ExxonMobil’s Baytown area celebrated its contribution to the North American Growth Project by hosting a plant tour of Baytown Olefins Facility, including its multi-billion dollar ethane cracker at the Baytown Olefins Plant. The cracker has a capacity of 1.5 million tons per year. The ethylene plant is one of the largest in the world. It is part of the Baytown Complex, which was founded in 1919 as the Baytown Refinery and began operation in 1920. The Chemical Plant started up in 1940.
The second leg of the tour was the new phase of the Mont Belvieu Plastics Plant that started up in 2017, which receives its ethylene feedstock from BOP. The original plant began operation in 1982. The Mont Belvieu plant then solidifies the gas into polyethylene pellets that are bagged and shipped to ports all over the world. These projects are part of ExxonMobil’s larger 10-year, $20 billion Growing the Gulf expansion program.
BIC Magazine's Jeremy Osterberger interviewed Plant Manager of the Mont Belvieu Plastics Plant, Wim Blokker, on the status of the project and how it fits into ExxonMobil's Grow the Gulf Initiative.
