Exxon Mobil aims, objectives and analysis

Exxon Mobil is the largest international oil and gas company that holds industry-leading inventory of global oil and gas resources and also the largest refiner and marketer of petroleum products. They constantly look ways to find better, safer and cleaner ways to deliver the energy. Exxon Mobil was formed on 30th November 1999 by merging Exxon and Mobil. Petroleum refinery has developed in respond to changing demand. There are 4 main processes in refinery and that is distillation, thermal cracking, catalytic and treatment processes. Prince William Sound’s is a private location and gives major problem to industry and government during the response effort after the oil spill incident. The disaster made a massive impact to environment, economically and socially. Positive changes in the oil refinery industry are Operation Integrated Management System, OIMS that is a better radar system and Coast Guard in Prince William Sound.

2. Introduction

On March 1989, Exxon Valdez tanker en route from Alaska to Los Angeles, California ran stranded on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The vessel was traveling out from normal shipping lanes in an attempt to steer away from ice berg. For the reason remains unclear, the tanker failed to turn back into the shipping lanes and ran aground on Bligh Reef on March 24, 1989 at 12:04am. Within 6 hours grounding, the Prudehoe Baycrude oil spilled roughly 10.9 million gallons of its 53 million gallons cargo. Most of the tanks on board were damaged. The spilled oil finally impact over 11 hundred miles of non-continuous coastline in Alaska. The disaster makes the Exxon Valdez the largest oil spilled to date in U.S. waters.

1.1Objectives of the Assignment

From this report, many information on Exxon Mobil Corporation you can discover such like the aims and objectives of the company, the oil and refinery industrial processes and operations, risks in all areas that leads to the oil spill disaster and pollution, consequences and all the hazards of the oil spill disaster, the improvement and changes in the management systems to prevent the disaster from occurring.

3. Exxon Mobil’s aims and objectives

Exxon Mobil Corporation is a merger of two companies, Exxon and Mobil, which took place in 1999. This made the company one of the biggest public listed energy companies in the world with subsidiaries in over 200 countries.

Exxon Mobil’s core business is energy and it encompasses exploration and production of crude oil, natural gas, manufacturing petroleum products and transportation. They are also involved in sales of crude oil, natural gas and petroleum.

Exxon Mobil Corporation is also a major player in manufacturing and marketing of basic petrochemicals including polypropylene plastics, polyethylene, olefins, aromatics and a wide variety of specialty products. They also have interest in electric power generation facilities.

It is committed to being the world’s premier petroleum and petrochemical company. Yet, they must continuously achieve superior financial and operating results while simultaneously adhering to high ethical standards.

3.1 Exxon Mobil Sector’s Aim and Objectives

The aim and objectives of Exxon Mobil Corporation is divided into a few sectors:

Exploration: finding opportunities in concepts and plays that have high uncertainty but potential to give a long term resource growth. Exploration is pursued despite of life cycle, across geological and geographical environments leading to technology and capabilities

Development: Focuses on better and industry-leading project implementation to deliver maximum value over the asset’s life. They also focus on disciplined investment decisions that increase reliability, profitable volumes and reduce cost.

Production: Maximizes profit production by leveraging their global organization to manage oil and gas assets by applying the best practices and also sharing of experiences, learning and expertise. They describe the priorities globally with a special organizational structure combining with a set of globally consistent processes

Refining and Supply: Operates network of vital and dependable, pipelines, marine vessel and distribution centers that give transportation of supplies to customers around the world. With the growing demand, they optimize their network and use selective capital investments that yield a competitive advantage.

Fuels marketing: serves a dependable and profitable channel to their refineries by selling high-quality products and services to make long-term value. They focus on greater safety and environment performance.

Lubricant and Specialties: serves long-term value by striving to become the head of high-technology and recognized synthetic lubricant brands. The product could maintain the top performance with fuel economy, energy efficiency and also extensive equipment life.

Chemical: viewing on commerce that leverage benefit feeds of enabling technology that optimizes feel flexibility with their assets and giving access to a big variety of feedstock with addition with the upstream and downstream of the organization management. They also focus on businesses that leverage lower-cost manufacturing process by having proprietary technology, operational excellence, integration and scale combination.

4. The Oil and Refinery Processes and Operation in Exxon Mobil

W.R. Grace and Exxon Mobil came up with their own way to increase productivity and reduced losses that are they developed a membrane-based process for improving solvents used in the refining lubricants. It provides superior yields of lube oil while concurrently overwhelming less energy, reducing cooling water use and potentially reducing level of volatile-natural emissions from the “dewaxing” operation.

