ExxonMobil Beaumont Refinery Manager Rozena Dendy gives an update on the expansion project startup

Intro Hello friends and followers it's Jeremy osterberger here with Bic magazine I'm so excited to be at Exxon Beaumont here for the startup the first day startup of Blade the new Refinery expansion here in Beaumont I'm joined by Rosina dindy Refinery manager Rosina how are we doing How are we doing we're doing absolutely fantastic this is the largest U.S expansion in almost a decade and it's 250 000 barrels a day crude oil capacity right here Southeast Texas and so it's an amazing day for our employees it's an amazing day for our project team that have brought this to life and it's actually very remarkable for us to be able to bring a project to life that is providing more Transportation fuels for families everywhere you know you just know there was into the demand talk about that demand and what that what this facility fills for the demand yes so if you kind Demand of just step back when we started this construction project back in 2019 you remember we went through a pandemic and we continued to invest in this project even in Market downturn what we see now is the demand has recovered and then we're doing our part to add on more Supply in the marketplace to bring on more diesel so that our kids how to get to school and making sure those school buses have plenty of diesel to run on or our food that go to the grocery stores on the 18 wheelers that they're actually able to get there with the more diesel Supply we have in the marketplace so Regina behind us of course is a blade expansion we also have the traditional finery the existing Refinery not far talk about those barrels per day you know what's produced existing you talked about the 250 that blade adds so what are we talking about as far as total Total capacity capacity yes so our total capacity would be over 630 000 barrels a day blade represent about a 65 expansion to our current facility here and it makes us incredibly proud about the amount of diesel and also gasoline that we'll be able to provide to the marketplace as well so I want to get into a little bit of some technical questions Rosanna how about the crude slate here at blade is it different from the existing facility so we're bringing Difference from existing facility in uh Permian crude from our upstream and you know that we have out west Texas Permian crew that actually comes in we'll be going into this fine crew unit here and processing it and us making more diesel and gasoline as well so that's the focus more more diesel and and also gasoline jet fuel as well exactly exactly perfect Jeremy all right I'm trying so let's talk a little more about the technology what makes blade so unique yes so before any still even hit Before the project the ground we were already using technology 3D simulations this allowed our operators to be able to do virtual reality of what does the unit look like what is the equipment specifications are how they're able to troubleshoot ahead of time and start even process planning for maintenance work ahead of time so that was before the project and still hit the ground over here we have a Catalysts catalyst that is a part of our furnace unit here that reducing Knox emissions and so it's being very selective on the Catalyst and making sure we have much reduced uh emissions by using that technology and then other catalysts you can't see that removes impurities from Diesel and gasoline representing you talked about uh when this project was announced when it started 2019 you had covid give me some lessons learned and you've been around you've been doing this for 24 years at Exxon right so so what were your you know major lessons learned throughout this this project well first of all always always always keep Safety First and making sure we're doing it in an environmental responsible manner the second part of this is that as a company having a strategy that we're going to continue to invest and remember that demand is going to recover has been I say tremendous and one that we are able to say on this day that we're bringing more supply to the market and adding on this additional 250 000 barrels a day of cruise capacity and Rosanna for everyone to understand you had about 1700 tractors yeah as far as building this site getting there and about how many kind of permanent roles will will be will be a operating blade Permanent Jobs yes so we have about 50 permanent roles that'll be operating blade but going back to even your 1700 contractors for the local community and what this actually does for Southeast Texas to keep thriving as an economy we've invested about 500 million dollars locally whether it's through contractors subcontractors and supplier into this local market here it's incredible and so some of those 50 permanent roles talk a little bit about that everything from what Engineers process tax uh who all who who all do you need and who you know who else is going to what kind of job titles are going to fill these roles Job Titles here yeah so we've already had them higher and they've been here in a part of the project we have process technicians that are part of the project we have mechanic craftsmans that are a part of the project we have great Engineers that are a part of this actual project application Engineers as well as inspectors so we have a a full Suite of process mechanical technical Specialists that are part of this project as well as environmental Specialists as well so we're very excited and then our emergency response team that also supports the project Rosanna what an exciting day uh you know it's hard for me to ask this because it's like hey it's the first day of startup but what is the bigger picture for Exxon Beaumont what does the future look like The Future the future is absolutely bright so with this uh we're intending to continue to invest I say here in the local Marketplace it's pretty exciting to be one of the largest refineries in the U.S and it's right here in Beaumont we're also providing a lot of Economic Opportunity for having this particular project here and if I was to step back we as a Beaumont area operations provide basically we generate one in seven jobs here in the community so every new job we create the 50 we just talk about it generally generates one in seven jobs in the uh the broader Beaumont community and so we're pretty proud of that as well you know Rosanna we just uh had such a fun time tracking this project you know of course our interview with Gene Weber a couple few years ago in the middle of construction we came out here near the end just in the fall and we're just so grateful that you had us out here for the startup it's exciting time congratulations to you and your team yes Closing so thank you and I also want to thank I would say City of Beaumont the Jefferson County and all of those that have truly the Beaumont Independent School District and as well as the support also for the local Port our success is basically a shared success and a collaboration from all of those groups has been phenomenal and to our community and Community Partners for them supporting us the entire way has been nothing but phenomenal and our Workforce is incredibly proud as well as we're proud of our project team of bringing this remarkable project to life and so we're very excited for it Regina thank you so much for your time we know you're busy uh thank you Jeremy and thank you for coming here today on such a momentous occasion incredible thank you [Music] [Music]