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 Independent Party to form the local government district and borough of Castle Point, ending Canvey Island's existence as a separate entity in local government. The Canvey Island Independents were established in 2004 to campaign for a return to Canvey Island's autonomy, which had been abolished 32 years previously. They argued that the current local government arrangements - which saw more councillors elected to the Borough Council from the mainland - were unfair to the residents of Canvey Island. They also campaigned for more power to be devolved to Canvey Island Town Council, a parish council subordinate to Castle Point which is responsible