ExxonMobil Beaumont Refinery

The ExxonMobil Refinery in Beaumont, Texas was built along the banks of the Neches River in 1903. The refinery is currently the eleventh largest in the world with a nameplate capacity of 609,024 bpcd. The plant is also highly integrated with petrochemicals production and lubricants and is a critical part of the Texas-Louisiana gulf coast energy infrastructure. The site encompasses more than 2,700 acres and is staffed by 2,000 employees daily plus another 3,000 contractors to support maintenance and construction activities.

In 1903, construction started on the Burt Refining Company to capitalize on the prolific Spindletop field located just south of Beaumont. Little was known of Burt Refining's origins other than George A. Burts was the owner and was rumored to have been an agent of John D. Rockefeller. In 1909, the State of Texas seized the refinery as an illegal affiliate of Standard Oil and sold in an auction to Magnolia Petroleum Co. The refinery became Texas's third largest by 1920 under Magnolia as the company expanded throughout the region. As Magnolia Petroleum Company expanded its influence in the southwestern United States, Standard Oil Company of New York (SOCONY Mobil) began acquiring shares in the company. In December 1925, all Magnolia stock was exchanged for Standard Oil of New York shares, and the Texas assets were subsequently transferred to Magnolia Petroleum Company. The Magnolia Refinery played a key role during World War II as it stepped up production and shipped oil globally. By 1959, the operations of the Magnolia Oil Company had been merged entirely into SOCONY Mobil. The refinery further in the ensuing decades to becomes Beaumont's largest employer and eventually Mobil's largest refinery by 1980. In 1999, Exxon and Mobil merged to form the largest oil company in the world and the Beaumont Refinery became one of the 5 largest refineries in the combined company's portfolio. Following a $2 billion major capital investment program twenty five years later, including a new 250,000 bpd crude unit, Beaumont became the third largest oil refinery in North America and the largest of any of ExxonMobil's plants.

According to ExxonMobil's filings with the US DOE's Energy Information Agency, the unit capacities for the Beaumont Refinery are presented below:

The refinery has a Nelson complexity index of 9.0, making it moderately complex.

The refinery has three crude trains. The smallest is CDU A110,000 bpd. The second crude unit is CDU B 274,000 bpd. The newest CDU C was designed for lighter crude oils produced by shale crudes and light tight oils and is of 250,000 bpd of capacity.

Starting in 2019, the refinery underwent a major expansion with a 65% increase in its nameplate capacity as part of a $2 billion program. KBR was contracted to lead the work with a scope that covered offsite facilities and interconnecting units within the expansion This followed ExxonMobil's earlier contract with TechnipFMC PLC for EPC services on four new units, including an atmospheric pipe still, hydrotreater units, and a benzene recovery system.

The refinery has a large lubricants plant located on 27 acres within the refinery. The lubes plant produces 160 million gallons of lubricants across 275 product types and employs 175 employees and 163 contractors.

The refinery has three power plants that are integrated to provide steam and thermal heating to the refinery, in addition to selling electricity to the grid. These are: