Journey
Set up a coke or petroleum manufacturing business
Learning path for new operators of oil refineries, coke works and refined-petroleum plants. Work out which rules apply, set up a safe major-hazard installation (COMAH, DSEAR, environmental permit and UK ETS), meet the fuel-quality and excise-duty rules, and verify everything with a compliance checklist.
What this journey is for
Operating an oil refinery or coke works puts you among the highest-hazard industries there are, with duties that are extensive and begin long before the first product leaves the site. You have to keep your people safe around flammable and toxic substances at high temperature and pressure. You have to satisfy the COMAH major-accident regime, hold an environmental permit and take part in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. You then have to meet the quality standards and excise duty that attach to the fuels you make. This journey walks you through that path in the order you will live it, from working out which rules apply through to checking you have everything in place.
It does not give you the step-by-step instructions or the figures — those live in the guides it points to. It shows you where you are, why each stage matters, and which guide to open next.
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Work out which regulations apply to you
Start by getting the picture right. A refinery, a coke works and a smaller refined-products plant share the same core of major-hazard, environmental and product duties, but the COMAH tier and the permit and ETS scope turn on the substances and capacities you hold. Working this out first tells you which gateways you must satisfy before you operate. Use the router guide to find your route before you commit.
Which coke and petroleum manufacturing regulations apply to your business
Work out which rules apply to your installation. A reference guide that routes you from the major-hazard and environmental foundation to the fuel-quality and duty rules.
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Set up a safe major-hazard installation
This is the heart of it. Risk-assess the whole operation and control exposure under COSHH. Zone and control explosive atmospheres under DSEAR. Satisfy the COMAH major-accident regime — safety report, major-accident-prevention policy, safety-management system and on-site emergency plan — and work with the Competent Authority. Hold the environmental permit for the installation. Set up your UK Emissions Trading Scheme monitoring, reporting and allowances. And meet your work-equipment, fire, insurance, equality and data protection duties. Several of these are operating gateways, so build them in from the design stage.
Set up and run a safe oil refinery or coke works
The universal spine for a major-hazard installation — health and safety, COSHH, DSEAR explosive atmospheres, work equipment, fire, the COMAH major-accident regime, the environmental permit, the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, insurance, equality and data protection.
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Meet the fuel-quality and duty rules
The fuels you make carry their own rules. Petrol and diesel must meet the statutory motor fuel quality standards — sulphur and composition limits, monitored by OPSS — and the mineral oils you produce are subject to hydrocarbon oil (excise) duty, with HMRC approval, duty-suspension arrangements and accounting. These sit on top of the operational duties, so plan for the HMRC approval and the fuel-quality testing as you commission.
Meet motor fuel quality and hydrocarbon oil duty
The statutory fuel-quality standards for the petrol and diesel you supply, and hydrocarbon oil (excise) duty — HMRC approval, duty suspension and accounting — for the mineral oils you make.
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Verify you have covered everything
Once the moving parts are in motion, take a step back and check the whole picture holds together. A compliance checklist lets you confirm, in one place, that each obligation — safe operation and major-accident control, environmental permit and emissions, and the product and duty rules — is genuinely met rather than assumed. Use it as your readiness review before you operate, and come back to it as your plant and product slate change.
Coke and petroleum manufacturer: compliance checklist
Verify you have covered everything — safe operation and the COMAH major-accident regime, the environmental permit and UK ETS, and the fuel-quality and duty rules.
You will also need the general business set-up duties
Alongside the sector-specific path above, every manufacturing business carries general obligations that apply regardless of trade and are just as compulsory. As you build the business you will also need to:
- protect the people who work for you — meet your workplace health and safety duties, including the COSHH and DSEAR assessments that are central on a refinery.
- hold employers' liability insurance once you take anyone on.
- handle personal data lawfully — most businesses must complete data protection registration with the ICO.
- meet your fire safety duties for the premises, alongside the process-safety regime.
These general duties run in parallel with the sector path rather than after it, so set them up as you establish the business. The safe-installation spine and the compliance checklist bring the core duties together so you can confirm they are covered.
Where this leaves you
You now have the shape of the whole task: work out which rules apply, set up a safe major-hazard installation, meet the fuel-quality and duty rules, and verify the lot. Work the guides in order and you will have a clear, defensible position before you operate.