2012 — Number 1 - ExxonMobil
2012 — Number 1 - ExxonMobil
2012 — Number 1 - ExxonMobil
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An <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> publication<br />
A day in the life:<br />
Baton Rouge complex<br />
Advances in the subsea<br />
Secrets of synthetics<br />
PLUS<br />
Fighting malaria<br />
Energy and medicine<br />
Environmental restoration<br />
OFC1<br />
<strong>2012</strong> – <strong>Number</strong> 1
The Lamp is published for <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
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enhancements and cost efficiencies; margins;<br />
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materially due to a number of factors. These<br />
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or other market conditions affecting the oil,<br />
gas and petrochemical industries; reservoir<br />
performance; timely completion of development<br />
projects; war and other political or security<br />
disturbances; changes in law or government<br />
regulation; the outcome of commercial<br />
negotiations; the actions of competitors;<br />
unexpected technological developments;<br />
the occurrence and duration of economic<br />
recessions; unforeseen technical difficulties;<br />
and other factors discussed here and under<br />
the heading “Factors Affecting Future Results”<br />
in item 1 of our most recent Form 10-K and on<br />
our website at exxonmobil.com.<br />
Frequently Used Terms: References to<br />
resources, the resource base, recoverable<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
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exxonmobilperspectives.com<br />
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classified as proved reserves, but that we<br />
believe will likely be moved into the proved<br />
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generally exclude the effects of year-end<br />
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Day in the life<br />
Inside the gates<br />
at Baton Rouge<br />
3 28 5<br />
15<br />
Rex W. Tillerson<br />
Chairman and CEO<br />
Mark W. Albers<br />
Senior Vice President<br />
Michael J. Dolan<br />
Senior Vice President<br />
Donald D. Humphreys<br />
Senior Vice President<br />
Andrew P. Swiger<br />
Senior Vice President<br />
Kenneth P. Cohen<br />
Vice President-Public and Government Affairs<br />
David S. Rosenthal<br />
Vice President-Investor Relations and Secretary<br />
Bob Davis<br />
Editor<br />
Pat Gabriel<br />
GCG Marketing<br />
Art Director<br />
Len Shelton<br />
Photography Coordinator<br />
Cynthia Solomon<br />
Production and Distribution Coordinator<br />
Please address all Lamp correspondence,<br />
including requests to reproduce any portion<br />
of the magazine, to the editor at Exxon Mobil<br />
Corporation, 5959 Las Colinas Blvd., Irving,<br />
TX 75039-2298.<br />
In this issue<br />
3<br />
Transforming energy<br />
Oil sands, shale gas and the<br />
deepwater open new energy frontiers<br />
5<br />
Advancing subsea technology<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> uses a toolkit of<br />
technologies for Arctic and offshore<br />
field developments<br />
Upfront<br />
The Baton Rouge complex is<br />
a technological marvel where<br />
safety, cost efficiencies and<br />
reliability provide value to our<br />
shareholders. Spanning 2,100<br />
acres, the facility processes a<br />
variety of crude oil from around<br />
the world, producing 26 million<br />
gallons of refined products and<br />
19 million pounds of chemical<br />
products every day.<br />
Beginning on page 15, a<br />
series of great photographs<br />
taken from dawn to dusk will<br />
show you a typical day at the<br />
complex, the second largest in<br />
the United States.<br />
An <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> engineer and<br />
a heart surgeon sat next to<br />
each other on an airplane and<br />
struck up a conversation. As<br />
9<br />
Building skills<br />
Training prepares workers<br />
for incident response<br />
13<br />
Turning the tide against malaria<br />
New vaccine could cut infection rates<br />
15<br />
A day in the life<br />
The Baton Rouge complex<br />
from dawn to dusk<br />
they talked about their respective<br />
fields, they realized that whether<br />
drilling for oil or performing<br />
heart surgery, it all comes<br />
down to pumps and pipes.<br />
The chance encounter created<br />
a fascinating collaboration<br />
melding breakthroughs in energy<br />
technology and medical research.<br />
Read more starting on page 28.<br />
In the Netherlands, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
is testing leading-edge developments<br />
that are expected to move<br />
subsea systems and equipment<br />
into the next generation. This new<br />
“toolkit” of subsea technologies<br />
will provide competitive<br />
advantages for <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
projects in the ultra deepwater<br />
and Arctic frontiers. The article<br />
begins on page 5.<br />
21<br />
Restoring the environment<br />
Remediation services group<br />
has worldwide perspective<br />
25<br />
Testing for the best<br />
Unique lab enhances safety<br />
of pipes and connections<br />
28<br />
Melding energy and medicine<br />
A surgeon and drilling engineer<br />
strike up an unexpected alliance<br />
For the past 12 years,<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> and the <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Foundation have committed<br />
millions of dollars to eradicate<br />
malaria. The company is helping<br />
to fast-track vaccines to combat<br />
the disease, and one – RTS,S –<br />
shows particular promise. A<br />
page 13 story describes efforts<br />
undertaken.<br />
Plus, a unique laboratory (page<br />
25) and a Company of the Year<br />
award for <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical<br />
(page 34).<br />
We hope you enjoy this issue<br />
of The Lamp.<br />
Bob Davis<br />
Editor<br />
31<br />
Synthetic-based lubricants<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical expands<br />
its global leadership position<br />
34<br />
Panorama<br />
Business highlights<br />
from around the world<br />
2
3<br />
Technology drives<br />
energy transformation<br />
In a keynote address to the <strong>2012</strong> IHS Cambridge<br />
Energy Research Associates executive<br />
conference (known as “CERAWeek”) in Houston,<br />
Exxon Mobil Corporation Chairman and CEO<br />
Rex W. Tillerson described the importance of<br />
industry and government fulfilling their respective<br />
roles and responsibilities in unlocking energy<br />
resources that new technologies make available.<br />
Story by Thomas L. Torget<br />
Mr. Tillerson opened his speech<br />
by stating that an energy transformation<br />
is under way in North<br />
America, and it has worldwide<br />
implications. “The new sources<br />
of oil and natural gas our industry<br />
is developing – and the way<br />
in which we are doing so – will<br />
shape their development on a<br />
global scale,” he said. “We are<br />
breaking new ground in the<br />
United States and Canada in the<br />
safe and responsible production<br />
of shale gas, tight oil, oil sands<br />
and ultra deepwater.”<br />
Tillerson said this transformation<br />
unfolding in North America<br />
represents a potential decisive<br />
shift in the history of energy.<br />
“New technologies and innovative<br />
techniques have taken<br />
sources of energy once labeled<br />
unconventional, uneconomic<br />
and inaccessible, and made<br />
them conventional, economic<br />
and environmentally responsible,”<br />
he said.<br />
He noted that in Canada,<br />
development of oil sands using<br />
new technologies is providing<br />
access to one of the world’s<br />
largest known reserves of<br />
energy, enough to fuel today’s<br />
North American vehicle fleet for<br />
about 35 years.<br />
“Across the United States and<br />
Canada, two more unconventional<br />
sources – shale gas and<br />
tight oil – are transforming the<br />
outlook for energy security as<br />
well as reshaping global markets<br />
and supply lines,” he said.<br />
In his speech, Mr. Tillerson noted how new<br />
energy sources and high-impact technologies<br />
contribute to a strong economy.<br />
“Advances in horizontal directional<br />
drilling and hydraulic fracturing<br />
technology have unlocked<br />
the potential for recovering<br />
enough natural gas to power the<br />
U.S. and Canadian economy for<br />
around a century.”<br />
New energy developments<br />
create jobs<br />
Tillerson said development of<br />
“unconventional” oil and gas from<br />
shale and tight rock formations<br />
collectively supported 600,000<br />
jobs and contributed more than<br />
$76 billion to the U.S. gross<br />
domestic product in 2010.<br />
He estimated that by 2040,<br />
natural gas will satisfy more than<br />
25 percent of global energy<br />
demand, and natural-gas supplies
from unconventional sources will<br />
grow by more than 400 percent<br />
between now and then.<br />
Tillerson said this historic shift<br />
that is bringing abundant new<br />
supplies of natural gas carries<br />
environmental benefits. “Natural<br />
gas is cleaner-burning than other<br />
major energy sources, and this<br />
will help us meet our shared goals<br />
for reduced emissions and environmental<br />
stewardship,” he said.<br />
“In addition, the future of<br />
North American energy security<br />
continues to be transformed by<br />
advances in deepwater exploration<br />
and production,” he said.<br />
“In just over a generation – my<br />
generation – our industry has<br />
taken the concept of deepwater<br />
drilling from drawing board<br />
to execution, building some of<br />
the most complex engineering<br />
marvels in human history. In the<br />
process, we opened up a new<br />
frontier for energy production that<br />
has spread around the world. By<br />
2040, we expect North American<br />
and global deepwater production<br />
to double.”<br />
Emerging energy<br />
consensus<br />
Tillerson explained how this<br />
energy transformation is changing<br />
the policy landscape.<br />
“With our success has come<br />
a renewed public respect for<br />
the importance of high-impact<br />
technologies and the role our<br />
industry can play in powering<br />
the broader economy,” he said.<br />
“A new energy consensus is<br />
emerging. Policymakers from<br />
both sides of the political aisle,<br />
and from around the world, recognize<br />
that energy is essential<br />
to growth and progress, and<br />
that every technological advance<br />
in our field offers tremendous<br />
economic and environmental<br />
opportunities to achieve our<br />
shared aspirations of hope and<br />
opportunity for all.”<br />
Tillerson noted that energy<br />
policymaking is most effective<br />
in meeting national goals when<br />
the deliberation and dialogue are<br />
driven by open and frank discussions<br />
of the scientific, economic<br />
and practical realities that shape<br />
global energy markets. “For this<br />
reason, in the decades ahead,<br />
the successful development of<br />
conventional, unconventional and<br />
