ExxonMobil and Abu Dhabi

Clockwise from upper left: 1) The impact of floodwaters that inundated the Beaumont Chemical Plant can be
seen in this view taken from the adjacent refinery looking east. The plant’s administration building is at the
upper left of the photo. 2) The same shot after water was pumped off the grounds and operations restored. 3)
The area around the administration building after cleanup is a far different sight today than 4) the way it looked
just after Hurricane Ike, which caused water levels to rise more than 10 feet in some locations.
Landfall
Early Saturday morning, the center
of Ike surged through Galveston
Bay and up the Houston Ship
Channel. By dawn, more than 90
percent of the region was without
power. Historic Galveston and
communities all along the coast
sustained widespread damage.
The Beaumont Chemical Plant, on
what’s called the “wet side” of the
storm, was impacted with more
than 11 feet of storm surge.
“When people saw the damage
here, they thought we would
be down for years,” says Dick
Townsend, Beaumont Chemical
Plant manager. “By Saturday
afternoon, we had a small group
of workers inside, making sure
there were no leaks or spills.
Damage assessment crews
moved in the following day.”
Almost every part of the plant
was damaged, and anything
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electrical that was lower than
10 feet from the ground was
destroyed.
“We had to replace approximately
5,000 instruments, 2,000
valves, 800 pumps, 700 motors,
650 junction boxes, 500 online
analyzers, 45 air conditioners
and 25 switch-gear buildings,”
Townsend says. “We removed
13 million pounds of debris and
used more than 300 generators
for temporary power while we
were doing all the work.”
Business continuity
“The Beaumont Chemical Plant
is a critical supplier of polyalpha
olefins,” says John Lyon,
Synthetics vice president. “PAOs
are the basestock that our customers
use to blend high-quality
lubricants for heavy machinery,
such as the gearboxes of the
giant wind turbines used to gen-
erate electricity. The plant also
produces synthetic basestock
used in Mobil 1.”
A nonstop effort by the various
emergency groups and regional
response members in Dallas
managed the recovery, held
supply networks together and
advised global customers on
what to expect. The companies
that blend and market synthetic
lubricants routinely keep some
amount of basestock in reserve,
but would they have enough to
last until the Beaumont plant was
back on stream?
“Given the inventory levels
of some of our lubes manufacturing
customers,” Lyon says,
“we began allocating our own
inventory and working with them
to develop options to maintain
supplies to their customers.”
As many as 2,000 people
worked in shifts around the clock
to repair the Specialties units at
the Beaumont Chemical Plant.
“The storm hit in mid-September,”
Lyon recalls, “and by early
December both the Synthetics
and the Catalyst units at the
chemical plant were back on
line. We began increasing allocations,
and by mid-January, we
were back to 100 percent.”
Efficient manufacturing
Once the Synthetics and Catalyst
units were running again, they
performed extremely reliably, and
that helped increase inventories
faster than anyone expected.
“In most cases, we replaced
damaged equipment with newer
and more efficient technology,”
Townsend says. “Our goal was
to come back strong, and we
did. At least in terms of the electrical
system, we have a brand
new plant.” the Lamp