ExxonMobil invests $100Mn on lower-emission R&D

ExxonMobil announced a $100-million investment over 10 years for research and development (R&D) efforts to achieve advanced lower-emissions technologies, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and National Energy Technology Laboratory. 

 

The agreement – among the largest between the department’s laboratories and the private sector – will support research and collaboration into ways to bring biofuels and carbon capture and storage to commercial scale across the transportation, power generation and industrial sectors. 

 

“We’re focusing on advancing fundamental science to develop breakthrough solutions that can make a difference on a global basis in emissions reduction,” said Darren W. Woods, chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil. “We’re doing that with our in-house scientists and with corporate partners, through relationships with 80 universities and now with the intellectual and computing capacity of the renowned national labs.”

 

The partnership will work to develop technologies related to energy efficiency and greenhouse gas mitigation. The joint research will also focus on reducing emissions from fuels and petrochemicals production. The agreement will stimulate collaborative projects between ExxonMobil and the two laboratories and facilitate work with other national laboratories, such as the Idaho National Lab.

 

 

This collaboration is a recent addition to a series of partnerships ExxonMobil has established for innovative lower-emissions research programs, which includes over 80 universities, five energy centers and multiple private sector partners. The company has spent more than $9 billion since 2000 developing and deploying lower-emissions energy solutions.

 

Earlier, ExxonMobil announced that it will proceed with a $2-billion investment to expand its Baytown, Texas chemical plant. The project will generate about 2,000 jobs during construction and contribute to the approximate 15% return the company expects from its chemical investments. The Baytown expansion is in addition to the company’s 2017 Growing the Gulf initiative, which outlined plans to build and expand manufacturing facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast, creating more than 45,000 high-paying jobs across the region. 

 

The company’s recent investments, such as a major expansion of oil and gas production in the Permian Basin and the planned expansion at Baytown, will continue to boost the U.S. economy. The expansion will also serve global demand for chemicals which is expected to be greater than energy demand growth and GDP growth over the next 20 years. The expansion, expected to start up in 2022, includes a new Vistamaxx™ performance polymer unit, which produces products that offer higher levels of elasticity, softness and flexibility, attributes that contribute to a reduction in materials used and increased performance in everyday products. The new unit will produce about 400,000 tons of Vistamaxx™ polymers a year.