Essar to install hydrogen-ready furnace at Stanlow refinery
Oil and gas company spends $61mn on UK’s first 100pc hydrogen-fuelled refinery furnace at industrial complex in northeast England
Oil and gas company Essar is investing £45mn ($61mn) in the UK’s first refinery-based furnace capable of running on 100pc hydrogen. Installation of the furnace at the Stanlow refining complex in northwest England is subject to planning approval but is expected to start this year, with full operation scheduled for 2023. The furnace will initially run on natural gas but, from 2026, will source its fuel from a blue hydrogen plant under development at Stanlow by Vertex Hydrogen, a joint venture between Essar and technology company Progressive Energy. The blue hydrogen plant is part of a £1bn investment by Essar over the next five years and forms a central element of the Hynet North West decarbon
Also in this section
5 December 2025
European Commission highlights rapid growth of Chinese production this year, as it retains strict procurement rules in latest European Hydrogen Bank subsidy auction
2 December 2025
Oil major cites deteriorating demand and a planning debacle as it abandons one of UK’s largest blue hydrogen projects
1 December 2025
Project at Emden in northwest Germany due online in 2027, but wider ramp-up of clean hydrogen sector in Germany will require overhaul of government policy, company warns
25 November 2025
The northwest African country’s vision of integrating green power, molecules and steel is alive and kicking, and serves as a reminder of hydrogen’s transformative potential






