ExxonMobil Corp. has let a contract to Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Pasadena, Calif., to provide engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) services for a planned 20,000-b/d capacity expansion at the company’s 345,000-b/d refinery in Beaumont, Tex. (OGJ Online, Aug. 4, 2015).
The scope of Jacobs Engineering’s work under the contract includes delivery of EPCM services related to an expansion of the refinery’s crude distillation and jet fuel units, the service provider said.
Designed to expand the refinery’s capacity to process light crudes from US shale, the Beaumont crude flexibility and expansion project also will result in increased production of jet fuel from the plant, according to Jacobs Engineering.
Increased processing of light crude feedstock additionally would contribute to quality improvements in the refinery’s overall production slate, ExxonMobil said when announcing the project earlier this month.
Jacobs Engineering did not disclose a value of the EPCM contract but did confirm the project is a release against an existing long-term agreement with ExxonMobil.
An official timeline for the proposed expansion has yet to be released.
The capacity expansion plans at Beaumont follow ExxonMobil’s move to increase the processing flexibility of its US downstream operations to benefit from growing North American supplies.
ExxonMobil recently completed a metallurgy upgrade project at the Beaumont refinery to increase the plant’s ability to process heavy Canadian crude, the company told investors in March.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