The yield increase equates to a typical commercial plant of about 2 million barrels of crude oil per year. By improving and recycling the “dewaxing” solvent while bypassing the energy intensive parts of plant, a single facility can decrease oil consumption by 36 thousand barrels per year and greenhouse gas emissions by about 20 thousand tons per each plant. The same plant can reduce cooling water by nearly 4 million gallons per day. The release of the solvents which are unstable organic materials can be reduced by 50 to 200 tons per year per plant depending on the mechanical condition of its equipment.

This technology was first implemented commercially at Exxon Mobil’s Beaumont, Taxes refinery. It easily retrofitted into existing plants or in corporate into new plant design and currently trademarked process “max-dewax”.

Exxon Mobil refineries operates a worldwide integrated network of consistency and efficient refineries, marine tanker, distribution centers and pipelines that serves transportation fuels, feed stock, lubricant and other high-value products to their customers. The corporation proven business model to pursue operating excellence while leveraging their global scale and integration across to capture cost efficiencies and improve limitations. Their global supply organization optimizes their network as well as selection and procurement of raw materials supply of product to customers and placement of their equity crude. They meet the growing demand through selective capital investments that give way competitive benefits.

Exxon Mobil Safety Goals

To Protect Their People.

The safety efforts are driven by clear objective “Nobody Gets Hurt”. It’s a goal for employees and contractors alike, while Exxon Mobil is a leader in the industry that has low incident rates. The corporation took an efficient move towards to hazard acknowledgement, safety work planning, field confirmation and measurement of fulfillment against their safety standards. The effort includes extensive computer based training and also increasing use of simulators. All complemented by specific test and confirmation of each worker’s consideration and capabilities.

4.1.2 Protect Our Facilities

They work untiringly to uphold the integrity of their operations. It’s begins with implementing and determined to upgrade upon sound industry level. Instant example, they work for establish through the NPRA’s National Safety Conference and the API. But it goes well beyond that. The process in the start-up and shutdown mode less than 5% of the time, near 40% of incident happens during these “take-off and landing” periods. Therefore, they currently conducting passing HAZOPs to proactively verify the unique risks that passing operations can present. There are also attempting to calculate the standard of risk that for each scenario/potential incident. To help identify risks, they have adopted a “game-changing” operation based on “Incident Risk Analysis Tool”. This tool scores the vital potential result of an incident in addition to procedures the layers of security in place to avoid such a situation from happening.

Protect The Environment

Exxon Mobil strives to run business in a compatible method with the ecological and economic needs of the communities. This twin challenge stores energy in the forms necessary for economic growth, as protecting the environment. The environmental management is guided by “Protect Tomorrow, Today”. The tool in measuring environmental routine is a comprehensive site-by-site deliver of emissions. This enables to define site-specific priorities for development and construct an Environmental Business Plan which integrates environmental upgraded aims into business plans for each facility. They are also relentless pursuers of energy efficiency. They developed energy efficiency system by collecting knowledge from operators and engineers.

Protect The Community

They struggle to make a positive involvement to the living and welfare of the local community. This forms as of creating citizen optional panels to chains local contractors and vendors on top of supporting humanitarian activities. The key to their ER preparedness is maintaining the relationship with government agencies, law enforcement, state, country organizations and local communities. They made detailed plans for different types of emergencies and drill them regularly at the plant level. They hold 2 worldwide drills every year, appealing a wide network across their global organization. Most of the drills are matched with nearby plants, home responders, officials and the public leaders. They also use these to learn and consult with their neighbors.

5. Risks that Lead to the Oil Spill Disaster and Pollution

5.1 Five Causes That Leads to the Accident

The National Transportation Safety Board determined and identified 5 probable causes of the accident:

The third mate failed to properly maneuver the vessel due to fatigue and excessive workload

The master failed to provide proper navigation watch due to impairment from alcohol

The company failed to supervise the master and provide a rested and sufficient crew for the vessel

The U.S. Coast Guard failed to provide an effective vessel traffic system

Effective pilot and escort services were lacking

In the accident that night, 8 of the 11 tanks on board were damaged. The spilled oil would finally impact over 11 hundred miles of non-continuous coastline in Alaska. The sociocultural and psychological impact of the Exxon Valdez oil spill were examined in a population-based study of 593 men and women live in 14 Alaskan communities roughly about one year after the spill occurred. Between the oil spill exposures, progressive “dose-response” relationships were found and the following cleaning efforts and the next variables such as reported:

