Kent Oil Refinery (1954)

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  • Release Date: 1st January 1954
  • Asset ID: 802382
  • Synopsis: Film detailing the construction of BP's oil refinery on the Isle of Grain from 1950 to 1954.
  • Shotlist: Titles: 'BP presents - The Kent Oil Refinery'. Various shots of the Isle of Grain. Marshland, men walking across field. Train seen in distance. Men carrying out survey on land at night. Survey during daytime on marshland, river bank. At BP headquarters in London, people at work in offices on the oil plant plans. Man putting sign up reading 'BP Kent Oil Refinery' in village area. Shot of two old ladies watching television in living room; seems to be a programme about horses. C/U of screen showing the horse programme with interference on picture. One of the women goes to a window to see a truck going past. McAlpine crane being transported onto a field by a truck. Commentator talks of a 'D-Day atmosphere' as equipment arrives. Various shots of diggers at work levelling the ground and laying roads. Man coming out of cabin and putting clogs on. Dutch dredgers in action around Port Victoria. Concrete piles and foundations being laid. Site drawings being printed and delivered on site. Wimpey truck bringing in more equipment. High angle view panning across the site, showing general shape and outline. Large metal sheets being moved about the site. Tanks being constructed. Cooling water channel being worked on. New jetties being built. Distillation unit. Survey of seabed being made; dredgers. Channels under construction. Power station under construction. Inner chambers of distillation unit. Tower being lagged. Unit being painted. Scaffolding being taken down. First tanker arrives with crude oil for the new refinery. High angle view of refinery. Cut to flooded refinery in 1953. Gaps in sea wall repaired. Pipelines being straightened out. Flooded offices. Men checking machinery in plant as it goes on-stream. Pipes with tankers seen beyond. Various shots of finished parts of refinery. Section of plant for lubricating oil under construction. L/S of administrative block. Women working in temporary typing pool or accounting department; machines being moved. Women in new offices. Snow on refinery. Water pipes being dug out of frozen ground. Lube oil plant under construction and finished plant. Pan across site. Lights coming up on plant at dusk and into darkness. Men checking machinery. End credits: 'A BP Film - A Data Production 1954'. Early 1952-53 documentary about building of the refinery B&w with sound Isle of Grain - deserted pictures, hill tops/marsh land etc. Surveying at work, office shots, McAlpine crane, draining off water from the marshes, diggers, drain and levelt he area, roads built, Dutch dredgers come in, various building shots. Early Wimpy van, inside tanks, welding, scaffolding BP Skill comes into port, flags official greetings. Floods of 53 - shots of waterlogged refinery and offices, 20 days later goes on stream Men truning wheels control room, men at work, pipes and tankers British Merit fills up Sept 53 catalytic cracking plant built and ready GV's refinery women working. Snow - thawing pipes with blazing oil Lube oil plant 1954 all finished.
  • Production Company: None
  • Licensing Restrictions: None
  • Viewing Restrictions: Public
  • Format: BetaSP_Small
  • Alternative Language Notes: None