alternative supplies of energy<br />
will depend on more than just<br />
geologic conditions and technological<br />
innovations,” he said.<br />
“Success will depend on the<br />
private and public sectors fulfilling<br />
their respective responsibilities,<br />
and working together to build<br />
a climate of investment in and<br />
discovery of new technologies. In<br />
short, government and business<br />
must both do their part.”<br />
Roles of industry,<br />
government<br />
Tillerson said that industry’s role<br />
is to unlock and deliver new supplies<br />
of energy in a safe, secure<br />
and environmentally responsible<br />
way. “Our greatest strength is<br />
developing the technology and<br />
techniques that maximize value<br />
while increasing safety, efficiency<br />
and environmental performance,”<br />
he said.<br />
Government’s role is best<br />
fulfilled when it allows markets<br />
to operate freely and openly.<br />
“Sound energy policies do not<br />
pick winners and losers through<br />
subsidies or mandates or punitive<br />
tax policy,” he said.<br />
Mr. Tillerson concluded his<br />
remarks by noting that the<br />
energy industry is continuing<br />
to engage the public and<br />
policymakers to increase safety,<br />
improve performance and build<br />
regulatory capacity based on<br />
sound science as the industry<br />
deploys new and revolutionary<br />
technologies.<br />
“Industry and<br />
government<br />
have both<br />
played a role in this great energy<br />
transformation,” he said. “By<br />
recognizing our mutual contributions<br />
in this positive change, we<br />
can build on our achievements<br />
and provide a model for the<br />
world to increase investment,<br />
innovation, opportunity and<br />
progress for all.” the Lamp<br />
Following his address,<br />
Mr. Tillerson participated<br />
in an informal questionand-answer<br />
session with<br />
energy expert Daniel<br />
Yergin (right), chairman<br />
of IHS Cambridge Energy<br />
Research Associates.<br />
To learn more<br />
exxonmobil.com/<br />
cera<strong>2012</strong><br />
4
A big leap forward<br />
in subsea technology<br />
Subsea Technology Project pursues new systems and<br />
equipment to prepare <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> for field development<br />
in deepwater and Arctic frontiers.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> is moving subsea technology<br />
into the next generation. The<br />
implications will be far-reaching not<br />
only for the company but the oil and<br />
gas industry as well.<br />
Some 20 technology areas are<br />
being developed within the Subsea<br />
Technology Project – launched in<br />
2008 and led by a multidisciplinary<br />
team of <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Upstream<br />
Research Company and <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Development Company engineers.<br />
From leading-edge separators<br />
(devices that divide oil, gas, seawater,<br />
etc., produced from a well),<br />
pumps and de-sanding units to<br />
long-distance power transmission<br />
and distribution, the technologies<br />
have one thing in common: They<br />
all give <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> a competitive<br />
advantage in developing tomorrow’s<br />
offshore frontiers.<br />
“Our portfolio of development prospects<br />
will increasingly include areas<br />
in waters one to two miles deep<br />
and beneath remote stretches of the<br />
frozen Arctic,” says Neal Sosdian,<br />
project manager, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Development. “When the economics<br />
are right, we want to be ready with<br />
the technologies to develop these<br />
prospects, and we want to have people<br />
who are adept in applying them.<br />
That’s what the Subsea Technology<br />
Project will achieve.”<br />
Sosdian emphasizes that past<br />
efforts focused on generating individual<br />
technology components<br />
as needed.<br />
5 Story by Mike Long Photography by Robert Seale<br />
“The goal here is to ensure a<br />
complete ‘toolkit’ of subsea technologies<br />
that can be readily<br />
applied across our entire slate<br />
of upstream opportunities.<br />
Our development planners<br />
can then select which tools<br />
will deliver the most value<br />
for a particular prospect.”<br />
Seafloor innovations<br />
Most of the technologies<br />
under development will offer<br />
capabilities not previously<br />
available to <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> subsea<br />
operations. The effort mainly<br />
revolves around modification of<br />
process vessels, machinery and<br />
electrical equipment commonly used<br />
on traditional surface facilities above<br />
water for operation more than a mile<br />
beneath the surface. Application of<br />
these technologies on the seafloor<br />
can make oil and gas reservoirs<br />
more productive by reducing backpressure<br />
on subsea wells.<br />
Mandi Winter, of <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Development and the project’s<br />
Subsea Systems lead, says<br />
research has led to systems that<br />
can provide a greater level of separation<br />
in a variety of water depths<br />
up to the deepest ever developed.<br />
“Our gravity separator, which<br />
expands on subsea technology first<br />
commercially applied only five years<br />
ago, will be ready by the end of the<br />
year,” says Winter.<br />
“Early on, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> will have<br />
Adam Bymaster (left) and Ed Grave,<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Upstream Research,<br />
observe low-pressure testing of a pipe<br />
separator to be employed in the company’s<br />
innovative subsea compact<br />
separation system. Low-pressure,<br />
transparent testing with model fluids<br />
provides insight into complex fluid<br />
behavior, such as droplet coalescence<br />
and the breakdown of foams and<br />
emulsions shown in the inset.
the option of using it to improve<br />
recovery rates from existing fields.<br />
Ultimately, it could have applications<br />
in developing isolated<br />
offshore fields in the Arctic and<br />
reduce or even eliminate the need<br />
for high-cost surface facilities.”<br />
Industry firsts<br />
Several improvements make the<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> subsea gravity separator<br />
the first of its kind in the<br />
industry, most notably the capability<br />
for three-phase separation<br />
and delivery.<br />
“We can process a wide variety<br />
of crude oils and meet target<br />
specifications on three distinct<br />
separation products – oil, water<br />
and gas – on the seafloor,” says<br />
Ed Grave, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Upstream<br />
Research separation advisor for<br />
the project.<br />
“Existing subsea separators<br />
were targeted for specific fields<br />
and must be re-qualified before<br />
they can be used with confidence<br />
in other fields that produce<br />
fluids with different physical<br />
properties.”<br />
Grave adds that the<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> subsea separator is<br />
designed for water depths up to<br />
about 5,000 feet.<br />
“At this water depth, our<br />
separator can process as much<br />
as 100,000 barrels of oil per day.<br />
And larger production capacity<br />
is possible in shallower water.”<br />
Use in even deeper water is<br />
also possible due to vessel-manufacturing<br />
advances beyond the<br />
original design.<br />
10,000 feet deep<br />
However, the project’s showcase<br />
technological advance for ultra<br />
deepwater is a state-of-the-art<br />
compact separation system, which<br />
can be applied in water depths of<br />
10,000 feet and beyond.<br />
The separation system features<br />
two novel components: an<br />
inlet slug-catcher for gas/liquid<br />
separation and a horizontal pipe<br />
separator for oil/water separation.<br />
Depending on the field, these<br />
components can be coupled<br />
with cyclonic devices that rely<br />
on centrifugal forces several<br />
thousand times the force of<br />
gravity to drive separation.<br />
“The large vessels associated<br />
with gravity systems cannot<br />
withstand the high hydrostatic<br />
pressures nor the high well<br />
pressures found in very deep<br />
water,” says Grave. “That is<br />
not the case with our compact<br />
separation system.”<br />
Grave notes that this new<br />
gravity/cyclonic hybrid approach<br />
will be the industry’s most<br />
robust and comprehensive<br />
subsea compact separation<br />
system, capable of handling<br />
6
Two miles down<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s high-capacity<br />
subsea compact separation<br />
system is designed to process<br />
up to 120,000 barrels of oil per<br />
day in water 10,000 feet deep<br />
and beyond. The system design<br />
can be tailored to meet a variety<br />
of requirements for exporting<br />
and/or injecting the separated oil,<br />
gas and water. In this illustration,<br />
a system of flow lines and risers<br />
transports the produced oil and<br />
gas to a floating production,<br />
storage and offloading vessel,<br />
while the water is re-injected to<br />
increase reservoir pressure and<br />
boost oil and gas production.<br />
7<br />
Illustration by Charles Wiese<br />
higher production rates while meeting<br />
the challenges of flow fluctuations,<br />
heavy oil and sand.<br />
The compact separation team at<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Upstream Research, led<br />
by Adam Bymaster, is pursuing multiple<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> patents around the<br />
component and system innovations.<br />
Several ideas are also expected to<br />
find useful applications within more<br />
conventional topside facilities.<br />
Qualification milestones<br />
Meanwhile, testing of the gravity<br />
separator is scheduled for<br />
completion at ProLabNL in the<br />
Netherlands this summer, followed<br />
by tests of the compact separation<br />
equipment. ProLabNL features the<br />
world’s largest publicly available<br />
high-pressure flow loop, which<br />
allows commercial-size testing of<br />
process equipment. The flow loop<br />
was designed with the <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
test program in mind.<br />
“The flow loop enables threephase<br />
separation tests using crude<br />
oil, simulated brine water and<br />
methane,” says Michael Olson, an<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Upstream Research<br />
engineer who is managing the<br />
gravity separator testing and qualification.<br />
“The flow loop is designed<br />
for 45,000 barrels per day of<br />
liquids and more than 100 million<br />
standard cubic feet per day of<br />
gas. That has allowed us to study<br />
our separator design under actual<br />
operating conditions.”<br />
Olson notes that due to hazards<br />
associated with high-pressure methane,<br />
ProLabNL built the loop outside<br />
with the appropriate safeguards.<br />
“Other test facilities are typically<br />
indoors and use air, carbon dioxide<br />
or nitrogen as the gas phase for<br />
safety reasons. While acceptable<br />
