  6. "Fire crews fight refinery blaze". BBC News. 24 March 2005.
  7. "Chevron blast: Two questioned over Pembroke refinery deaths". BBC News. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  8. Batty, David (2 June 2011). "Four people killed in Wales oil refinery explosion". London: Guardian News. Retrieved 2011-06-03.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pembroke Refinery.