Cavallo brings global experience to U.S. operations

For the first time in his 24-year career with ExxonMobil, Riccardo Cavallo took a role as a plant manager in the chemical side of operations — and it’s the first time he’s been in charge of operations at a U.S. facility.

As the operations manager at the combined Baytown Refinery and Chemical Plant, known as the Baytown complex, Cavallo oversees thousands of people working to safely and reliably deliver products needed in household, automotive and everyday items.

A native of Italy, Cavallo joined ExxonMobil in 2001 after studying chemical engineering at the Federico II University in Naples, Italy. His first role was in procurement at ExxonMobil’s Italian subsidiary, Esso Italiana.

Cavallo went on to hold roles at refineries in Italy, the U.K. and Australia.

"As someone who has spent most of my career in operations, I know what truly makes the difference is the people who work every day and night in our plant," Cavallo said. "No matter what role you have in operations — whether a process technician, a contact engineer or the plant manager — we win or we lose as a team."

"While technical skills are important to run our very complex operations, people skills and a culture of collaboration are what truly set our teams apart."

The Baytown Refinery and Chemical Plant are part of the company’s broader Baytown operations, which also encompasses an olefins plant, a technology and engineering center, and a plastics plant in nearby Mount Belvieu. Located on about 3,400 acres along the Houston Ship Channel, the Baytown Complex employs approximately 2,067 personnel and almost 2,000 contractors as well.

Over the past 100 years, the complex has continuously expanded and adapted to keep pace with industry innovation and shifting customer demands, Cavallo said.

Following the 1919 oil discovery in the nearby boomtown of Goose Creek — which later became part of Baytown — the Baytown Refinery was established that same year.

In 1940, the chemical plant started operations to produce butyl rubber and toluene for World War II efforts. Eventually, operations expanded to performance plastics, wind turbine lubricants and certified circular polymers.

A major transformational period for the plant took place during the 1970s and ‘80s with a large refinery expansion, the addition of the site’s first coking unit and the founding of the olefins plant as well as the nearby plastics plant. By the early 2000s, the refinery underwent hydrofining expansions to enable the production of low-sulfur transportation fuels.

The Baytown Chemical Plant produces basic chemicals including propylene, aromatics and butylene, which can be used in applications including polyester to improve wrinkle resistance in fabrics and moisture-wicking clothing.

The polypropylene the plant manufactures is used in food packaging for preservation; in vehicles for dashboards and side panels, light-weighting the vehicle to improve fuel efficiency; in diapers and personal care products; and for medical products like surgical masks and syringes.

"Change is constant. While difficult to navigate, change will always be there," Cavallo said. "Our Baytown facilities have changed and evolved so much in our 106 years. Looking ahead, we will continue to evolve to meet the world’s growing energy and product needs and at the same time, reduce GHG emissions for our facilities and our customers."

Cavallo said safety at the facility is a priority for every employee and in 2018, the site launched what is called Enhanced Process Safety, based on four key principles:

  • Operations Integrity Management System: This framework is part of the foundation of the Baytown facility. It establishes common worldwide expectations to address the risks inherent to the business, including personnel and process safety, security, health and environmental performance.
  • Proactively manage major hazard scenarios: For each of the hazards, plant leaders have clearly identified necessary safeguards and proper responses in the event of an incident. For accountability, there is a clear owner for each scenario and safeguard, and a process is in place to ensure sustainability.
  • Human performance: People make mistakes, Cavallo said, which are often from well-meaning behaviors intended to get the job done. Understanding how and why mistakes occur can help us prevent them. The response to these situations from the leadership team directly impacts plant and company culture, he added.
  • Learning from experience: No one wants an incident or a near miss to happen, he said. "But if they do, instead of saying ‘It can’t happen here,’ the right questions to ask are ‘How could it happen?’ and ‘How can we prevent it?’"

The initiative has had great success, Cavallo said, with more than a 50% annual reduction in process safety incidents across ExxonMobil facilities globally.

Additionally, this year, the Baytown complex is launching a new Personnel Safety Management System. The system establishes a common language, processes and tools, and teaches people to be safety leaders at every level in the organization.

"I want every member of my team to go home each day safely, and also with a smile, knowing they played a role in keeping people safe, running our assets reliably, and upholding our reputation as a trusted neighbor.

"I’m enormously proud of our safety record at ExxonMobil, but we know there is always more to do. Safety should be measured by the effectiveness of our safeguards, not merely by the absence of incidents."

There have been other challenges Cavallo has faced, the biggest in his career being to lead the 2021 conversion of the Altona refinery in Australia to the Mobil Melbourne fuel terminal, which required a lot of structural changes.

"Navigating through a change like this one requires empathy and clear communication. I spent a lot of my time with the team, listening and helping them to understand the reasons behind the decision," Cavallo said.

Being a good neighbor is a priority for employees at the Baytown facility, who are deeply committed to supporting the surrounding community and its residents.

"The city of Baytown grew up alongside us, officially founded in 1948, a couple decades after our refinery started," Cavallo said. "In the early years, our company helped establish many of the city’s critical amenities. We built hospitals, schools and housing."

The site is the largest taxpayer and employer in the region, supporting over $500 million in annual salaries and wages and nearly 15,000 direct and indirect jobs.

ExxonMobil Baytown also contributes more than $1 million annually to local nonprofits.

"We’re honored to play a leadership role in initiatives like Partners in Education; the American Cancer Society initiative Relay for Life; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s community health initiative called Be Well Baytown; and United Way of Greater Baytown Area & Chambers County," Cavallo said.

"Our employees, retirees and their families also dedicate thousands of volunteer hours to local organizations, from schools and nature centers to nursing homes and food banks. We don’t just work here; our employees live here, too. That’s why we remain deeply committed to investing in the people, businesses and organizations that make the Baytown and Mont Belvieu communities thrive."

Education was an early driver for Cavallo in choosing a career path, and he continues to value and encourage others to study.

He is the first one on his father’s side of the family to graduate from university, he said, adding that on his mother’s side of the family, his grandfather, who raised him, was forced to flee three times from the place where he was living, having to start over again each time before he settled in Naples. "Those conversations at the dinner table taught me invaluable life skills."

For more information, visit exxonmobil.com.

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