ExxonMobil set for $2bn Exxonmobil Baytown expansion project

ExxonMobil will move ahead with a $2 billion investment for the Exxonmobil Baytown expansion project at the ExxonMobil Baytown Complex in Texas.

The expansion project at the Exxonmobil Baytown refinery, which will generate nearly 2,000 Exxonmobil Baytown jobs during the construction stage, will see the installation of a new polymer production plant with a capacity of around 400,000 tons of the company’s Vistamaxx polymers a year.

The Exxonmobil Baytown expansion project will also help ExxonMobil foray into linear alpha olefins market through a second olefins production plant that will produce close to 350,000 tons of linear alpha olefins per year. The existing olefins plant at the ExxonMobil Baytown Complex, which has been in production since 1979, is claimed to be among the largest ethylene plants in the world.

The ExxonMobil Baytown Complex is believed to be the largest integrated petrochemical complex in the US. Opened in 1919, the Exxonmobil Baytown refinery sits on nearly 3,400 acres along the Houston Ship Channel.

The ExxonMobil Baytown Complex features a refinery, chemical plant, olefins production plant, plastics production plant and also a global technology center.

The Exxonmobil Baytown refinery has a production capacity of 584,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The chemical plant of the ExxonMobil Baytown Complex produces products like butyl and polypropylene while the plastics plant produces high- and low-density polyethylene.

The Exxonmobil Baytown expansion project, which is being undertaken apart from the company’s 2017 Growing the Gulf initiative, is expected to begin production in 2022.

Commenting on the Exxonmobil Baytown expansion project, Darren W. Woods – ExxonMobil chairman and CEO, said: “Our Baytown chemical expansion will put us in a solid position to maximize the value of increased Permian Basin production and will deliver higher-demand, higher-value products produced at our Gulf Coast refining and chemical facilities.

“Global demand for chemicals is expected to be greater than energy demand growth and GDP growth over the next 20 years.”