| CORYTON REFINERY - THE SITE |
Fig. 7 Aerial view of Coryton Refinery
The refinery is located on the north shore of the Thames Estuary in Essex, 40km east of central London. The closest town is Stanford-le-Hope 4 kilometres away.
The refinery occupies 370 acres bordered by the Thames to the south and Holehaven Creek to the east. Land immediately to the west of the refinery (right of Figure. 7) was bought from the neighbouring Shell refinery in 1996. The Shell facilities were demolished and this land will be used for future expansion. One thousand and forty people work on this site, but not all at one time. Many people work shifts as the refinery is manned 24 hours a day.
The refinery site has been an industrial site since 1895 when an explosives factory was built here together with a village to house the factory workers. The name Coryton derives from the Cory brothers who bought the site in 1923. Later, the site was used as an oil storage depot. The Coryton refinery was constructed by Mobil and opened in 1953. The village was demolished in the 1970s. Since 1996 the refinery has been operated by BP Amoco as a joint venture with Mobil. Two major expansions and many minor improvements have increased the refinery capacity to ten times the original volume.
Coryton is in the Essex borough of Thurrock which has 30km of Thames riverside frontage. The M25 runs through the western part of the borough, crossing the Thames by the QE2 Bridge and the Dartford Tunnel. Much of the riverside is highly industrialised. All along the shore are jetties serving the industrial sites including seven oil distribution terminals. At Tilbury there is an international deep water container port. The Thames Estuary area is known as Thames Gateway and has traditionally been where London generated its power and disposed of its refuse. However, industry is changing in this area. The cement industry used to be very important but has reduced dramatically as the quarries have been exhausted. Some disused quarries have been redeveloped for housing, shopping centres and industry. The giant Lakeside shopping centre was built in a disused quarry alongside the M25 motorway. Many warehouses and distribution centres have been built due to improved transport links, especially motorways linking to the Channel Tunnel. Next door to Coryton on the west is another refinery, Shell Haven, which closed in December 1999. Also next to Coryton on the west is the site of a new gas fired power station that is under construction. Further west is the Tilbury coal fired power station.