for preliminary studies, these gases<br />
do not reproduce the physical<br />
properties you would actually see<br />
in the field.”<br />
In addition to influencing the<br />
flow loop design, Olson says
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> has contributed to<br />
the safety culture of ProLabNL,<br />
which was founded only three<br />
years ago.<br />
“There is mutual respect and<br />
close collaboration between our<br />
two organizations, especially<br />
around safety,” he says.<br />
“ProLabNL modeled its safety<br />
program after our Operations<br />
Integrity Management System.<br />
They have also invited safety<br />
experts from <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Development and the Rotterdam<br />
refinery to participate in several<br />
reviews and conduct safetyleadership<br />
seminars. We work<br />
together on a daily basis to meet<br />
our shared objective that Nobody<br />
Gets Hurt.”<br />
Working across organizations<br />
Jim Zimmerman, offshore manager<br />
at <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Upstream<br />
Research, who oversees the<br />
research company’s contributions<br />
to the Subsea Technology Project,<br />
says the project has generated a<br />
highly effective level of interchange<br />
between <strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s upstream<br />
organizations.<br />
“Both the research and development<br />
sides have roles to play<br />
on the same integrated, crosscompany<br />
project team,” says<br />
Zimmerman. “This has encouraged<br />
us to enhance relationships<br />
across traditional organizational<br />
boundaries. The engineers from<br />
the Development Company are<br />
being exposed to the rigor and<br />
depth of scientific investigation<br />
typically associated with researchers,<br />
and the research engineers<br />
are gaining a better understanding<br />
of the business needs and<br />
the practical side of technology<br />
application. This collaboration will<br />
benefit the entire upstream over<br />
the long term.”<br />
Zimmerman adds the project<br />
has also partnered highly experienced<br />
employees with new<br />
engineers, including Bymaster<br />
and Olson.<br />
“Not only are the newer staff<br />
getting opportunities to work on<br />
the cutting edge of technology,<br />
they’re also learning from seasoned<br />
engineers that <strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s<br />
total focus on operations integrity<br />
and reliability drives us to leave<br />
no stone unturned in technology<br />
qualification.”<br />
Value added from R&D<br />
Lee Tillman, vice president<br />
of Engineering, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Development, says the Subsea<br />
Technology Project will add to the<br />
company’s global reputation as a<br />
partner of choice.<br />
“We can offer a comprehensive<br />
suite of subsea technologies to<br />
go with our project-execution<br />
expertise, our reservoir-simulation<br />
know-how and other competitive<br />
advantages to fit a specific<br />
opportunity that both we and a<br />
resource holder want developed.”<br />
Tillman notes that <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
regularly stresses in its communications<br />
to shareholders the<br />
importance of the company’s<br />
strong investment in research,<br />
development and technology<br />
application of more than<br />
$1 billion annually.<br />
Michael Olson (left), <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Upstream Research, and René Ubachs,<br />
ProLabNL, examine a water sample from<br />
the subsea separator qualification trials<br />
in the Netherlands. <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> and<br />
ProLabNL jointly developed safe work<br />
practices for the high-pressure tests,<br />
including sampling procedures and personal-protective<br />
equipment requirements.<br />
“The subsea technologies<br />
generated by this project represent<br />
the types of value-added<br />
products made possible by that<br />
investment. They are broad and<br />
far-reaching and will greatly benefit<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s forward-looking<br />
portfolio of resource-development<br />
opportunities around<br />
the world.” the Lamp<br />
Providing leadership for the Subsea Technology Project are (from left)<br />
Jim Zimmerman, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Upstream Research; Mandi Winter,<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Development; and Neal Sosdian, project manager,<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Development. The background photo shows ProLabNL’s<br />
unique high-pressure flow loop for subsea separator testing.<br />
8
9<br />
Program<br />
builds skills<br />
for incident response<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> employees sharpen skills<br />
in classrooms and on the water.<br />
The importance of always being<br />
prepared to effectively manage<br />
events that one hopes never<br />
occur cannot be overestimated.<br />
From the drilling of a well to the<br />
delivery of petroleum products,<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s Operations Integrity<br />
Management System provides<br />
the framework and foundation<br />
for managing risk and achieving<br />
excellence in performance.<br />
But while every effort is made<br />
to avoid incidents, energy companies<br />
must be prepared to<br />
rapidly respond if they occur.<br />
Examples include spills, the<br />
effects of hurricanes and floods,<br />
or accidents involving hazardous<br />
or dangerous materials.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> has long had<br />
incident-training systems in place,<br />
including working with specialized<br />
response contractors as well<br />
as conducting classroom and<br />
on-site drills. But, in addition to<br />
those programs, a special training<br />
course now provides employees<br />
even more skills for planning and<br />
managing the many details associated<br />
with an effective response.<br />
Such skills provide the basis for<br />
operating an “Incident Command<br />
Story by Thomas L. Torget Photography by Robert Seale
(Large photo, above)<br />
Students practice deploying<br />
containment boom in Humble<br />
Canal in Paradis, Louisiana.<br />
The training area is part of a<br />
former company exploration<br />
and production operation.<br />
(At left, top) Unloading boom<br />
in preparation for deployment.<br />
(At left, bottom) Class<br />
members use a belt skimmer<br />
to recover simulated<br />
oil captured within the<br />
containment boom.<br />
System,” a process developed<br />
by the U.S. Federal Emergency<br />
Management Agency, and used<br />
extensively by the U.S. Coast<br />
Guard and other organizations.<br />
“Our three-day course pre-<br />
sents the fundamentals of managing<br />
an incident and provides<br />
an overview of key response<br />
activities,” explains Tommy<br />
Tomblin, oil-spill response advisor<br />
for <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Refining &<br />
Supply Company.<br />
“We cover everything from<br />
employee and public safety<br />
to government relations, risk<br />
management, and the use of<br />
skimmers, dispersants and other<br />
equipment used during oil spills.<br />
We focus on what’s practical. We<br />
explain the factors that must be<br />
considered, such as mobilizing<br />
equipment or other assets over<br />
long distances, when managing<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s response to an<br />
incident. When students complete<br />
this course, they have the<br />
basic training required for incident<br />
commanders and operations<br />
supervisors on <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
spill-management teams.”<br />
Focus on <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
operations<br />
Tomblin and Brian Hansen,<br />
emergency response coordinator<br />
for <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Production<br />
Company, jointly developed<br />
this in-house program because<br />
similar training offered by third<br />
parties was not of sufficient<br />
quality and scope to meet the<br />
company’s needs.<br />
“We saw value in a training<br />
program that was specifically<br />
focused on <strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s operations<br />
and organization,” says<br />
Hansen. “We also recognized<br />
10
Instructor Tommy Tomblin, oil-spill response<br />
advisor for <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Refining & Supply<br />
Company, describes the skimming technique.<br />
11<br />
What they’re saying<br />
“The greatest benefit is that we gain skills that can<br />
assist any <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> company anywhere in the<br />
world. That creates, in essence, a global-response<br />
team for the corporation. With an organization like<br />
ours that operates worldwide, that’s a valuable asset.”<br />
Gary Beuk<br />
Senior Advisor, Emergency Preparedness & Response<br />
Imperial Oil Limited<br />
“This course really conveys how difficult it can be to<br />
manage a spill with all the variables presented by<br />
geography and Mother Nature. Everything about the<br />
course is impressive, and I recommend it highly to<br />
other employees.”<br />
Scott Bailey<br />
Fleet Services Manager<br />
SeaRiver Maritime, Inc.<br />
“This was an education like none other. In my 40<br />
years with <strong>ExxonMobil</strong>, this is the most effective training<br />
I’ve received on oil-spill response management.”<br />
Cally Boyea<br />
Lead Country Manager<br />
Esso (Barbados) SRL
The hands-on<br />
course covers<br />
risk management,<br />
employee and public<br />
safety, government<br />
relations and<br />
practical incidentresponse<br />
training.<br />
that, to be useful, the training<br />
must include both classroom<br />
instruction and hands-on experience.<br />
The hands-on component<br />
is critical because it drives home<br />
the lesson that theory and reality<br />
don’t always mesh.”<br />
Training sessions began<br />
in 2009, and more than 400<br />
employees have participated<br />
so far. Most sessions are conducted<br />
at a dedicated company<br />
training facility in Paradis,<br />
Louisiana, about 20 miles south<br />
of New Orleans.<br />
Training goes global<br />
Initial classes focused on<br />
employees in the United States<br />
and Canada, including classes<br />
on Arctic response that were<br />
held in Canada. This year,<br />
Tomblin and Hansen are taking<br />
their training to <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
employees in Singapore,<br />
Australia, Russia (Sakhalin)<br />
and the United Kingdom.<br />
Participants come from all<br />
areas of the company, including<br />
exploration, production, refining,<br />
marketing, pipeline and tanker<br />
operations. Attendees range<br />
from lead country managers to<br />
technicians.<br />
“We’re not training any one<br />
person to be an expert in any<br />
one thing,” explains Tomblin. “We<br />
train them to be part of an overall<br />
incident-management team. We<br />
want them to understand the<br />
