Special to The Southeast Texas Business Journal
For more than a century, ExxonMobil has operated in Southeast Texas, safely and reliably producing the energy and products essential for modern life. As our industry continues to evolve and develop innovative initiatives to meet consumer’s needs, ExxonMobil recognizes society’s dual challenge: addressing the growing demand for accessible energy, while making continuous efforts to reduce environmental impacts.
The ExxonMobil Beaumont Refinery is one part of ExxonMobil's integrated petrochemical complex in Southeast Texas. Alongside the Beaumont Polyethylene (BPEP), Chemical Plant (BMCP) and Lubricants Blending & Packaging Plant (LBPP), the over 2,000 ExxonMobil employees and contractors work every day to manufacture products that support societal needs while implementing technologies to minimize environmental impact.
The Beaumont Refinery processes 366,000 barrels of crude per day and produces 2.8 billion gallons of gasoline annually. Refinery distillation and conversion units process the crude into products, such as gasoline, diesel or jet fuel, or transfer it for further processing at the BMCP to produce base-stocks for future destinations, including BPEP and LBPP.
Increasing demand and tight supply has resulted in higher fuel prices for consumers and ExxonMobil is responding to help maximize fuel supply. The Beaumont Refinery Expansion project, known locally as BLADE, will increase local refining capacity by 65% or 250,000 barrels per day – the equivalent of adding a new medium-sized refinery in Beaumont. BLADE is the largest U.S. refining capacity expansion in a decade, and upon anticipated start-up in the first quarter of 2023, the project will increase ExxonMobil’s total U.S. Gulf Coast refining capacity by 17%.
“Our operations at the Beaumont Refinery are essential to ensure societal needs are being met,” said Rozena Dendy, ExxonMobil Beaumont Refinery plant manager.
Dendy oversees safe, reliable operations and environmental performance improvements at the Beaumont made possible through over $1 billion invested in multiple projects and technologies to reduce emissions over the past 16 years. These projects include the 2005 installations of a wet gas scrubber to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions, and three cogeneration units to more efficiently generate power while reducing nitrogen oxide emissions. During the February 2021 winter storm, the cogeneration units allowed ExxonMobil to export more than 200 megawatts back to the electricity grid – enough to power 140,000 homes.
In March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed the Beaumont Refinery among 93 U.S. manufacturing plants that earned the agency’s ENERGY STAR certification in 2021. ENERGY STAR certification signifies the Beaumont Refinery’s status within the top 25% of petroleum refineries nationwide for energy efficiency and that the Refinery meets strict energy efficiency performance levels set by the EPA.
ENERGY STAR certified plants are verified to be among the most energy-efficient plants within their industries. Together, they prevented more than 5 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector, which is responsible for nearly a third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Since 2019, the Beaumont Refinery has taken actions to reduce operational energy intensity and achieved the site’s best-ever intensity level in 2021 – resulting in a 13% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, normalized for refinery throughput, compared to 2019 (equivalent to about 140,000 cars off the road) according to the Solomon Industry Survey. The survey, conducted by Solomon Associates, provides data-driven, strategic insight from across the energy industry, leading to greater efficiency, reliability, and profitability.
“While we recognize the importance of our operations on global market supply, we place great emphasis on our efforts to protect the safety and health of our workforce, the community, and the environment,” Dendy said.
The petrochemical production process can sometimes result in excess gases and companies like ExxonMobil utilize flares to safely burn these hydrocarbons and prevent them from entering the atmosphere. In the past three years, ExxonMobil has completed a net flare gas recovery project to allow sites to recover previously flared gas into the fuel system. This technology has in part helped achieve a 36% flaring reduction at the refinery compared to 2020 levels.
“With the support of our world-class workforce, alongside advanced technology, our refinery can continue doing our part to make energy more affordable and accessible while maintaining the highest standards for environmental care,” Dendy said.
