Fawley Refinery

and Petrochemical Plant

ExxonMobil is part of Exxon Mobil Corporation, which is the
worlds leading publicly-traded petroleum and natural gas company.
Based in Texas, USA, the corporation has more than 80,000
employees in 80 countries and business interests across the globe.
It was created by the merger of Exxon and Mobil in 1999.
ExxonMobil is the largest gas producer in Europe. We supply about
10 per cent of Europe's gas demand and about 10 per cent of
Europe's oil demand. We are also one of Europe's leading
manufacturers of petrochemical products.
The company has its main UK offices at Leatherhead in Surrey, and
operations in England, Scotland and Wales. The company provides
work for approximately 7,500 employees and some 2,000
contractors in the UK.

The Esso, Mobil and ExxonMobil companies in the UK are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Exxon
Mobil Corporation. ExxonMobil Corporation has numerous affiliates, many with names that
include ExxonMobil, Exxon, Esso and Mobil. For convenience and simplicity in this publication,
those terms, and the terms corporation, company, our, we and its, are sometimes used as
abbreviated references to specific affiliates or affiliate groups.
Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant
Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant
 Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant 03

ExxonMobil in the
UK and Ireland
Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant is the
largest in the UK. Opened in 1951, it produces
almost one fifth of the fuel used on the
countrys roads.

Legend
Fuels distribution terminal
Office
Gas processing plant
St Fergus
Gas terminal
Chemicals manufacturing plant Aberdeen
NGL processing plant
Refinery, chemicals manufacturing
plant and marine terminal
Airport operations Mossmorran

LNG terminal
Oil and gas fields
Underground pipeline
Gas pipeline
Co-located service

Dublin

Birmingham Bacton
New Ross

Newport
South Hook W. London
Purfleet
Avonmouth
Leatherhead
Hythe
Fawley

Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant

Location: Fawley, Hampshire
Opened: 1951
Output: Jet fuel, petrol, diesel, lubricating oil, fuel oil, various chemicals
Annual production capacity:
Up to 330,000 barrels of crude oil processed each day
(15 million tonnes per year)
Over 850,000 tonnes of chemical products produced each year
Number of workers on site: Over 2,300
04 Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant

Welcome to Fawley
Covering 3,250 acres on Southampton Water,
Fawley Refinery and Chemical Manufacturing Plant
is the largest in the UK, and one of the most
complex in Europe.

The first refinery on the site was developed by Some of the processed oil from the refinery is
the Atlantic Gulf and West Indies Petroleum used as feed for the neighbouring chemical
Company (AGWI) in 1921. Ever since then plant, which manufactures over 850,000
the site has played a key role in the area, tonnes of petrochemical products every year.
providing jobs and helping to sustain the
You can explore Fawley Refinery online as
local community.
part of an award-winning virtual tour at
After buying AGWI, Esso, which is now part http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/
of ExxonMobil, opened a new refinery on the exxonmobil/index.html
site in 1951 and some 60 years later it is still
Oiling the wheels of everyday life
going strong.
Oil and chemicals play a vital role in every
Today the refinery processes 330,000 barrels aspect of modern life. If you refuel your vehicle
of crude oil every day, providing 20 per cent of with petrol or diesel in the South of England,
the UKs total refining capacity. Over 2,000 there is a strong chance the fuel was
ships visit Fawleys modern marine terminal manufactured at Fawley. At home, you will
each year, delivering more than 22 million be surrounded by products containing
tonnes of crude oil and transporting other materials made from crude oil from carpets
products from the site. to CDs; from toiletries to trainers; from paint
to plastics.
Your vehicle's tyre linings almost certainly
contain man-made rubber from Fawley, and if
you board a boat, plane or train, it may well be
using our fuel.

Did you know ?

At 1.5km long, Fawleys marine

terminal is the largest independently
owned port of its type in Europe.
 Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant 05

The production process

Crude oil comes to Fawley in tankers from around
the world including the North Sea, Russia, West
Africa and South America. Fawley typically processes
over 20 different types of crude oil each year.

