View Full Version : How much fuel does Heathrow use each day ??
spitfire747
29th Jul 2002, 08:54
Sitting on my bmi A321 yesterday at Heathrow waiting for a stand to become vacant and watching all the planes landing and taking off i wondered to myself.... I wonder how much fuel Heathrow uses each day, month and year... where des it come from, is it piped in to the airfield
Anybody know ??
:)
cargosales
29th Jul 2002, 13:37
Spitfire 747
Don't know about LHR specifically but the world figure is around 62 billion US gallons of jet fuel a year! Incredible!!
Cheers
CS
Thames - Mersey Pipeline System
The Thames - Mersey pipeline is owned by a consortium of oil companies comprising BP, Chevron, Fina, Mobil, Shell and Texaco. It was originally constructed between 1965 and 1968 and was extended in 1984. It is a multiproduct system of some 510 kilometers in length and supplies oil from coastal refineries and storage terminals to the UK's inland population centres.
From the south, the system (known as the South, or T-K Line) transports fuels northwards from Thames Haven and Coryton refineries on the River Thames to major terminal complexes at Buncefield in Hertfordshire and at Kingsbury in Warwickshire.
From the north, the system is supplied from Stanlow refinery and delivers fuel southwards (known as the North, or Mersey to Buncefield, or M-B Line) to terminals at Kingsbury, Northampton and Buncefield. In addition, oil products originating from refineries in west Wales enter the system at Kingsbury and are pumped southwards to Buncefield.
The West London system is dedicated to the onward transportation of aviation fuel to London's main airports. It comprises a large storage terminal and pump station at Buncefield, supplying Heathrow airport and a further section linking Longford to the Walton Gatwick system.
The total length of the West London pipelines is some 110 kilometers and the aviation storage tanks at Buncefield have a working capacity in excess of 60 million litres. The system is very heavily loaded during the summer months, when airport demand for aviation fuel is at its peak. Therefore all essential maintenance work is scheduled for winter periods, and special contingency measures are taken to ensure that any equipment failures can be repaired promptly with minimum loss of pipeline capacity.
West London Pipeline
http://www.salemautomation.net/pipelines/images/line5.gif
South-East Pipeline
http://www.salemautomation.net/pipelines/images/line2.gif
spitfire747
29th Jul 2002, 16:00
Thankyou so much for that reply, i guess it answered everything i needed to know
Cheers, Spitty :-)
captchunder
29th Jul 2002, 17:27
Wonder what the pipelines security is like?
Not planning anything, just wandering...
canberra
29th Jul 2002, 18:10
good point! back in the mid 80s a pumping station on the nato pipeline in belgium got bombed by terrorists.
I'd be a lot more worried about Canvey island and the Montgomerie.
EGCC4284
29th Jul 2002, 23:32
At EGCC, about 3,000,000 litre's a day.
We do not give out green shield stamps or air miles.:p :p :p :p
Woodman
30th Jul 2002, 06:59
I know that backin the olden days of the 70s Gatwick received fuel by rail - up to 9 trains a week.
How does Stansted get their fuel and when will the pipeline go there?
Canvey Island
No. of tanks: 100; heated: 62
Total storage capacity: 300,000m3
The terminal is connected to the UK Oil Pipeline Networks (UKOP and GPSS) and is capable of delivering product throughout the UK including the three major airports - Heathrow, Gatwick and
Stansted.
Ludwig
30th Jul 2002, 15:37
Does this set up have anything to do with thePLUTO line?
UKOP is the civilian UK Oil Pipeline system. GPSS is the Government Pipeline and Storage System feeding the military etc.
canberra
1st Aug 2002, 18:11
pluto(pipeline under the ocean) was got rid of before ve day. apparently there is pump from it still in situ at the uk end.
spitfire747
2nd Aug 2002, 08:08
cheers guys I am truly amazed, thanks for all you info
PAXboy
2nd Aug 2002, 19:50
It would seem that the system relies upon the upstream storage capacity of Buncefield (about eight miles from me) and others for emergency capacity. Naturally having two pipelines to EGCC helps a great deal.
What is the typical storage capacity (in litres or hours of supply) at Perry Oaks, should both pipelines fail?