2012 — Number 1 - ExxonMobil

An ExxonMobil publication 

A day in the life: 

Baton Rouge complex 

Advances in the subsea 

Secrets of synthetics 

PLUS 

Fighting malaria 

Energy and medicine 

Environmental restoration 

OFC1 

2012 – Number 1

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Day in the life 

Inside the gates 

at Baton Rouge 

3 28 5 

15 

Rex W. Tillerson 

Chairman and CEO 

Mark W. Albers 

Senior Vice President 

Michael J. Dolan 


Donald D. Humphreys 


Andrew P. Swiger 


Kenneth P. Cohen 

Vice President-Public and Government Affairs 

David S. Rosenthal 

Vice President-Investor Relations and Secretary 

Bob Davis 

Editor 

Pat Gabriel 

GCG Marketing 

Art Director 

Len Shelton 

Photography Coordinator 

Cynthia Solomon 

Production and Distribution Coordinator 

Please address all Lamp correspondence, 

including requests to reproduce any portion 

of the magazine, to the editor at Exxon Mobil 

Corporation, 5959 Las Colinas Blvd., Irving, 

TX 75039-2298. 

In this issue 

3 

Transforming energy 

Oil sands, shale gas and the 

deepwater open new energy frontiers 

5 

Advancing subsea technology 

ExxonMobil uses a toolkit of 

technologies for Arctic and offshore 

field developments 

Upfront 

The Baton Rouge complex is 

a technological marvel where 

safety, cost efficiencies and 

reliability provide value to our 

shareholders. Spanning 2,100 

acres, the facility processes a 

variety of crude oil from around 

the world, producing 26 million 

gallons of refined products and 

19 million pounds of chemical 

products every day. 

Beginning on page 15, a 

series of great photographs 

taken from dawn to dusk will 

show you a typical day at the 

complex, the second largest in 

the United States. 

An ExxonMobil engineer and 

a heart surgeon sat next to 

each other on an airplane and 

struck up a conversation. As 

9 

Building skills 

Training prepares workers 

for incident response 

13 

Turning the tide against malaria 

New vaccine could cut infection rates 

15 

A day in the life 

The Baton Rouge complex 

from dawn to dusk 

they talked about their respective 

fields, they realized that whether 

drilling for oil or performing 

heart surgery, it all comes 

down to pumps and pipes. 

The chance encounter created 

a fascinating collaboration 

melding breakthroughs in energy 

technology and medical research. 

Read more starting on page 28. 

In the Netherlands, ExxonMobil 

is testing leading-edge developments 

that are expected to move 

subsea systems and equipment 

into the next generation. This new 

“toolkit” of subsea technologies 

will provide competitive 

advantages for ExxonMobil 

projects in the ultra deepwater 

and Arctic frontiers. The article 

begins on page 5. 

21 

Restoring the environment 

Remediation services group 

has worldwide perspective 

25 

Testing for the best 

Unique lab enhances safety 

of pipes and connections 

28 

Melding energy and medicine 

A surgeon and drilling engineer 

strike up an unexpected alliance 

For the past 12 years, 

ExxonMobil and the ExxonMobil 

Foundation have committed 

millions of dollars to eradicate 

malaria. The company is helping 

to fast-track vaccines to combat 

the disease, and one – RTS,S – 

shows particular promise. A 

page 13 story describes efforts 

undertaken. 

Plus, a unique laboratory (page 

25) and a Company of the Year 

award for ExxonMobil Chemical 

(page 34). 

We hope you enjoy this issue 

of The Lamp. 

Bob Davis 

Editor 

31 

Synthetic-based lubricants 

ExxonMobil Chemical expands 

its global leadership position 

34 

Panorama 

Business highlights 

from around the world 

2

3 

Technology drives 

energy transformation 

In a keynote address to the 2012 IHS Cambridge 

Energy Research Associates executive 

conference (known as “CERAWeek”) in Houston, 

Exxon Mobil Corporation Chairman and CEO 

Rex W. Tillerson described the importance of 

industry and government fulfilling their respective 

roles and responsibilities in unlocking energy 

resources that new technologies make available. 

Story by Thomas L. Torget 

Mr. Tillerson opened his speech 

by stating that an energy transformation 

is under way in North 

America, and it has worldwide 

implications. “The new sources 

of oil and natural gas our industry 

is developing – and the way 

in which we are doing so – will 

shape their development on a 

global scale,” he said. “We are 

breaking new ground in the 

United States and Canada in the 

safe and responsible production 

of shale gas, tight oil, oil sands 

and ultra deepwater.” 

Tillerson said this transformation 

unfolding in North America 

represents a potential decisive 

shift in the history of energy. 

“New technologies and innovative 

techniques have taken 

sources of energy once labeled 

unconventional, uneconomic 

and inaccessible, and made 

them conventional, economic 

and environmentally responsible,” 

he said. 

He noted that in Canada, 

development of oil sands using 

new technologies is providing 

access to one of the world’s 

largest known reserves of 

energy, enough to fuel today’s 

North American vehicle fleet for 

about 35 years. 

“Across the United States and 

Canada, two more unconventional 

sources – shale gas and 

tight oil – are transforming the 

outlook for energy security as 

well as reshaping global markets 

and supply lines,” he said. 

In his speech, Mr. Tillerson noted how new 

energy sources and high-impact technologies 

contribute to a strong economy. 

“Advances in horizontal directional 

drilling and hydraulic fracturing 

technology have unlocked 

the potential for recovering 

enough natural gas to power the 

U.S. and Canadian economy for 

around a century.” 

New energy developments 

create jobs 

Tillerson said development of 

“unconventional” oil and gas from 

shale and tight rock formations 

collectively supported 600,000 

jobs and contributed more than 

$76 billion to the U.S. gross 

domestic product in 2010. 

He estimated that by 2040, 

natural gas will satisfy more than 

25 percent of global energy 

demand, and natural-gas supplies

from unconventional sources will 

grow by more than 400 percent 

between now and then. 

Tillerson said this historic shift 

that is bringing abundant new 

supplies of natural gas carries 

environmental benefits. “Natural 

gas is cleaner-burning than other 

major energy sources, and this 

will help us meet our shared goals 

for reduced emissions and environmental 

stewardship,” he said. 

“In addition, the future of 

North American energy security 

continues to be transformed by 

advances in deepwater exploration 

and production,” he said. 

“In just over a generation – my 

generation – our industry has 

taken the concept of deepwater 

drilling from drawing board 

to execution, building some of 

the most complex engineering 

marvels in human history. In the 

process, we opened up a new 

frontier for energy production that 

has spread around the world. By 

2040, we expect North American 

and global deepwater production 

to double.” 

Emerging energy 

consensus 

Tillerson explained how this 

energy transformation is changing 

the policy landscape. 

“With our success has come 

a renewed public respect for 

the importance of high-impact 

technologies and the role our 

industry can play in powering 

the broader economy,” he said. 

“A new energy consensus is 

emerging. Policymakers from 

both sides of the political aisle, 

and from around the world, recognize 

that energy is essential 

to growth and progress, and 

that every technological advance 

in our field offers tremendous 

economic and environmental 

opportunities to achieve our 

shared aspirations of hope and 

opportunity for all.” 

Tillerson noted that energy 

policymaking is most effective 

in meeting national goals when 

the deliberation and dialogue are 

driven by open and frank discussions 

of the scientific, economic 

and practical realities that shape 

global energy markets. “For this 

reason, in the decades ahead, 

the successful development of 

conventional, unconventional and 

alternative supplies of energy 

will depend on more than just 

geologic conditions and technological 

innovations,” he said. 

“Success will depend on the 

private and public sectors fulfilling 

their respective responsibilities, 

and working together to build 

a climate of investment in and 

discovery of new technologies. In 

short, government and business 

must both do their part.” 

Roles of industry, 

government 

Tillerson said that industry’s role 

is to unlock and deliver new supplies 

of energy in a safe, secure 

and environmentally responsible 

way. “Our greatest strength is 

developing the technology and 

techniques that maximize value 

while increasing safety, efficiency 

and environmental performance,” 

he said. 

Government’s role is best 

fulfilled when it allows markets 

to operate freely and openly. 

“Sound energy policies do not 

pick winners and losers through 

subsidies or mandates or punitive 

tax policy,” he said. 

Mr. Tillerson concluded his 

remarks by noting that the 

energy industry is continuing 

to engage the public and 

policymakers to increase safety, 

improve performance and build 

regulatory capacity based on 

sound science as the industry 

deploys new and revolutionary 

technologies. 

