From his first job hoeing weeds in hot cotton fields to his college days working summers in the oil fields of West Texas laying pipe and cleaning out tank sludge to his current days of leading a refinery, Mark Northcutt has always put in an honest day’s work. These days, he shares that foundation of honesty and hard work with his ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery team where he has served as manager since February 2013.
“It all starts with setting high standards of integrity, first for myself and then for the entire organization,” explained Northcutt. “It is from this base of integrity that we can establish trust, which is essential for open communication, whether inside our fenceline or beyond.”
Northcutt joined Exxon at the Baytown refinery after obtaining a degree in chemical engineering from Texas Tech University. He held several positions of increasing responsibility there before moving to the company’s Houston headquarters and served there from 1992 to 1995. He then returned to the Baytown site as a department manager and transferred to the Baton Rouge refinery in 2000, working initially as the technical division manager and later as process division manager. Most recently, he served as refinery manager for the operation in Sriracha, Thailand, before once again joining the Baton Rouge team.
The refining business
As refinery manager, Northcutt is responsible for the overall performance of the refining business in Baton Rouge — the third largest refinery in the United States, with a crude oil production capacity of 502,500 bpd.
The refinery manufactures about 300 products and grades of products including motor gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, aviation gasoline, lubricating oils, waxes, petroleum coke, liquefied petroleum gas and chemical feedstock. It sits on approximately 2,100 acres, including nearby tank farms, and has 1,295 employees and about 1,200 contract staff.
As the industry goes through dramatic changes as a result of the renaissance in domestic oil and gas production, the Baton Rouge site keeps the pace with the changes to ensure it remains competitive.
“Our company annually invests about $200 million to improve safety, reliability and energy efficiency while also reducing emissions at our local sites,” said Northcutt. “The Baton Rouge refinery continues to invest in supplying clean fuels to the market. We also continue to leverage ExxonMobil Baton Rouge’s competitive advantage through integration of all of our area facilities with shared feedstocks.”
Northcutt said a great example of this synergy is the Port Allen Lubricants expansion project, which includes new synthetic base stocks manufacturing facilities at the Baton Rouge Chemical Plant and a new finished lube blending and packaging facility at the Port Allen Lubricants Plant.
“This more than $200 million project is progressing well,” he said. “We’ve also been working hard to capture opportunity arising from the renaissance in domestic oil and gas production, including working with Genesis Energy to provide additional logistics to ensure the refinery has the flexibility to capture these opportunities.”
The latter refers to Genesis Energy LP’s plans to invest approximately $150 million to construct a new crude oil, intermediates and refined products import/export terminal in Baton Rouge that will be connected to ExxonMobil facilities in the area.
“Part of being a successful global company is the ability to adapt to an evolving business environment,” said Northcutt. “At ExxonMobil, we continually look at opportunities for ongoing investment at our sites around the world. We continue to invest in our Baton Rouge facility to ensure its competitiveness both now and into the future.”
‘Nothing is more important than safety’
While ExxonMobil invests in its sites, likewise it invests in its people and their safety.
“Our success is entirely due to the quality of our people,” said Northcutt. “We have the best work force here in Baton Rouge that you’ll find anywhere.
“At ExxonMobil, our safety slogan is ‘Nobody Gets Hurt,’ which captures our vision for an injury-free work environment. Baton Rouge’s exceptional safety culture is built on a foundation of extensive employee involvement that has helped us consistently deliver industry-leading performance.”
Potential issues must be discussed and addressed before work is commenced.
“Nothing is more important than safety, as reflected by our investment decisions,” said Northcutt. “We invest heavily in maintenance projects that enhance safety and operational reliability.”
More than 20 safety teams drive safety from all levels of the organization. Depart-mental safety committees have their own budgets and steward safety projects in their areas.
Last year, the Baton Rouge team experienced their best-ever process safety and environmental performance in three critical areas: environmental compliance incidents (ECIs), spills and flaring. They also had their best-ever reliability performance last year.
Their safety culture is rooted in the use of the Loss Prevention System (LPS), designed to prevent or reduce losses using behavior-based tools and proven management techniques. Tools include SPSA (Safe Performance Self-Assessment), which encourages people to think about the risks involved in completing the tasks they are assigned; the Safe Acts Index (SAI), which helps them to internally monitor their activities to ensure safe behaviors are consistently being practiced; and overarching all of these is their Operations Integrity Management System (OIMS), which provides a structured framework to systematically manage all aspects of the operation with the objective of reducing and eliminating incidents.
The ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery was recognized for its 2012 performance with the AFPM Meritorious Safety Performance Award, the Award for Safety Achievement (1,000,000+ employee hours) and the Award for Safety Achievement (1+ years).
“I’m proud of the improvements we continue to make in personnel, process and environmental safety at the Baton Rouge refinery,” said Northcutt.
Making a difference
Commitment to community is very strong with both the company and the site.
“The Baton Rouge facility is already a pacesetter site, but there is always room to improve,” Northcutt said. “Our focus will always start with being a responsible neighbor within our community, as demonstrated by the continuation of our safe and environmentally responsible performance.
“Our employees are really committed to being an integral part of the local community and we work hard to make Baton Rouge a great place to live.”
Northcutt has enjoyed the opportunity to attend many STEM-focused activities where site employees work alongside students from partner schools.
“To see these kids’ faces light up as they learn practical math and science concepts that have the potential to change their lives is pretty amazing,” he said.
He also enjoys the team’s community events like HOPEFest with HOPE Ministries, where hundreds of their neighbors joined the employees and many community nonprofit partners for a day of fun, fellowship and resource sharing.
“I’m so proud of our employees who spend more than 40,000 hours each year volunteering with these and other local agencies,” said Northcutt.
Their volunteer service, combined with additional funds from the ExxonMobil Foundation, generated about $5 million in funding for Baton Rouge-area schools and nonprofits last year.
“We give back because we can and are making a difference,” said Northcutt. “It is vital to all of us to support the continued growth of our industry while also supporting the need of our communities.”
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ExxonMobil
Baton Rouge Refinery
4949 Scenic Highway
P.O. Box 241
Baton Rouge, LA 70805-3359
(225) 977-7479
http://www.exxonmobilbr.com
Employees: 1,295 company employees/1,200 contractors
Products: Motor gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, aviation gasoline, lubricating oils, waxes, petroleum coke, liquefied petroleum gas and chemical feedstock
Size: 2,100 acres