expectations that will be placed<br />
on such a team. Everyone<br />
affected by an oil spill or other<br />
incident will have demands. This<br />
includes local citizens, government<br />
agencies, elected officials,<br />
the news media, other businesses<br />
that may be affected and<br />
so on. We try to give participants<br />
the big picture so they’ll understand<br />
the wide range of issues<br />
they will face when they serve on<br />
an incident-management team.”<br />
Classroom instruction includes<br />
presentations by subject-matter<br />
experts on such topics as hazard<br />
recognition, spill containment<br />
and recovery, protective<br />
equipment, decontamination<br />
procedures, environmental sensitivities,<br />
oil-spill behavior and<br />
effects, risk management, news<br />
media relations, government<br />
affairs and use of dispersants.<br />
Exposure to these topics gives<br />
participants a broad understanding<br />
of the many facets involved<br />
in managing a response.<br />
When theory meets reality<br />
Two days of classroom sessions<br />
are followed by a day of outdoor<br />
hands-on training deploying<br />
oil-spill response equipment.<br />
It’s here that participants learn<br />
firsthand that theory and reality<br />
often conflict.<br />
“In real-world deployment, terrain,<br />
weather and operating conditions<br />
can vary widely, and can<br />
change quickly,” says Hansen.<br />
“In the classroom, we explain<br />
how booms, skimmers and<br />
other equipment are designed<br />
to work. Then we go out on the<br />
water and deploy that equipment.<br />
Participants see firsthand<br />
that conditions can change<br />
quickly. Factors such as rough<br />
seas, changing tides, high winds<br />
and freezing temperatures can<br />
complicate the best of plans.”<br />
Hansen recalls a recent session<br />
involving placement of<br />
a long string of containment<br />
boom. “At 9 a.m., everybody<br />
was enthusiastic about getting<br />
that boom into the water. But<br />
by noon, they had an understanding<br />
for how difficult it can<br />
be. Doing it<br />
themselves<br />
was the<br />
best way for<br />
To learn more<br />
exxonmobil.com/<br />
emergencyresponse<br />
them to learn that laying boom<br />
is a physically demanding and<br />
complex task. From an incidentmanagement<br />
perspective, that’s<br />
an extremely important lesson.”<br />
“Of course, we hope our<br />
students never have to use the<br />
knowledge and skills we give<br />
them,” Tomblin adds. “But if they<br />
do, we know that every one of<br />
them is capable and will do the<br />
right thing if called upon.” the Lamp<br />
12
Twelve years. More than $110<br />
million dollars.<br />
That’s the commitment<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> and the <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Foundation have made to fight<br />
malaria – one of the world’s<br />
deadliest diseases.<br />
Transmitted by mosquitoes,<br />
the preventable disease can<br />
damage the nervous system, kidneys<br />
and liver. Most of the more<br />
than 650,000 annual malaria<br />
deaths are among children in<br />
Africa under 5 years old.<br />
For the past decade, there’s<br />
been considerable success in the<br />
fight against malaria, with a drop<br />
of more than 25 percent in the<br />
number of global deaths and a<br />
reduction in cases in some countries<br />
of more than 50 percent.<br />
With major operations in<br />
Africa, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> is in the fight<br />
for the long term, supporting<br />
numerous initiatives to prevent<br />
and treat the disease. Now that<br />
several promising vaccines are in<br />
13 Story by Tracy Torma<br />
Vaccine may turn tide<br />
in fight against malaria<br />
clinical trials, there is even greater<br />
hope for eradicating this disease.<br />
From business imperative<br />
to social commitment<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s support has helped<br />
medical partners, international<br />
organizations and local governments<br />
reach more than 66 million<br />
people and distribute 13 million<br />
bed nets, 1.7 million doses<br />
of medication and 878,000<br />
diagnostic kits. In addition, these<br />
groups have trained 116,000<br />
health care workers and counselors<br />
to assist with prevention<br />
and treatment efforts.<br />
“We have funded almost<br />
every element that is important<br />
in this fight – from prevention<br />
programs aimed at controlling<br />
mosquitoes and destroying their<br />
habitats to drug and vaccine<br />
research and raising awareness,”<br />
says Jim Jones, who manages<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s malaria-related<br />
investments.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> is a leader in the worldwide<br />
effort to combat malaria. A promising<br />
new vaccine could make a difference in<br />
the fight against the disease.<br />
Jones says that when the company<br />
first began heavily investing<br />
in malaria prevention and treatment<br />
in 2000, it had a business<br />
reason to get involved. At the<br />
time, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> was developing<br />
its Chad/Cameroon project in the<br />
heart of the continent.<br />
“We wanted to make sure our<br />
employees and contractors were<br />
protected, and our workplace<br />
program became the gold standard<br />
among the private sector.<br />
Because of that, we realized we<br />
had an obligation to extend the<br />
effort beyond the workplace, and<br />
take it into communities in West<br />
Africa where our employees,<br />
contractors and suppliers live<br />
and work.”<br />
A broad approach<br />
The types of programs<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> funds are varied.<br />
These include an awareness<br />
campaign on the use of bed<br />
nets in Cameroon, Tanzania and<br />
Senegal featuring local sports<br />
figures and celebrities; a partnership<br />
in Nigeria that supports a<br />
network of 200 doctors; and a<br />
consortium in Angola that trains<br />
community volunteers to educate<br />
mothers about the use of<br />
bed nets and how to recognize<br />
malaria warning signs.<br />
Idol Gives Back, the American<br />
Idol charity television show,<br />
raised money for anti-poverty<br />
projects in the United States and<br />
around the world. <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
donated $14 million over a number<br />
of years to Malaria No More<br />
as part of the show. A majority<br />
of the donation helped distribute<br />
hundreds of thousands of bed<br />
nets throughout disease-stricken<br />
communities in Angola.<br />
The funds also supported<br />
an innovative program called<br />
NightWatch, involving TV, radio<br />
and text messages broadcast in<br />
Tanzania, Senegal, Cameroon<br />
and Chad. Renowned artists,
Photo Getty Images, Inc.<br />
athletes and politicians starred in<br />
these public service announcements<br />
reminding millions of<br />
Africans to sleep under bed nets.<br />
This effort was lauded by the<br />
World Petroleum Congress and<br />
the Global Business Coalition.<br />
“Idol contestants and<br />
judges also visited Saint<br />
Isabel Orphanage and School<br />
in Luanda, Angola, where<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> provided grants<br />
for screening, bed nets and<br />
sanitation improvements,” says<br />
Michael Finley, who coordinates<br />
the company’s community<br />
investments in Africa.<br />
Supporting vaccine<br />
development<br />
One of the most promising<br />
aspects of the funding is the<br />
advancement of malaria vaccines.<br />
Today, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> supports<br />
an initiative to fast-track<br />
development of these vaccines,<br />
with the goal of helping to make<br />
sure they’re available in the developing<br />
world.<br />
Through the <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Malaria Vaccine Advocacy<br />
Fellowship, malaria scientists<br />
and clinicians from the United<br />
States, Europe and Africa are<br />
learning how to communicate<br />
progress and challenges related<br />
to vaccine development so<br />
that life-saving vaccines can be<br />
put to use as soon as they are<br />
approved.<br />
“We’re also funding studies<br />
that look at where the malaria<br />
transmission is the most intense.<br />
Those could be the first places<br />
where a vaccine will be used,”<br />
Jones says.<br />
“We’ve reached 60 million<br />
people. But there’s more work to<br />
be done, and we stand committed<br />
to the fight,” he says. the Lamp<br />
A hopeful future<br />
The most clinically advanced malaria vaccine candidate in the world today is a drug called<br />
RTS,S. Time and Science magazines heralded it as one of the Top 10 scientific breakthroughs<br />
of 2011.<br />
The RTS,S vaccine is now in its final stage of development, with more than 15,000 children<br />
ages 5 through 17 participating in large-scale clinical trials in seven African countries. If<br />
all goes as planned, the World Health Organization could release a policy recommending its<br />
use by next year. If that happens, RTS,S would be the first vaccine ever developed to provide<br />
immunity against a parasite.<br />
That’s fantastic news for those who’ve been in the trenches for decades To learn more<br />
working to combat the disease. “Dozens and dozens of vaccines have<br />
exxonmobil.com/malaria<br />
come through our portfolio, but this is the vaccine candidate that has<br />
made it the farthest through the development process and with the best results,” says Sally<br />
Ethelston, a PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative researcher involved in the drug’s development.<br />
“While there’s more to do, RTS,S has cut the number of episodes of malaria by more than<br />
half compared to a control vaccine. We’re optimistic.”<br />
14
15<br />
A day in the life of<br />
Baton Rouge<br />
Story by Mike Long<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s world-class Baton Rouge refining and petrochemical<br />
facilities can process more than 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day<br />
and manufacture 10 billion pounds plus of petrochemicals annually,<br />
making them a mainstay of the U.S. economy.<br />
Dawn breaks over the tallest state capitol in the United States<br />
and the twinkling lights of the Baton Rouge refining and chemical<br />
complex. The refinery began operations in 1909 on a 225-acre site<br />
along the Mississippi River, with a petrochemical plant added in<br />
1940. Today, the complex spreads across 2,100 acres and is the<br />
second largest in the United States.<br />
Story by Mike Long Photography by Robert Seale<br />
Crude oil enters the refinery via these pipelines<br />
for conversion into hundreds of products that<br />
help keep the U.S. economy running, including<br />
3.6 billion gallons of gasoline per year.<br />
Maurice Sanders, an assistant operator in the refinery, gauges<br />
the volume of hydrocarbons in a refinery storage tank. The<br />
complex employs a company and contractor workforce of about<br />
5,500, representing an annual payroll exceeding $325 million.