“Industry and 

government 

have both 

played a role in this great energy 

transformation,” he said. “By 

recognizing our mutual contributions 

in this positive change, we 

can build on our achievements 

and provide a model for the 

world to increase investment, 

innovation, opportunity and 

progress for all.” the Lamp 

Following his address, 

Mr. Tillerson participated 

in an informal questionand-answer 

session with 

energy expert Daniel 

Yergin (right), chairman 

of IHS Cambridge Energy 

Research Associates. 

To learn more 

exxonmobil.com/ 

cera2012 

4

A big leap forward 

in subsea technology 

Subsea Technology Project pursues new systems and 

equipment to prepare ExxonMobil for field development 

in deepwater and Arctic frontiers. 

ExxonMobil is moving subsea technology 

into the next generation. The 

implications will be far-reaching not 

only for the company but the oil and 

gas industry as well. 

Some 20 technology areas are 

being developed within the Subsea 

Technology Project – launched in 

2008 and led by a multidisciplinary 

team of ExxonMobil Upstream 

Research Company and ExxonMobil 

Development Company engineers. 

From leading-edge separators 

(devices that divide oil, gas, seawater, 

etc., produced from a well), 

pumps and de-sanding units to 

long-distance power transmission 

and distribution, the technologies 

have one thing in common: They 

all give ExxonMobil a competitive 

advantage in developing tomorrow’s 

offshore frontiers. 

“Our portfolio of development prospects 

will increasingly include areas 

in waters one to two miles deep 

and beneath remote stretches of the 

frozen Arctic,” says Neal Sosdian, 

project manager, ExxonMobil 

Development. “When the economics 

are right, we want to be ready with 

the technologies to develop these 

prospects, and we want to have people 

who are adept in applying them. 

That’s what the Subsea Technology 

Project will achieve.” 

Sosdian emphasizes that past 

efforts focused on generating individual 

technology components 

as needed. 

5 Story by Mike Long Photography by Robert Seale 

“The goal here is to ensure a 

complete ‘toolkit’ of subsea technologies 

that can be readily 

applied across our entire slate 

of upstream opportunities. 

Our development planners 

can then select which tools 

will deliver the most value 

for a particular prospect.” 

Seafloor innovations 

Most of the technologies 

under development will offer 

capabilities not previously 

available to ExxonMobil subsea 

operations. The effort mainly 

revolves around modification of 

process vessels, machinery and 

electrical equipment commonly used 

on traditional surface facilities above 

water for operation more than a mile 

beneath the surface. Application of 

these technologies on the seafloor 

can make oil and gas reservoirs 

more productive by reducing backpressure 

on subsea wells. 

Mandi Winter, of ExxonMobil 

Development and the project’s 

Subsea Systems lead, says 

research has led to systems that 

can provide a greater level of separation 

in a variety of water depths 

up to the deepest ever developed. 

“Our gravity separator, which 

expands on subsea technology first 

commercially applied only five years 

ago, will be ready by the end of the 

year,” says Winter. 

“Early on, ExxonMobil will have 

Adam Bymaster (left) and Ed Grave, 

ExxonMobil Upstream Research, 

observe low-pressure testing of a pipe 

separator to be employed in the company’s 

innovative subsea compact 

separation system. Low-pressure, 

transparent testing with model fluids 

provides insight into complex fluid 

behavior, such as droplet coalescence 

and the breakdown of foams and 

emulsions shown in the inset.

the option of using it to improve 

recovery rates from existing fields. 

Ultimately, it could have applications 

in developing isolated 

offshore fields in the Arctic and 

reduce or even eliminate the need 

for high-cost surface facilities.” 

Industry firsts 

Several improvements make the 

ExxonMobil subsea gravity separator 

the first of its kind in the 

industry, most notably the capability 

for three-phase separation 

and delivery. 

“We can process a wide variety 

of crude oils and meet target 

specifications on three distinct 

separation products – oil, water 

and gas – on the seafloor,” says 

Ed Grave, ExxonMobil Upstream 

Research separation advisor for 

the project. 

“Existing subsea separators 

were targeted for specific fields 

and must be re-qualified before 

they can be used with confidence 

in other fields that produce 

fluids with different physical 

properties.” 

Grave adds that the 

ExxonMobil subsea separator is 

designed for water depths up to 

about 5,000 feet. 

“At this water depth, our 

separator can process as much 

as 100,000 barrels of oil per day. 

And larger production capacity 

is possible in shallower water.” 

Use in even deeper water is 

also possible due to vessel-manufacturing 

advances beyond the 

original design. 

10,000 feet deep 

However, the project’s showcase 

technological advance for ultra 

deepwater is a state-of-the-art 

compact separation system, which 

can be applied in water depths of 

10,000 feet and beyond. 

The separation system features 

two novel components: an 

inlet slug-catcher for gas/liquid 

separation and a horizontal pipe 

separator for oil/water separation. 

Depending on the field, these 

components can be coupled 

with cyclonic devices that rely 

on centrifugal forces several 

thousand times the force of 

gravity to drive separation. 

“The large vessels associated 

with gravity systems cannot 

withstand the high hydrostatic 

pressures nor the high well 

pressures found in very deep 

water,” says Grave. “That is 

not the case with our compact 

separation system.” 

Grave notes that this new 

gravity/cyclonic hybrid approach 

will be the industry’s most 

robust and comprehensive 

subsea compact separation 

system, capable of handling 

6

Two miles down 

ExxonMobil’s high-capacity 

subsea compact separation 

system is designed to process 

up to 120,000 barrels of oil per 

day in water 10,000 feet deep 

and beyond. The system design 

can be tailored to meet a variety 

of requirements for exporting 

and/or injecting the separated oil, 

gas and water. In this illustration, 

a system of flow lines and risers 

transports the produced oil and 

gas to a floating production, 

storage and offloading vessel, 

while the water is re-injected to 

increase reservoir pressure and 

boost oil and gas production. 

7 

Illustration by Charles Wiese 

higher production rates while meeting 

the challenges of flow fluctuations, 

heavy oil and sand. 

The compact separation team at 

ExxonMobil Upstream Research, led 

by Adam Bymaster, is pursuing multiple 

ExxonMobil patents around the 

component and system innovations. 

Several ideas are also expected to 

find useful applications within more 

conventional topside facilities. 

Qualification milestones 

Meanwhile, testing of the gravity 

separator is scheduled for 

completion at ProLabNL in the 

Netherlands this summer, followed 

by tests of the compact separation 

equipment. ProLabNL features the 

world’s largest publicly available 

high-pressure flow loop, which 

allows commercial-size testing of 

process equipment. The flow loop 

was designed with the ExxonMobil 

test program in mind. 

“The flow loop enables threephase 

separation tests using crude 

oil, simulated brine water and 

methane,” says Michael Olson, an 

ExxonMobil Upstream Research 

engineer who is managing the 

gravity separator testing and qualification. 

“The flow loop is designed 

for 45,000 barrels per day of 

liquids and more than 100 million 

standard cubic feet per day of 

gas. That has allowed us to study 

our separator design under actual 

operating conditions.” 

Olson notes that due to hazards 

associated with high-pressure methane, 

ProLabNL built the loop outside 

with the appropriate safeguards. 

“Other test facilities are typically 

indoors and use air, carbon dioxide 

or nitrogen as the gas phase for 

safety reasons. While acceptable 

for preliminary studies, these gases 

do not reproduce the physical 

properties you would actually see 

in the field.” 

In addition to influencing the 

flow loop design, Olson says

ExxonMobil has contributed to 

the safety culture of ProLabNL, 

which was founded only three 

years ago. 

“There is mutual respect and 

close collaboration between our 

two organizations, especially 

around safety,” he says. 

“ProLabNL modeled its safety 

program after our Operations 

Integrity Management System. 

They have also invited safety 

experts from ExxonMobil 

Development and the Rotterdam 

refinery to participate in several 

reviews and conduct safetyleadership 

seminars. We work 

together on a daily basis to meet 

our shared objective that Nobody 

Gets Hurt.” 

Working across organizations 

Jim Zimmerman, offshore manager 

at ExxonMobil Upstream 

Research, who oversees the 

research company’s contributions 

to the Subsea Technology Project, 

says the project has generated a 

highly effective level of interchange 

between ExxonMobil’s upstream 

organizations. 

“Both the research and development 

sides have roles to play 

on the same integrated, crosscompany 

project team,” says 

Zimmerman. “This has encouraged 

us to enhance relationships 

across traditional organizational 

boundaries. The engineers from 

the Development Company are 

being exposed to the rigor and 

depth of scientific investigation 

typically associated with researchers, 

and the research engineers 

are gaining a better understanding 

of the business needs and 

the practical side of technology 

application. This collaboration will 

benefit the entire upstream over 

the long term.” 

