ExxonMobil’s Fawley refining complex adding new production units, capacities
ExxonMobil Corp. is progressing with construction of two new production units that it said, combined, will increase low-carbon fuel supplies to the UK domestic market and contribute to reduced transportation-related emissions globally at subsidiaries Esso Petroleum Co. Ltd. (EPCL) and ExxonMobil Chemical Ltd.’s jointly operated integrated 262,000-b/sd (246,900-b/cd) refining and petrochemicals complex situated across 3,250 acres at Fawley, near Southampton, Hampshire, UK (OGJ Online, May 19, 2020).
On Apr. 10, Kent PLC confirmed ExxonMobil’s earlier award to a consortium of Kent, VINCI Construction UK Ltd. subsidiary Taylor Woodrow, and BGEN Ltd. in March 2022 for delivery of project management, engineering, procurement, module fabrication, logistics, as well as completions and commissioning, on the operator’s more than £800-million ($1-billion) investment to add a new diesel hydrotreater and steam-methane reforming hydrogen plant at the Fawley complex.
Alongside construction, completion, and commissioning of the diesel hydrotreater and hydrogen production plant, the consortium will also be responsible for the project’s related associated foundations, equipment, pipework, electrical, and instrumentation works, Kent said.
In addition to aligning with the UK’s energy resilience goals and commitment to achieving net-zero emissions across the country, the Fawley project will enable a 40% increase in the site’s production of low-sulfur diesel that complies with more stringent Euro 7 emissions standards set to take effect in 2025, helping to reduce the UK’s dependence on imported volumes from abroad by 25% annually, ExxonMobil and Kent said.
Announcement of the contract award follows late-November 2023 notification from ExxonMobil’s UK division that, already in its main construction phase, the Fawley complex’s new low-sulfur diesel unit and hydrogen production plant were anticipated to reach full-production capacities in 2025.
ExxonMobil said the new hydrogen plant also specifically was to lay the groundwork for a future project to potentially enable EPCL to begin production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at the Fawley refinery, further contributing to lowering emissions from the hard-to-decarbonize aviation sector (see below).
In a separate informational circular on the project, ExxonMobil confirmed Fawley’s new low-sulfur diesel hydrotreater would have a production capacity of about 570 million gal/year, while the new hydrogen plant would increase the site’s existing production of hydrogen by 55 MMcfd.
Fawley’s SAF ambitions
Potential production of SAF at EPCL’s Fawley refinery—which already delivers about 25% of conventional aviation fuel used at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick Airports via Esso’s proprietary pipelines—follows a mid-November 2023 award of £6 million in UK government funding to EPCL for execution of a feasibility study into development of a commercial-scale SAF plant, according to separate releases from ExxonMobil and the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT).
Granted under the DfT’s Advanced Fuels Fund launched in 2022 to competitively allocate grants that support UK advanced fuels projects, the funding will be used to assess the potential SAF production using ExxonMobil proprietary methanol-to-jet (MtJ) technology.
The feasibility study specifically will evaluate potential for a plant that uses gasification and MtJ technology to convert non-recyclable waste into SAF, including production of methanol from refuse-derived fuel, or the import of methanol or ethanol, its conversion to SAF, and the distribution of SAF finished product to customers, ExxonMobil and DfT said.
If approved, the proposed SAF plant would enter operation in 2030 with a nameplate production capacity of 179,000 tonnes/year, according to DfT.
Robert Brelsford | Downstream Editor
Robert Brelsford joined Oil & Gas Journal in October 2013 as downstream technology editor after 8 years as a crude oil price and news reporter on spot crude transactions at the US Gulf Coast, West Coast, Canadian, and Latin American markets. He holds a BA (2000) in English from Rice University and an MS (2003) in education and social policy from Northwestern University.