These fluid catalytic cracking units refine heavier components<br />
of crude oil into heating oil, diesel and gasoline-blending components.<br />
The first fluid catalytic cracking unit was built in Baton<br />
Rouge in the 1940s, enabling production of 100-octane aviation<br />
gasoline to support the Allied forces’ victory in World War II.<br />
Michael Galloway, step-up supervisor, monitors refinery<br />
operations from the state-of-the-art computerized control<br />
center. An estimated 7 billion bits of information flow<br />
through the center’s computers every second.<br />
16
The refinery’s new Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel unit produces cleanerburning<br />
fuel that decreases sulfur content 95 percent compared to past<br />
diesel blends. This fuel is used to run everything from tractor-trailers,<br />
buses and marine vessels to backhoes, cranes, automobiles and trains.<br />
17<br />
Claudia Roldan, refinery Light-Ends coordinator,<br />
uses a handheld device to monitor<br />
equipment. Automation continues to improve<br />
safety, cost efficiency and reliability.<br />
The Baton Rouge complex contains a network of pipe ranging from more than<br />
7 feet in diameter down to lines less than an inch wide. If these lines were connected<br />
end-to-end, they would extend more than 10,000 miles.<br />
The refinery can process many different crude oils from around the world, from the<br />
heaviest to the lightest. It also has leading-edge technology that enables it to process<br />
growing volumes of oil produced from the booming shale plays across the country<br />
and from oil-sands projects in Canada.<br />
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<br />
group confer at <strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s 5A gas-turbine generator, part of the site’s<br />
cogeneration facility. The facility generates enough electricity to fully<br />
power the complex plus 30,000 homes on the regional power grid.<br />
Mark Verbois, process operator, inspects a sample<br />
of isopropyl alcohol produced in the chemical plant<br />
for use in rubbing alcohol, coatings, electronics,<br />
and other industrial and consumer products.<br />
Photo by Janice Rubin<br />
18
19<br />
Tanker trucks are loaded with gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and aviation<br />
gas at the Baton Rouge Terminal. Typically, the terminal fills 150 trucks<br />
a day, each carrying an average of 8,200 gallons of fuel products to<br />
consumers in nine states.<br />
Product is also shipped to markets via pipelines, rail cars, marine tankers and barges.<br />
Including the chemical operations, some 26 million gallons of refined products and some<br />
19 million pounds of chemical products are produced at the complex every day. the Lamp<br />
Cathy Karras, Polyolefins Plant senior lab<br />
technician, inspects a blow-molded bottle for<br />
quality control. “Fit for use” checks are integrated<br />
with lab analyses to determine the suitability<br />
of products for food applications.<br />
To learn more<br />
exxonmobilbr.com<br />
Vyron White, Plastics Plant materials coordinator, loads a rail car with<br />
plastic pellets. On average, 4,000 rail cars holding some 725 million<br />
pounds of product are loaded at the plant each year. Additionally,<br />
the plant loads another 325 million pounds of product into bags and<br />
boxes for sale to manufacturers of thousands of consumer products.<br />
Photo by Janice Rubin
A chemical tanker docks at the Baton Rouge complex. In a<br />
typical year, about 300 ships and 3,000 barges arrive and<br />
depart, both to deliver crude oil to the refinery and to load<br />
refined and chemical products for worldwide shipment.<br />
The large dock facility spans more than 3,000 feet.<br />
20
21<br />
Restoring<br />
the environment<br />
Working with communities and regulators, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Environmental Services is a committed leader in<br />
remediating and restoring properties around the world.<br />
In the Southeastern United<br />
States, land and groundwater<br />
contaminated by chemicals<br />
associated with the fertilizer business<br />
of the late-19th to mid-20th<br />
centuries are being restored for<br />
productive residential, commercial<br />
and industrial use.<br />
On Germany’s picturesque<br />
Elbe River, the city of Wedel<br />
can complete a major piece of<br />
its master plan with acquisition<br />
of acreage that once held<br />
one of the oldest refineries in<br />
Germany, substantially damaged<br />
in World War II and rebuilt by an<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> affiliate in the 1950s.<br />
In East Baltimore, Maryland,<br />
residents will have closer access<br />
to department stores and other<br />
shopping, thanks to redevelopment<br />
of property that once contained<br />
an <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> refinery<br />
and products terminal.<br />
Protect, enhance, create<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Environmental<br />
Services (EMES) stewards these<br />
and other environmental remediation<br />
and restoration projects<br />
around the world.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> formed EMES in<br />
late 2007 to provide a global<br />
functional organization to remediate<br />
soil and groundwater at<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> affiliate facilities,<br />
inactive properties and formerly<br />
owned sites globally. EMES also<br />
provides support for new business-development<br />
opportunities.<br />
Tom Aruta (left), EMES Baltimore project manager, and Kurt Fischer<br />
(right), EMES area manager, brief Christopher Ralston, administrator<br />
for the Maryland Department of the Environment’s Oil Control Program,<br />
on progress at the Baltimore Refinery remediation site. The refinery<br />
and products terminal closed in 1998.<br />
Story by Mike Long Photography by Janice Rubin<br />
“<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> had previously carried<br />
out remediation activities within<br />
individual business lines,” says<br />
EMES Manager Andy Wescoat.<br />
“But we increasingly saw the value<br />
of having all of our scientific, managerial,<br />
legal and community affairs<br />
talent focused in one organization<br />
and working together under a<br />
global framework.<br />
“Today, we have a systematic<br />
approach to leverage our best<br />
practices around the world and to<br />
build our credentials as a partner<br />
of choice in delivering environmental<br />
services.”<br />
Wescoat explains that the<br />
mission of EMES is to protect,<br />
enhance and create.<br />
“We protect the environment,<br />
health and safety of our employees,<br />
contractors and neighbors<br />
through proactive remediation,<br />
reclamation and site management.<br />
We enhance the value of<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s assets by helping to<br />
prevent, mitigate or contain contamination.<br />
And we create beneficial<br />
re-use of idle and formerly<br />
owned properties.”<br />
EMES pursues its environmental<br />
stewardship mission with nearly<br />
300 employees working with<br />
about 60 environmental consulting<br />
firms. Since its establishment,<br />
EMES has devoted more than<br />
28 million work hours to remediation<br />
and restoration activities in<br />
nearly 50 countries. This includes<br />
the disposition of some 430 sites<br />
restored for beneficial reuse over<br />
the same period.
Ken Mallary (second from right), EPA Region 4 remedial project manager, inspects<br />
restoration work at a former Virginia Carolina Chemical Corporation site near<br />
Charleston, South Carolina, with (from left) William Anckner, a consultant with Arcadis,<br />
and EMES’ Bruce Frink, project manager, and Robert Jackmore, area manager.<br />
22
Proactive remediation<br />
Among those restored properties<br />
are sites where fertilizer had been<br />
manufactured, stored or transported<br />
as far back as the late<br />
19th century.<br />
“Fertilizer manufacturing was<br />
an important industry in helping<br />
the South recover from the<br />
American Civil War,” says Robert<br />
Jackmore, EMES area manager.<br />
“Unfortunately, it also created<br />
undesirable byproducts, including<br />
lead and arsenic.”<br />
Following a historical investigation<br />
of the old fertilizer<br />
sites in the 1990s, the U.S.<br />
Environmental Protection Agency<br />
(EPA) found that the Virginia<br />
Carolina Chemical Corporation<br />
(VCC) had assets that were part<br />
of the South’s fertilizer industry<br />
since the 1920s.<br />
Socony Mobil and VCC<br />
merged in 1963. Although<br />
Socony Mobil’s successor, Mobil<br />
Oil Corporation, sold VCC in<br />
1970, Mobil later determined<br />
it had historic liability for VCC<br />
under U.S. “Superfund” environmental<br />
laws.<br />
23<br />
“In May 2001, the EPA identified<br />
24 properties that it ruled<br />
required investigation and possibly<br />
remediation,” says Jackmore.<br />
“However, we decided to proactively<br />
respond and determine<br />
if there were likely more VCC<br />
properties that warranted review.<br />
After working in conjunction with<br />
the EPA, the targeted list ultimately<br />
became 38 VCC sites.”<br />
Best-in-class with EPA<br />
As of mid-2011, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong>,<br />
working in cooperation with the<br />
EPA and state regulators, had<br />
either completed remediation or<br />
had action plans for the majority<br />
of these properties. Equally important,<br />
the EMES VCC project team<br />
has been proactive in keeping<br />
impacted communities informed.<br />
In July of that year, the EPA<br />
honored <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> with an<br />
invitation to present its VCC program<br />
at the agency’s Community<br />
Involvement Training Conference.<br />
The workshop is held every other<br />
year to identify best practices to<br />
more effectively engage communities<br />
about environmental issues.<br />
“That invitation essentially<br />
recognized our project as bestin-class,”<br />
says Jackmore. “It<br />
confirmed the benefit of having all<br />
elements, from technical remediation<br />
through property management,<br />
legal and community affairs,<br />
working side by side to get the<br />