Zimmerman adds the project 

has also partnered highly experienced 

employees with new 

engineers, including Bymaster 

and Olson. 

“Not only are the newer staff 

getting opportunities to work on 

the cutting edge of technology, 

they’re also learning from seasoned 

engineers that ExxonMobil’s 

total focus on operations integrity 

and reliability drives us to leave 

no stone unturned in technology 

qualification.” 

Value added from R&D 

Lee Tillman, vice president 

of Engineering, ExxonMobil 

Development, says the Subsea 

Technology Project will add to the 

company’s global reputation as a 

partner of choice. 

“We can offer a comprehensive 

suite of subsea technologies to 

go with our project-execution 

expertise, our reservoir-simulation 

know-how and other competitive 

advantages to fit a specific 

opportunity that both we and a 

resource holder want developed.” 

Tillman notes that ExxonMobil 

regularly stresses in its communications 

to shareholders the 

importance of the company’s 

strong investment in research, 

development and technology 

application of more than 

$1 billion annually. 

Michael Olson (left), ExxonMobil 

Upstream Research, and René Ubachs, 

ProLabNL, examine a water sample from 

the subsea separator qualification trials 

in the Netherlands. ExxonMobil and 

ProLabNL jointly developed safe work 

practices for the high-pressure tests, 

including sampling procedures and personal-protective 

equipment requirements. 

“The subsea technologies 

generated by this project represent 

the types of value-added 

products made possible by that 

investment. They are broad and 

far-reaching and will greatly benefit 

ExxonMobil’s forward-looking 

portfolio of resource-development 

opportunities around 

the world.” the Lamp 

Providing leadership for the Subsea Technology Project are (from left) 

Jim Zimmerman, ExxonMobil Upstream Research; Mandi Winter, 

ExxonMobil Development; and Neal Sosdian, project manager, 

ExxonMobil Development. The background photo shows ProLabNL’s 

unique high-pressure flow loop for subsea separator testing. 

8

9 

Program 

builds skills 

for incident response 

ExxonMobil employees sharpen skills 

in classrooms and on the water. 

The importance of always being 

prepared to effectively manage 

events that one hopes never 

occur cannot be overestimated. 

From the drilling of a well to the 

delivery of petroleum products, 

ExxonMobil’s Operations Integrity 

Management System provides 

the framework and foundation 

for managing risk and achieving 

excellence in performance. 

But while every effort is made 

to avoid incidents, energy companies 

must be prepared to 

rapidly respond if they occur. 

Examples include spills, the 

effects of hurricanes and floods, 

or accidents involving hazardous 

or dangerous materials. 

ExxonMobil has long had 

incident-training systems in place, 

including working with specialized 

response contractors as well 

as conducting classroom and 

on-site drills. But, in addition to 

those programs, a special training 

course now provides employees 

even more skills for planning and 

managing the many details associated 

with an effective response. 

Such skills provide the basis for 

operating an “Incident Command 

Story by Thomas L. Torget Photography by Robert Seale

(Large photo, above) 

Students practice deploying 

containment boom in Humble 

Canal in Paradis, Louisiana. 

The training area is part of a 

former company exploration 

and production operation. 

(At left, top) Unloading boom 

in preparation for deployment. 

(At left, bottom) Class 

members use a belt skimmer 

to recover simulated 

oil captured within the 

containment boom. 

System,” a process developed 

by the U.S. Federal Emergency 

Management Agency, and used 

extensively by the U.S. Coast 

Guard and other organizations. 

“Our three-day course pre- 

sents the fundamentals of managing 

an incident and provides 

an overview of key response 

activities,” explains Tommy 

Tomblin, oil-spill response advisor 

for ExxonMobil Refining & 

Supply Company. 

“We cover everything from 

employee and public safety 

to government relations, risk 

management, and the use of 

skimmers, dispersants and other 

equipment used during oil spills. 

We focus on what’s practical. We 

explain the factors that must be 

considered, such as mobilizing 

equipment or other assets over 

long distances, when managing 

ExxonMobil’s response to an 

incident. When students complete 

this course, they have the 

basic training required for incident 

commanders and operations 

supervisors on ExxonMobil 

spill-management teams.” 

Focus on ExxonMobil 

operations 

Tomblin and Brian Hansen, 

emergency response coordinator 

for ExxonMobil Production 

Company, jointly developed 

this in-house program because 

similar training offered by third 

parties was not of sufficient 

quality and scope to meet the 

company’s needs. 

“We saw value in a training 

program that was specifically 

focused on ExxonMobil’s operations 

and organization,” says 

Hansen. “We also recognized 

10

Instructor Tommy Tomblin, oil-spill response 

advisor for ExxonMobil Refining & Supply 

Company, describes the skimming technique. 

11 

What they’re saying 

“The greatest benefit is that we gain skills that can 

assist any ExxonMobil company anywhere in the 

world. That creates, in essence, a global-response 

team for the corporation. With an organization like 

ours that operates worldwide, that’s a valuable asset.” 

Gary Beuk 

Senior Advisor, Emergency Preparedness & Response 

Imperial Oil Limited 

“This course really conveys how difficult it can be to 

manage a spill with all the variables presented by 

geography and Mother Nature. Everything about the 

course is impressive, and I recommend it highly to 

other employees.” 

Scott Bailey 

Fleet Services Manager 

SeaRiver Maritime, Inc. 

“This was an education like none other. In my 40 

years with ExxonMobil, this is the most effective training 

I’ve received on oil-spill response management.” 

Cally Boyea 

Lead Country Manager 

Esso (Barbados) SRL

The hands-on 

course covers 

risk management, 

employee and public 

safety, government 

relations and 

practical incidentresponse 

training. 

that, to be useful, the training 

must include both classroom 

instruction and hands-on experience. 

The hands-on component 

is critical because it drives home 

the lesson that theory and reality 

don’t always mesh.” 

Training sessions began 

in 2009, and more than 400 

employees have participated 

so far. Most sessions are conducted 

at a dedicated company 

training facility in Paradis, 

Louisiana, about 20 miles south 

of New Orleans. 

Training goes global 

Initial classes focused on 

employees in the United States 

and Canada, including classes 

on Arctic response that were 

held in Canada. This year, 

Tomblin and Hansen are taking 

their training to ExxonMobil 

employees in Singapore, 

Australia, Russia (Sakhalin) 

and the United Kingdom. 

Participants come from all 

areas of the company, including 

exploration, production, refining, 

marketing, pipeline and tanker 

operations. Attendees range 

from lead country managers to 

technicians. 

“We’re not training any one 

person to be an expert in any 

one thing,” explains Tomblin. “We 

train them to be part of an overall 

incident-management team. We 

want them to understand the 

expectations that will be placed 

on such a team. Everyone 

affected by an oil spill or other 

incident will have demands. This 

includes local citizens, government 

agencies, elected officials, 

the news media, other businesses 

that may be affected and 

so on. We try to give participants 

the big picture so they’ll understand 

the wide range of issues 

they will face when they serve on 

an incident-management team.” 

Classroom instruction includes 

presentations by subject-matter 

experts on such topics as hazard 

recognition, spill containment 

and recovery, protective 

equipment, decontamination 

procedures, environmental sensitivities, 

oil-spill behavior and 

effects, risk management, news 

media relations, government 

affairs and use of dispersants. 

Exposure to these topics gives 

participants a broad understanding 

of the many facets involved 

in managing a response. 

When theory meets reality 

Two days of classroom sessions 

are followed by a day of outdoor 

hands-on training deploying 

oil-spill response equipment. 

It’s here that participants learn 

firsthand that theory and reality 

often conflict. 

“In real-world deployment, terrain, 

weather and operating conditions 

can vary widely, and can 

change quickly,” says Hansen. 

“In the classroom, we explain 

how booms, skimmers and 

other equipment are designed 

to work. Then we go out on the 

water and deploy that equipment. 

Participants see firsthand 

that conditions can change 

quickly. Factors such as rough 

seas, changing tides, high winds 

and freezing temperatures can 

complicate the best of plans.” 

Hansen recalls a recent session 

involving placement of 

a long string of containment 

boom. “At 9 a.m., everybody 

was enthusiastic about getting 

that boom into the water. But 

by noon, they had an understanding 

for how difficult it can 

be. Doing it 

themselves 

was the 

best way for 

To learn more 


emergencyresponse 

them to learn that laying boom 

is a physically demanding and 

complex task. From an incidentmanagement 

perspective, that’s 

an extremely important lesson.” 

“Of course, we hope our 

students never have to use the 

knowledge and skills we give 

them,” Tomblin adds. “But if they 

do, we know that every one of 

them is capable and will do the 

right thing if called upon.” the Lamp 

12

Twelve years. More than $110 

million dollars. 

