Terry Boles began his presentation by giving us his background.  Originally from Philadelphia and a graduate of Penn State University, Terry began his career with Exxon Mobil in 2003.  He has lived in various parts of the United States and internationally in Singapore and Calgary, Canada, before his current assignment as the BLADE Project Manager here at the Beaumont Refinery.

 

Terry introduced his project team and then gave us some basic stats on the expansion project, including a 65% increase in crude oil processing.  The expansion should give the Beaumont Refinery the distinction of having the highest capacity of any refinery in the country, at least until another plant expands enough to pass them for the title.  The construction has begun with the anticipated start by 2022.  When the project gets fully underway, it will create as many as 1850 construction jobs, with the expectation of 40 to 60 permanent jobs when the expansion is fully complete.

 

Terry showed us a video on how Exxon Mobil is helping transform lives through both the expansion project and their corresponding work with the local community. Although Jacobs Engineering is the firm heading up the project, he spoke about how some local firms including Mason Construction, Newtron, HB Neild and Sons, and others have already been assigned work on the project and how there will be more to come.

 

Exxon Mobil had a 2018 campaign to engage local businesses interested in being part of a possible project and received over 200 responses.  Those qualified have been added to a vendor list.  The project team is trying to find ways to minimize community impact.  They have added one dock and leased two others in order to be able to bring in the majority of supplies via the river and thereby reduce the truck traffic having to drive through town to get to the main gates.  Olin Road is in the process of being upgraded and a new gate is being established, again to minimize traffic to the main gate.  They are also upgrading some back roads from employee parking off of MLK south of Cardinal Drive so that the busses shuttling the construction employees can avoid adding to the current traffic around Lamar University.

 

The site preparation is progressing, with approximately 25,000 truckloads of fill already having been moved to the site and at least 20,000 truckloads still yet to go.  Hiring offices for the needed workers have been established and the team tasked with community engagement is in place.

 

Terry answered a question about pollution control, stating that the expansion will have minimal impact, even being able to take some of the byproduct of the existing refinery and using it to provide energy needed to power the new portion of the refinery.  They will be producing their own feedstocks.  The air permit applied for was approved with no comment, which should be taken as a good sign.

 

When asked why it takes 4-5 years to get a project this size off the ground, Terry spoke about how the projects were planned down to the last detail and thoroughly analyzed by many levels of the company prior to approval in order to make certain the investment will be worth it, and that the build-out can be performed in the most efficient manner possible.

 

Lastly, when asked about wildlife protection policies, Terry said that whereas bird migration patterns have been an issue at other locations along the Gulf Coast, the wildlife issues at this expansion have involved a few alligators and a wild boar.  He assured the audience that while the safety of the employees  at the site is always the first priority, they do have people who can be called to handle the wildlife issues in a humane fashion.