Jobsite: Exxon Refinery – Now known as ExxonMobil Baytown Refinery
Address or general location:
5000 Bayway Drive, Baytown, Texas 77520
Summary:
The refinery began operating under the name of Humble Oil in 1920 near the Humble Oil Goose Creek oil fields and the ship channel. With the influx of thousands of employees, three communities formed by the late 1920s: Goose Creek, Pelly, and Baytown. The first year the refinery produced 10,000 barrels of crude oil each day. Today, the refinery produces 584,000 barrels of crude oil each day and has approximately 4000 employees at the Baytown plant. The name of Exxon was adopted in 1972 and changed to ExxonMobil in 1999.
Detail:
During WWII, the refinery added gasoline production to its crude oil products and was the largest producer of crude oil during the war. The also added a chemical division at the site for production of toluene and synthetic rubber – eventually expanding to include plastics and olefins.
The 1972 name change occurred when the parent of Humble Oil, Standard Oil of New Jersey, changed its name to Exxon Corporation. The Baytown refinery was one of a number of Exxon refineries in Exxon Company, U.S.A. The chemical division located on the same site as the refinery was changed to Exxon Chemical, U.S.A.
Exxon and Mobil Oil merged in 1999 to become Exxon Mobile Corporation, with headquarters in Irving, Texas.
Exposure information for oil refineries:
Oil refineries use enormous amounts of heat to produce the end product from raw materials. To make it possible to work in these circumstances, it was necessary to insulate equipment and steam lines. Steel surfaces, vessels and tanks also needed to be insulated. From the 1930s through the early 1980s, asbestos steam line insulation, gaskets, packing and asbestos fireproofing were commonly utilized at refineries and petrochemical facilities in Texas and throughout the U.S.