That’s the commitment 

ExxonMobil and the ExxonMobil 

Foundation have made to fight 

malaria – one of the world’s 

deadliest diseases. 

Transmitted by mosquitoes, 

the preventable disease can 

damage the nervous system, kidneys 

and liver. Most of the more 

than 650,000 annual malaria 

deaths are among children in 

Africa under 5 years old. 

For the past decade, there’s 

been considerable success in the 

fight against malaria, with a drop 

of more than 25 percent in the 

number of global deaths and a 

reduction in cases in some countries 

of more than 50 percent. 

With major operations in 

Africa, ExxonMobil is in the fight 

for the long term, supporting 

numerous initiatives to prevent 

and treat the disease. Now that 

several promising vaccines are in 

13 Story by Tracy Torma 

Vaccine may turn tide 

in fight against malaria 

clinical trials, there is even greater 

hope for eradicating this disease. 

From business imperative 

to social commitment 

ExxonMobil’s support has helped 

medical partners, international 

organizations and local governments 

reach more than 66 million 

people and distribute 13 million 

bed nets, 1.7 million doses 

of medication and 878,000 

diagnostic kits. In addition, these 

groups have trained 116,000 

health care workers and counselors 

to assist with prevention 

and treatment efforts. 

“We have funded almost 

every element that is important 

in this fight – from prevention 

programs aimed at controlling 

mosquitoes and destroying their 

habitats to drug and vaccine 

research and raising awareness,” 

says Jim Jones, who manages 

ExxonMobil’s malaria-related 

investments. 

ExxonMobil is a leader in the worldwide 

effort to combat malaria. A promising 

new vaccine could make a difference in 

the fight against the disease. 

Jones says that when the company 

first began heavily investing 

in malaria prevention and treatment 

in 2000, it had a business 

reason to get involved. At the 

time, ExxonMobil was developing 

its Chad/Cameroon project in the 

heart of the continent. 

“We wanted to make sure our 

employees and contractors were 

protected, and our workplace 

program became the gold standard 

among the private sector. 

Because of that, we realized we 

had an obligation to extend the 

effort beyond the workplace, and 

take it into communities in West 

Africa where our employees, 

contractors and suppliers live 

and work.” 

A broad approach 

The types of programs 

ExxonMobil funds are varied. 

These include an awareness 

campaign on the use of bed 

nets in Cameroon, Tanzania and 

Senegal featuring local sports 

figures and celebrities; a partnership 

in Nigeria that supports a 

network of 200 doctors; and a 

consortium in Angola that trains 

community volunteers to educate 

mothers about the use of 

bed nets and how to recognize 

malaria warning signs. 

Idol Gives Back, the American 

Idol charity television show, 

raised money for anti-poverty 

projects in the United States and 

around the world. ExxonMobil 

donated $14 million over a number 

of years to Malaria No More 

as part of the show. A majority 

of the donation helped distribute 

hundreds of thousands of bed 

nets throughout disease-stricken 

communities in Angola. 

The funds also supported 

an innovative program called 

NightWatch, involving TV, radio 

and text messages broadcast in 

Tanzania, Senegal, Cameroon 

and Chad. Renowned artists,

Photo Getty Images, Inc. 

athletes and politicians starred in 

these public service announcements 

reminding millions of 

Africans to sleep under bed nets. 

This effort was lauded by the 

World Petroleum Congress and 

the Global Business Coalition. 

“Idol contestants and 

judges also visited Saint 

Isabel Orphanage and School 

in Luanda, Angola, where 

ExxonMobil provided grants 

for screening, bed nets and 

sanitation improvements,” says 

Michael Finley, who coordinates 

the company’s community 

investments in Africa. 

Supporting vaccine 

development 

One of the most promising 

aspects of the funding is the 

advancement of malaria vaccines. 

Today, ExxonMobil supports 

an initiative to fast-track 

development of these vaccines, 

with the goal of helping to make 

sure they’re available in the developing 

world. 

Through the ExxonMobil 

Malaria Vaccine Advocacy 

Fellowship, malaria scientists 

and clinicians from the United 

States, Europe and Africa are 

learning how to communicate 

progress and challenges related 

to vaccine development so 

that life-saving vaccines can be 

put to use as soon as they are 

approved. 

“We’re also funding studies 

that look at where the malaria 

transmission is the most intense. 

Those could be the first places 

where a vaccine will be used,” 

Jones says. 

“We’ve reached 60 million 

people. But there’s more work to 

be done, and we stand committed 

to the fight,” he says. the Lamp 

A hopeful future 

The most clinically advanced malaria vaccine candidate in the world today is a drug called 

RTS,S. Time and Science magazines heralded it as one of the Top 10 scientific breakthroughs 

of 2011. 

The RTS,S vaccine is now in its final stage of development, with more than 15,000 children 

ages 5 through 17 participating in large-scale clinical trials in seven African countries. If 

all goes as planned, the World Health Organization could release a policy recommending its 

use by next year. If that happens, RTS,S would be the first vaccine ever developed to provide 

immunity against a parasite. 

That’s fantastic news for those who’ve been in the trenches for decades To learn more 

working to combat the disease. “Dozens and dozens of vaccines have 

exxonmobil.com/malaria 

come through our portfolio, but this is the vaccine candidate that has 

made it the farthest through the development process and with the best results,” says Sally 

Ethelston, a PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative researcher involved in the drug’s development. 

“While there’s more to do, RTS,S has cut the number of episodes of malaria by more than 

half compared to a control vaccine. We’re optimistic.” 

14

15 

A day in the life of 

Baton Rouge 

Story by Mike Long 

ExxonMobil’s world-class Baton Rouge refining and petrochemical 

facilities can process more than 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day 

and manufacture 10 billion pounds plus of petrochemicals annually, 

making them a mainstay of the U.S. economy. 

Dawn breaks over the tallest state capitol in the United States 

and the twinkling lights of the Baton Rouge refining and chemical 

complex. The refinery began operations in 1909 on a 225-acre site 

along the Mississippi River, with a petrochemical plant added in 

1940. Today, the complex spreads across 2,100 acres and is the 

second largest in the United States. 

Story by Mike Long Photography by Robert Seale 

Crude oil enters the refinery via these pipelines 

for conversion into hundreds of products that 

help keep the U.S. economy running, including 

3.6 billion gallons of gasoline per year. 

Maurice Sanders, an assistant operator in the refinery, gauges 

the volume of hydrocarbons in a refinery storage tank. The 

complex employs a company and contractor workforce of about 

5,500, representing an annual payroll exceeding $325 million.

These fluid catalytic cracking units refine heavier components 

of crude oil into heating oil, diesel and gasoline-blending components. 

The first fluid catalytic cracking unit was built in Baton 

Rouge in the 1940s, enabling production of 100-octane aviation 

gasoline to support the Allied forces’ victory in World War II. 

Michael Galloway, step-up supervisor, monitors refinery 

operations from the state-of-the-art computerized control 

center. An estimated 7 billion bits of information flow 

through the center’s computers every second. 

16

The refinery’s new Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel unit produces cleanerburning 

fuel that decreases sulfur content 95 percent compared to past 

diesel blends. This fuel is used to run everything from tractor-trailers, 

buses and marine vessels to backhoes, cranes, automobiles and trains. 

17 

Claudia Roldan, refinery Light-Ends coordinator, 

uses a handheld device to monitor 

equipment. Automation continues to improve 

safety, cost efficiency and reliability. 

The Baton Rouge complex contains a network of pipe ranging from more than 

7 feet in diameter down to lines less than an inch wide. If these lines were connected 

end-to-end, they would extend more than 10,000 miles. 

The refinery can process many different crude oils from around the world, from the 

heaviest to the lightest. It also has leading-edge technology that enables it to process 

growing volumes of oil produced from the booming shale plays across the country 

and from oil-sands projects in Canada. 

In this picture, Chris Lollar, an assistant operator, starts his day at the refinery.

Michael Hotaling and Mandy Graham of the Baton Rouge Site Utilities 

group confer at ExxonMobil’s 5A gas-turbine generator, part of the site’s 

cogeneration facility. The facility generates enough electricity to fully 

power the complex plus 30,000 homes on the regional power grid. 

Mark Verbois, process operator, inspects a sample 

of isopropyl alcohol produced in the chemical plant 

for use in rubbing alcohol, coatings, electronics, 

and other industrial and consumer products. 

Photo by Janice Rubin 

18

19 

Tanker trucks are loaded with gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and aviation 

gas at the Baton Rouge Terminal. Typically, the terminal fills 150 trucks 

a day, each carrying an average of 8,200 gallons of fuel products to 

consumers in nine states. 

