Oil Storage and filling point - geograph

Buncefield oil depot is operated by Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd (HOSL) and officially known as the Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal. It is an

oil depot An oil terminal (also called a tank farm, tankfarm, oil installation or oil depot) is an industrial facility for the storage of oil, petroleum and petrochemical products, and from which these products are transported to end users or other stor ...

located on the edge of

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located north-west of London; nearby towns and cities include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 cens ...

to the north of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

(UK). In December 2005 a series of explosions on the site caused the largest fire in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

since

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Construction and operation

The site was built in 1968 by

George Wimpey George Wimpey Limited was a British construction firm that typically worked in the civil engineering and housebuilding markets. It was, during the 1970s, the largest homebuilder active in the UK. Established in 1880 and originally based in H ...

for BP and Shell-Mex. A

pipeline A pipeline is a system of Pipe (fluid conveyance), pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries ...

was constructed to link two

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

refineries A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries a ...

in Stanlow in the North West of England at

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south-eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the 2021 Unite ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, and Shell Haven on the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinit ...

Stanford-le-Hope Stanford-le-Hope is a town, former civil parish and Church of England parish in the unitary authority area of Thurrock, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Often known locally simply as Stanford, the town is located 24 miles (38.4&nbs ...

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Essex, England. It lies on the north bank of the River ...

. The pipeline allowed "white oil" products, such as

petrol Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...

and diesel, to be transported cheaply and efficiently across the country. Along with Buncefield, a number of other pipeline-fed installations were built at the same time. These depots were always shared by the oil companies who have benefited together from the lower costs compared with other transportation methods. However, when they opened, such depots, including Buncefield, sometimes became difficult to manage from an

industrial relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor union, labor/trade unions, employer organ ...

perspective. Drivers and other operatives from different oil companies, but members of the same

Trades Union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

, usually the

Transport and General Workers Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900,000 members (a ...

, were able to coordinate their industrial action more effectively by being on the same site as one another. In 1990 a further pipeline was completed, linking the site to the Lindsey Oil Refinery in

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West Riding of ...

. Before the fire, which devastated over a quarter of the site, the terminal was the fifth largest oil depot in the UK with pipelines to Humberside,

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

and

Heathrow Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

and

Gatwick airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

s radiating from it. The terminal operator is

Total Total may refer to: Mathematics * Total, the summation of a set of numbers * Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs * Total relation, which may also mean ** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are comp ...

, which owns 60% of the depot, with

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...

owning the remaining 40%, though BP and

also make use of its facilities. As the fifth largest oil depot in the UK, it had a capacity of approximately 60 million Imperial gallons (273 million litres) of fuel, although it was not always at capacity. It previously filled 400 tanker lorries every day and handled around 2.37 million tonnes of oil products every year. In March 2008 BP announced it will soon be restarting some operations at the site with the storage and supply of aviation fuel to Heathrow. BP must comply with more than 50 safety conditions including refurbished tanks and an improved alarm system. The site consists of a northern and a southern portion, with the southern being used by BP and the northern portion being divided into 3 sectors; HOSL West, the BPA area, and HOSL East. Texaco, Total and Shell use HOSL West and HOSL East, while the BPA area is occupied by facilities of the British Pipeline Agency (BPA), mostly for aviation fuel. HOSL West was the main site in the northern portion of HOSL, and was used for storage of a variety of fuels excluding

aviation fuel Aviation fuels are either petroleum-based or blends of petroleum and synthetic fuels, used to power aircraft. They have more stringent requirements than fuels used for ground applications, such as heating and road transport, and they contain add ...

and

kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...

, which are stored at BPA. The fire destroyed most of HOSL West and the BPA area.

References

External links

Download review of reports on Buncefield
Compiled b
LINK Associates InternationalHertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd (HOSL)
— Official site
Guardian Unlimited Special report: Oil depot explosion
collection by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' of articles, pictures and an interactive guide {{Oil storage and distribution in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Hemel Hempstead Petroleum infrastructure in the United Kingdom Oil terminals TotalEnergies BP buildings and structures

Construction and operation

See also

References

External links