Oil and gas company ExxonMobil has reached a final investment decision (FID) for the construction of a new unit at the Beaumont refinery in Texas (United States). Construction has started and once built, it will increase its crude refining capacity by more than 65%, adding 250,000 bbl/d to the existing capacity of 366,000 bbl/d. The project will be fed with light crude oil production from the Permian Basin in Western Texas and New Mexico, which is set to growth in the next decade. The commissioning of the new unit is anticipated by 2022.
The Beaumont refinery belongs to an integrated petrochemical complex. It produces various refined products such as premium and regular gasoline, low sulfur diesel fuel, jet fuel, liquid petroleum gases, fuel oil blendstock, petroleum coke and petroleum feedstocks. In September 2018, ExxonMobil increased production of ultra-low sulfur fuels at the refinery by approximately 40,000 bbl/d with the installation of a selective cat naphtha hydrofining unit, to remove sulfur, while minimizing octane loss. The flexible proprietary catalyst technology, known as SCANfining, produces gasoline meeting the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Tier 3 gasoline sulphur specifications.