Product is also shipped to markets via pipelines, rail cars, marine tankers and barges. 

Including the chemical operations, some 26 million gallons of refined products and some 

19 million pounds of chemical products are produced at the complex every day. the Lamp 

Cathy Karras, Polyolefins Plant senior lab 

technician, inspects a blow-molded bottle for 

quality control. “Fit for use” checks are integrated 

with lab analyses to determine the suitability 

of products for food applications. 

To learn more 

exxonmobilbr.com 

Vyron White, Plastics Plant materials coordinator, loads a rail car with 

plastic pellets. On average, 4,000 rail cars holding some 725 million 

pounds of product are loaded at the plant each year. Additionally, 

the plant loads another 325 million pounds of product into bags and 

boxes for sale to manufacturers of thousands of consumer products. 

Photo by Janice Rubin

A chemical tanker docks at the Baton Rouge complex. In a 

typical year, about 300 ships and 3,000 barges arrive and 

depart, both to deliver crude oil to the refinery and to load 

refined and chemical products for worldwide shipment. 

The large dock facility spans more than 3,000 feet. 

20

21 

Restoring 

the environment 

Working with communities and regulators, ExxonMobil 

Environmental Services is a committed leader in 

remediating and restoring properties around the world. 

In the Southeastern United 

States, land and groundwater 

contaminated by chemicals 

associated with the fertilizer business 

of the late-19th to mid-20th 

centuries are being restored for 

productive residential, commercial 

and industrial use. 

On Germany’s picturesque 

Elbe River, the city of Wedel 

can complete a major piece of 

its master plan with acquisition 

of acreage that once held 

one of the oldest refineries in 

Germany, substantially damaged 

in World War II and rebuilt by an 

ExxonMobil affiliate in the 1950s. 

In East Baltimore, Maryland, 

residents will have closer access 

to department stores and other 

shopping, thanks to redevelopment 

of property that once contained 

an ExxonMobil refinery 

and products terminal. 

Protect, enhance, create 

ExxonMobil Environmental 

Services (EMES) stewards these 

and other environmental remediation 

and restoration projects 

around the world. 

ExxonMobil formed EMES in 

late 2007 to provide a global 

functional organization to remediate 

soil and groundwater at 

ExxonMobil affiliate facilities, 

inactive properties and formerly 

owned sites globally. EMES also 

provides support for new business-development 

opportunities. 

Tom Aruta (left), EMES Baltimore project manager, and Kurt Fischer 

(right), EMES area manager, brief Christopher Ralston, administrator 

for the Maryland Department of the Environment’s Oil Control Program, 

on progress at the Baltimore Refinery remediation site. The refinery 

and products terminal closed in 1998. 

Story by Mike Long Photography by Janice Rubin 

“ExxonMobil had previously carried 

out remediation activities within 

individual business lines,” says 

EMES Manager Andy Wescoat. 

“But we increasingly saw the value 

of having all of our scientific, managerial, 

legal and community affairs 

talent focused in one organization 

and working together under a 

global framework. 

“Today, we have a systematic 

approach to leverage our best 

practices around the world and to 

build our credentials as a partner 

of choice in delivering environmental 

services.” 

Wescoat explains that the 

mission of EMES is to protect, 

enhance and create. 

“We protect the environment, 

health and safety of our employees, 

contractors and neighbors 

through proactive remediation, 

reclamation and site management. 

We enhance the value of 

ExxonMobil’s assets by helping to 

prevent, mitigate or contain contamination. 

And we create beneficial 

re-use of idle and formerly 

owned properties.” 

EMES pursues its environmental 

stewardship mission with nearly 

300 employees working with 

about 60 environmental consulting 

firms. Since its establishment, 

EMES has devoted more than 

28 million work hours to remediation 

and restoration activities in 

nearly 50 countries. This includes 

the disposition of some 430 sites 

restored for beneficial reuse over 

the same period.

Ken Mallary (second from right), EPA Region 4 remedial project manager, inspects 

restoration work at a former Virginia Carolina Chemical Corporation site near 

Charleston, South Carolina, with (from left) William Anckner, a consultant with Arcadis, 

and EMES’ Bruce Frink, project manager, and Robert Jackmore, area manager. 

22

Proactive remediation 

Among those restored properties 

are sites where fertilizer had been 

manufactured, stored or transported 

as far back as the late 

19th century. 

“Fertilizer manufacturing was 

an important industry in helping 

the South recover from the 

American Civil War,” says Robert 

Jackmore, EMES area manager. 

“Unfortunately, it also created 

undesirable byproducts, including 

lead and arsenic.” 

Following a historical investigation 

of the old fertilizer 

sites in the 1990s, the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA) found that the Virginia 

Carolina Chemical Corporation 

(VCC) had assets that were part 

of the South’s fertilizer industry 

since the 1920s. 

Socony Mobil and VCC 

merged in 1963. Although 

Socony Mobil’s successor, Mobil 

Oil Corporation, sold VCC in 

1970, Mobil later determined 

it had historic liability for VCC 

under U.S. “Superfund” environmental 

laws. 

23 

“In May 2001, the EPA identified 

24 properties that it ruled 

required investigation and possibly 

remediation,” says Jackmore. 

“However, we decided to proactively 

respond and determine 

if there were likely more VCC 

properties that warranted review. 

After working in conjunction with 

the EPA, the targeted list ultimately 

became 38 VCC sites.” 

Best-in-class with EPA 

As of mid-2011, ExxonMobil, 

working in cooperation with the 

EPA and state regulators, had 

either completed remediation or 

had action plans for the majority 

of these properties. Equally important, 

the EMES VCC project team 

has been proactive in keeping 

impacted communities informed. 

In July of that year, the EPA 

honored ExxonMobil with an 

invitation to present its VCC program 

at the agency’s Community 

Involvement Training Conference. 

The workshop is held every other 

year to identify best practices to 

more effectively engage communities 

about environmental issues. 

“That invitation essentially 

recognized our project as bestin-class,” 

says Jackmore. “It 

confirmed the benefit of having all 

elements, from technical remediation 

through property management, 

legal and community affairs, 

working side by side to get the 

job done right. When you do it 

right, you build trust, and when 

you build trust, you build corporate 

credentials and reputation.” 

A master plan in Wedel 

In Germany, the city of Wedel 

had its sights set on acquiring 

45 acres of property along 

the Elbe River. Refining and 

lubes blending had occurred on 

the land dating back to 1907. 

Operations ceased with the 

bombing of the plants during 

World War II. 

An ExxonMobil affiliate rebuilt 

the refinery in the 1950s and 

activity continued until 1998, 

when the company closed the 

site and sold it to a major commercial 

developer. The developer 

subsequently went bankrupt, 

and the property was returned to 

This artist’s rendering 

shows a planned 

retail center and 

business offices 

where ExxonMobil 

once operated the 

Baltimore Refinery. 

ExxonMobil to conduct a longterm 

remediation plan. 

“As the cleanup continued, 

we entered into negotiations with 

the city of Wedel, which saw our 

property as an important part of 

its master plan,” says Jackmore. 

“Eventually, ExxonMobil and 

the city of Wedel agreed that 

it would purchase the property 

at a price reflecting the cost of 

remediation. Wedel would take 

over the remaining remediation, 

indemnify ExxonMobil against 

future environmental claims, 

and prohibit residential use of 

the land. The city, working with 

ExxonMobil, later secured regulatory 

approval for an updated 

remediation proposal based on 

the city’s planned future use.” 

Jackmore attributes the successful 

negotiations to having a 

complete toolbox of resources 

all available within EMES, including 

technical expertise to work 

the remediation plan details as 

well as business and property 

experts to evaluate future land 

use and value effectively. 

“The result was that we

The coffee’s on at Greenpoint 

At ExxonMobil Environmental Services’ remediation project 

in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, it’s 

almost always open house. 

The company is recovering petroleum product in an area 

where predecessor companies maintained refining and 

terminal operations extending back more than 100 years. 

Since the project began, ExxonMobil has removed more 

than 8 million gallons of product. 

“The Greenpoint team works hard to ensure the 

community has the information it needs about what we 

are doing,” says Barbara Leatherwood, EMES Public and 

Government Affairs manager. “Our neighbors are welcome 

behind the gates to tour our operation and ask questions 

over a cup of coffee.” 

The project also sends a newsletter to its neighbors, 

including a Polish version for Greenpoint’s large Polish 

community, and maintains a website. 

“In addition, we strive to be a productive part of 

Greenpoint’s civic and business fabric,” says Leatherwood. 

“For example, the television and film industry has a 

large presence in the neighborhood. When shows are in 

production, parking on residential streets is limited. To ease 

the problem, we offered up to 250 parking spaces on our 

property for people working across the street on CBS’s 

The Good Wife.” 

