Page 18 - FINAL Phillips 66 50 Year Book

At this stage, already more than 60 employees were working on-site
planning the start-up. In October that year, a construction high point
was scored: the lifting of four giant petroleum coke drums. The huge
units were the last major units to be erected and were believed to
have been the heaviest lift ever to have taken place in the UK. The two
heaviest weighed 270 tons each and the smaller two weighed 180 tons
each. All were placed on reinforced concrete structures 50ft high using
specialist equipment from France. These coke drums would become
the backbone of the company for many years.

The completion date was November 1968 but bad weather that
summer, followed by a harsh winter, caused more delays, so it opened
in 1969, producing – as intended – 80,000 barrels a day. There was
no official ceremony: the Humber Refinery simply began its operations,
with 260 on-site personnel. Thanks in large part to the tireless efforts
and dedication of future Executive Vice President Bob Turvey – the
“father of Humber”, the refinery was here. The initial cost of bringing it
on-stream in 1969 is recorded as $120 million.

The refinery started as it meant to go on when it came to the workforce.
The company’s focus was – and still is – on people, on the individual,
and had a policy of hiring employees locally, to the fullest extent. When it
opened, the unusual step was taken of introducing a single staff status,
providing the same terms of employment for every employee. Everyone
had the same terms and conditions and ate in the same canteen. It
paid off down the years: in 1994, 25 years on, staff turnover averaged
less than three per cent.

The Humber Refinery was the European choice for processing low-
sulphur Libyan crude, setting a new benchmark. Until that time,

Right: Humber Refinery nearing completion.