job done right. When you do it<br />
right, you build trust, and when<br />
you build trust, you build corporate<br />
credentials and reputation.”<br />
A master plan in Wedel<br />
In Germany, the city of Wedel<br />
had its sights set on acquiring<br />
45 acres of property along<br />
the Elbe River. Refining and<br />
lubes blending had occurred on<br />
the land dating back to 1907.<br />
Operations ceased with the<br />
bombing of the plants during<br />
World War II.<br />
An <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> affiliate rebuilt<br />
the refinery in the 1950s and<br />
activity continued until 1998,<br />
when the company closed the<br />
site and sold it to a major commercial<br />
developer. The developer<br />
subsequently went bankrupt,<br />
and the property was returned to<br />
This artist’s rendering<br />
shows a planned<br />
retail center and<br />
business offices<br />
where <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
once operated the<br />
Baltimore Refinery.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> to conduct a longterm<br />
remediation plan.<br />
“As the cleanup continued,<br />
we entered into negotiations with<br />
the city of Wedel, which saw our<br />
property as an important part of<br />
its master plan,” says Jackmore.<br />
“Eventually, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> and<br />
the city of Wedel agreed that<br />
it would purchase the property<br />
at a price reflecting the cost of<br />
remediation. Wedel would take<br />
over the remaining remediation,<br />
indemnify <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> against<br />
future environmental claims,<br />
and prohibit residential use of<br />
the land. The city, working with<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>, later secured regulatory<br />
approval for an updated<br />
remediation proposal based on<br />
the city’s planned future use.”<br />
Jackmore attributes the successful<br />
negotiations to having a<br />
complete toolbox of resources<br />
all available within EMES, including<br />
technical expertise to work<br />
the remediation plan details as<br />
well as business and property<br />
experts to evaluate future land<br />
use and value effectively.<br />
“The result was that we
The coffee’s on at Greenpoint<br />
At <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Environmental Services’ remediation project<br />
in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, it’s<br />
almost always open house.<br />
The company is recovering petroleum product in an area<br />
where predecessor companies maintained refining and<br />
terminal operations extending back more than 100 years.<br />
Since the project began, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> has removed more<br />
than 8 million gallons of product.<br />
“The Greenpoint team works hard to ensure the<br />
community has the information it needs about what we<br />
are doing,” says Barbara Leatherwood, EMES Public and<br />
Government Affairs manager. “Our neighbors are welcome<br />
behind the gates to tour our operation and ask questions<br />
over a cup of coffee.”<br />
The project also sends a newsletter to its neighbors,<br />
including a Polish version for Greenpoint’s large Polish<br />
community, and maintains a website.<br />
“In addition, we strive to be a productive part of<br />
Greenpoint’s civic and business fabric,” says Leatherwood.<br />
“For example, the television and film industry has a<br />
large presence in the neighborhood. When shows are in<br />
production, parking on residential streets is limited. To ease<br />
the problem, we offered up to 250 parking spaces on our<br />
property for people working across the street on CBS’s<br />
The Good Wife.”<br />
Beyond the neighborhood, the project serves as a field<br />
lab for environmental engineering students from the United<br />
States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Classes<br />
of cadets annually tour the project to learn<br />
firsthand about the remediation program<br />
and its advanced engineering technology.<br />
arrived at mutually beneficial solutions<br />
that preserved productive<br />
use of the property for the good<br />
of the local economy.”<br />
Closer shopping in Baltimore<br />
The days when residents of East<br />
Baltimore’s Canton neighborhood<br />
have to travel 30 to 40 minutes<br />
to shop at a major retail store<br />
are nearing an end. A developer<br />
is pursuing permits to build on<br />
parcels that once were part of<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s Baltimore refinery<br />
and products terminal. A shop-<br />
To learn more<br />
exxonmobil.com/<br />
greenpoint<br />
Photo by A.E. Fletcher Photography<br />
ping mall, offices and town center<br />
are expected to follow.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> ceased operations<br />
at the site in 1998. Remediation,<br />
including product recovery,<br />
screening soils and pulling pipe,<br />
has been completed on the main<br />
terminal parcel, where the mall<br />
complex is planned. Much of<br />
the original acreage has already<br />
been sold and developed.<br />
In September 2011, EMES,<br />
together with the Maryland<br />
Department of the Environment,<br />
prepared a presentation about<br />
West Point cadets tour <strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s Greenpoint remediation<br />
project in Brooklyn, New York, with (from left) Steve Trifiletti, EMES<br />
project manager, Justin Kennedy, senior engineer/project manager,<br />
Roux Associates, and Kristin Mobyed, EMES project manager.<br />
the Baltimore project for the EPA<br />
Region 3 Technical Workshop.<br />
The presentation served as an<br />
example of how industry and<br />
state agencies can cooperatively<br />
develop a remediation solution<br />
for a complex site in an area of<br />
redevelopment.<br />
“Meanwhile, a variety of activities<br />
are in progress,” says Tom<br />
Aruta, EMES Baltimore project<br />
manager. “We continue to work<br />
with the developer so he can<br />
move forward on his construction<br />
plans. We’re also upgrad-<br />
ing a major city storm drain<br />
and working with the city on a<br />
planned light-rail extension.”<br />
Aruta notes that EMES has<br />
made keeping up with all of<br />
these activities much easier.<br />
“We don’t have to hunt for<br />
the right person when an issue<br />
surfaces. The real estate, environmental<br />
law, engineering, public<br />
and government affairs, and<br />
other resources are assembled<br />
right here in EMES.” the Lamp<br />
24
Testing<br />
for the best<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> lab ensures tubular-goods<br />
quality while reaching major safety milestone.<br />
It’s Saturday morning, and<br />
your “to-do” list includes a<br />
simple plumbing repair under the<br />
kitchen sink. Job completed, you<br />
reconnect two pipes. You turn<br />
on the faucet to check for leaks,<br />
and, to your dismay, water is<br />
dripping from the connection.<br />
Imagine a more serious situation.<br />
The pipe is a half-foot in<br />
diameter, thousands of feet in<br />
length and extends well below<br />
the ocean floor from an offshore<br />
production platform exposed to<br />
severe conditions while producing<br />
oil or gas. In this instance,<br />
failure of the connection is simply<br />
not an option.<br />
For the past 25 years,<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s Tubular Goods Test<br />
Facility (TGTF) in Houston has<br />
conducted thorough, comprehensive<br />
evaluations to make sure<br />
that doesn’t happen. It puts casing<br />
and tubing (steel pipe, also<br />
called “tubulars”) and pipe connections<br />
used in oil and gas wells<br />
through punishing tests to ensure<br />
that they perform safely in any<br />
environment, on land or sea.<br />
TGTF is a full-scale lab –<br />
the only one of its kind among<br />
major oil companies – with the<br />
unique testing ability to assess<br />
the performance of pipe and<br />
pipe connectors.<br />
“The facility’s primary mission,”<br />
says David Baker, tubular technology<br />
team lead, “is to ensure the<br />
mechanical integrity and reliability<br />
of the tubular equipment installed<br />
25 Story by Bill Corporon Photography by Robert Seale<br />
in <strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s wells. We place a<br />
special emphasis on connections<br />
because they’re such a critical<br />
link in the tubular system.”<br />
The facility, managed by the<br />
Drilling and Subsurface group<br />
within <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Upstream<br />
Research Company, also develops<br />
proprietary and patented<br />
technology and helps the company<br />
select high-quality tubular<br />
goods at cost-effective prices.<br />
In the quarter-century that<br />
TGTF employees have carried<br />
out the facility’s mission, they’ve<br />
also achieved a stellar safety<br />
record – no lost-time incidents.<br />
How testing is done<br />
The TGTF is in a 20,000-squarefoot<br />
building about 20 miles<br />
southeast of downtown Houston.<br />
It contains three key testing<br />
components:<br />
An assembly area where pipe<br />
can be screwed together and<br />
taken apart multiple times to<br />
evaluate its durability. The area<br />
is also used to assess “galling”<br />
in the pipe’s connection<br />
threads. Galling describes damage<br />
to the pipe threads that<br />
prevents two pieces from fitting<br />
together correctly.<br />
A “burst pit” to test how a<br />
connection behaves when<br />
pressure inside the pipe is<br />
high enough to cause the pipe<br />
to tear. A heavy metal slab<br />
that locks securely into posi-<br />
tion covers the pit to safely<br />
confine the failed pipe.<br />
A pressure containment building<br />
housing a frame that can<br />
apply a load of more than<br />
2 million pounds. It’s used to<br />
evaluate the performance of<br />
pipes under very-high-pressure<br />
fluid loads. The frame is<br />
essentially a massive hydraulic<br />
press that can push and<br />
pull on the pipe. The pushing<br />
and pulling create tension<br />
and compression that simulate<br />
what happens in operating<br />
wells.<br />
Keegan Johnson (above),<br />
daily operations coordinator<br />
at the Tubular Goods<br />
Test Facility in Houston,<br />
monitors the assembly of<br />
a pipe connection.
