Baton Rouge area - Media room

Oil and Gas Industry maintenance maintains jobs and investment

by Ken Cohen Vice President of Public and Government Affairs for Exxon Mobil Corporation

There's no doubt greater domestic oil and gas production can create U.S. jobs.  A recent Wall Street Journal editorial cited a fact that jobs in oil and gas production have increased by 80% since 2003, and the industry accounted for more than one in five of all net new private jobs in that period.

But greater production of oil and gas is only one way industry creates U.S. jobs.

Take, for instance, the annual maintenance and upgrades of existing oil and gas manufacturing facilities.  Called "turnarounds," these planned periods of downtime for specific units in refineries and petrochemical complexes are often major sources of jobs and investment in local communities.  They require thousands of construction workers and other contractors, in addition to millions of dollars spent on materials, equipment, labor and more.

ExxonMobil's Baytown, Texas, complex - one of the largest integrated refinery and chemical complexes in the world - recently finished the largest turnaround block in the history of the site.  ExxonMobil invested more than $200 million in the turnaround -- benefiting local companies, contractors, businesses and more.  Here are a few numbers from that turnaround:

-- Nearly 50 contract companies were involved in the work.

-- The project required more than 2 million man hours of labor.

-- Site teams safely and effectively managed a peak of 3,000 additional people on site per day.

Another large turnaround scheduled for 2012 is expected to require an additional 1,700 workers.  We anticipate that major turnarounds and projects at the Baton Rouge chemical plant an refinery will toal more than $340 million from 2011 through 2012.  At its peak, the multiple projects will require a workforce of about 4,200 people.

Recent and planned turnarounds at other ExxonMobil refinery sites across the United States have or will require more than $65 million of investment and more than 1,300 contract employees.

This type of economic activity goes largely unnoticed by the public at large, but I can tell you it does not go unnoticed by the citizens in these communities who depend on the jobs that result.  Local communities also depend on the millions of dollars in tax revenues from the refineries that benefit local schools, hospitals and other public services.

So while the jobs from greater oil and gas production may be making the headlines, it's important to consider how the industry's private investments - even in the maintenance of our facilities - are creating jobs and economic activity throughout all sectors of the economy.

For more insights on the issues, policies, technologies and trends that are shaping the energy industry check out ExxonMobil's Perspectives blog at www.exxonmobilperspectives.com.

 

ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Holiday Open House  

ExxonMobil Baton Rouge hosted its first annual Holiday Open House in December at the ExxonMobil YMCA located on Howell Place Blvd.  Neighbors, community and covi partners and school leaders attended to network about collaborative opportunities for 2012.

Booths were set up to provide attendees with information regarding the company's partnership with local nonprofit organizations.  They included the ExxonMobil's Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) techonology display, Ambassadors Committed to Education (ACE) team, ExxonMobil Community Involvement Through Employees (ExCite) team and ExxonMobil Community Outreach Team (EMCOT).

"At ExxonMobil, our employees volunteer with local schools through our ACE program and help students in the areas of math and science through school fairs, tutoring and much more," explained ExxonMobil engineer Stephen Lassard.

 

ExxonMobil Baton Rouge offers a speakers coalition designed to share information about key energy issues. Representatives are able to come to your business association, community organization or student group and give presentations on topics like Energy and the 21st Century, Tomorrow's Energy, Fuels and Gasoline, This is ExxonMobil, Corporate Citizenship and more. We can even work with your group to customize a presentation that fits your needs. To find out more information, click here.

 

Baton Rouge Facility fact sheets

 

Neighbor newsletters

For more information, contact  ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Public and Government Affairs Office at 225-977-8393.

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