One of the UK’s biggest oil refineries spilled pollution into local rivers and the Mersey Estuary on dozens of occasions in 2023 and 2024, documents shared exclusively with the BBC suggest.
EET Fuels, formerly known as Essar, which runs Stanlow refinery, pleaded guilty this year to 12 charges of breaching environmental law between 2018 and 2020.
But documents obtained by investigative journalists from SourceMaterial describe other breaches from the refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, with toxic chemicals and oil regularly spilled into the waterways and even groundwater.
EET Fuels said it “takes its environmental responsibilities extremely seriously”.
The Environment Agency (EA) has confirmed that it is investigating the breaches.
The Stanlow oil refinery is one of only four remaining refineries in the UK and processes 10 million tonnes of crude oil each year – producing around 18% of the country’s fuel for road transport like cars and trucks.
EET Fuels, which bought the refinery from Shell in 2011 for £842m, holds a permit to operate the site.
This says it can discharge controlled amounts of oil and chemicals into the air and waterways. However, it must make efforts to limit pollution to the environment and harm to humans.
But reports from the EA into activities at the refinery, uncovered by environmental journalists SourceMaterial, show that in 2023 and 2024 the permitted levels for chemical releases were exceeded hundreds of times.
The regulator has determined this meant EET Fuels broke its permit conditions 58 times over the two-year period – which could amount to an illegal offence.
The documents show the spills included toxic chemicals such as cyanide, benzene, and heavy oils – into the air and local waterways like Thornton Brook and the River Gowy which connect onto the River Mersey Estuary.
The Estuary is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and home to endangered species including dolphins and a breeding ground for rare birds.
“Species like dunlin, blacktail, godwit and red shank will travel all around the world to feed and roost in the land around the River Mersey,” explained Charlotte Harris, chief executive of Cheshire Wildlife Trust.
Harris said this has only been possible because organisations, including the Wildlife Trusts, have undertaken years of pollution clean up from legacy industry in the area.
“We’ve seen the Atlantic salmon return to the river and also the critically endangered European eel makes its way up the Mersey and into the River Gowy to breed each year as well,” she said.