David Baker (left) and Keegan Johnson of <strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s<br />
Upstream Research Company with the 2.2-million-pound load<br />
frame that simulates stresses on pipes in operating wells.<br />
26
A control room adjacent to the<br />
lab area contains computers for<br />
conducting the tests and evaluating<br />
results. Three television<br />
screens monitor testing activity.<br />
A competitive advantage<br />
In the late 1980s and early<br />
1990s, a major effort was<br />
undertaken to define reliable<br />
performance of connections<br />
that were threaded to design<br />
standards set by the American<br />
Petroleum Institute.<br />
The facility developed procedures<br />
on how to screw together<br />
tubular joints and created<br />
easy-to-implement field installation<br />
techniques. The company<br />
patented this Torque Position<br />
Technology and subsequently<br />
licensed it to other service<br />
providers and operators. The<br />
technology resulted in significant<br />
Technician Ben Whitton places sensors<br />
on a connection test sample.<br />
27<br />
cost savings, creating reductions<br />
in pipe costs of up to 30<br />
percent. This translates into<br />
potential savings of hundreds of<br />
thousands of dollars per well.<br />
Testing results at TGTF have<br />
played a key role in allowing major<br />
developments to move forward.<br />
Engineers with the Mobile Bay<br />
(Alabama) project turned to the<br />
lab for its expertise in evaluating<br />
special corrosion-resistant<br />
pipe and connections for use<br />
in the project’s unique environment.<br />
The tests examined basic<br />
material properties, the effects of<br />
temperature, connection assembly<br />
and pressure sealing. The<br />
work led to improved methods of<br />
reaching and producing from hot,<br />
high-pressure gas formations.<br />
For the offshore Hoover Diana<br />
project in the Gulf of Mexico,<br />
the challenge was to identify a<br />
pipe connection for the production<br />
riser that could address<br />
problems resulting from high<br />
pressures caused by oil and<br />
gas production, and equipment<br />
fatigue induced by the offshore<br />
environment. Fatigue testing and<br />
analysis was performed on several<br />
connections to determine the<br />
appropriate design. A final design<br />
was developed that exceeded<br />
the riser’s requirements.<br />
Doing the job right<br />
At <strong>ExxonMobil</strong>, safety is a “core<br />
value,” and the employees of the<br />
testing facility have upheld that<br />
attribute every day during the<br />
last 25 years.<br />
Despite the potentially hazardous<br />
conditions typical of a<br />
testing environment employing<br />
extreme temperatures and pressures,<br />
the facility has never had<br />
a lost-time incident.<br />
That’s especially noteworthy<br />
considering that TGTF has<br />
examined more than 2,000<br />
connection samples, generated<br />
test temperatures of up to 650<br />
degrees Fahrenheit, moved<br />
more than 10 million pounds<br />
of pipe with overhead cranes<br />
and run tests at pressures up to<br />
30,000 pounds per square inch.<br />
“Our safety record is our most<br />
important achievement,” says<br />
Baker. “It’s especially impressive<br />
because of the facility’s unique<br />
risks and exposures with testing<br />
conditions that simulate an<br />
operating environment.”<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s Operations<br />
Integrity Management System<br />
is the foundation for the facility’s<br />
safety procedures.<br />
Safety features designed<br />
for the lab more than 25 years<br />
ago, such as the high-pressure<br />
containment structure enclosing<br />
the 2.2-million-pound load<br />
frame and the remote operations<br />
control room, were considered<br />
novel at the time. Today, they set<br />
the standard for a safe operating<br />
environment.<br />
All in all, says Daily Operations<br />
Coordinator Keegan Johnson,<br />
it comes down to employees’<br />
awareness and dedication to<br />
safe operations.<br />
“We take a thoughtful,<br />
methodical approach,” says<br />
Johnson. “Safety management<br />
is an ongoing process that we<br />
can adapt to changing circumstances.<br />
We are ready for whatever<br />
comes through the door.”<br />
the Lamp
Melding energy<br />
and medical<br />
breakthroughs<br />
A chance encounter on an airplane between<br />
a heart surgeon and an <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> drilling<br />
engineer five years ago prompted a collaboration<br />
that’s leading to technological breakthroughs in<br />
the medical and energy industries.<br />
On a flight out of Houston, cardiovascular<br />
surgeon Dr. Alan<br />
Lumsden and the passenger<br />
next to him, Zeljko Runje, a drilling<br />
engineer with <strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s<br />
Sakhalin 1 Project in Russia,<br />
struck up a conversation about<br />
their respective professions,<br />
discussing a range of topics<br />
from blood vessels to extendedreach<br />
wells.<br />
As the exchange progressed,<br />
the heart doctor and engineer<br />
realized that underneath the specialized<br />
verbiage of each of their<br />
industries – whether drilling for oil<br />
or performing heart surgery – it’s<br />
all a matter of pumps and pipes.<br />
Before parting ways, the<br />
Story by Tracy Torma Photography by Robert Seale<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s Tom Lindsey designed a computer interface to run a<br />
heartbeat simulator used by medical researchers to test heart valves.<br />
two passengers agreed that<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> and Methodist<br />
Hospital’s DeBakey Heart and<br />
Vascular Center, where Lumsden<br />
is medical director, should continue<br />
the conversation. <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
turned to Bill Kline, drilling and<br />
subsurface research manager, to<br />
make it happen. And he did.<br />
Since 2007, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
and Methodist, along with the<br />
University of Houston, have<br />
sponsored the Pumps & Pipes<br />
Symposium. The annual event<br />
brings together leading researchers<br />
in the energy and medical<br />
industries, as well as venture<br />
capitalists and equipment manufacturers,<br />
to exchange ideas and<br />
explore crossover technologies.<br />
“Heart and vascular surgeons<br />
have much in common with oil<br />
and gas engineers in that we are<br />
in the flow-assurance business,”<br />
explains Kline, with <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Upstream Research Company.<br />
“We both work through long<br />
tubes, depend on imaging and<br />
navigation, and place a high<br />
priority on keeping our conduits<br />
clean and intact. Sometimes our<br />
pipes get clogged and theirs<br />
do, too. We are also interested<br />
in many of the same emerging<br />
technologies, including robotics<br />
and nano-material,” Kline says.<br />
Lumsden notes that borrowing<br />
from the other guy’s toolkit is<br />
28
Dr. Christof Karmonik (left), a leading expert in MRI technology at Houston’s Methodist<br />
Hospital, and Pietro Valsecchi, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Upstream Research Company, used an MRI<br />
machine to successfully image fluid flow through a gravel pack – an energy industry first.<br />
nothing new. In the 1960s, vascular<br />
surgeon Lazar Greenfield,<br />
searching for a way to prevent<br />
blood clots from migrating to<br />
a patient’s lungs, turned to his<br />
neighbor, Garman Kimmel, for<br />
advice. Kimmel, who owned an<br />
oilfield services company, suggested<br />
use of a filter to block<br />
the clot, much in the same way<br />
his industry used filters to keep<br />
pipes clean. The collaboration<br />
led to the Greenfield Kimray filter,<br />
a common treatment used in<br />
heart patients today.<br />
“The image of neighbors talking<br />
over the fence is the concept<br />
behind Pumps & Pipes,” Kline<br />
says. “Our goal is to stimulate<br />
29<br />
discussion, spark ideas and<br />
explore synergies between<br />
two industries that face similar<br />
challenges in imaging, navigation,<br />
metallurgy, fluid dynamics,<br />
robotics and remote monitoring.”<br />
The first symposium five years<br />
ago at the University of Houston<br />
drew fewer than 100 people.<br />
Last December, more than 225<br />
attended the meeting at the<br />
Methodist Research Institute<br />
in Houston, with another 100<br />
individuals participating virtually.<br />
The conversation is now global.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> and the Qatar<br />
Science & Technology Park cosponsored<br />
the first international<br />
Pumps & Pipes Symposium in<br />
Doha, Qatar, last year, featuring a<br />
live broadcast of open-heart surgery<br />
from the DeBakey Center.<br />
Sparking new ideas<br />
These meetings are leading<br />
to new ideas and technological<br />
breakthroughs for both industries.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> researcher Tom<br />
Lindsey uses the same linear<br />
actuator pump for experiments<br />
in his well performance lab that<br />
heart researchers were learning<br />
to calibrate for their own flow<br />
experiments. A computer interface<br />
was built to run the heartbeat<br />
simulator, which doctors<br />
use today to test heart valves.<br />
“The heartbeat simulator<br />
enables us to simulate heartbeats<br />
of actual patients so we<br />
can use multiple imaging tools,<br />
including three-dimensional<br />
echocardiography and cardiac<br />
magnetic resonance imaging,<br />
to evaluate new devices for<br />
heart valves,” says Methodist<br />
cardiologist Dr. Stephen Little.<br />
The possibilities for future<br />
collaborations are endless. Last<br />
year, a presentation by oilfield<br />
service company Baker Hughes<br />
on the use of open-hole swell<br />
packers to section off zones in<br />
wells (think of the small dinosaur<br />
figures that swell to 10 times<br />
their size when put into water)<br />
now has medical researchers
An industry first<br />
Thanks to a collaboration sparked by Pumps & Pipes,<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> can visualize well flow through a gravel<br />
pack to enhance recovery of oil and gas.<br />
A gravel pack surrounds a stainless steel screen with<br />
carefully sized particles that form a filter medium. Drillers<br />
place the assembly in the wellbore during well completion<br />
to filter out sand and other materials that can<br />
impede a well’s flow.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s Pietro Valsecchi, drilling and subsurface<br />
researcher, built an experimental gravel pack made<br />
entirely of plastics to replicate the flow that’s typical of<br />
highly productive deepwater wells. When researchers<br />
placed the 6-foot-tall, 90-pound vessel (250<br />
pounds when filled with water) into an MRI machine at<br />
Methodist Hospital, they produced a three-dimensional<br />
model of flow direction and velocity inside the gravel<br />
pack – an industry first.<br />
“Understanding how fluid flows through the gravel<br />
pack shows us how to minimize pressure losses and<br />
therefore produce more efficiently,” Valsecchi says.<br />
“Greater efficiency extends well longevity and therefore<br />
greater recovery of oil and gas.”<br />
Dr. Alan Lumsden (left) and <strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s Bill Kline are the driving forces behind<br />
the annual Pumps & Pipes Symposium. The colorful three-dimensional background<br />
represents actual flow of fluid through a gravel pack as imaged by an MRI machine.<br />
pondering the idea of using<br />
expanding polymers to stop<br />
leaking from aneurysm repairs.<br />
“The energy industry uses<br />
remote monitoring to understand<br />
what is going on at an<br />
offshore platform a continent<br />
away. The future for medicine<br />
is being able to remotely monitor<br />
every implant we put into<br />
a patient,” Dr. Lumsden says.<br />
“And how are we going to manage<br />
this massive amount of data<br />
on patients? Once again the oil<br />
industry, which routinely handles<br />
large volumes of seismic data,<br />
could help provide the answer.”<br />
The sharing of ideas goes both<br />
ways. “The energy industry’s<br />
challenges with pipeline corrosion<br />
caused by bacteria could be<br />
solved by looking to doctors who<br />
know a lot about killing infections<br />
in the body’s circulatory system,”<br />
Kline notes.<br />
“<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> has always<br />
considered technology as a<br />
key to our business success,”<br />
Kline says. “We realize that<br />
technology can also be found<br />
in the other guy’s toolkit. By<br />
