ExxonMobil to invest £500m in Fawley refinery overhaul
US oil giant ExxonMobil is planning to undertake a major overhaul of Britain’s largest refinery at Fawley on the Hampshire coast worth an estimated half a billion pounds.
The £500m upgrade plan, if approved by the local authorities, would enable Fawley to produce more high-quality diesel to offset the rising demand for European imports.
Fawley already fuels around one in six British vehicles. The 3,000-acre site makes up a fifth of the UK’s refining activities and processes around 270,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
ExxonMobil said on Tuesday it was in the process of filing all appropriate permits and planning applications. It expects to make a final decision on the investment early next year.
Simon Downing, Fawley’s manager, said: “If this project is approved, it would be a major investment in the site amounting to hundreds of millions of pounds, and a bold statement of confidence in Fawley and its ability to produce high-quality fuels for the UK economy.”
UK refineries have come under existential pressure in recent years. Since 2009 three refineries have closed leaving just six remaining, which now face the fresh challenge of rising costs as oil prices recover.
Exxon’s planned investment dwarfs the spending pledge of chemicals giant Ineos, which vowed on the same day to plough £60m into its Grangemouth refinery in Scotland.
The petrochemical refinery, which produces the materials used to make paint and plastics, will receive a 10th furnace to improve the plant’s efficiency and increase its production capacity.
John McNally, Ineos’ chemicals boss, said the plans were “entirely” fitting as the company celebrates 25 years of continuous production at the plant’s gas ‘cracker’ where ethane gas is broken down to make ethylene.
“Investment into our chemicals business in Scotland alone has already surpassed £500m in the last five years. This latest announcement demonstrates Ineos’ on-going commitment to its manufacturing operations at Grangemouth and investment into the UK,” he added.
The renewed commitment to the UK has emerged weeks after the Telegraph revealed that Ineos’ billionaire founder Jim Ratcliffe planned to move to Monaco, a popular tax haven.
Ineos has also suffered a series of blows to its plans to secure feedstock for Grangemouth by drilling for shale gas after its applications were turned down by local officials.
