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Energy Insight: Refining: UK refining distillation capacity(DSS07)

UK refining capacity grew rapidly from the 1950s until it peaked in the mid-1970s, with a maximum of 23 refineries in operation. Through the 1980s, as the price of crude oil fell by about half, nearly 40 percent of UK refining capacity was closed. The capacity level then remained approximately static for 25 years, until the closure of the Petroplus Coryton refinery in 2012. 

 

Recently the UK refining industry has come under pressure from decreased profit margins, decreased UK and European demand for refined products, and increased competition from strategically-located refineries abroad. The most recent refinery closure was of Murco Petroleum's Milford Haven refinery in November 2014. 

Since then until recently, refinery capacity in the UKremained fairly unchanged, but throughput at the Lindsey OIl refinery has dropped, and Total completed its sale to the Prax group in March 2021. 

Our figures show a small increase in total refinery capacity in 2021, but this may be due to each refinery reporting their capacities in slightly different ways and our trying to display figures on the same chart. Figures are approximate only at some refineries report in tonnes per year, and some in barrels per day.



Energy Insight details



EI Datasheet 07.xlsx
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Physical description: Excel spreadsheet, available to logged-in EI members and subscribers

Subjects: Statistics, Refining, Crude oil

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