ExxonMobil Expands Chemical Production in Baytown Facility

Exxon Mobil Corp. has launched two new chemical production units at its manufacturing facility in Baytown, Texas, entering a new chemical market with linear alpha olefins production.

The $2 billion expansion is part of ExxonMobil’s long-term growth plans to deliver higher-value products from its US Gulf Coast refining and chemical facilities, the company said in a news release Tuesday.

ExxonMobil’s new linear alpha olefins unit will produce 350,000 tons per year of Elevexx-branded products, marking ExxonMobil’s entry into the market. Linear alpha olefins are used in plastic packaging, high-performing engine and industrial oils, and other applications, as well as building blocks for surfactants, which reduce surface tension for cleaning and industrial uses, and drag-reducing agents, which allow crude to flow through pipelines more efficiently, it noted.

“With startup of these two new lines, ExxonMobil is delivering high-value materials for a variety of products that society depends on every day,” said Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Product Solutions. “We achieved excellent safety performance by leveraging our expertise to plan and execute large projects, while providing meaningful investment in the US Gulf Coast.”

ExxonMobil said its new performance polymers line will produce 400,000 metric tons per year of Vistamaxx and Exact-branded polymer modifiers, which can enhance the performance of a broad range of chemical products used to make automotive parts, construction materials, hygiene and personal care products, and various packaging applications. Vistamaxx can increase the durability of consumer products like reusable containers to extend their life while also allowing for higher recycled content, while Exact can help meet the growing demand in the auto industry for thinner, lighter-weight parts that improve fuel efficiency, according to the release.

ExxonMobil’s Baytown facility is one of the largest integrated and most technologically advanced refining and petrochemical complexes in the world, according to ExxonMobil. Founded in 1919, ExxonMobil’s Baytown area operations sit approximately 3,400 acres along the Houston Ship Channel, about 25 miles east of Houston. They include a refinery, a chemical plant, an olefins plant, a plastics plant, and a global technology center.

UK Licenses Award for Potential CCS Projects

Meanwhile, ExxonMobil’s Low Carbon Solutions business was awarded four licenses to test for potential locations to store captured carbon dioxide emissions underneath the United Kingdom’s North Sea by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the company said in a separate news release.

ExxonMobil said it is partnering with Shell on three of the licenses and Neptune Energy on the fourth. The licenses are off the east coast of England. If the assessments prove successful, ExxonMobil will apply for permission to develop the carbon storage projects, which would support the UK’s ambition to store more than 50 million metric tons of carbon annually by 2050.

According to the NSTA, the areas included in the licensing round, a mix of depleted oil and gas reservoirs and saline aquifers, cover about 4,630 square miles (12,000 square kilometers) and could store up to 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2030, which is equivalent to about 10 percent of the UK’s emissions in 2021.

“These awards will allow us to leverage our unique CCS [carbon capture and storage], subsurface, and project management expertise to help the UK achieve its net-zero ambitions”, ExxonMobil’s UK Low Carbon Solutions Business Lead Michael Foley said.

ExxonMobil noted that it is investing $17 billion in lower emission initiatives from 2022 to 2027, including its efforts to scale up CCS to help reduce emissions in its operations and for third parties.

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