An oil refinery?

Oil refineries

An oil refinery

Fawley oil refinery and sea terminal

An oil refinery is a large industrial site - usually the size of a large village. Its job is to turn crude oil into a whole range of useful substances.

The refinery site often has a refinery section and a terminal. Sometimes there is a chemical plant as well.

Fawley is a huge site. It has a port, a terminal a refinery and a chemical works. The refinery is in the top left hand corner of this picture.

The crude oil is usually brought in by sea tanker or pipeline. It is split up in the distillation tower. The products, like petrol, LPG or bitumen are taken away by another pipeline, a road tanker or another ship.

The towers and chimneys on the left are the refinery. The distillation towers are half way up on the left. The oil fractions are stored (in the tanks) or piped on to the next stage of refining.

The refinery is a part of a much larger site.

Find out where the main refineries are.

The refinery area of the Fawley site.