A former tidal Thames refinery has begun storing millions of litres of diesel fuel for UK consumers and that’s just the beginning, according to Greenergy’s Paul Bateson.

A joint venture between his firm
and Shell, Thames Oilport is a
new deep water import terminal where Coryton Refinery used to
be. It shut in 2012 and Greenergy, which supplies more than a
quarter of the UK’s road fuel,
plans to refurbish and redevelop
the site’s infrastructure – a move that will, in future, allow it to store and distribute diesel, petrol and heating oil.

Paul, chief operating officer (COO) of Greenergy, said: “We are developing modern fuel import terminals that will ensure the
UK’s ongoing fuel supply security. “We already supply fuel from the Navigator fuel terminal, further up the Thames at Thurrock, and are continuing to develop our operations to meet the growing demand for fuel in the South
East region.”

The speed at which the first ship to Thames Oilport unloaded its fuel cargo came as a welcome surprise to Greenergy’s COO.
“This was the very first fuel into the terminal since 2012, so we had allowed time for additional commissioning checks to be made.

“We had expected the ship to take up to a week to discharge, but in fact it was much quicker than that and safely done,” he revealed. “Overall I’m very positive about this phase. Our staff have done a brilliant job and we are delighted to be on the tidal Thames.”

Paul, who manages Greenergy’s trading, manufacturing and North and South American business development and operations, added that the first phase
of development at Thames
Oilport means storing
massive amounts of diesel, which will be ready for any future shortage in the UK supply chain.

“Thames Oilport site has a deep water jetty that will
allow us to receive the latest big ships and means we can store diesel from markets
such as Asia and the US.

“It is not a throughput terminal like Navigator Thames just yet”, he admitted. “But we will continue to develop it along
the same lines. We will one day have gasoline blending and a full distribution operation on site, to bring back some functionality of the former Coryton site.”