Essar’s Stanlow refinery celebrates 100 years of keeping Britain moving

EET Fuels, formerly Essar Oil UK, has said that its 10 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) Stanlow refinery, which accounts for 16 per cent of the road transport fuel sales in the UK, has completed a century of operations.

Established in 1924 as a bitumen production site, EET is now working on establishing Stanlow as the world’s first low-carbon refinery and the UK’s leading producer of hydrogen as part of the HyNet consortium. Acquired in 2011, the Essar Group has invested more than $1 billion in the refinery so far.

The refinery processes over 20,000 litres of crude oil every minute. It is a prominent supplier to some of North West’s major retail fuel brands, Manchester Airport, commercial airlines and the region’s trains and buses. It provides direct and indirect employment to 1,400 people.

To mark the event, the company will hold centenary celebrations as well as a series of events and initiatives that recognise Stanlow’s contribution to the Cheshire community, the North West region, and the UK as a whole.

Road ahead

EET Chairman Prashant Ruia said “For a century, Stanlow kept Britain moving. And the Stanlow story is only just beginning. The massive transition strategy we are implementing, with the ambition of making Stanlow the world’s first low carbon refinery, as well as the UK’s leading producer of hydrogen as part of the HyNet consortium, is set to re-position Stanlow and the North West of England for the next 100 years and beyond.”

Essar Energy Transition (EET) plans to invest $3 billion over the next five years in developing a range of low-carbon energy transition projects at its site at Stanlow, between Liverpool and Manchester.

The Stanlow site also includes EET Hydrogen (formerly Vertex Hydrogen), the UK’s leading hydrogen production project founded in 2022. EET Hydrogen is developing 1 gigawatt (GW) of blue hydrogen for the UK market, with a follow-on capacity set to reach 3.8 GW.

In January 2024, Essar Oil UK, the owner of Stanlow, rebranded to EET Fuels to manifest this new chapter as a key part of EET. It is committed to delivering on its ambitious plans to build an energy transition park at its site in the North West, becoming the UK’s first low-carbon refinery. Through its state-of-the-art Industrial Carbon Capture and Hydrogen Fuel Switching projects, EET Fuels looks to achieve these ambitions by 2030.

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