Beyond the neighborhood, the project serves as a field 

lab for environmental engineering students from the United 

States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Classes 

of cadets annually tour the project to learn 

firsthand about the remediation program 

and its advanced engineering technology. 

arrived at mutually beneficial solutions 

that preserved productive 

use of the property for the good 

of the local economy.” 

Closer shopping in Baltimore 

The days when residents of East 

Baltimore’s Canton neighborhood 

have to travel 30 to 40 minutes 

to shop at a major retail store 

are nearing an end. A developer 

is pursuing permits to build on 

parcels that once were part of 

ExxonMobil’s Baltimore refinery 

and products terminal. A shop- 

To learn more 


greenpoint 

Photo by A.E. Fletcher Photography 

ping mall, offices and town center 

are expected to follow. 

ExxonMobil ceased operations 

at the site in 1998. Remediation, 

including product recovery, 

screening soils and pulling pipe, 

has been completed on the main 

terminal parcel, where the mall 

complex is planned. Much of 

the original acreage has already 

been sold and developed. 

In September 2011, EMES, 

together with the Maryland 

Department of the Environment, 

prepared a presentation about 

West Point cadets tour ExxonMobil’s Greenpoint remediation 

project in Brooklyn, New York, with (from left) Steve Trifiletti, EMES 

project manager, Justin Kennedy, senior engineer/project manager, 

Roux Associates, and Kristin Mobyed, EMES project manager. 

the Baltimore project for the EPA 

Region 3 Technical Workshop. 

The presentation served as an 

example of how industry and 

state agencies can cooperatively 

develop a remediation solution 

for a complex site in an area of 

redevelopment. 

“Meanwhile, a variety of activities 

are in progress,” says Tom 

Aruta, EMES Baltimore project 

manager. “We continue to work 

with the developer so he can 

move forward on his construction 

plans. We’re also upgrad- 

ing a major city storm drain 

and working with the city on a 

planned light-rail extension.” 

Aruta notes that EMES has 

made keeping up with all of 

these activities much easier. 

“We don’t have to hunt for 

the right person when an issue 

surfaces. The real estate, environmental 

law, engineering, public 

and government affairs, and 

other resources are assembled 

right here in EMES.” the Lamp 

24

Testing 

for the best 

ExxonMobil lab ensures tubular-goods 

quality while reaching major safety milestone. 

It’s Saturday morning, and 

your “to-do” list includes a 

simple plumbing repair under the 

kitchen sink. Job completed, you 

reconnect two pipes. You turn 

on the faucet to check for leaks, 

and, to your dismay, water is 

dripping from the connection. 

Imagine a more serious situation. 

The pipe is a half-foot in 

diameter, thousands of feet in 

length and extends well below 

the ocean floor from an offshore 

production platform exposed to 

severe conditions while producing 

oil or gas. In this instance, 

failure of the connection is simply 

not an option. 

For the past 25 years, 

ExxonMobil’s Tubular Goods Test 

Facility (TGTF) in Houston has 

conducted thorough, comprehensive 

evaluations to make sure 

that doesn’t happen. It puts casing 

and tubing (steel pipe, also 

called “tubulars”) and pipe connections 

used in oil and gas wells 

through punishing tests to ensure 

that they perform safely in any 

environment, on land or sea. 

TGTF is a full-scale lab – 

the only one of its kind among 

major oil companies – with the 

unique testing ability to assess 

the performance of pipe and 

pipe connectors. 

“The facility’s primary mission,” 

says David Baker, tubular technology 

team lead, “is to ensure the 

mechanical integrity and reliability 

of the tubular equipment installed 

25 Story by Bill Corporon Photography by Robert Seale 

in ExxonMobil’s wells. We place a 

special emphasis on connections 

because they’re such a critical 

link in the tubular system.” 

The facility, managed by the 

Drilling and Subsurface group 

within ExxonMobil Upstream 

Research Company, also develops 

proprietary and patented 

technology and helps the company 

select high-quality tubular 

goods at cost-effective prices. 

In the quarter-century that 

TGTF employees have carried 

out the facility’s mission, they’ve 

also achieved a stellar safety 

record – no lost-time incidents. 

How testing is done 

The TGTF is in a 20,000-squarefoot 

building about 20 miles 

southeast of downtown Houston. 

It contains three key testing 

components: 

An assembly area where pipe 

can be screwed together and 

taken apart multiple times to 

evaluate its durability. The area 

is also used to assess “galling” 

in the pipe’s connection 

threads. Galling describes damage 

to the pipe threads that 

prevents two pieces from fitting 

together correctly. 

A “burst pit” to test how a 

connection behaves when 

pressure inside the pipe is 

high enough to cause the pipe 

to tear. A heavy metal slab 

that locks securely into posi- 

tion covers the pit to safely 

confine the failed pipe. 

A pressure containment building 

housing a frame that can 

apply a load of more than 

2 million pounds. It’s used to 

evaluate the performance of 

pipes under very-high-pressure 

fluid loads. The frame is 

essentially a massive hydraulic 

press that can push and 

pull on the pipe. The pushing 

and pulling create tension 

and compression that simulate 

what happens in operating 

wells. 

Keegan Johnson (above), 

daily operations coordinator 

at the Tubular Goods 

Test Facility in Houston, 

monitors the assembly of 

a pipe connection.

David Baker (left) and Keegan Johnson of ExxonMobil’s 

Upstream Research Company with the 2.2-million-pound load 

frame that simulates stresses on pipes in operating wells. 

26

A control room adjacent to the 

lab area contains computers for 

conducting the tests and evaluating 

results. Three television 

screens monitor testing activity. 

A competitive advantage 

In the late 1980s and early 

1990s, a major effort was 

undertaken to define reliable 

performance of connections 

that were threaded to design 

standards set by the American 

Petroleum Institute. 

The facility developed procedures 

on how to screw together 

tubular joints and created 

easy-to-implement field installation 

techniques. The company 

patented this Torque Position 

Technology and subsequently 

licensed it to other service 

providers and operators. The 

technology resulted in significant 

Technician Ben Whitton places sensors 

on a connection test sample. 

27 

cost savings, creating reductions 

in pipe costs of up to 30 

percent. This translates into 

potential savings of hundreds of 

thousands of dollars per well. 

Testing results at TGTF have 

played a key role in allowing major 

developments to move forward. 

Engineers with the Mobile Bay 

(Alabama) project turned to the 

lab for its expertise in evaluating 

special corrosion-resistant 

pipe and connections for use 

in the project’s unique environment. 

The tests examined basic 

material properties, the effects of 

temperature, connection assembly 

and pressure sealing. The 

work led to improved methods of 

reaching and producing from hot, 

high-pressure gas formations. 

For the offshore Hoover Diana 

project in the Gulf of Mexico, 

the challenge was to identify a 

pipe connection for the production 

riser that could address 

problems resulting from high 

pressures caused by oil and 

gas production, and equipment 

fatigue induced by the offshore 

environment. Fatigue testing and 

analysis was performed on several 

connections to determine the 

appropriate design. A final design 

was developed that exceeded 

the riser’s requirements. 

Doing the job right 

At ExxonMobil, safety is a “core 

value,” and the employees of the 

testing facility have upheld that 

attribute every day during the 

last 25 years. 

Despite the potentially hazardous 

conditions typical of a 

testing environment employing 

extreme temperatures and pressures, 

the facility has never had 

a lost-time incident. 

That’s especially noteworthy 

considering that TGTF has 

examined more than 2,000 

connection samples, generated 

test temperatures of up to 650 

degrees Fahrenheit, moved 

more than 10 million pounds 

of pipe with overhead cranes 

and run tests at pressures up to 

30,000 pounds per square inch. 

“Our safety record is our most 

important achievement,” says 

Baker. “It’s especially impressive 

because of the facility’s unique 

risks and exposures with testing 

conditions that simulate an 

operating environment.” 

ExxonMobil’s Operations 

Integrity Management System 

is the foundation for the facility’s 

safety procedures. 

Safety features designed 

for the lab more than 25 years 

ago, such as the high-pressure 

containment structure enclosing 

the 2.2-million-pound load 

frame and the remote operations 

control room, were considered 

novel at the time. Today, they set 

the standard for a safe operating 

environment. 

All in all, says Daily Operations 

Coordinator Keegan Johnson, 

it comes down to employees’ 

awareness and dedication to 

safe operations. 

“We take a thoughtful, 

methodical approach,” says 

Johnson. “Safety management 

is an ongoing process that we 

can adapt to changing circumstances. 

