An aerial view of storage tanks at Exxon Mobil’s Beaumont oil refinery, which produces and packages Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil, in Beaumont, Texas, U.S., March 18, 2023.
The Beaumont refinery, one of Exxon Mobil’s largest facilities, has an overall capacity of 612,000 barrels per day. It plays a key role in the company’s U.S. refining network, producing gasoline and other petroleum products. The malfunction that halted the FCCU was reported in a notice submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
According to the filing, the shutdown took place shortly after 9:30 p.m. CDT on Tuesday (0230 GMT Wednesday). The report indicated that Exxon expected flaring activities to continue for about 24 hours following the incident. Flaring is a standard safety procedure refineries use to burn off hydrocarbons that cannot be processed through regular operations.
An Exxon Mobil spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment on Friday regarding the cause of the malfunction or details about the restart process. Sources noted that refinery staff worked to restore normal operations as quickly as possible to minimize production disruption.
Fluid catalytic cracking units are essential to modern refining operations. They employ a fine powder catalyst under high temperature and pressure to convert gas oil into intermediate components used to produce gasoline. Any temporary outage of such a unit can impact gasoline output, depending on the duration and scale of the disruption.
Industry observers noted that the restart of the FCCU would help stabilize gasoline production levels at the Beaumont refinery, ensuring continued fuel supply to the market. The refinery’s recovery comes amid generally steady refining margins in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, where facilities are operating at high utilization rates to meet domestic and export fuel demand.
The incident highlights the operational challenges refineries face in maintaining complex equipment running continuously under high pressure and temperature conditions. Safety systems such as flaring and automatic shutdowns are designed to prevent environmental or operational risks during such events.
With operations now back online, Exxon Mobil is expected to maintain regular production levels across its key processing units. The company continues to invest in reliability and maintenance programs at its U.S. refineries to enhance efficiency and safety. The Beaumont site, located near the Gulf of Mexico, serves as a strategic hub for gasoline, diesel, and chemical feedstock production, supporting both domestic consumption and export markets.