working with the medical<br />
community, we’re tapping some<br />
of the best minds to progress<br />
our technology.” the Lamp<br />
30
31<br />
Newest synthetic base stock<br />
is durable and efficient<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical Company’s new world-scale<br />
manufacturing plant in Texas will enhance its leadership<br />
position in the rapidly growing synthetic base-stock industry.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical manufactures synthetic base<br />
stocks at facilities in Beaumont, Texas (pictured), Edison,<br />
New Jersey, and Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon, France.<br />
A new plant is under construction in Baytown, Texas.<br />
Photo by Janice Rubin
Every lubricant – from motor oil in<br />
your family car to hydraulic oil in a<br />
jet aircraft – is made by combining<br />
a base stock with additives.<br />
Since the 1960s, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Chemical Company has been<br />
developing synthetic base stocks<br />
using catalysts – providing the<br />
basis for products that offer a<br />
range of operational and environmental<br />
benefits. In the half-century<br />
since then, the company has<br />
developed 25 grades and is now<br />
the world’s leader in the synthetic<br />
base-stock industry.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical sells<br />
base stocks to companies that<br />
produce and market finished<br />
lubricants, including everything<br />
from vehicle motor oils, gear<br />
oils and greases, to specialized<br />
lubricants for aviation,<br />
marine and industrial applications.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s Lubricants<br />
& Petroleum Specialties (L&PS)<br />
is a large customer, purchasing<br />
synthetic base stocks for use<br />
in its industry-leading products<br />
such as Mobil 1, Mobil Delvac 1<br />
and Mobil SHC. With both the<br />
Chemical and L&PS organizations<br />
leveraging their respective<br />
technology and product-development<br />
expertise, the company<br />
gains competitive advantages<br />
and other efficiencies.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical’s newest<br />
synthetic base stock, made<br />
using the company’s proprietary<br />
metallocene catalyst technology,<br />
is metallocene polyalphaolefin,<br />
or mPAO. It’s sold<br />
globally under the brand name<br />
SpectraSyn Elite. To meet the<br />
rapidly growing demand for this<br />
premium product, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
is building a world-scale plant<br />
at the company’s integrated<br />
refining and chemical complex<br />
Story by Thomas L. Torget<br />
Workers offload a shipment of <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> base stocks<br />
at one of the company’s blending plants. The base stocks<br />
will then be used to formulate a variety of lubricants.<br />
in Baytown, Texas. The plant<br />
will have a capacity of 50,000<br />
tons per year and is expected<br />
to be completed in the second<br />
half of next year. The project will<br />
create nearly 400 constructionrelated<br />
jobs and will substantially<br />
increase global availability of<br />
SpectraSyn Elite.<br />
Efficiency drives market<br />
“The drive for greater energy<br />
efficiency, improved durability<br />
and extended drain intervals is<br />
creating very strong demand<br />
for high-performance lubricants<br />
made with advanced synthetic<br />
base stocks,” explains Lynne<br />
Lachenmyer, senior vice president<br />
for <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical’s<br />
synthetics, basic chemicals and<br />
intermediates global businesses.<br />
“This new manufacturing<br />
capacity demonstrates our technology<br />
leadership and our commitment<br />
to provide customers<br />
with reliable supplies of synthetic<br />
base stocks that enable innovative<br />
lubricants.”<br />
Mineral base stocks are an<br />
excellent choice for a wide range<br />
of applications. But to address<br />
increasing demand for improved<br />
energy efficiency, emissions<br />
reduction and extended lubricant<br />
drain intervals, synthetic base<br />
stocks such as SpectraSyn Elite<br />
offer a number of advantages.<br />
These include better durability,<br />
which means the molecules are<br />
less likely to break down over<br />
time. They also have lower volatility,<br />
so there’s less evaporation<br />
when operating at high temperatures.<br />
Both of these properties<br />
mean that synthetic lubricants<br />
provide excellent wear protection<br />
over longer periods and over<br />
severe operating conditions. This<br />
greatly extends the useful life of<br />
the lubricant, while providing outstanding<br />
protection.<br />
Fewer lubricant changes<br />
reduce equipment downtime for<br />
routine maintenance. In fact, for<br />
some applications such as automatic<br />
transmissions, synthetic<br />
base stocks are so durable they<br />
allow manufacturers to create<br />
transmission fluids that may<br />
never need changing over the<br />
life of the equipment.<br />
In addition to exceptional durability,<br />
synthetic base stocks like<br />
SpectraSyn Elite maintain viscosity,<br />
or don’t thin out, at high operating<br />
temperatures. This is critical<br />
to wear protection. By using<br />
synthetic base stocks, manufac-<br />
32
turers can create lighter-weight<br />
lubricants that consume less<br />
energy during equipment startup<br />
and when operating at low<br />
temperatures, but still provide all<br />
of the necessary wear protection<br />
at high temperatures.<br />
Global demand<br />
should double<br />
Global demand for highperformance<br />
lubricants made<br />
with advanced synthetic base<br />
33<br />
“The drive for greater energy efficiency, improved<br />
durability and extended drain intervals is creating<br />
very strong demand for high-performance lubricants<br />
made with advanced synthetic base stocks.”<br />
stocks is strong, and <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Chemical Company expects that<br />
demand to double between now<br />
and 2020.<br />
One reason for this is anticipated<br />
continued growth in the<br />
Asia-Pacific region. Another significant<br />
factor is the global pursuit<br />
of greater energy efficiency.<br />
For example, in the United<br />
States improved lubricants in<br />
vehicle engines and transmissions<br />
can reduce the workload<br />
over a wider range of temperatures,<br />
helping auto manufacturers<br />
meet increasingly stringent<br />
government fuel-economy stan-<br />
Lynne Lachenmyer,<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical Company<br />
Senior Vice President<br />
dards. Throughout Europe, these<br />
same lubricants help countries<br />
achieve government standards<br />
for carbon dioxide emissions.<br />
“Automobile and other equipment<br />
manufacturers worldwide<br />
are looking at everything they<br />
can to help achieve incremental<br />
improvements,” says Chris<br />
Birdsall, vice president for<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical’s global<br />
synthetics business. “And<br />
improved lubricants are a big<br />
part of boosting that efficiency.”<br />
The quest for higher energy<br />
efficiency and longer lubrication<br />
drain intervals, associated with<br />
more severe operating conditions,<br />
has created strong demand for<br />
advanced synthetic base stocks.<br />
“Lubricant manufacturers know<br />
that <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical offers<br />
the industry’s broadest synthetics<br />
portfolio,” says<br />
Lachenmyer.<br />
“Coupled with<br />
our half-century<br />
of technology leadership, our<br />
global supply capability and our<br />
excellent customer support, we<br />
expect to remain the global leader<br />
in this field.” the Lamp<br />
Innovation leads to industry’s largest portfolio<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical introduced metallocene catalyzed polyalphaolefin (mPAO)<br />
in 2010 under the brand name SpectraSyn Elite. This represents the latest in a<br />
continuous stream of synthetic base-stock innovations developed by the company<br />
over the past 45 years. Innovation began in the 1960s with the introduction<br />
of Esterex synthetic base stocks, followed by SpectraSyn PAO fluids in the 1970s.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical developed SpectraSyn Elite mPAO using metallocene catalyst<br />
technology. The company pioneered this proprietary technology in the 1980s<br />
and commercialized it in 1991 to manufacture innovative, high-performance plastics.<br />
Development of mPAO represents the latest extension of this breakthrough<br />
platform by <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> scientists and engineers.<br />
Today, the company offers the industry’s largest portfolio of synthetic base<br />
stocks: SpectraSyn Elite mPAO, SpectraSyn Low Viscosity PAO, SpectraSyn Plus<br />
PAO, Esterex esters, Synesstic AN, SpectraSyn Hi Viscosity PAO and SpectraSyn<br />
Ultra High Viscosity PAO.<br />
In addition to Baytown, Texas, <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical operates synthetics manufacturing<br />
facilities in Beaumont, Texas; Edison, New Jersey; and Notre-Dame-de-<br />
Gravenchon, France. Technology centers for these products are in Baytown and<br />
Shanghai, China.<br />
To learn more<br />
exxonmobil.com/<br />
synthetics
Panorama<br />
Around the world with <strong>ExxonMobil</strong><br />
Supporting education in Singapore<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> is committing approximately<br />
$1.5 million to Gardens by the Bay, a world-class<br />
development designed to showcase Singapore’s<br />
innovation and resource management. The sponsorship,<br />
the company’s single-largest community<br />
investment in Singapore, involves developing stateof-the-art<br />
educational resources around Dragonfly<br />
Lake in Gardens by the Bay.<br />
These include new technologies and programs to<br />
educate visitors about aquatic life and horticulture at<br />
the lake, which serves as a natural filter system for<br />
water for the gardens and a connecting reservoir.<br />
“Understanding our natural environment is<br />
the critical first step toward protecting it,” says<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Asia Pacific Chairman and Managing<br />
Director Matthew Aguiar. “Our support for this<br />
project will help increase awareness of Singapore’s<br />
biodiversity, water systems and plant life.”<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong>’s Singapore affiliate operates an<br />
integrated refinery and petrochemical plant in the<br />
country, in addition to service stations and marketing<br />
of lubricants and petroleum specialties.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> is funding educational programs for<br />
Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay, where visitors learn<br />
about biodiversity, water systems and plant life.<br />
Better water for African village<br />
Mobil Equatorial Guinea Inc. has completed<br />
a much-needed water infrastructure project<br />
in the village of Barrios las Palmas.<br />
The work includes the installation of<br />
11 water fountains throughout the village to<br />
make sure the 500 residents have access<br />
to clean and safe water. As a result, every<br />
household – none with running water – now<br />
has access to fresh supplies within 100<br />
yards of the home. Previously, the villagers<br />
had access to only one water tap, a system<br />
in place for more than 100 years.<br />
Company of the Year<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical has received the Responsible Care <strong>2012</strong> Company of the Year award<br />
from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) at its annual meeting in Colorado. Responsible<br />
Care is the global chemical industry’s premier program for achieving and sustaining operational<br />
excellence.<br />
The award is the ACC’s top honor for exemplary achievement in safety, health, environmental<br />
performance and communication with stakeholders. An independent panel selects<br />
the recipient based on sustained performance, programs and projects.<br />
<strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical Company President Steve Pryor said, “We are extremely proud to<br />
receive this recognition and honor from the American Chemistry Council. Our company’s<br />
Operations Integrity Management System gives our people around the world a common<br />
approach to managing operational risks and progressing toward an incident-free workplace.”<br />
Steve Pryor (left), <strong>ExxonMobil</strong> Chemical Company<br />
president, accepts the Company of the Year honor<br />
from the American Chemical Council’s Cal Dooley.<br />
34
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