Each tanker takes up to two days to unload its to maximise liquid recovery. Products from the
cargo, which is then pumped to some of the distillation column range from gases at the top
sites 330 storage tanks. Each tank holds to very heavy, viscous liquids at the bottom.
around 21,000 cubic metres of crude oil,
Conversion
enough to fill eight Olympic swimming pools.
Distillation separates the crude oil into
The crude oil is treated and converted at the
unfinished products. However, the products
refinery into consumer and industrial products do not naturally exist in crude in the same
using three main processes: separation, proportions as the product mix that consumers
conversion and purification. demand. Essentially, there is too little petrol
Separation and too much of the heavier fuel oil naturally
To begin the refining process, the crude oil occurring in crude oil, so conversion processes
is separated into its naturally occurring are used to convert low-value fuel oil into high-
components by applying heat through a value gasoline and other lighter products.
process called distillation. Primary separation is All products in the refinery are based on the
performed in a pair of distillation columns, with same building blocks: carbon and hydrogen
the bottom product from the first column chains, which are called hydrocarbons. The
feeding the next. A furnace in front of the longer the carbon chain, the heavier the
column heats and vaporises the crude oil. The product will be. Converting heavier
vapour and liquid mixture is then fed into the hydrocarbons to lighter hydrocarbons can
bottom section of the tower. The feed section be compared to cutting a link on a steel
is the hottest point in the distillation column chain to make two smaller chains. This is
and ranges between 320C to 370 C. the function of Fawley's Fluidised Catalytic
Components that are still liquid at such high Cracking Unit (FCCU).
temperatures become the column's bottom In addition to breaking chains, there are
product, which is known as atmospheric times when we want to change the form of
residue. Components that are in vapour form the chain or put chains together. This is where
rise up the tower through a series of distillation the Powerformer and Isomerisation Units
stages. The temperature decreases as the are necessary.
vapours rise up the column and the
The FCCU uses a catalyst (a material that
components condense.
helps make a chemical reaction go faster,
Because a liquids boiling point decreases at occur at a lower temperature, or control which
lower pressures, the Atmospheric Residue is reactions occur) to convert gas-oil into a mix of
further heated to over 400C and distilled in a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), petrol
second column that operates under a vacuum and diesel.
06 Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant

GASES

Atmospheric NAPHTHA
distillation
Isomerisation

30C

JET Reforming

GAS OIL
Hydrofining

distillation
Vacuum
HEAVY GAS OIL

ATMOSPHERIC RESIDUE
370C
CRUDE OIL

The heaviest material in the refinery is Vacuum ready for purification - principally sulphur
Tower Bottoms (VTB) or residue. It is removal to meet product quality specifications
processed in the Residfiner which removes and environmental standards. This is done by
impurities so that it can be used as additional Hydrofining, in which the unfinished products
feedstock for the FCCU. are fed into a heated, high pressure chamber
Reforming is the last conversion process. It containing hydrogen and a catalyst.
increases the octane number of petrol blend A further process, sulphur recovery, converts
components and generates hydrogen for use hydrogen sulphide to water and sulphur,
OIL in the refinery hydrofiners. The same length
carbon chains can have very different octane
which is sold as a refinery byproduct.

numbers based on the shape of the chain. Chemical processes

Some of the products that come out of the
Straight chains, or paraffins, have a relatively refinery are transferred to the sites major
low octane number, whilst rings, or aromatics, petrochemical plant. We also import butene
have high octane numbers. At high to the plant, which is stored in seven large
temperatures and in the presence of pressurised spheres, known as the
hydrogen, the catalyst will reform paraffins
Seven Sisters.
into aromatics, hence the name catalytic
reforming. Some of the aromatics produced The raw materials pass through a series
are used at Fawley in the production of of complex processes to create a range
petrochemicals, such as plastics and fabrics. of chemicals that have a wide variety of
applications in the manufacturing industry.
Purification
Once crude oil has been through separation The main products manufactured at the
and conversion, the resulting products are plant are methyl ethyl ketone (MEK),
 Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant 07

End products

LPG

Fluid catalytic cracking Scanfiner

Petrol

Residfining Jet Fuel

Lubes

a powerful solvent found in paints and Diesel

adhesives, and halobutyl rubber used in
tyres. The majority of tyres manufactured
in Europe contain this type of rubber
from Fawley.
Travelling far and wide
About 80 per cent of Fawley Refinery output is
pumped through underground pipelines to Chemical Products
distribution terminals as far afield as London,
Bristol and Birmingham. In total, 450
miles/700km of pipeline transport around
25 million litres of product every day. A further
15 per cent of output is taken by sea to our
export markets, while about 5 per cent travels
by road or rail.
Lubricants

Did you know ?

Heathrow and Gatwick

airports are both supplied with
jet fuel by Fawley, using direct
underground pipelines. Marine Fuel
08 Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant

Safety, health and

the environment
ExxonMobil is committed to ensuring the health
and safety of everyone working at Fawley, or living
in the surrounding area. This commitment extends
to the protection of the local environment for the
good of residents and workers alike.

