Gulf Refinery, Milford Haven

The Gulf Refinery at Milford Haven was an oil refinery situated on the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales. The refinery, originally owned by Gulf Oil, was opened in August 1968 by Queen Elizabeth II.[1] The plant, constructed at a cost of approximately £35 million, produced a range of petroleum products and occupied an area of 300 acres (121.4 ha).[2] Up to 119,000 barrels (18,900 m3) of oil could be processed a day at the facility.[3]

Gulf Refinery
CountryUnited Kingdom
CityWaterston, Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire
Coordinates51.705°N 4.992°W / 51.705; -4.992
Refinery details
OperatorChevron
CommissionedAugust 1968 (1968-08)
DecommissionedDecember 1997 (1997-12)
Capacity119,000 bbl/d (18,900 m3/d)

Gulf Oil's crude oil was principally obtained from Nigeria and Kuwait through joint ventures with BP.[4] Crude was shipped to Bantry Bay in Ireland in 312,000 DWT (deadweight ton) ships. From there it was shipped in 100,000 DWT ships to Gulf's refineries in Milford Haven, Denmark and Rotterdam.[4] The Milford Haven refinery was integrated with a petro-chemical plant, using oil products from the refinery as feed-stock for the chemical plant. It employed about 280 people.[4] About 23 per cent of the refinery output was exported by train via a rail link to the national rail network. About 75 per cent of the output was exported by ship.[4]

Gulf Oil's refinery also supplied fuel oil to the nearby oil-fired 2,000 MW Pembroke power station (commissioned in 1968).[4]

The refining distillation capacity over the operational life of the refinery was as follows.[5][6]

Gulf Refinery, refining capacity
Year Capacity (million tonnes per year)
1969 4.0
1972 5.0
1974 5.0
1975 5.0
1979 5.0
1985 4.625
1990 5.3
1995 5.6

Gulf Oil merged with Standard Oil of California (SOCAL) in 1985 with both rebranded as Chevron. The refinery closed down in December 1997, as part of plans by the Chevron Corporation, by then the owners of Gulf Oil, to withdraw from the downstream oil business in the UK.[7] Today, the site is occupied by the SemLogistics oil depot and the Dragon LNG terminal.[8]

See also

References
  1. "The Oil Industry in Pembrokeshire: Topic List". Pembrokeshire County Council. p. 7.
  2. "Gulf Oil Refinery Waterston". Coflein. 13 April 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  3. "CHEVRON TO SELL BRITISH REFINERY AND STATIONS TO SHELL". The New York Times Company. 22 August 1997.
  4. Watts, D.G. (January 1970). "Milford Haven and its Oil Industry, 1958-69". Geography. 55 no. 1: 64–72 – via JSTOR.
  5. Vielvoye, Roger (19 November 1973). "Massive build-up of oil refinery capacity". The Times.
  6. Energy Institute, United Kingdom refining distillation capacity, EI Datasheet 07, January 2019
  7. "Petroplus wants to buy Milford Haven from Chevron".
  8. "Dragon LNG Company History". Archived from the original on 24 June 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2009.


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