The Serallo industrial area and the ceramics sector mark the new identity of the port

In I967 an oil refinery was constructed in the Serallo industrial area together with a plant for the production of caprolactam. This marked the beginning of a period which saw the Port of Castellón take on a new identity. The industrial area was extended later by the addition of a power station. Added to this the spectacularly rapid development of the ceramics sector in the Province of Castellón signified a radical change in the economic activity in the province opening up a promising future.   

The initial refining capacity of the new plant was three million tons annually. This was increased to four million tons in 1972 and six million in 1980. The company was originally named ‘Esso Petróleos Españoles’ and was granted permission by the Ministry of Industry to build and operate an oil refinery in Castellón connected to a plant for the production of caprolactam. The original shareholders were the Exxon Corporation (ESSO) and the ‘Banco Español de Crédito’ (Banesto), each with 50% of the company. Banesto, however, gradually bought up the Esso share until in 1974 it became an exclusively Spanish company and was renamed ‘Petroleo del Mediterráneo’ (Petromed).

In April 1988 an agreement of cooperation was signed between Petromed and British Petroleum which lead to the founding of a joint company with 50% for each party under the name of BPMed, for the commercialisation of petroleum products in Spain with the BP brand name. In 1991 BP took over 92.77% of the shares and in 1994 the company took on a new format under the name BP Oil España.  The construction and consolidation of the refinery, the only one in the Valencian region, profoundly influenced the development of the port, being its single most important client. Though the ceramics industry in the surrounding towns, Onda, l’Alcora and Vila-real, remains the second most important source of business.