Petrochemicals Ltd

Petrochemicals Limited was a company established in 1946 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Petrocarbon Limited. The aim of the new company was to construct a plant to operate the Catarole Process, which had been developed by Petrocarbon, and was used to produce chemicals from petroleum refining that would usually be produced from coal tar. The new plant was to be established at Carrington near to the Manchester Ship Canal and construction would be underway by 1949.

By 1951 the plant was completed and would be operated by Petrochemicals until 1955 when it was purchased by Shell Chemicals. Petrochemicals would continue as a subsidiary of Shell for some time until operations were transferred to Shell Chemicals at which point it would be dissolved. By the 1980s Carrington site was winding down and would close in 2007.