We are ready for whatever 

comes through the door.” 

the Lamp

Melding energy 

and medical 

breakthroughs 

A chance encounter on an airplane between 

a heart surgeon and an ExxonMobil drilling 

engineer five years ago prompted a collaboration 

that’s leading to technological breakthroughs in 

the medical and energy industries. 

On a flight out of Houston, cardiovascular 

surgeon Dr. Alan 

Lumsden and the passenger 

next to him, Zeljko Runje, a drilling 

engineer with ExxonMobil’s 

Sakhalin 1 Project in Russia, 

struck up a conversation about 

their respective professions, 

discussing a range of topics 

from blood vessels to extendedreach 

wells. 

As the exchange progressed, 

the heart doctor and engineer 

realized that underneath the specialized 

verbiage of each of their 

industries – whether drilling for oil 

or performing heart surgery – it’s 

all a matter of pumps and pipes. 

Before parting ways, the 

Story by Tracy Torma Photography by Robert Seale 

ExxonMobil’s Tom Lindsey designed a computer interface to run a 

heartbeat simulator used by medical researchers to test heart valves. 

two passengers agreed that 

ExxonMobil and Methodist 

Hospital’s DeBakey Heart and 

Vascular Center, where Lumsden 

is medical director, should continue 

the conversation. ExxonMobil 

turned to Bill Kline, drilling and 

subsurface research manager, to 

make it happen. And he did. 

Since 2007, ExxonMobil 

and Methodist, along with the 

University of Houston, have 

sponsored the Pumps & Pipes 

Symposium. The annual event 

brings together leading researchers 

in the energy and medical 

industries, as well as venture 

capitalists and equipment manufacturers, 

to exchange ideas and 

explore crossover technologies. 

“Heart and vascular surgeons 

have much in common with oil 

and gas engineers in that we are 

in the flow-assurance business,” 

explains Kline, with ExxonMobil 

Upstream Research Company. 

“We both work through long 

tubes, depend on imaging and 

navigation, and place a high 

priority on keeping our conduits 

clean and intact. Sometimes our 

pipes get clogged and theirs 

do, too. We are also interested 

in many of the same emerging 

technologies, including robotics 

and nano-material,” Kline says. 

Lumsden notes that borrowing 

from the other guy’s toolkit is 

28

Dr. Christof Karmonik (left), a leading expert in MRI technology at Houston’s Methodist 

Hospital, and Pietro Valsecchi, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, used an MRI 

machine to successfully image fluid flow through a gravel pack – an energy industry first. 

nothing new. In the 1960s, vascular 

surgeon Lazar Greenfield, 

searching for a way to prevent 

blood clots from migrating to 

a patient’s lungs, turned to his 

neighbor, Garman Kimmel, for 

advice. Kimmel, who owned an 

oilfield services company, suggested 

use of a filter to block 

the clot, much in the same way 

his industry used filters to keep 

pipes clean. The collaboration 

led to the Greenfield Kimray filter, 

a common treatment used in 

heart patients today. 

“The image of neighbors talking 

over the fence is the concept 

behind Pumps & Pipes,” Kline 

says. “Our goal is to stimulate 

29 

discussion, spark ideas and 

explore synergies between 

two industries that face similar 

challenges in imaging, navigation, 

metallurgy, fluid dynamics, 

robotics and remote monitoring.” 

The first symposium five years 

ago at the University of Houston 

drew fewer than 100 people. 

Last December, more than 225 

attended the meeting at the 

Methodist Research Institute 

in Houston, with another 100 

individuals participating virtually. 

The conversation is now global. 

ExxonMobil and the Qatar 

Science & Technology Park cosponsored 

the first international 

Pumps & Pipes Symposium in 

Doha, Qatar, last year, featuring a 

live broadcast of open-heart surgery 

from the DeBakey Center. 

Sparking new ideas 

These meetings are leading 

to new ideas and technological 

breakthroughs for both industries. 

ExxonMobil researcher Tom 

Lindsey uses the same linear 

actuator pump for experiments 

in his well performance lab that 

heart researchers were learning 

to calibrate for their own flow 

experiments. A computer interface 

was built to run the heartbeat 

simulator, which doctors 

use today to test heart valves. 

“The heartbeat simulator 

enables us to simulate heartbeats 

of actual patients so we 

can use multiple imaging tools, 

including three-dimensional 

echocardiography and cardiac 

magnetic resonance imaging, 

to evaluate new devices for 

heart valves,” says Methodist 

cardiologist Dr. Stephen Little. 

The possibilities for future 

collaborations are endless. Last 

year, a presentation by oilfield 

service company Baker Hughes 

on the use of open-hole swell 

packers to section off zones in 

wells (think of the small dinosaur 

figures that swell to 10 times 

their size when put into water) 

now has medical researchers

An industry first 

Thanks to a collaboration sparked by Pumps & Pipes, 

ExxonMobil can visualize well flow through a gravel 

pack to enhance recovery of oil and gas. 

A gravel pack surrounds a stainless steel screen with 

carefully sized particles that form a filter medium. Drillers 

place the assembly in the wellbore during well completion 

to filter out sand and other materials that can 

impede a well’s flow. 

ExxonMobil’s Pietro Valsecchi, drilling and subsurface 

researcher, built an experimental gravel pack made 

entirely of plastics to replicate the flow that’s typical of 

highly productive deepwater wells. When researchers 

placed the 6-foot-tall, 90-pound vessel (250 

pounds when filled with water) into an MRI machine at 

Methodist Hospital, they produced a three-dimensional 

model of flow direction and velocity inside the gravel 

pack – an industry first. 

“Understanding how fluid flows through the gravel 

pack shows us how to minimize pressure losses and 

therefore produce more efficiently,” Valsecchi says. 

“Greater efficiency extends well longevity and therefore 

greater recovery of oil and gas.” 

Dr. Alan Lumsden (left) and ExxonMobil’s Bill Kline are the driving forces behind 

the annual Pumps & Pipes Symposium. The colorful three-dimensional background 

represents actual flow of fluid through a gravel pack as imaged by an MRI machine. 

pondering the idea of using 

expanding polymers to stop 

leaking from aneurysm repairs. 

“The energy industry uses 

remote monitoring to understand 

what is going on at an 

offshore platform a continent 

away. The future for medicine 

is being able to remotely monitor 

every implant we put into 

a patient,” Dr. Lumsden says. 

“And how are we going to manage 

this massive amount of data 

on patients? Once again the oil 

industry, which routinely handles 

large volumes of seismic data, 

could help provide the answer.” 

The sharing of ideas goes both 

ways. “The energy industry’s 

challenges with pipeline corrosion 

caused by bacteria could be 

solved by looking to doctors who 

know a lot about killing infections 

in the body’s circulatory system,” 

Kline notes. 

“ExxonMobil has always 

considered technology as a 

key to our business success,” 

Kline says. “We realize that 

technology can also be found 

in the other guy’s toolkit. By 

working with the medical 

community, we’re tapping some 

of the best minds to progress 

our technology.” the Lamp 

30

31 

Newest synthetic base stock 

is durable and efficient 

ExxonMobil Chemical Company’s new world-scale 

manufacturing plant in Texas will enhance its leadership 

position in the rapidly growing synthetic base-stock industry. 

ExxonMobil Chemical manufactures synthetic base 

stocks at facilities in Beaumont, Texas (pictured), Edison, 

New Jersey, and Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon, France. 

A new plant is under construction in Baytown, Texas. 

Photo by Janice Rubin

Every lubricant – from motor oil in 

your family car to hydraulic oil in a 

jet aircraft – is made by combining 

a base stock with additives. 

Since the 1960s, ExxonMobil 

Chemical Company has been 

developing synthetic base stocks 

using catalysts – providing the 

basis for products that offer a 

range of operational and environmental 

benefits. In the half-century 

since then, the company has 

developed 25 grades and is now 

the world’s leader in the synthetic 

base-stock industry. 

ExxonMobil Chemical sells 

base stocks to companies that 

produce and market finished 

lubricants, including everything 

from vehicle motor oils, gear 

oils and greases, to specialized 

lubricants for aviation, 

marine and industrial applications. 

ExxonMobil’s Lubricants 

& Petroleum Specialties (L&PS) 

is a large customer, purchasing 

synthetic base stocks for use 

in its industry-leading products 

such as Mobil 1, Mobil Delvac 1 

and Mobil SHC. With both the 

Chemical and L&PS organizations 

leveraging their respective 

technology and product-development 

expertise, the company 

gains competitive advantages 

and other efficiencies. 

