Everything about The Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal totally explained
The
Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal (HOSL - Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd), generally known as the
Buncefield oil depot, is an
oil depot located on the edge of
Hemel Hempstead to the north of
London in the
United Kingdom.
The depot was picketed during the
UK fuel protests in 2000, and was the location of the largest fire in
Europe since
World War II when the site exploded on
11 December 2005 (
see 2005 Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal fire). Prior to the fire it was the fifth largest oil depot in the
UK.
Construction and operation
Some local residents remember that the site was used during the second World War to provide fuel for the bombers at
Bovingdon.
The expanded site was opened in
1968 after a
pipeline was constructed to link two
Shell refineries in Stanlow in the North West of England at
Ellesmere Port in
Cheshire, and
Shell Haven on the
Thames Estuary at
Stanford-le-Hope in
Thurrock. The pipeline allowed "white oil" products, such as
petrol and
diesel, to be transported cheaply and efficiently across the country. Along with Buncefield, a number of other pipeline-fed installations were built at the same time. These depots were always shared by the oil companies who have benefited together from the lower costs compared with other transportation methods. However, when they opened, such depots, including Buncefield, sometimes became difficult to manage from an
industrial relations perspective. Drivers and other operatives from different oil companies, but members of the same
Trades Union, usually the
Transport and General Workers Union, were able to coordinate their industrial action more effectively by being on the same site as one another. In 1990 a further pipeline was completed, linking the site to the
Lindsey Oil Refinery in
Humberside.
Before the fire, which devastated over a quarter of the site, the terminal was a major hub on the
UK oil pipeline network (UKOP) with pipelines to Humberside,
Merseyside and
Heathrow and
Gatwick airports radiating from it. The terminal operator is
Total, which owns 60% of the depot, with
Texaco owning the remaining 40%, though
BP and
Shell also make use of its facilities. As the fifth largest oil depot in the
UK, it had a capacity of approximately 60 million gallons (273 million litres) of fuel, although it wasn't always at capacity. It previously filled 400 tanker lorries every day and handled around 2.37 million tonnes of oil products every year.
In March 2008 BP announced it'll soon be restarting some operations at the site with the storage and supply of aviation fuel to Heathrow. BP must comply with more than 50 safety conditions including refurbished tanks and an improved alarm system.
The site consists of a northern and a southern portion, with the southern being used by BP and the northern portion being divided into 3 sectors; HOSL West, the BPA area, and HOSL East. Texaco, Total and Shell use HOSL West and HOSL East, while the BPA area is occupied by facilities of the
British Pipeline Agency (BPA), mostly for aviation fuel. HOSL West was the main site in the northern portion of HOSL, and was used for storage of a variety of fuels excluding
aviation fuel and
kerosene, which are stored at BPA. The fire destroyed most of HOSL West and the BPA area.
Further Information
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