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Baytown Complex - Credit: Energy Intelligence

Baytown Area, Company Profile 2024

The ExxonMobil Baytown Complex is one of the largest integrated and most technologically advanced petroleum and petrochemical complexes in the world. Founded in 1919, ExxonMobil's Baytown, Texas complex is located on approximately 3,400 acres along the Houston Ship Channel, about 25 miles east of Houston.
The Baytown area is comprised of four manufacturing sites, including one in nearby Mont Belvieu, and the Chemical Company's Technology and Engineering complex. These include:

• Baytown Refinery
• Baytown Chemical Plant
• Baytown Olefins Plant
• Baytown Technology and Engineering Complex
• Mont Belvieu Plastics Plant

Baytown Refinery

• Founded in 1919, the Baytown Refinery began operation in 1920.
• Crude oil for the refinery is supplied by pipeline crude primarily from Texas and Canada; supplemented by crude from around the globe, including the Persian Gulf, Africa, South America and Mexico.
• Capacity: 588,000 barrels of crude oil a day; fifth largest refinery in the United States; Tenth largest refineries in the world.
• The refinery produces a full range of petroleum products including lube oils, mogas grades, Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD), waxes and hydrocarbon fluids as well as various blends and grades of specialties, which usesare described as follows:
  • Distillates: Jet fuel, diesel, fuel oil
  • Gas: Refinery Gas, LPG
  • Gas Oils: Petrochemical feedstocks
  • Lubricants: Oils, waxes
  • Naphthas: Specialty fluids, gasoline
  • Residuum: Coke, Asphalt

Baytown Chemical Plant

The Baytown Chemical Plant, which started up in 1940, is capable of producing more than eight billion pounds of petrochemical products:

• Basic Chemicals purifies refinery propylene, recovers aromatics from refinery reformate and Baytown Olefins Plant (BOP) naphthas as well as butylene from BOP for butene-1 production, which is a building block for polyethylene.
• Polypropylene section receives feed from Olefins to manufacture polypropylene.
• Butyl Polymers section manufactures butyl rubber and adhesives.
• The Synthetics section produces metallocene polyalphaolefins, a synthetic base stock and key component to Mobil 1.
• The Solution Polymers Unit (SPU) produces Vistamaxx™ performance polymers and Exact™ plastomers. Some of the LAO products are Butene-1 integrated with Mont Belvieu Plastics Plant (PE);
• The Linear Alpha-olefins Unit (LAU) produces Elevexx ™ intermediate fluids and waxes used as feedstock in a wide range of other processes. the C₈ and C₁₂ LAOs will be integrated with the MPU (Synthetics) unit.
• In December 2022, the Baytown Complex successfully started up one of the largest advanced recycling facilities in North America. The facility uses proprietary  technology to break down hard-to-recycle plastics and transform them into raw materials for new products.

Baytown Olefins Plant

• In operation since 1979, ExxonMobil’s Olefins Plant in Baytown, Texas, is located on a 370-acre tract. A second ethylene facility was completed in 1997, and a third ethylene facility was completed in 2018.
• The plant manufactures approximately 10 billion pounds of petrochemical products each year which are shipped via pipeline.
• Plant products:
  • Ethylene - Recycling bags, plastic packaging/wrap, waterproof layer on diapers
  • Propylene - Carpeting, upholstery, automotive plastic components, child car safety seats
  • Butadiene - Tires, fabrics, engineered plastics, rubber
• The plant also houses the majority of the cogeneration facilities that produce approximately 80% the power and steam required to operate the entire Baytown Complex.

Mont Belvieu Plastics Plant

In operation since 1982, ExxonMobil’s Plastics Plant in Mont Belvieu is a modern petrochemical manufacturing facility, specializing in polyethylene production. The plant is located on about 500 acres in Chambers County. 

• The annual production capacity of the Baytown chemical plant is 700,000t of polypropylene, 600,000t of paraxylene, 125,000t of butyl, 50,000t of synthetics, and other performance products. (Jun 2020, source)
• In 2017, a major expansion project was completed to process ethylene feedstock at two new 650,000 tons per year high-performance polyethylene lines.
• The plant manufactures approximately 5 billion pounds of linear low-density and high-density polyethylene products each year, which are shipped via rail hopper cars or packaged for overseas transport.