ExxonMobil is considering expanding its Beaumont, Texas, refinery’s capacity to 850,000 barrels per day by the end of the decade, Reuters reports. It was reported last year ExxonMobil was considering doubling the 344,600-barrel-per-day refinery’s capacity. Details of the latest expansion plan emerged from ExxonMobil’s recent negotiations with the United Steelworkers union, according to sources. Via the Beaumont Enterprise, ExxonMobil has filed for four state permits to increase emissions and install new equipment since October. ExxonMobil declined to discuss a possible expansion plan.
Under the new plan, ExxonMobil would add a third crude distillation unit to the Beaumont refinery that would run sour crude. It may also reconfigure the refinery’s smallest crude distillation unit to run sour crude instead of sweet crude.
Such an expansion would make the refinery the largest in the U.S. and the fourth largest in the world. Motiva Enterprises’ 600,250-barrel-per-day refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, is currently the largest in the U.S.
MORE REFINING NEWS: ExxonMobil's Crocker, Tully leading integrated Baytown Complex
