Coryton Refinery

In 1895, the ammunition firm Kynochs built an explosives factory at the site. This opened in 1897, with an estate for employees called Kynochtown. Products included cordite, guncotton, gunpowder, and cartridges.[2] Kynochs also built the Corringham Light Railway (CLR), with a passenger branch from the works to Corringham and a goods branch to the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway at Thames Haven. The Kynoch works closed in 1919.

In 1921, the site and CLR were taken over by coal merchants Cory Brothers Ltd of Cardiff to build an oil storage depot, with Kynochtown renamed Coryton. Sources differ as to whether Corys, who sold a well-known brand of petrol, Corys' Motor Spirit, also built a refinery at the site. Cracknell states that Cory Bros 'turned to the manufacture and distribution of oil products' for which they 'constructed oil storage tanks and a cross-cracking plant'.[3] In 1937, the annual throughput of Coryton refinery was 250,000 tonnes.[3]

Coryton oil refinery flare stacks and Occidental jetty - Mar 1981

In 1950, Coryton and the CLR were sold to the American Vacuum Oil Company, later Mobil. The CLR to Corringham was closed, but the branch from Thames Haven was upgraded to main-line standards. A new refinery came on stream in 1953. In 1954, the annual throughput of Coryton refinery was 850,000 tonnes.[3] By 1964, the annual throughput of Coryton refinery was 2.4 million tonnes, with a planned extension of a further 0.9 million tonnes.[4] Coryton village was demolished and absorbed into the refinery site in the 1970s. In 1977, work started on an extension to the refinery including a hydrogen fluoride alkylation unit to produce more gasoline.[5] In 1978, about 1.5 million tonnes of oil and refined products were stored in the refinery tank farm, and about 800 people worked on the site.[6] The alkylation unit was commissioned in late 1981 and included a water spray system to dissolve any releases of hydrogen fluoride.[5]

Coryton was operated by BP from 1996, when Mobil's fuels operations in Europe were placed into a joint venture with BP. In 1996, BP purchased land to the west of the refinery from the neighbouring Shell refinery; the Shell facilities were demolished and the land was proposed for future expansion.[7] Following the merger in 1999 of Mobil with Exxon, the remaining interest in the refinery was sold to BP Amoco in 2000.

In 2007, the plant was sold by BP to Petroplus for £714.6m (around $1.4 billion).

On 24 January 2012, it was announced that Petroplus had filed for bankruptcy, putting the refinery's future into doubt.[8] To alleviate a possible surge in fuel prices, oil supplies were ordered from other refineries in the UK, such as the Stanlow Refinery via the UK oil pipeline network.[9] Shipments from Coryton resumed on 26 January following agreements signed by the administrators.[10]

PwC (Administration)

On 28 May 2012, it was announced that the refinery would close due to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the administrators, having failed to find a buyer.[11] Igor Yusufov's Energy Investment Fund was the only potential bidder ready to keep the refinery operating.[12] On 28 February 2013, the gas supply to the site was shut off. Around twelve hours later the flare went out, bringing to an end over 60 years of operations at the refinery.[13]

In 2012 the refinery was planned to be turned into a diesel import terminal by Vopak, Shell and Greenergy, with an initial capacity of 500,000 cubic metres (18,000,000 cu ft).[14][15] In 2014 the partners delayed the project to consider options, as the existing plant was in a poorer condition than expected.[16]

Coryton Power Station was commissioned on part of the site in 2002, and continues to operate.