Heath and safety seawater from Southampton Water, mostly for

We are extremely proud of our health and cooling. When this is returned to the sea after
safety record at Fawley. Our goal here, and at purification, its often cleaner than when it was
all our other sites, is to have a workplace extracted.
where nobody gets hurt.
To help reduce energy consumption at Fawley,
Our award-winning commitment to safety has the plant uses a combined heat and power
been recognised many times, both within the generator (Cogen) that burns at twice the
industry, and by independent safety experts. efficiency of a conventional power station,
cutting energy costs and reducing carbon
We continue to explore new and better
emissions. The Cogen unit, which is owned
ways to improve the safety and integrity of
and operated by Esso, is used to produce up
our operations.
to 230 tonnes of steam per hour for use in the
The environment refinery, as well as electricity. Any electricity
The thriving saltmarsh that borders the site at that is not consumed on site is fed into the
Fawley is a Site of Special Scientific Interest National Grid, so Fawley is a net exporter of
(SSSI) that is home to over 20 species of electrical power.
birds. The rest of the site is surrounded by a
Two other initiatives are helping to minimise
thick screen of some 50,000 established trees
the sites environmental impact. A recycling
and shrubs, which provide a natural
programme has helped to reduce the level of
woodland habitat.
general waste at the refinery by increasing
Water plays an important role in the recycling to more than 80 per cent. The aim
production process at Fawley. Each day, is to increase this still further until no general
the plant draws up to 1.8 million tonnes of waste from the site needs to be sent to landfill.
Meanwhile, the refinery operates a series of
biopiles, which use organic substances that
are naturally present in soil to break down
waste from the refinery so that any potential
contaminants are removed. This approach,
which resembles a high technology compost
heap, minimises the amount of hazardous
waste produced on site that needs to be sent
away for incineration.

Did you know ?

Fawley pioneered the introduction

of lead-free petrol in the UK.
 Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant 09

Did you know ?

The Fawley Refinery was opened by

Prime Minister Clement Attlee on
14 September, 1951.

Fawley and
the community
We have been part of the Waterside community
for some 60 years. We firmly believe in being
responsible neighbours and support our local area
through a well-established programme of grants
and assistance to local charities, schools and
community groups.

ExxonMobil encourages employees and their community projects, such as clearing the
families to contribute their time, talent and ancient pond at Holbury Manor Park,
energy to schools, charities and non-profit removing undergrowth at the New Forest
organisations. The company's Volunteer Front Nature Reserve and laying a new path
Involvement Programme (VIP) and Governor at Lepe Country Park.
Scheme does this by recognising the
ExxonMobil also makes donations direct to
voluntary efforts of employees and their
charities and community groups neighbouring
families, and rewarding the organisations they
the Fawley site. The company covered the
support with grants of up to 1,000 per year.
13,000 cost of the new, hand-crafted oak
Since the programme began in 2002, the
fence and gate at All Saints Church, Fawley,
Fawley representatives have given tens of
for example. Other examples of local
thousands of hours of their time to charities
donations, include sponsorship of community
and local community groups, which have
events, such as Hamble Week; helping to fund
received grants under the scheme totalling
the role of the Coastal Ranger at Lepe
over half a million pounds.
Country Park; and the purchase of digital
Many employees at Fawley also take part in cameras for the New Forest Agisters, to
an annual Day of Caring, in which they give up highlight the dangers of failing to slow
a working day to participate in local down for animals.
10 Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant

ExxonMobil also operates a Link Schools Council's Brilliance in Business Awards, in

programme with 10 schools in the Fawley which ExxonMobil has sponsored the
neighbourhood. Besides giving cash grants to Innovation and Entrepreneurship category
local schools, this initiative helps local for several years. The site also supports
teachers to show how the school curriculum is Hampshire County Council's Hantsweb
relevant to working life, while students gain an Awards, sponsoring the category for the best
appreciation of the importance of industry to website operated by secondary schools or
their local economy and the skills needed for colleges in the county.
the world of work. ExxonMobil works
Local residents are welcome to visit Fawley on
alongside Learning through Landscapes - a
guided tours of the site. Each visit starts with
national school grounds charity that believes
an introductory talk, followed by a coach tour
that outdoor learning is an essential part of a
of the site.
child's development - and CREATE - a charity
that encourages more sustainable uses of Our Community Matters newsletter about the
energy while reducing carbon emissions. Fawley site is distributed to local residents six
times a year. This gives updates on operations
For more than 12 years the site has also
at the plant and reports on any local projects
sponsored the Esso Maths challenge, an
involving the plant and the people who
annual contest for Year 10 pupils in local
work there.
schools. The Challenge involves teams of
students working together to solve a series of
very challenging mathematical problems.
The Fawley site also supports Local Authority
initiatives, such as New Forest District

Did you know ?

We sponsor the Fawley online

website at www.fawleyonline.org.uk,
which provides the latest news about
whats going on in the area and
electronic copies of our newsletter
Community Matters.
Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical Plant
Esso Refinery
Fawley
Southampton
SO45 1TX
Telephone: 023 8089 2511
Esso UK Limited 2011
This paper is manufactured at mills accredited
with EMAS and ISO 14001 environmental
certification and uses pulp derived from
sustainable forests.
Photography credits:
Paul Carter, Keith Wood, Dirk Meuling,
Janice Rubin, Ian Jackson, Chris Martin,
Fawley Refinery staff, Calor Gas Ltd,
Williams Photography