BP in Hamble

When the Terminal first "set up shop" in the Village in 1924, Hamble Lane was little more than a cart track, George V was on the throne and The Depression was well underway. A construction worker's wage was 14s 8d a week (about 73p) and a car was a rarity.

Strangely enough, the Terminal was constructed by arch-rival Shell, drawn to the area by the burgeoning growth of Portsmouth and Southampton and the fact that Royal Navy ships were converting from coal to oil burning. BP seems to have missed out on a land site and for six years, its Terminal was a converted passenger liner anchored off Hamble Point.

BP "came ashore" in 1930 and, with Shell, formed a joint company which lasted until 1976 when both oil majors decided to go their separate ways and in the subsequent break up of the company, Hamble Terminal was allocated to BP. Life at the Terminal changed dramatically in 1990 when it took delivery of the first crude oil from the Wytch Farm oilfield at Wareham, Dorset. Hamble was selected as the sole export point for the entire output of the field because of its deep water berthing facilities and space for storage tanks.

Between 1988-90 five large tanks, each with a capacity of 22,000 tonnes were constructed on site to accommodate the crude oil. In June 1990 the first oil flowed to Hamble down a 50- mile pipeline buried one metre below ground. Since then, the flow to Hamble has averaged about 2-3 million gallons a day. The oilfield now has reached its peak and the flow over the coming years will slowly decline. The field, however, is expected to continue producing until around 2020.

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