ExxonMobil Chemical’s newest 

synthetic base stock, made 

using the company’s proprietary 

metallocene catalyst technology, 

is metallocene polyalphaolefin, 

or mPAO. It’s sold 

globally under the brand name 

SpectraSyn Elite. To meet the 

rapidly growing demand for this 

premium product, ExxonMobil 

is building a world-scale plant 

at the company’s integrated 

refining and chemical complex 

Story by Thomas L. Torget 

Workers offload a shipment of ExxonMobil base stocks 

at one of the company’s blending plants. The base stocks 

will then be used to formulate a variety of lubricants. 

in Baytown, Texas. The plant 

will have a capacity of 50,000 

tons per year and is expected 

to be completed in the second 

half of next year. The project will 

create nearly 400 constructionrelated 

jobs and will substantially 

increase global availability of 

SpectraSyn Elite. 

Efficiency drives market 

“The drive for greater energy 

efficiency, improved durability 

and extended drain intervals is 

creating very strong demand 

for high-performance lubricants 

made with advanced synthetic 

base stocks,” explains Lynne 

Lachenmyer, senior vice president 

for ExxonMobil Chemical’s 

synthetics, basic chemicals and 

intermediates global businesses. 

“This new manufacturing 

capacity demonstrates our technology 

leadership and our commitment 

to provide customers 

with reliable supplies of synthetic 

base stocks that enable innovative 

lubricants.” 

Mineral base stocks are an 

excellent choice for a wide range 

of applications. But to address 

increasing demand for improved 

energy efficiency, emissions 

reduction and extended lubricant 

drain intervals, synthetic base 

stocks such as SpectraSyn Elite 

offer a number of advantages. 

These include better durability, 

which means the molecules are 

less likely to break down over 

time. They also have lower volatility, 

so there’s less evaporation 

when operating at high temperatures. 

Both of these properties 

mean that synthetic lubricants 

provide excellent wear protection 

over longer periods and over 

severe operating conditions. This 

greatly extends the useful life of 

the lubricant, while providing outstanding 

protection. 

Fewer lubricant changes 

reduce equipment downtime for 

routine maintenance. In fact, for 

some applications such as automatic 

transmissions, synthetic 

base stocks are so durable they 

allow manufacturers to create 

transmission fluids that may 

never need changing over the 

life of the equipment. 

In addition to exceptional durability, 

synthetic base stocks like 

SpectraSyn Elite maintain viscosity, 

or don’t thin out, at high operating 

temperatures. This is critical 

to wear protection. By using 

synthetic base stocks, manufac- 

32

turers can create lighter-weight 

lubricants that consume less 

energy during equipment startup 

and when operating at low 

temperatures, but still provide all 

of the necessary wear protection 

at high temperatures. 

Global demand 

should double 

Global demand for highperformance 

lubricants made 

with advanced synthetic base 

33 

“The drive for greater energy efficiency, improved 

durability and extended drain intervals is creating 

very strong demand for high-performance lubricants 

made with advanced synthetic base stocks.” 

stocks is strong, and ExxonMobil 

Chemical Company expects that 

demand to double between now 

and 2020. 

One reason for this is anticipated 

continued growth in the 

Asia-Pacific region. Another significant 

factor is the global pursuit 

of greater energy efficiency. 

For example, in the United 

States improved lubricants in 

vehicle engines and transmissions 

can reduce the workload 

over a wider range of temperatures, 

helping auto manufacturers 

meet increasingly stringent 

government fuel-economy stan- 

Lynne Lachenmyer, 

ExxonMobil Chemical Company 


dards. Throughout Europe, these 

same lubricants help countries 

achieve government standards 

for carbon dioxide emissions. 

“Automobile and other equipment 

manufacturers worldwide 

are looking at everything they 

can to help achieve incremental 

improvements,” says Chris 

Birdsall, vice president for 

ExxonMobil Chemical’s global 

synthetics business. “And 

improved lubricants are a big 

part of boosting that efficiency.” 

The quest for higher energy 

efficiency and longer lubrication 

drain intervals, associated with 

more severe operating conditions, 

has created strong demand for 

advanced synthetic base stocks. 

“Lubricant manufacturers know 

that ExxonMobil Chemical offers 

the industry’s broadest synthetics 

portfolio,” says 

Lachenmyer. 

“Coupled with 

our half-century 

of technology leadership, our 

global supply capability and our 

excellent customer support, we 

expect to remain the global leader 

in this field.” the Lamp 

Innovation leads to industry’s largest portfolio 

ExxonMobil Chemical introduced metallocene catalyzed polyalphaolefin (mPAO) 

in 2010 under the brand name SpectraSyn Elite. This represents the latest in a 

continuous stream of synthetic base-stock innovations developed by the company 

over the past 45 years. Innovation began in the 1960s with the introduction 

of Esterex synthetic base stocks, followed by SpectraSyn PAO fluids in the 1970s. 

ExxonMobil Chemical developed SpectraSyn Elite mPAO using metallocene catalyst 

technology. The company pioneered this proprietary technology in the 1980s 

and commercialized it in 1991 to manufacture innovative, high-performance plastics. 

Development of mPAO represents the latest extension of this breakthrough 

platform by ExxonMobil scientists and engineers. 

Today, the company offers the industry’s largest portfolio of synthetic base 

stocks: SpectraSyn Elite mPAO, SpectraSyn Low Viscosity PAO, SpectraSyn Plus 

PAO, Esterex esters, Synesstic AN, SpectraSyn Hi Viscosity PAO and SpectraSyn 

Ultra High Viscosity PAO. 

In addition to Baytown, Texas, ExxonMobil Chemical operates synthetics manufacturing 

facilities in Beaumont, Texas; Edison, New Jersey; and Notre-Dame-de- 

Gravenchon, France. Technology centers for these products are in Baytown and 

Shanghai, China. 

To learn more 


synthetics

Panorama 

Around the world with ExxonMobil 

Supporting education in Singapore 

ExxonMobil is committing approximately 

$1.5 million to Gardens by the Bay, a world-class 

development designed to showcase Singapore’s 

innovation and resource management. The sponsorship, 

the company’s single-largest community 

investment in Singapore, involves developing stateof-the-art 

educational resources around Dragonfly 

Lake in Gardens by the Bay. 

These include new technologies and programs to 

educate visitors about aquatic life and horticulture at 

the lake, which serves as a natural filter system for 

water for the gardens and a connecting reservoir. 

“Understanding our natural environment is 

the critical first step toward protecting it,” says 

ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Chairman and Managing 

Director Matthew Aguiar. “Our support for this 

project will help increase awareness of Singapore’s 

biodiversity, water systems and plant life.” 

ExxonMobil’s Singapore affiliate operates an 

integrated refinery and petrochemical plant in the 

country, in addition to service stations and marketing 

of lubricants and petroleum specialties. 

ExxonMobil is funding educational programs for 

Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay, where visitors learn 

about biodiversity, water systems and plant life. 

Better water for African village 

Mobil Equatorial Guinea Inc. has completed 

a much-needed water infrastructure project 

in the village of Barrios las Palmas. 

The work includes the installation of 

11 water fountains throughout the village to 

make sure the 500 residents have access 

to clean and safe water. As a result, every 

household – none with running water – now 

has access to fresh supplies within 100 

yards of the home. Previously, the villagers 

had access to only one water tap, a system 

in place for more than 100 years. 

Company of the Year 

ExxonMobil Chemical has received the Responsible Care 2012 Company of the Year award 

from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) at its annual meeting in Colorado. Responsible 

Care is the global chemical industry’s premier program for achieving and sustaining operational 

excellence. 

The award is the ACC’s top honor for exemplary achievement in safety, health, environmental 

performance and communication with stakeholders. An independent panel selects 

the recipient based on sustained performance, programs and projects. 

ExxonMobil Chemical Company President Steve Pryor said, “We are extremely proud to 

receive this recognition and honor from the American Chemistry Council. Our company’s 

Operations Integrity Management System gives our people around the world a common 

approach to managing operational risks and progressing toward an incident-free workplace.” 

Steve Pryor (left), ExxonMobil Chemical Company 

president, accepts the Company of the Year honor 

from the American Chemical Council’s Cal Dooley. 

34

The Hibbert Group 

400 Pennington Avenue 

P. O. Box 8116 

Trenton, NJ 08650-0116 

© 2012 by Exxon Mobil Corporation 

exxonmobil.com 

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED. 

BC.LOTB 

XOMLAMP0712 

emains constant. 

following integer 

frequencies 

turns periodic 

sequences. 

vertical axis. 

rate exchange 

high probability 

then generated 

further added 

computations. 

Let’s unlock 

more doors. 

PRSRT STD 

U.S. POSTAGE 

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High school students who participate 

in the National Math and Science 

Initiative are six times more likely to 

earn passing scores on AP ® tests. Let’s 

give more students that opportunity. 

Let’s get America back on track. 

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2012 — Number 1 - ExxonMobil

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