In Conversation
The Humber Refinery –
50 years and beyond
When it was built in the late sixties, Conoco’s
new UK refinery on the Humber was designed
in the style of a US refinery and incorporated
an onsite coking plant, enabling it to upgrade
100% of the barrel. Among other notable
differences in those early days were just
one canteen for all staff and an open-door
communication policy, which removed the
need for union contracts.
Opened in July 1969, Humber was
designed to refine Libyan crude, which is sweet
and low sulphur, with very few impurities.
Today’s crude sources include the North Sea,
which continues to be an important area, along
with Russian and US crudes.
“These decisions have certainly stood the
test of time,” said refinery manager, Darren
Cunningham who, having gained a chemical
engineering degree at the University of
Birmingham, joined the refinery team in 1985.
Fuel Oil News editor Jane Raphael
met with Darren, Nina Stobart, external
communications and public affairs, and
Anna Gibbs, London-based brand manager,
marketing, to discover more about present and
future refinery operations.
Coking
The Humber refinery is not only the UK’s
sole coking refinery, but also Europe’s largest
producer of anode coke. It is also a world-
12 Fuel Oil News | December 2019
scale producer of specialty graphite cokes
for electrodes. Since it took off in 2013, the
production of graphite coke for lithium-ion
batteries has grown substantially. Fuelled
by the growing battery demands of mobile
phones and electric cars, these markets are
forecast to keep on growing well into the
2030s.
“The refinery greatly benefits from this
superior grade of coke which is also used for
the steel industry,” explained Darren.
“As diesel and gasoline demand declines,
these products have the advantage of being
much sought after in an increasingly electric
world.”
Marketing
70% of the light oils produced by the refinery
go into the UK market, supplying the JET
network and wholesale customers of Phillips 66
Limited.
With a desire to sell as much to the inland
market as possible, the refinery remains keen to
grow volumes of low sulphur products through
further investment in its facilities. Not only
supplied to the UK market, gasoline is also
exported to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and
South America.
Recent investment in the UK’s JET brand
has resulted in new-look forecourts and a
branded premium fuels offering, JET ULTRA.
“We undertook extensive consumer
research before embarking on a 12-site re-
imaging pilot,” explained Anna Gibbs.
The initial customer feedback has led to
a simple, clean, safe and well-lit forecourt, with
91% of people surveyed noticing a significant
improvement.
The new-look image will be rolled out to all
300+ JET sites over the next few years.
Safety
“With one of the best safety records in the
industry, our safety culture will always be the
top priority,” said Darren.
Taking a tour of the refinery, which is
equipped with state-of-the-art emissions
controls, the site’s organisation and tidiness
was evident.
Maintenance is top priority and every
year substantial capital investment is made
in support of a continuous replacement
programme.
“Backed by our own awareness of
corrosion, we keep in touch with lessons
learnt across the industry and the latest
developments, and we use risk-based
inspections to minimise issues,” explained
Darren.
“Inspection techniques have made
considerable advances, with drones, lasers,
wireless technology, mobile computers