5.2 Reported Variables in “Dose-Respond” Relationship and the Subsequent Cleanup Effort

5.2.1 A decline in traditional social relations with relative’s members, links, neighbors and co-worker

5.2.2 A decline in continuation production and circulation activities

5.2.3 Increase in the quantity of troubles related with drinking, drug violence and home violence

5.2.4 A decline in observed health grade an increase in the amount of medical form confirmed by a doctor

5.2.5 Amplified post-spill charge of global anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression.

Alaskan local resident, women and 17 to 45 year olds in the high and low exposed groups were mostly at risk for the 3 psychiatric disorders. As the result of the oil spills suggest, result on the psychosocial environment was as major as its effect on the physical situation. The effect also has vital theoretical and practical implication for the perceptive and improvement of unpleasant effect of long term processes of sociocultural changes.

6. Consequences of All the Hazard of the Oil Spill

The spill and its environmental consequences alongside its devastating communications were massive. The disaster cost roughly around USD 7 billion dollars including the cleanup costs. USD 5 billion dollars of this was the largest penalizing fines ever handed out to a company.

The oil spill’s disaster results of coastal and offshore waters occupied by nearly one million birds. More than 30 thousand dead birds and almost 90 species were found dead by 1st august 1989. They recognized Murres (74%), other Alcids (7%) and sea duck (5.3%) suffered the highest mortality from oil and most of 88% birds were killed outside of Prince William Sound.

A colony of 129 thousand Murres at the Barren Island was mostly devastated. From 1st August to 13th October, another 7000 birds were retrieved but most of those birds appeared to have died from natural causes. This later die off was composed largely of shearwaters and other procellariids(51%), gulls (22%), and puffin (14%). 100 thousand to 300 thousand birds were killed by the disaster and estimated by aerial and ship-based surveys for population at risk and extrapolating from the number of birds recovered.

The damage to the company’s reputation is more important and more difficult to quantify. Nevertheless, Exxon lost market share and slipped from being the largest oil company to the third largest in the world. The “Exxon Valdez” entered the language as a shortcut for corporate arrogance and damage

7. Improvement and Change Done By Exxon Mobil

In the result of the accident, Exxon Mobil undertook important operational reforms and implemented a very systematic operational management system to prevent future incidents. The system has been applied globally and nothing similar occurs after the accident. They believe their subsequent record of safety stems first and foremost from disciplined and systematic improvements they made. The corporation considers this strong performance encouraging and it serves as a solid platform for continuous improvement efforts.

In the result of the oil spill accident, Exxon Mobil redoubled its commitment to safe guard the environment, employees and operating communities worldwide. As for the improvement of them prevention, they have done;

7.1 Prevention Improvement

7.1.1 Modified the tanker routes

7.1.2 Instituted drug and alcohol testing programs for safety sensitive positions

7.1.3 Restricted safety-sensitive positions to employees with no history of substance abuse

7.1.4 Implemented more extensive periodic assessment of Exxon Mobil vessels and facilities

7.1.5 They strengthened the training programs for vessel captains and pilots.

7.1.6 Applied new technology to improve vessel navigation and ensure the integrity of oil containment systems.

In the event a spill occurs, the corporation also has improved their respond capability, such as;

7.2 Respond Capability Improvement

7.2.1 Exxon Mobil is a founding member of every major oil spill response teams worldwide.

7.2.2 There are over thousand Exxon Mobil employees involved in oil spill response team worldwide

7.2.3 The company holds frequent, extensive oil spill drill at various Exxon Mobil locations around the world.

7.2.4 Exxon Mobil has developed and applied new spill-detecting technology.

8. Conclusion

From the report, we learned about Exxon Mobil Corporation. We study on Exxon Mobil’s aims and objectives and we know how the corporation strives to be the number one oil and gas companies in the world. Exxon Mobil’s refinery process and operation taught us their way to increase productivity and reduced losses. They developed a new process called “membrane-based” process for improving the solvent used in the refining lubricants. They also operates a worldwide integrated network of consistency and efficient refineries, marine tanker, distribution centers and pipelines that serves transportation fuels, feed stock, lubricant and other high-value products. On March 1989, an oil spill disaster occurred and gives massive pollution to environment. Just because of human and technical error, Prince Williams Sound seriously polluted. Thousands of birds and 90 species were found dead after the disaster take place. It’s the largest oil spilled to date in U.S. waters. After the accident, Exxon Mobil took a very systematic operational management system in order to prevent the future accident. Since they applied the system, nothing similar occurs after the accident. This tragedy can be useful experience for engineers all over the world. Every action must be seriously analyzed before proceeding to the next step.