The Gibraltar-San Roque Refinery () is an

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...

owned by

CEPSA Moeve, formerly known as Cepsa, (, "Spanish petroleum company, S.A.") is a Spanish multinational integrated energy and petroleum company headquartered at Torre Cepsa in the Cuatro Torres Business Area in Madrid. As of 2024, Moeve produced ...

located on the north shore of the

Bay of Gibraltar The Bay of Gibraltar (), is a bay at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It is around long by wide, covering an area of some , with a depth of up to in the centre of the bay. It opens to the south into the Strait of Gibraltar and the Med ...

, in Guadarranque

Industrial Estate An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...

, between Puente Mayorga and the Guadarranque river, in the municipality of San Roque, Cadiz, Spain. It is located next to the

Los Barrios Power Plant The Los Barrios Power Plant coal-fired power station is based on the Rankine Cycle The Rankine cycle is an idealized thermodynamic cycle describing the process by which certain heat engines, such as steam turbines or reciprocating steam engine ...

, which is a coal fueled power station. It is the largest refinery in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, with a crude oil daily processing capacity of 240,000 barrels per day. The refinery occupies 150 acres and has a refining capacity of 12 million tons per year, making it the largest Spanish refinery. The Spanish Government has been accused of having built the refinery deliberately in an effort to negatively affect the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, although pollution is indiscriminate and it also affects a large Spanish population in southern Spain. The results of local air samples by both the Gibraltar and Spanish NGOs and environmental groups are regularly reported to the relevant European Union institutions. Apart from imposing fines on the wealthy CEPSA conglomerate, no other real action is taken. As of 2018 work began on using Detal technology which will produce linear alkylbenzene, work will take around two years to complete.

Products produced

The refinery currently produces propane, butane, gasoline, aviation fuel, diesel oil and fuel oil.

Safety record

On May 27, 1985, a Japanese ship called ''Petragen One'' docked in the refinery and was unloading 20,000 tons of

naphtha Naphtha (, recorded as less common or nonstandard in all dictionaries: ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Generally, it is a fraction of crude oil, but it can also be produced from natural-gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and ...

, which exploded and also caused the Spanish tanker ''Camponavia'' to catch fire. 33 people died and 36 were injured. The fire started explosions in the ''Camponavia'', which broke in two and sank in a slick of burning oil. The Japanese ship also snapped in two, leaving only the burning bow and stern visible above the waterline. On January 21, 2003, the barge of CEPSA Spabunker IV, used to supply fuel to ships crossing the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa. The two continents are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.2 kilometers, 8.9 miles) at its narrowest point. Fe ...

, sank during a storm on the way from the dock to seek refuge in the port of Algeciras, just a few miles away. The captain died. In 2007 a particularly serious sulphur incident happened as well as intermittent flaring episodes. The impacts of such upsets on surrounding neighbourhoods had provoked outrage and public protest which led to the Consejería de Medio Ambiente of the

Junta de Andalucía The Regional Government of Andalusia () is the government of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Regional Government and the Government Council. The 2011 budget was 31.7 billion euros. It emp ...

to order an independent audit aimed at investigating such incidents. In September 2011 a large fire could be seen for miles around, with black smoke coming from the refinery. In May 2014 a report by the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

showed that the nearby town of

La Línea de la Concepción La Línea de la Concepción (), often referred to simply as La Línea, is a municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. The city lies on the sandy isthmus which is part of the eastern flank of ...

had the worst air quality in Spain. The report concentrated on

PM10 Particulate matter (PM) or particulates are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. An ''aerosol'' is a mixture of particulates and air, as opposed to the particulate matter alone, though it is sometimes defined ...

and PM2.5 Pollutants in the air, which could only have come from the refinery. In May 2016 the report by the

had placed La Línea as the third worst place in Spain in terms of air quality. {{cite web , url =https://www.who.int/entity/phe/health_topics/outdoorair/databases/WHO_AAP_database_May2016_v3web.xlsx?ua=1 , title = Ambient (outdoor) air pollution database, by country and city 2016 - Excel format , accessdate = 2016-05-25

References

Oil refineries in Spain Energy in Andalusia Buildings and structures in the Province of Cádiz San Roque, Cádiz