Occidental refinery Canvey Island Occidental refinery Canvey Island The Occidental oil refinery was on Canvey Island, Essex, England. Located in the Thames Estuary, it was a partly-built, non-operational, six million tonne/year oil refinery planned and constructed by Occidental Refineries Limited in 1970–5 and demolished in 1996–7. It was also known as the Occidental Thames refinery. In 1970 Occidental Refineries Limited, a subsidiary of the American Occidental Petroleum Corporation, applied to build an oil refinery on a 323 acre (130 ha) marshland site (51.5250°N 0.5333°E) on Canvey Island south of Furtherwick Road for the production of heavy fuel oils. Planning permission was refused by the
Canvey Island census, the population of Canvey was 37,479 of which 87.9% of people were living within the five wards of the eastern area of the island at a population density of 38 persons per hectare, while the population density within the west ward – covering a larger area of the island – was 4.6 persons per hectare. There were 15,312 dwellings on Canvey of which 98.7% were households. 42.4% were occupied by married couples, 13.9% of households contained three or more adults and no children, 26% were one person households and 8.1% were occupied by co-habiting couples. Canvey had a higher